Introduction In 711 C.E., an army some 10,000 strong, comprised of Arabs and Berbers, crossed the Mediterranean from northern Africa and landed on the Iberian Peninsula at what later became known as Gibraltar. That invasion marked the beginning of a two-decade sweep into Europe by Muslims – later known as Moors – that ended on the north side of the […]
(N.B. – A few years ago, I was involved with an organization called Kairos, which is an international prison ministry with a significant US presence that consists of a national umbrella group and state chapters across the country, including here in Maine. While Kairos offers a number of activities focused on ministering to prisoners – or “residents,” as they’re called […]
Introduction In 711 C.E., an army some 10,000 strong, comprised of Arabs and Berbers, crossed the Mediterranean from northern Africa and landed on the Iberian Peninsula at what later became known as Gibraltar. That invasion marked the beginning of a two-decade sweep into Europe by Muslims – later known as Moors – that ended on the north side of the […]
I live in the greater neighborhood of Lewiston, Maine, where, as all the nation knows, a gunman recently killed 18 people and wounded several others before turning a gun on himself. When I say greater neighborhood I mean the small town in which I live is close enough that we were part of the lockdown order over two days, the […]
As I’ve noted in earlier entries, in the late 11th century a number of popes were intent upon unifying liturgical practice across Christian Europe. In Spain that effort was opposed by Christians who had been living under Moorish rule for centuries and had developed their own Arab language rite. Loyal to what would later be dubbed the Mozarabic Rite, these […]
In addition to the “El Juicio de Dios”, the battle between two knights, “one a Castilian and the other a Toledan”, which marked the tension over liturgical issues between Rome and the local church in 11th century Spain, there is also a story that two bulls, one named “Roma” and the other “Toledo”, were set to fight, and as with […]
Liturgical conflicts – What’s the most appropriate way to worship God? – have been part of Christian history almost from the beginning. In Song of Toledo, part of the tension driving the plot involves that time and place’s dominant liturgical conflict. In the late 11th century, a number of popes were intent upon unifying liturgical practice across Christian Europe, and […]
“Why would a Muslim support the public display of a forty-foot cross monument? Because displays with religious meaning on public land are a reminder that the United States preserves something of the substance of an older civilizational order grounded in faith in a transcendent God. America’s founding document declares that the nation comes into being by leave of God, proceeding […]
“Said the Prophet, on him be peace: ‘On the Day of Resurrection, three people will find themselves on a ridge of black musk. They will have no reckoning to fear, nor any cause for alarm while human accounts are being settled. First, a man who recites the Quran to please God, Great and Glorious is He, and who leads the […]
Recent debates in Europe and the U.S. about key societal issues like abortion or same-sex marriages show that, in contemporary Western societies, there is no longer a natural law common to believers and non-believers. In other words, and whatever the intellectual genealogy of contemporary secularism may be, the gap between religious and secular values has become such that there is […]