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Understanding the Language Spoken By Icons: Part One

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:09-05:00March 19th, 2010|Categories: Church Tradition, Prayer, Spirituality, The Church|

In the article on icons, that I referred to previously from the Catholic weekly OSV, there was an interview with a Catholic iconographer named Marek Czarnecki. Czarnecki has been writing icons for fifteen years. For him, this is more than a simple job, it is his personal calling. He sometimes devotes whole periods of time to prayer and fasting before writing. The Connecticut-based artist studied iconography for ten years with a Russian Orthodox iconographer before he began his work. Here, to give you an idea of what such a writer of icons does, is a small part of that interview:

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OSV: How does iconography relate to art, to theology, to prayer?

Czarnecki: People think that iconography is a style of religious art, and it’s not. It’s a whole vision of reality, but we use art as a tool to scribe that reality. . . […]

How To Properly Read and Write Icons

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:09-05:00March 18th, 2010|Categories: Church Tradition, Prayer, Spirituality, The Church|

In my previous blog on icons I have very specifically noted that icons were written, not painted. This is a distinction that has significant meaning to those who discover that icons are a “window” for prayer, meditation and worship. I count myself among such Christians now. I have several carefully chosen classical icons in my place of prayer and private worship. I have the most famous of all icons, Christopantocrator. I also have an icon of the blessed Trinity and one of Saint Benedict, a role model Christian to me. These icons help me to pray and provide for me windows into the hopes I have for my own life. I also have an icon of the Apostle Paul. The icon I most treasure, since my dear friend Father Wilbur Ellsworth gave it to me on my 60th birthday, is an icon of the Apostle John, after whom I was named by my […]

Understanding Ancient Christian Iconography

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:09-05:00March 17th, 2010|Categories: Church Tradition, Prayer, Spirituality, The Church|

For most of my life religious icons have been of no consequence to me spiritually. There were two reasons for this response as I now understand my journey in faith. First, I thought icons were idols. The fact that the Orthodox kissed them made me quite “sure” this was the case for decades. Second, my understanding of the proper use of icons was limited by my prejudice against them.

The more I have studied the theology of the ancient church, and the practices of that church in public and private worship, the more I have had to deal with a number of subjects that I knew very little about. This was the case with icons. My initial fears were addressed by thoughtful, helpful responses from Christians who were much better able to understand the important role of iconography. Eventually I could no longer avoid the subject of icons when friends became Orthodox and I became more than a little curious. I wanted to genuinely listen to other Christians, since this is at the heart of my own faith journey, […]

Are Young Voters Weary of the President Already? What Difference Does It Really Make?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:09-05:00March 16th, 2010|Categories: America and Americanism, Politics, Postmodernity|

The youth vote has always been a moving target for those seeking office and those who research the reasons and patterns of young voters in America. I am personally persuaded that this vote is not one that you can or should be counted upon to build a political base. It is such a fragile, shifting demographic that it is hard to tell what this segment of the populace will actually do from one year to the next.

We all know by now that President Obama did better with the 18-29 age group than any candidate since the vote was lowered to age 18. His poll numbers among this group were very, very good. A lot of analysis has gone into trying to figure out why. What we do know is that this age group voted by an overwhelming 2-1 ratio for Obama. Obama brought together, in 2008, high numbers of first-time voters, large numbers of young minorities […]

Father Joseph F. Girzone and the Phenomenon of the Joshua Series

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:10-05:00March 15th, 2010|Categories: Jesus, Roman Catholicism|

I became aware of Joseph Girzone’s Joshua series some years ago. I knew they were selling like hotcakes but this might have been the very reason I didn’t give them the time of day. Their very popularity tended to put me off. I guess that says more about me than I care to admit but such books were not on my shelves. Actually my first real exposure to Girzone was through his little book titled Trinity. I wanted to determine if Girzone’s view of God was both helpful and orthodox. (In case you want to know, it is!)

Jospeh F. Girzone retired from the active Catholic priesthood in 1981 and embarked on a second career as a writer and speaker. In 1995 he established the Joshua Foundation, an organization dedicated to making Jesus better known throughout the world. He lives in Altamont, New York.

What Father Girzone clearly possesses is a unique ability to make Jesus' words and actions come to life for contemporary audiences. I found myself, in reading four of his […]

Conscientious Objection to War

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:10-05:00March 14th, 2010|Categories: Ethics, The War on Terrorism|

The history of Christian response to war and service in military combat is one filled with twists and turns. Every person must realize, if they exercise a modicum of thought, that this issue is deeply painful and troubling. Early Christians did not always serve in the military, though Roman soldiers were numbered among converts to the faith. Most of what we know about the early church suggests that, at least generally, Christians did not serve in the military. Over time the church developed what is called a “Just War Doctrine.” This doctrine is rather complex and has been carefully thought out over the course of centuries. But this doctrine is not of one type or expression. There are variations within it and every single Christian should think carefully about what they believe and why.

Modern complexities often create new challenges to traditional just war thinking. I have retained a modified just war position but I admit it is sometimes […]

Hope for Church Leadership

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:10-05:00March 13th, 2010|Categories: ACT 3, Evangelism, Missional Church|

I do not generally blog about events that are not related to ACT 3 or I would be able to do nothing but promote events. In this case I am announcing an event because I plan to attend and believe it is something that is so consistent with the vision I have for “equipping leaders for unity in Christ’s mission” that I want everyone, at least in the Chicago area, to be aware of this valuable training opportunity. I refer to: Creating and Weathering the Storm: Hope for Church Leadership.

This is an equipping event sponsored by the Synod of Mid-America and the Classis of Chicago of the Reformed Church in America. Leadership teams will learn what it means to create a storm – why that is good – and to weather it. Through it all there is hope for leadership! This title seemed appropriate to the planning team […]

How Do We Answer Young Post-modern Skeptics?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:10-05:00March 12th, 2010|Categories: Apologetics, Evangelism, Postmodernity|

A friend of mine recently sent me a statement posted by a college student on Facebook about his view of Christianity. My friend was initially appalled by the remarks this young skeptic made but after looking at this a bit more carefully he said that he began to think this kind of response from the young skeptic represented the harsh reality of much of the message that modern day evangelical Christianity has presented concerning the salient points of our faith. My Christian friend wrote on his Facebook page: “My sense is that if we are primarily about doctrinal precepts then maybe this young person is right. If, on the other hand, we are about being living and acting and serving ‘the least of these’ in the same manner as Jesus and empowered by his Spirit, then it is much harder to reject compassion, love, and hope. ‘They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love . . .’ as the chorus goes.”

My older and wiser friend included the student's statement when he wrote to […]

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:10-05:00March 11th, 2010|Categories: Current Affairs|

You know the saying: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me!” I cannot think of a childhood saying that is more untrue. Words can and do hurt you. They crush the spirit, destroy hope, break down health and undermine grace. Words matter and any Christian ought to know that God considers their words very important since he revealed so much about how we use them in Holy Scripture. (cf. James 3:1-12 for starters.)

I thought about this recently when I read about the flap over President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, calling some fellow Democrats “f—ing retards.” Beside the fact that this merely proves what we already knew about Rahm Emanuel’s infamous tongue. [In an earlier version of this post I wrote that Emanuel was an Orthodox Christian but I was rightly corrected. He is part of a Jewish congregation in Chicago. I think I confused Emanuel with our former governor, now indicted […]

The Great Sex-Ed Debate and Why It Misses the Point

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:10-05:00March 10th, 2010|Categories: Culture, Sexuality|

New York Times conservative columnist Russ Douthat recently reported that liberals were delighted that the teen birth rates rose in 2008. Why would they care? Well, 2008 was the last year of the Bush presidency and, after fifteen years of the teen birth rate declining, 2008 saw it rise thus it has been proven (so far as liberals are concerned) that President Bush’s $100 million-a-year abstinence-based sex-education policy failed.

Russ Douthat, one of those rare conservative writers who knows what is right when he sees it and says so whether his political kin like it or not, recently weighed in on this liberal response. I believe Douthat is right when he suggests that the real truth here is that the abstinence programs favored by social conservatives, and the “contraceptive-oriented” programs favored by liberals, both failed. (I am aware that some social conservatives have a stronger view of how to actually teach abstinence in the public schools but […]