This paper is offered as an example of a human science approach to the study of spirituality as a... more This paper is offered as an example of a human science approach to the study of spirituality as a universal human experience. From the author’s perspective, spirituality is not only a universal element of human experience, but (because I equate spirituality with human freedom), spirituality is THE foundationally quality of the human. The thesis to be tested is this: Through a careful consideration of themes central to a specific spiritual tradition (in this case, the relationship of communion and asceticism in the Eastern Christian liturgical spirituality), we can come to an appreciative critical understanding not only of that tradition, but also of themes foundational to all human spiritualities.
While recently the Orthodox Diocese of Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America has intervened ag... more While recently the Orthodox Diocese of Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America has intervened against the establishment of a proposed open-pit copper mine, its moral critique lacks proper attention to issues of prudence. In what follows, my focus is not on the moral legitimacy of the diocese’s argument against the mine but on the prudence of its opposition. The moral right to property, and the morally right use of property, in the moral tradition of the Orthodox Church is the fundamental issue. This article argues that seeing the issue through the lens of property rights can help strengthen the Church’s position, open additional avenues of dialogue with the various economic interests involved in the mining projects, and do so in ways that help foster the long-term economic and cultural interests of Native Alaskans.
To understand the importance of icons in the tradition of the Orthodox Church, we need to look at... more To understand the importance of icons in the tradition of the Orthodox Church, we need to look at the hymnography for the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the first Sunday of Lent. Liturgically, the day “commemorates first of all the victory of the Church over the heresy of the Iconoclasts.” In our ecumenical age the Synodikon of Orthodoxy’s description of iconoclasts as “those who wickedly make play with the word ‘uncircumscribed’ and therefore refuse to depict in images Christ, our true God, who likewise shared our flesh and blood [cf., Hebrews 2:14], and therefore show themselves to be fantasists” is jarring and even offensive. Even to those sympathetic to the Orthodox Church’s theology of icons the Synodikon’s language “may seem to be an unsuitable” way to defend, much less “to commemorate, the glory of the Church and all the heroes and martyrs of the Orthodox Faith.”
While recently the Orthodox Diocese of Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America has intervened ag... more While recently the Orthodox Diocese of Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America has intervened against the establishment of a proposed open-pit copper mine, its moral critique lacks proper attention to issues of prudence. In what follows, my focus is not on the moral legitimacy of the diocese’s argument against the mine but on the prudence of its opposition. The moral right to property, and the morally right use of property, in the moral tradition of the Orthodox Church is the fundamental issue. This article argues that seeing the issue through the lens of property rights can help strengthen the Church’s position, open additional avenues of dialogue with the various economic interests involved in the mining projects, and do so in ways that help foster the long-term economic and cultural interests of Native Alaskans.
Consumer disapproval of Black Friday has caused a drop in demand. Consequently, retailers have cu... more Consumer disapproval of Black Friday has caused a drop in demand. Consequently, retailers have curtailed their investment in these kinds of sale events. If economics is agnostic as to what motivates the change in demand, as a Christian I can’t be. Retailers are responding to the moral cues of shoppers and so changing their marketing strategy to conform to the moral demands of consumers.
The EMCAPP Journal: Christian Psychology Around the World 2014: 5, Apr 1, 2014
Recent theological scholarship emphasizes the important, and really foundational, role of ascetic... more Recent theological scholarship emphasizes the important, and really foundational, role of asceticism and liturgy for Christian formation. The Orthodox Church in its pastoral praxis has long emphasized the need for ascetical struggle not only for moral purification but also to reform and transform our relationships with God and the world of persons, events and things. Viewed anthropologically, I argue here that Christian ascetical struggle reflects the dynamic nature of human life as it was meant to be and so has the potential to serve both as the basis for a general science of human thought and action as well as a critique of the unexamined secularism within contemporary psychology (both Christian and non-Christian).
Spencer Burke (ed.), Out of the Ooze. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2007, pp. 167-169., 2007
God-pleasing, to say nothing of effective, evangelism begins with an imitation of the respect God... more God-pleasing, to say nothing of effective, evangelism begins with an imitation of the respect God extends to each human person. God can do anything -- except compel us to love him. Christians. In Christ, God in His love enters into human experience and transforms it from within. If we are to be faithful imitators of Christ, we must avoid any violation of human freedom and dignity and instead join with our brothers and sisters and seek by the grace of God and our own efforts, to show them how their lives can be transformed through their free openness to Jesus Christ.
Jonathan Bengtson and Gabrielle Earnshaw (eds.), Turning the Wheel: Henri Nouwen and Our Search for God. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books: 2007, pp. 8-21., 2007
This paper is offered as an example of a human science approach to the study of spirituality as a... more This paper is offered as an example of a human science approach to the study of spirituality as a universal human experience. From the author’s perspective, spirituality is not only a universal element of human experience, but (because I equate spirituality with human freedom), spirituality is THE foundationally quality of the human. The thesis to be tested is this: Through a careful consideration of themes central to a specific spiritual tradition (in this case, the relationship of communion and asceticism in the Eastern Christian liturgical spirituality), we can come to an appreciative critical understanding not only of that tradition, but also of themes foundational to all human spiritualities.
In these reflections in honor of the 90th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima, I reflect on the pla... more In these reflections in honor of the 90th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima, I reflect on the place of apparitions and extraordinary phenomena in the tradition of the Orthodox Church. In this tradition, such things are approached with great caution, suspicion and even hostility. While expressing my own reservations about some of the excesses surrounding I conclude by arguing that to the degree that there is an Orthodox response to apparitions of the Theotokos at Fatima it is this: We must fall down before Christ and ask forgiveness of our manifold sins and transgressions. A devotion to the Theotokos, or any other member of that “great cloud of witnesses” that does not lead us such a sorrow for our sins and a renewed desire to more generously and sacrificially, love our neighbor, is simply not worthy of the name Christian.
This paper is offered as an example of a human science approach to the study of spirituality as a... more This paper is offered as an example of a human science approach to the study of spirituality as a universal human experience. From the author’s perspective, spirituality is not only a universal element of human experience, but (because I equate spirituality with human freedom), spirituality is THE foundationally quality of the human. The thesis to be tested is this: Through a careful consideration of themes central to a specific spiritual tradition (in this case, the relationship of communion and asceticism in the Eastern Christian liturgical spirituality), we can come to an appreciative critical understanding not only of that tradition, but also of themes foundational to all human spiritualities.
While recently the Orthodox Diocese of Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America has intervened ag... more While recently the Orthodox Diocese of Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America has intervened against the establishment of a proposed open-pit copper mine, its moral critique lacks proper attention to issues of prudence. In what follows, my focus is not on the moral legitimacy of the diocese’s argument against the mine but on the prudence of its opposition. The moral right to property, and the morally right use of property, in the moral tradition of the Orthodox Church is the fundamental issue. This article argues that seeing the issue through the lens of property rights can help strengthen the Church’s position, open additional avenues of dialogue with the various economic interests involved in the mining projects, and do so in ways that help foster the long-term economic and cultural interests of Native Alaskans.
To understand the importance of icons in the tradition of the Orthodox Church, we need to look at... more To understand the importance of icons in the tradition of the Orthodox Church, we need to look at the hymnography for the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the first Sunday of Lent. Liturgically, the day “commemorates first of all the victory of the Church over the heresy of the Iconoclasts.” In our ecumenical age the Synodikon of Orthodoxy’s description of iconoclasts as “those who wickedly make play with the word ‘uncircumscribed’ and therefore refuse to depict in images Christ, our true God, who likewise shared our flesh and blood [cf., Hebrews 2:14], and therefore show themselves to be fantasists” is jarring and even offensive. Even to those sympathetic to the Orthodox Church’s theology of icons the Synodikon’s language “may seem to be an unsuitable” way to defend, much less “to commemorate, the glory of the Church and all the heroes and martyrs of the Orthodox Faith.”
While recently the Orthodox Diocese of Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America has intervened ag... more While recently the Orthodox Diocese of Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America has intervened against the establishment of a proposed open-pit copper mine, its moral critique lacks proper attention to issues of prudence. In what follows, my focus is not on the moral legitimacy of the diocese’s argument against the mine but on the prudence of its opposition. The moral right to property, and the morally right use of property, in the moral tradition of the Orthodox Church is the fundamental issue. This article argues that seeing the issue through the lens of property rights can help strengthen the Church’s position, open additional avenues of dialogue with the various economic interests involved in the mining projects, and do so in ways that help foster the long-term economic and cultural interests of Native Alaskans.
Consumer disapproval of Black Friday has caused a drop in demand. Consequently, retailers have cu... more Consumer disapproval of Black Friday has caused a drop in demand. Consequently, retailers have curtailed their investment in these kinds of sale events. If economics is agnostic as to what motivates the change in demand, as a Christian I can’t be. Retailers are responding to the moral cues of shoppers and so changing their marketing strategy to conform to the moral demands of consumers.
The EMCAPP Journal: Christian Psychology Around the World 2014: 5, Apr 1, 2014
Recent theological scholarship emphasizes the important, and really foundational, role of ascetic... more Recent theological scholarship emphasizes the important, and really foundational, role of asceticism and liturgy for Christian formation. The Orthodox Church in its pastoral praxis has long emphasized the need for ascetical struggle not only for moral purification but also to reform and transform our relationships with God and the world of persons, events and things. Viewed anthropologically, I argue here that Christian ascetical struggle reflects the dynamic nature of human life as it was meant to be and so has the potential to serve both as the basis for a general science of human thought and action as well as a critique of the unexamined secularism within contemporary psychology (both Christian and non-Christian).
Spencer Burke (ed.), Out of the Ooze. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2007, pp. 167-169., 2007
God-pleasing, to say nothing of effective, evangelism begins with an imitation of the respect God... more God-pleasing, to say nothing of effective, evangelism begins with an imitation of the respect God extends to each human person. God can do anything -- except compel us to love him. Christians. In Christ, God in His love enters into human experience and transforms it from within. If we are to be faithful imitators of Christ, we must avoid any violation of human freedom and dignity and instead join with our brothers and sisters and seek by the grace of God and our own efforts, to show them how their lives can be transformed through their free openness to Jesus Christ.
Jonathan Bengtson and Gabrielle Earnshaw (eds.), Turning the Wheel: Henri Nouwen and Our Search for God. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books: 2007, pp. 8-21., 2007
This paper is offered as an example of a human science approach to the study of spirituality as a... more This paper is offered as an example of a human science approach to the study of spirituality as a universal human experience. From the author’s perspective, spirituality is not only a universal element of human experience, but (because I equate spirituality with human freedom), spirituality is THE foundationally quality of the human. The thesis to be tested is this: Through a careful consideration of themes central to a specific spiritual tradition (in this case, the relationship of communion and asceticism in the Eastern Christian liturgical spirituality), we can come to an appreciative critical understanding not only of that tradition, but also of themes foundational to all human spiritualities.
In these reflections in honor of the 90th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima, I reflect on the pla... more In these reflections in honor of the 90th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima, I reflect on the place of apparitions and extraordinary phenomena in the tradition of the Orthodox Church. In this tradition, such things are approached with great caution, suspicion and even hostility. While expressing my own reservations about some of the excesses surrounding I conclude by arguing that to the degree that there is an Orthodox response to apparitions of the Theotokos at Fatima it is this: We must fall down before Christ and ask forgiveness of our manifold sins and transgressions. A devotion to the Theotokos, or any other member of that “great cloud of witnesses” that does not lead us such a sorrow for our sins and a renewed desire to more generously and sacrificially, love our neighbor, is simply not worthy of the name Christian.
Despite the rapid increase in human flourishing since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, cri... more Despite the rapid increase in human flourishing since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, critics of the market economy insist that it leads inevitably to consumerism and other excesses of materialism. Those who make this indictment—including sociologists, political pundits, and religious leaders—also ignore how economic liberty has brought about one of the most remarkable achievements in human history: an 80 percent reduction in world poverty since 1970. The Cure for Consumerism examines popular prescriptions for addressing consumerism that range from simply consuming less to completely overhauling our economic system. In this lively and accessible book, Rev. Gregory Jensen synthesizes insights from the spiritual tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church with modern social science to craft a clear understanding of consumerism, to offer real solutions to the problems, and to put faith and economic freedom to work for both the common good and the kingdom of God.
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