brief foray into blogging full time proved to be not my jam. I am more aphoristic in internet sharing. so back to the tumblr I go. http://dangreeson.tumblr.com/ Continue reading

St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary has ushered in a new era with the election of the Very Reverend Alexander Atty of the Antiochian Archdiocese to the position of Dean and Chief Operating Officer. Father Alexander brings with him over thirty years of experience as parish priest and chief administrator. He pastored one of the largest Pan-Orthodox parishes in the nation, St. Michael the Archangel Church in Louisville, KY. Under his direction this vibrant and flourishing Orthodox community undertook several building projects to reach out to and provide for the needs of their parish and others in the surrounding area. These... Continue reading

“Do not be in a hurry to multiply the monks. The black habit does not save. The one who wears a white habit and has the spirit of obedience, humility, and purity, he is a true monk of interiorized monasticism.” - St. Tikhon of Zadonsk Continue reading

Fr Alexander is one of the best kept "secrets" of Modern Orthodox academics. He has done a ton of great work. These two pdfs are just more evidence of the penetrating mind of Fr Alexander. What I like best is the grappling with the Old Covenant, a topic not much discussed in contemporary Orthodox publications. Liturgy and Mysticism: The Experience of God in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Part I Liturgy and Mysticism: The Experience of God in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Part II See more here at the Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism seminar @ Marquette. Continue reading

Matt Millinerd writes an informative post. Attempts to overcome metaphysics having been shown to be themselves irrepressibly metaphysical, metaphysics is again in the air. Consider Dan Siedell's compelling review of Gabriel Bunge's The Rublev Trinity. Siedell quotes philosopher Jean-Luc Marion's Crossing the Visible, where he suggests that Nicaea II, the council that vindicated icons, "formulates above all and—perhaps the only—alternative to the contemporary disaster of the image." Siedell then takes the philosopher's insight into firm art historical terrain: "The icon is the theological foundation of all painting, secular and religious." We can hope any who missed this crucial insight from... Continue reading

Chris Benson over @ Mere Orthodoxy has announced a book I have already ILL'ed. This looks interesting! "I recently broadcast new and upcoming titles of interest, but a clear stand-out emerges. Here’s the career of an inquiry. First, there was Lewis Mumford’s Technics and Civilization (1934). Then there was Martin Heidegger’s “The Question Concerning Technology” (1953). Then, Jacques Ellul’s Technology and Society (1954). Next, Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964). After that Neil Postman’s Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1992). And now, almost two decades after the last book, Brian Brock’s Christian Ethics in a... Continue reading

I am visiting the family back in upstate New York for a little bit and today went off to the 9:30 AM divine liturgy at one of the eight(!) local Orthodox parishes that are within a convenient drive of my father's house. The liturgy was reasonably well attended for midsummer and was unremarkable until the time came for the last major censing by the deacon. The priest was at the altar with the doors open when suddenly a small boy, not more than four or five years old, broke loose from his parents and ran up towards the altar and...... Continue reading

"Where gestures lack style, ethics itself becomes debased." Nicolás Gómez Dávila Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 240 Continue reading

The recluse is humanity’s delegate to what is important. -Nicolás Gómez Dávila Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 226 Continue reading

From all I can tell a recently released website and a few bloggers ( AOI and Fr Gregory)are spreading info on a brand new Orthodox Liberal Arts college. This is also interesting in light of this recent call from SVS (here). from Fr Gregory's blog "One of the greatest needs for the Church in America is an Orthodox school system. With few exceptions, Orthodox Christian children attend public schools. Yes, some attend private religiously affiliated or secular schools. But there are very few Orthodox parochial school. A noticeable exception to this, is Three Hierarchs Eastern Orthodox School (THEOS), “a private,... Continue reading

Around midnight in the moon-lit cobblestone courtyard of the Prodromos Monastery at Mount Menoikeion, a student and I were sitting outside taking advantage of the wifi signal that we've managed, somewhat ambivalently, to install. A solitary nun walked by with her prayer beads, and gently asked what we were doing. After explaining what we were up to, she smiled and said in a light Greek accent, while gesturing to the sky, "I'm trying to access the other internet." I nominate this to be placed top ten nun quips of the twenty-first century. [crossposted at the Mount Menoikeion blog] via www.millinerd.com Continue reading

As anyone knows who spends time in the sunshine latitudes of contemporary America, gated “55-plus communities” have been spreading faster than kudzu ever since the oldest cohort of baby boomers felt the first twinges of arthritis. The oddly age-specific phrase signifies that the developments in question are designed for the needs of the (relatively affluent) retired. Typically, at least one resident of each unit must be at least 55 years old, and no permanent resident can be a minor. Why 55 became the canonical age rather than 50 or 60 is hard to say, but the figure is now so... Continue reading

“There are two novels that can transform a bookish 14-year-kld’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish daydream that can lead to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood in which large chunks of the day are spent inventing ways to make real life more like a fantasy novel. The other is a book about orcs.” – “The Value of Nothing” by Raj Pate source Continue reading

God is laying his last slate to the roof, The ceiling of my death is near complete, The Vivarium now must live up to its name. Fish in my stewponds circle silently, Their free captivity is like the soul, An endless round, then thrashing in a net. Our state days pinioned in official letters, The Variae of sound administration, But Boethian birds still shun my volary. Home to the South, to sad Scolacium, From Civilisation and a Library, The sea spray drying on acacia leaves. After me what further barbarisms? My pose is prayer, but yet my head is filled... Continue reading

A review of William T Cavanaugh's new book "The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict" by John Medaille. It is, alas, a story we hear almost everyday. A “terrorist” straps explosives to his body and walks into the crowded market to cause mayhem. Or “Holy Warriors” fight endless battles to prevent the spread of democracy in their homelands. When we see these things, we shake our heads and lament that in the name of God, these people not only commit terrible crimes, but resist the very things—democracy and liberalism—which will bring them the same... Continue reading

It seems that the Volos Conference has been underway and overviews of the specific papers have been provided via the website for the Volos Academy. Here is a general outline: Holy Metropolis of Demetrias Volos Academy for Theological Studies INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Neo-Patristic Synthesis or Post-Patristic Theology: Can Orthodox Theology be Contextual? June 3-6, 2010, THESSALIA CONFERENCE CENTER, (MELISSIATIKA), VOLOS The conference is organized in collaboration with the Orthodox Christian Studies Program of Fordham University, the Chair of Orthodox Theology of Münster University, and the Romanian Institute for Inter-Orthodox, Inter–Confessional, and Inter-Religious Studies (INTER) Cluj-Napoca PROGRAMME THURSDAY, JUNE 3rd 2010 18.00-18.30... Continue reading

as if it were a scene made-up by the mind, that is not mine, but is a made place, that is mine, it is so near to the heart, an eternal pasture folded in all thought so that there is a hall therein that is a made place, created by light wherefrom the shadows that are forms fall. Wherefrom fall all architectures I am I say are likenesses of the First Beloved whose flowers are flames lit to the Lady. She it is Queen Under The Hill whose hosts are a disturbance of words within words that is a field... Continue reading

“[Family life must have been different] in the days when a family had fed on the produce of the same few miles of country for six generations, and that perhaps was why they saw nymphs in the fountains and dryads in the wood – they were not mistaken for there was in a sense real (not metaphorical) connections between them and the countryside. What had been earth and air and later corn, and later still bread, really was in them. We of course who live on a standardized international diet…are artificial beings and have no connection (save in sentiment) with... Continue reading

"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his tradition. Thus we have two great types--the advanced person who rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins. He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine." G.K. Chesterton, from a newspaper column of 1924 - and very appropriate in an age when... Continue reading

It was with sadness that we learned of the passing of Pierre Hadot, one of France's most extraordinary intellectual figures and a many-time HUP author. There have been obituaries in the popular press, but in the service of furthering this memory and elaborating our understanding, we asked Hadot's one-time student and long-time collaborator Michael Chase, currently of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, to provide us with a more in-depth look at Hadot's remarkable intellectual trajectory. Below please find Part I, in which Chase details that trajectory, from Hadot's early interest in philology and mysticism to his... Continue reading

Stanley Hauerwas teaches theology and ethics at the Divinity School of Duke University. After receiving his Ph.D. from Yale, Dr. Hauerwas spent the first part of his career at the University of Notre Dame before coming to Duke in 1984. For a theologian, not exactly a vocation one chooses to be well-known, he has lectured widely, his work often crossing disciplinary lines, and has found himself in the New York Times, Time Magazine, and in the wake of 9/11 on Oprah’s stage. Yet, just as commonly one finds him speaking in small churches. Many know his reputation for being a... Continue reading

Today is the twentieth anniversary of Walker Percy’s death. He died at home in Covington, Louisiana on May 10, 1990 following a two-year bout with prostate cancer. He left us six novels and two works of nonfiction, as well as numerous essays, some of which were later collected in the posthumous Signposts in a Strange Land. Along with Flannery O’Connor, he is often considered one of the leading Catholic writers of the South in the twentieth century. His work—from the National Book Award winning The Moviegoer to the fast-paced The Thanatos Syndrome—captures the malaise and potential absurdity and horror of... Continue reading

Beautiful pictures from Mt. Athos. H/T Athos Agion Oros Continue reading

Holy Apostles Mission in Bowling Green, Kentucky has received heavy damage to its mission chapel from the recent flooding in the region. No further services are planned in the current location. Weekly Bible studies and Vespers on Saturday evening will be held in members' homes.The Mission is currently working to secure a new location for services. Read about the flooding and see pictures in the Bowling Green Daily News Reader Thomas Kevin Burt writes: Thanks be to God; we were able to save with NO DAMAGE ALL of our icons, liturgical items, acolyte robes, furniture, etc. The flood waited until... Continue reading

The U.S. Foreign Service Institute teaches foreign languages to government diplomats and personnel for duties abroad—and its courses are available online, for free. Which means you can access audio, texts, and tests in 41 different languages. The FSI Language Courses web site isn't actually maintained by the U.S. government itself, but the materials developed before 1989 are within the public domain (whether all of these materials came before then is not clear). Some languages contain more materials—for instance, the three texts on Sinhala isn't going to beat the giant course on French anytime soon. For the most part, most major... Continue reading