Am I materialist enough to resist materialism?
Eye-catching banners on high-traffic websites, marketing campaigns, genuine or illusory discounts, deals that vanish in seconds. Shopping lists, fierce price hunts, early morning alarms. Jumping the gun, millions in sales, ecstatic or dissatisfied customers, delayed deliveries, and blown budgets. In a word: Black Friday.
The manger, the sign of humility that elevates (us)
"This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12).
On the banks of a river where no one had ever been
Jim Elliot was 25 years old when he headed to Ecuador as a result of the answer he sought from God regarding his future.
The false cause fallacy: Is dawn summoned by the rooster’s song?
From an early age I learned, from the advice of adults or from my own experiences—and sometimes the hard way—the relationship between cause and effect. It's simple: if you touch the hot oven door, you’ll get burned! Subsequently, I discovered that there are a multitude of pressing uncertainties all around us in daily life. To figure out what actually causes the things that...
Two false oppositions: reason vs. faith and science vs. religion
"Intelligent, scientifically trained people no longer believe (or can no longer believe) in God."
The fear of facing fear
“To be fearless may be a gift. However, the most precious one is, probably, the courage resulting from developing the habit of not allowing fear to dictate your actions”, says the renowned Nobel Peace Prize winner and democracy activist in Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, in her essay titled “Free from fear”.
Is faith reasonable?
Science and faith, as important tools in the knowledge process, are often perceived to be in a tense relationship with each other, because of the fundamentally different worldviews that characterize them. The implications for life’s big questions are obvious—and sufficient to rob someone of the comfort of indifference towards such high-stakes conclusions.
The generation gap, a power struggle?
At some point, we've all come across the phrase "back in my day," a deeply subjective expression which encapsulates a universal phenomenon: the generation gap.
COVID-19: Life in the shadow of death
I am not an expert on the phenomenon of death. But like all of us, I have to live in its shadow, and watch the restlessness and greed it causes. The same gloomy reports that circle the planet also reach me. I feel especially conscious of this as COVID-19 claims its first victims in my country.
The written revelation
Why did God choose to reveal Himself through a sacred text? Were there no other ways? Does God still inspire scriptures today?
Aurelius Augustine
Aurelius Augustine (354-430) is known for the stirring Christian experience he described in his Confessions and for the seminal theological thought that has shaped theology to this day.
COVID-19: Second thoughts on Doomsday
Although they are constantly improving their preparedness for crises and disasters, modern societies find themselves powerless in the face of a growing threat: transnational crises.
COVID-19 after vaccination: How much does vaccination protect us?
Why can vaccinated people still get COVID-19 or even die from the disease?
Temperance: the lost virtue
Temperance was once upheld by philosophers, saints and stoics. In a world dominated by indulgence, its call to balance feels more relevant than ever.
COVID-19: How do you recognise a conspiracy theory in a pandemic?
The Colorado beetle that threatened the potato crop of the former GDR in 1950 might have been an American method of sabotage against the Eastern bloc. A sinister German plot might have been the cause of the Spanish flu. Perhaps AIDS emerged as a biological weapon developed by the United States and has been tested on prisoners and minorities. Every crisis humanity has...