Plans to prosper

Off the back of a conversation I had recently I’ve been prompted to explore what a positive vision of what the future could look like in my own context. This is in response to the fact that it was felt that the general diagnosis of the future doesn’t look great from the perspective of an …

Christianity and Relics. Part Four: The Public Cult

Introduction In my previous entries I outlined the initial early church practice to bury its dead in a mode similar to the culture around it. In my second I looked at the growing prestige of the martyr, in life and death, in the church who came to be seen as a type of individual set …

Christianity and Relics. Part Three: Spiritual Guides

Introduction In my initial entry on this series I had a look at the burial practices of the early church. Showing that up until the 4th century the normative practice was to bury the dead, this included the martyrs. In my second entry I chart how the martyrs themselves had come to be understood as …

Christianity and Relics. Part Two: Martyrdom

Introduction In my first entry on this series on relics I looked at several examples of how the early church treated its dead. Three of the four examples of burial I looked at were the aftermath of martyrdom. To be martyred was to be more than a confessor of the faith, it was a position …

What I have changed, what I retain, what I wish for more in practice

I don’t know how appropriate this is but with my recent reflections I’ve been wrestling with some of the cognitive dissonances I’ve been feeling about my place in the Church. Becoming a Father has raised a lot for me and prompted me to examine what I believe on a range of issues. I've also been …

This is the year which holds the writer

This text was originally posted in the entry 'I, who will already be dust by your time, have made mention of you in this book' by A Clerk of Oxford. I think its appropriate to post this on All Saints Day. This is the year which holds the writer: the thirty fifth year of the reign …

The Heavenly Banquet

I would like to have the men of Heaven in my own house; with vats of good cheer laid out for them. I would like to have the three Marys, their fame is so great. I would like people from every corner of Heaven. I would like them to be cheerful in their drinking. I …