“The Cost of Discipleship” | Book review
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), author of The Cost of Discipleship and one of the remarkable figures of twentieth-century Christianity, served as a Lutheran pastor and theologian in Tübingen, Berlin, and New York, in a dark period of human history. He vehemently opposed the Nazi Party's attempt to subjugate the church to the political and ideological approach of the time. He felt the political and...
From martyr to student, or how to be a superficial viewer
It is said that the intelligent and cynical Talleyrand, a French diplomat and Catholic priest who was later secularised, said to Napoleon when asked to devise a political message: "Sir, give me the idea and I'll find the arguments myself..." If such an intellectual attitude is cynical and unscrupulous in politics, let's imagine the consequences in the religious sphere.
Kindness: a social act
One of the small joys of my childhood was to visit my maternal grandmother at the house on the hill.
The Great Fire of Rome and the “hidden hand”
The Great Fire of Rome broke out on a hot summer night in July 64 AD.
Tangible happiness
It's intuitively inappropriate to talk about happiness when the subject is depression. But it is even more inappropriate to talk about abnormality, inadequacy or maladjustment in the same context.
Remembering the Earth landing
In 2019 we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the “great leap for mankind” Moon landing. It was an exciting, significant time in the history of our planet.
Changing without change
Our greatest, most desperate need today is not the type of change which loses its power over time, but that which leads to our transformation into a permanent Good.
One of my parents has Alzheimer’s. How can I be sure I won’t be next?
Hypervigilance and fear are the most common reactions of people who have a parent (or another family member) affected by Alzheimer's disease. Although a family history of Alzheimer's increases the risk of developing the disease, the picture of risk factors proves to be much more complex, just like that of prevention.
The colours of silence
The hues of the rainbow, once considered the seal of peace between God and humanity in the Bible, have, in just a few years, become the symbol of an ideological conflict among people in a society where the “shame axis” spins according to the dictates of the public agenda.
To be or to become? That is the question
“The Christ of Nicea is obviously a far cry from the historical Jesus of Nazareth, an itinerant apocalyptic preacher in the backwaters of rural Galilee, who offended the authorities and was unceremoniously crucified for crimes against the state. Whatever he may have been in real life, Jesus had now become fully God.”
The slumber of the proud
One of the best-known stories told by ambitious entrepreneurs today is that if you work hard, you will have a lot.
In search of balance
The year 2022 was perhaps richer than previous years in events that affected the whole world.
Three times the world nearly ended
Many doomsayers have “cried wolf” when it comes to the end of the world. Does that mean it’s not going to happen at all?
Sleep myths busted
There are a number of beliefs and practices around sleep that have been created and followed by many people, but which science has shown to be false and even dangerous for those who follow them.
The appeal to novelty: How can it be faulty when it’s so bright and shiny?
To make an argument by appealing to the novelty of an idea— to the innovation it brings to a certain area—is not necessarily wrong. The visionary thinker Alvin Toffler coined the wonderful phrase nostalgia for the future, referring to his appreciation of the adventure the future promises through the desire many of us have to merge with 'the new' that is still developing...