Posts Tagged ‘2 Corinthians’

As far back as Irenaeus of Lyon (AD 120-202) and probably earlier, Christians have drawn parallels between the sin of man having come by means of eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and salvation being accomplished on the cross of Christ.[1]  Our two American Christmas poets tie in the tree of Genesis and the cross of Christ with the crib of the baby Jesus. Read the rest of this entry »

Friday my good friend Rodrigo Chavarría died.  A pleasant day out with my wife was suddenly changed as I checked our telephone messages.  Rodrigo was dead a friend’s recorded voice told us.  My wife wept, indeed howled, with grief.  I remained silent.  Later I wept, but the feeling throughout the day, and still this morning, is one of weight and numbness. Read the rest of this entry »

            A good way to evaluate Harry Potter is to compare it to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Taking into account the facts that Tolkien’s masterpiece is the standard for fantasy literature and that Rowling is writing a slightly different genre and for a different audience, Harry Potter holds up fairly well.  Nevertheless, Rowling falls short at a crucial point.  That shortcoming, however, is one that much Christian thinking about God and evil shares.  We desperately need to hear Tolkien in order to avoid the errors of moralism and a simplistic faith that cannot withstand the tidal waves of disappointment in the face of the hiddenness of God. Read the rest of this entry »

            Yesterday, the day before my birthday, my mom’s dog died.  Read the rest of this entry »