The Truth Is Out There: Christian Faith and the Classics of TV Science Fiction by Thomas Bertonneau and Kim Paffenroth (Brazos Press, $23.99 pb, 272 pages) Thomas Bertonneau and Kim Paffenroth are both well-respected American academics and committed Christians. Readers should not be put off by the 50s “flying saucer” image on the cover. This very erudite book looks at the possible [...]
The Sept. 9 editions of the Toronto Sun and the Toronto Star, two newspapers having pretensions to cosmic significance, carried the same hard-hitting storyline: “Pope slams Canada.” They were reporting on the comments Pope Benedict XVI had made on the previous day to seven Ontario bishops. Typical of secular newspapers, being more concerned with words that startle than with thoughts that nourish, [...]
Benedict XVI’s speech on Sept. 12 to scientists at the University of Regensburg, where he served as a professor, set off an unintended furor of controversy. It also highlighted an important dynamic in what Samuel Huntington describes as “the clash of civilizations.” The target of Benedict’s speech was not Islam, but modernity. Benedict took modernity to task for limiting reason to the [...]
As the keynote speaker at Healing the Culture, this year’s national pro-life conference in Vancouver Nov. 16-18, Rabbi Daniel Lapin is the founder and president of Toward Tradition (www.towardtradition.org), a U.S. organization working to advance that nation toward the Judeo-Christian values that defined its creation and served as the blueprint for its greatness. Lapin emigrated to the U.S. from South Africa in [...]
Pope Benedict XVI received Canadian bishops from the province of Ontario Sept. 8 at his summer residence of Castelgandolfo. The Pope noted that while Canada seems to have sufficient efforts in the area of “justice and peace,” it is sorely lacking in protection for life and family. “Canada has a well-earned reputation for a generous and practical commitment to justice and peace,” [...]
Editor’s Note: Calgary Bishop Frederick Henry released this pastoral letter on Sept. 8, 2006. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ: Pope Benedict XVI begins his encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, with the words from the First Letter of John: “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” These words express with remarkable clarity the [...]
How is it that the world’s smallest sovereign state is creating so much news? The Roman pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI, sparked a firestorm of controversy last month when he quoted from a 14th century Byzantine emperor. The quotation, which was quickly taken from its context, was widely disseminated in the Middle East. The larger point of Pope Benedict’s address (which, as Gerald [...]
In an advisory ruling on Dec. 9, 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada decreed that same-sex couples have an unequivocal equality right to marry under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Ontario government followed up on Feb. 22, 2005 with Bill 171, an omnibus act to eliminate all references to traditional marriage in 73 Ontario statutes, by replacing words such [...]
In a statement on June 27, the Rt. Rev. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, presented a plan for expelling the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church of the United States from constituent membership in the worldwide Anglican communion. Specifically, Williams suggested that any Anglican church that unilaterally flouts Anglican doctrine should be reduced to the status of [...]
In recent years, Father Raymond Gravel has been well known in Quebec for his dissident views as a Catholic priest. He differs on abortion, same-sex “marriage,” homosexual priests, married priests, homosexuality, women priests, contraception and many other topics. He is almost a caricature. He is, however, often invited by the Quebec media to comment on church affairs. He is almost an official [...]
George Parkin Grant (1918-1988) is one of the most important Canadian thinkers. His various works are worthy of close study, for persons interested in political philosophy; in Canadian history, politics and culture; and in the philosophical critique of technology and late modernity. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the appearance of George Grant’s last major book, Technology and Justice. This was [...]
On Oct. 16, 2004, an unprecedented number of Nova Scotians voted on whether to allow Sunday shopping. In Halifax, 51 per cent said yes; province-wide, 55 per cent said no. The binding plebiscite made Nova Scotia the only Canadian province to reject Sunday shopping. Small businesses and services with less than 4,000 square feet (270 square metres) of retail space could still [...]
I have asked a number of Christian friends if they have seen the Da Vinci Code. Some have, but many haven’t and don’t intend to. Some indeed simply brush it off as being full of false teaching and rehashed attacks on Christ and so they aren’t interested. I think such an attitude is shortsighted. Christians can adopt a more positive outlook and [...]
To those not familiar with the Gospels, the title “Doubting Thomas” may appear strange. But Thomas, who was one of the Apostles, earned it. At the Last Supper, when Jesus said to the Apostles that He was “going to the Father,” it was Thomas who said, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” [...]
In September 1986, I was completing my biography of the great British author Gilbert Keith Chesterton. He had died 50 years earlier and various supporters and devotees of his work had organized a conference around the man at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. I was fortunate enough to be invited over from my home in England to deliver a [...]