In the relatively short period between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, Western culture experienced a series of shocking revolutions in thought: The Renaissance with its clarion call ‘Ad fontes!’ — ‘Back to the sources!” — wanted to re-found European society on ancient Greco-Roman principles and philosophy. The Reformation applied this spirit of returning to the … Continue reading Who Do We Trust?: The Question of Authority in Christian Faith and Life
Yesterday was the great feast of Epiphany, which is celebrated on the thirteenth day after Christmas. It’s a feast with a strange and murky history, but I think it’s instructive for this whole midwinter season. It seems that Epiphany, which means ‘shining forth’, was originally a general midwinter feast that, at the darkest time of … Continue reading God’s Shining Forth: A Reflection on Epiphany and Genesis 1.1-5
Year six of the blog is now complete! Thanks once again to all of you who have joined me here! As I like to do, I thought I’d take some time at year’s end to look at the most popular posts from the past year, along with a few posts that mean a lot to … Continue reading Best of the Blog, 2023
An annual ‘best of’ my reading year post has become a tradition for me since 2017 (2017-18, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022). I read some unbelievably great books in 2023, so without further ado. let’s get to the books! (Note, this was originally published on my bookish blog yesterday.) 15. Talking at Night, by Claire Daverley … Continue reading Top 15 Reads of 2023
[Note: Some churches (including my own) replace the readings for Christmas 1 with those for Epiphany, but I’m not ready to leave Christmas behind just yet — Epiphany isn’t for another six days! — so I’m sticking with the Christmas 1 readings. If you’d like an Epiphany-focused reflection today, feel free to check out here … Continue reading Turning Point: A Reflection on Luke 2.22-41
Matthew Root 