Is “the present moment” perpendicular to the line of time? Interesting question. It seems to me a good answer depends on which sort of “present” you mean. I have in mind the medieval distinction, going back at least as far as Boethius, between two distinct forms of...

As a follow-up to my last post—Logismoi—I thought you might be interested in the following recent article by George Will. So perhaps things aren't so bad after all at your university?! WASHINGTON (26 November 2015)— Give thanks this day for some indirect blessings of...

I'm sorry to hear you've been under siege once again. Your university obviously makes a conservative's life much more difficult than I have it here in South Carolina. This is in part, however, simply the fortunate result of my rank and professional standing and not...

Is there such a thing as an esoteric Christianity, or did Christ overcome and abolish all such distinctions? It seems to me the answer to your question is … yes! While it is true that in Christ “the middle wall of partition” has been “broken down” (Ephesians 2:14), St...

I recently came across the following definition, apropos our discussion of holiness, and thought you would be as interested—and as chastened!—as I. It comes from Dumitru Staniloe's book The Experience of God. I have made a few alterations in the translation. In the...

If invocation without full attention were an “insult” to God, I’m afraid all but a very few of the saints and sages would be guilty. Who of the rest of us can make it through even a short session of formal prayer without the mind wandering and having to be brought...

Am I “content” with Schuon’s “interpretatations” of the Trinity? It seems to me your question is tantamount to asking: “Is there more than one way in which to envisage the Trinity?” And of course the answer is yes. Schuon’s interpretations, as you call them—each of...

What do I advise you to do when it comes to linguistic politics? I suppose I would advise you to keep a low profile for now, certainly until you get your degree, and perhaps, depending on where you get a job, until you are tenured. As the great Crossett once told me,...

Yes, I can see your problem. It’s so very easy for us to misunderstand or misconstrue the nature of someone else’s experience, what you call their “subjective reality”, based (as our interpretation must be) on the words they use to describe it. I’m in the midst of a...

“Christianity makes me feel threatened”, you say. Forgive me, but I think this is simply a holdover from your evangelical past. There’s nothing of the sort in Orthodoxy. God doesn’t “threaten” or “punish”, nor does He ever get “angry”; these anthropomorphic...