Last month, November 2023, saw the 50th anniversary of perhaps the most prophetic book of the past century: Sexual Suicide by George F. Gilder. Haven’t heard of it, have you? But you might have heard of George Gilder, who went … Continue Reading →
Talking Gender with Dissident Mama
Shortly after my talk with Fr. Thomas Soroka on Ancient Faith Radio, I had the great pleasure of also talking about gender issues with Rebecca Dillingham for her blog, Dissident Mama. I mentioned our talk and linked to the podcast … Continue Reading →
Talking Points on Deaconesses
The argument over deaconesses in the Orthodox Church tends to center around past history and present needs, but the history of deaconesses is obscure, easily distorted, and not always relevant. After all, history is not tradition; it only becomes tradition … Continue Reading →
A Public Statement on Deaconesses
I suppose it’s because I’m in ROCOR that I am not terribly bothered by the push now on in the Greek Archdiocese to make women deaconesses. Many of us in ROCOR tend to assume the Greeks have become unhinged and … Continue Reading →
Speaking of deaconesses, here I am on Ancient Faith—and more
Just a note to let you know about my podcast interview on Ancient Faith posted earlier this week and to remind you of the other helpful posts on deaconesses and on the much bigger issue of male and female, so … Continue Reading →
Book Review: Church of Whose Granddaughters?
How is one to understand a scholar—a theologian no less—who writes a book accusing the Orthodox Church of not living up to its own theology in its treatment of women while ignoring everything in Holy Scripture, Holy Tradition, and the … Continue Reading →
Affirmative Action in the U.S. Military
Time was when the U.S. military felt the need to lie about using quotas to promote women and minorities. Now the Biden White House openly defends discriminating against men and non-minorities through the Pentagon’s various “Diversity Equity, Inclusion, Access … Continue Reading →
Male and Female as Archic and Eucharistic Modes of Relation
Is not personalism merely a form of individualism—more humane (perhaps) than old-fashioned, rights- based individualism, but not humane enough to keep from reducing the human person to an inhuman abstraction stripped of the concrete particulars that define every human life, … Continue Reading →
A Whale of a Waste
The Oscar-winning movie The Whale is a waste of $5.99, the two hours it takes to watch, and any time spent thinking about it afterwards—unless one can redeem the time and money by writing about it so others don’t make … Continue Reading →
Deacons and Deaconesses, with Pictures
For many Christians, the issue is this simple: The Church once had deaconesses, so it can have them again. The reality, as usual, is rather more complex. History is not tradition; history only becomes tradition when it is handed down.
Deaconesses … Continue Reading →