by Peter James | Jan 31, 2023 | Guigo II
It was a hot summer morning in 1150. Guigo II (d. ca. 1188) was working in his garden at a Carthusian monastery in France, harvesting herbs to produce a liquor called Chartreuse, which Carthusian monks are known for. He was meditating on the story of Jacob’s...
by Peter James | Jan 30, 2023 | Reinhold Niebuhr
It may be the most popular prayer of our modern era. Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), a theology professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, preached a sermon at the Heath Union Church in Massachusetts in 1943. He concluded the sermon by praying what has...
by Peter James | Jan 29, 2023 | Anne Bronte
“The Bronte sisters” sounds like a singing group. They were first-rate novelists in nineteenth century England. During the Victorian era, it was considered unladylike to be a writer. That’s why these three sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, acquired...
by Peter James | Jan 28, 2023 | Eric Liddell
Langdon Gilkey wrote about his experiences at a prisoner of war camp in China during World War II. His book Shantung Compound: The Story of Men and Women Under Pressure is hardly a flattering portrait of humanity. Not only were the guards cruel, but prisoner pettiness...
by Peter James | Jan 27, 2023 | St. Ambrose
Church fights aren’t pretty. I can attest to it from personal experience! A major dispute broke out in AD 340 following the death of the bishop of Milan. There were two factions: those who affirmed Christ’s divinity (orthodox Christians) and those who opposed...
