Mark Eckel continues his series on suffering. See the series introduction and Part 1 here. Quotation When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude … [Read more...] about Hands: Suffering, Part 2 (Scholar’s Compass)
Suffering
Sighs: Suffering, Part 1 (Scholar’s Compass)
Image Name: Sigh Series Introduction Hurt can be so deep, so long lasting, so pervasive, so devastating that there are days when being able to get out of bed is in question. We can know our theology. We can state our theology. But we still hurt, bear loss, travail, wail, moan, howl, and scream our grief in suffering. Walker Percy, the great Catholic writer, said it best, “A person can know the meaning of life but still has to find a way to make it through Wednesday afternoon.” Life's pain is woven through the … [Read more...] about Sighs: Suffering, Part 1 (Scholar’s Compass)
Book Review: Is Your Lord Large Enough?
Is Your Lord Large Enough? How C. S. Lewis Expands Our View of God. Peter J. Schakel. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008. Summary: This book looks at the contribution Lewis made, particularly through the way his books engage the imagination, to the spiritual formation of Christians, exploring a number of the matters crucial to their growth in Christ. Peter J. Schakel has written a number of fine books on C.S. Lewis including one on Till We Have Faces (Reason and Imagination in C.S. Lewis: A Study of … [Read more...] about Book Review: Is Your Lord Large Enough?
Reasons: Why I am a Christian Part 2
Every year, the translator at our pediatric hospital asks this question: What are the four hardest words to translate? He will pause for a moment and then say, Your child is dead. Every time I hear it, I wonder how many times he has had to say that phrase. Every year, I think the tally must be a little higher. Fixed in every medical provider's mind are similar moments of unsettling and stunning grief. Death, crippling injury, and disability rarely happen in the dramatic TV show ways. They are ordinary and … [Read more...] about Reasons: Why I am a Christian Part 2
Reasons: Why I am a Christian
"How can you believe in God and science at the same time?" Even though I am rarely asked this question so plainly, it is often implied in conversation. Many atheistic advocates think that there is a conflict between the two. They may suspect that a belief in the supernatural is used primarily to explain the physical world with non-physical means and to "fill in the gaps" for conundrums for which there is no better or more reasonable determination. They may believe that beliefs are driven by a search for meaning … [Read more...] about Reasons: Why I am a Christian