Editorial

Transcendence Is Transformation

Jan Patočka the Czech thinker wrote: “By virtue of this foundation in the abysmal deepening of the soul, Christianity remains thus far the greatest, unsurpassed but also un-thought-through human outreach that enabled humans to struggle against decadence.” Christianity is the principal agent of the tradition of caring for the soul and the driving force of […]

The Identity Crisis of the Jews

The Jewish people faced a terrible identity crisis as they were led into alien lands and were forced to live as Diaspora. Their temple was destroyed and rituals along with priesthood got terminated. They even had to live in very hostile states and political situations. The book of Esther is about surviving dead ends: living […]

The Story of the Crucified Continues

What is historical in Jesus’ resurrection? The canonical Gospels never describe Jesus’ resurrection. But they assert that in order to know what happened to him, we are of necessity referred to what happened to the disciples and what we call the Easter experience. St. Paul preached what Christians believed (I Cor 1.1:3h-5): that Christ died […]

Rage against the Dying Of the Light

Rainer Maria Rilke wrote: “The animal is in the world; we stand before it by virtue of what peculiar turn and intensification which our consciousness has taken.” It is the animal without a sense of responsibility that produced hell on earth. Man without thought produces hell wherever he is. Nazi horror is only one of […]

Still Living In The Shadow Of Christendom

“So that, in truth, Thou didst Thyself lay the foundation for the destruction of Thy kingdom, and no one is more to blame for it. Yet what was offered Thee? There are three powers, three powers alone, able to conquer and to hold captive forever the conscience of these impotent rebels for their happiness—those forces […]

Deconstructing the Indian Kitchen

Jeo Baby’s The Great Indian Kitchen is a film of 1 hour 40 minutes length that admirably brings alive the hustle and sounds of a typical Indian kitchen. It is a story of two generations of Indian women whose world revolves around the kitchen. The film is evocative of this piece of dialogue from Ibsen’s […]

Enthusiasm of Being Touched from Distance

Nero’s all-consuming appetite is never satisfied and he died of boredom. Kierkegaard writes. “One is weary of eating on porcelain and eats on silver; weary of that, one eats on gold; one burns down half of Rome in order to visualize the Trojan conflagration.” The danger is that fleeing from boredom is often through boring […]

The Art of Moral Choice

Edmund Husserl says: “The world originates within us, as Descartes led men to recognize.” This is a turn to interiority, the ‘inside is better’ as St Augustine says. Religion is what you do with your own interiority. Interiority is life of freedom. “Freedom… is not a quality added on or a property of my nature. […]

Salesians elect Maltese priest Fabio Attard as Don Bosco’s 11th successor

Pope Francis does not accept Cardinal Koch’s resignation: could continue at least until anniversary of Council of Nicea