Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Two Lectures Available Online
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Two of my lectures from the recent Meeting the World series are now fully online, courtesy of Ancient Faith Radio: Meeting the World: Taking the Gospel Into Our Times and Our Places: Part 1, Part 2 A Peculiar People: Orthodox Christian Identity in a Hostile World: Part 1, Part 2 Three more will be available in the next several weeks, each broken into two…
Nearly Orthodox
forgiven and loved...
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Henry and I had a heart to heart last night. We do that. He’s a sensitive guy, a sweet soul. He feels everything so deeply, so authentically…and sometimes he’s a the drama king of the place. He’s surely my son. Last night he didn’t feel well. He came to me, put his arm around my neck and sat down on my lap. At 9, his lanky body falls awkward on my lap.…
Nearly Orthodox
why I love religion and how I love Jesus...
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For the last couple of weeks I’ve heard about a young christian poet who’s made a video I’ve seen titled Jesus>Religion or “Why I hate Religion but love Jesus.” I won’t post the video. This isn’t really about the video, merely some thoughts on what it brought up for me. I won’t criticize the poet’s theology or his rhyme scheme or his delivery. As a poet I can tell you that taking…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Religion, Rules and Reality
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One of the unfortunate aspects of Internet converse that I’ve noticed during my nearly twenty years online is that often interlocutors write as though they assume that what they see in front of them is in fact the only thing that a poster has ever written on a subject. I think this comes of living in a sound-byte world, in which it is proposed…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Updates and Two New O&H Reviews
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Two new weblog reviews of Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy have been posted recently. You can read them here: The Hair-Shirt Agenda On Behalf of All Also, for those who don’t regularly follow my posts on Facebook and Google+, you may be interested to know that I am currently at work on a new book (title to be announced later) on introducing Orthodox Christianity to the…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Why I Love (True) Religion, Epilogue
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After well over 300 comments posted, and probably close to 200 ad hominem rants and attempts to get me to convert back to the Evangelicalism from whence I came deleted without being published, I’ve decided to close comments for my previous post, “Why I Love (True) Religion Because I Love Jesus.” I thank those who had something new and useful to contribute—even those who…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Why I Love (True) Religion Because I Love Jesus
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The above video by Jefferson Bethke has been making the rounds lately via various bits of social media. A few people have sent it to me to ask what I think. This touches on a lot of themes that I’ve written on before, and while it doesn’t particularly make any new theological claims—it’s really just a sort of standard, monergistic, anti-ecclesial, sentimentalist Evangelical Protestantism—for…
Nearly Orthodox
Hurricane Carlson...
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Every Sunday morning as I struggle to get the kids out the door to Liturgy I have the same set of emotional baggage tucked under both arms and piled up on my back. I feel weighted down, dreading the act of walking into church, strongly considering dumping it all and just crawling back into bed. Going to church isn’t a joy right now. I did not have an expectation that when I…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Byzantine, Texas reviews Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
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Nearly Orthodox
Confession
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I french kissed my boyfriend in church, during Mass, when I was 15. I didn’t mean to do it. Honestly. He was my first boyfriend and the first boy I had ever kissed. I had watched way too many romantic movies in preparation for this first kiss, that day at the drive in. Yes, I made out with a guy for the first time in a car, on a double date, at…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Voice from Antioch
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In honor of the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch today, I’m reposting links to all the parts of my podcast series, Voice from Antioch: An Ignatian Catechism, which covers major themes in Orthodox Christianity from the writings of the third bishop of Antioch and great hieromartyr of the early Church. Happy feast! I. Martyrdom: Part 1, Part 2 II. Salvation in Christ: Part…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
SoCal Antiochian Youth Ministry reviews Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
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Nearly Orthodox
On having a sandwich...
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This morning I uncovered the real reason I waited so long to bring my children to Liturgy. Certainly, my long-held notion that I was still working it out for myself was spot on. I did want to get a feel of the flow, a lay of the land. That was not the only motivation though. This morning for whatever reason I was thinking about food. Maybe it’s because I’m fasting, sort of.…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Abdication in the Soul
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December 11, 2011 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. On this day in 1936, exactly seventy-five years ago, His Majesty, Edward the Eighth, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland, and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India, abdicated his throne and…
Nearly Orthodox
holding fast...
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I ran across a video one of my kids took on my iPhone last year at this time. I was in my Nashville kitchen putting away groceries, talking to someone about what they’d like for lunch at which point my husband said, “are you giving up dairy too?” I said, “yes, dairy, meat, eggs…” and he said, “for how long. I answered that the fast continued until Christmas but I wasn’t sure…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Orthodoxy & Heterodoxy available for Kindle, Nook, iBook, Sony Reader and others!
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Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Meeting the World: Taking the Gospel into our Times and our Places
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Nearly Orthodox
home...
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Another Sunday, another Divine Liturgy to experience in yet another Orthodox church. I wasn’t going to go. I thought I’d stick with St George and the Dragon. Something gnawed at me, though, and each time I thought about going back I was uneasy. I had questions, I had reservations. I was pretty sure they were all about me and my shortcomings. I’d dialogue with myself about this all day long. Won’t wear…
Nearly Orthodox
momentum...
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I’m headed down to Nashville next week. I’m hoping for a week to catch up with friends, do a lot of writing and to visit St John’s. And it’s an interruption in momentum. Stupid momentum. I’m hoping to visit one more community before I go. This one is very small, much like St John’s. I’m a little wigged about it. Small crowds make me nervous. I can hide in big crowds, in…
Nearly Orthodox
reformation...
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One year ago today, on Reformation Sunday, I sat in the congregation of the Presbyterian church I’d been attending and had myself a revelation. I heard the pastor preach about the value of the Reformation and even get a bit teary eyed about the whole thing. I realized, just then, that I was not a protestant, that I’d never really been a protestant. I’d been attending catechism classes and Vespers services at…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Speaking of Books reviews Orthodoxy & Heterodoxy
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Nearly Orthodox
slaying the dragon...
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I spent a couple of hours last night at a bible study. Bible studies are not my usual bag. Don’t get me wrong, I love to study the bible, it just that the “group bible study” aspect hasn’t been part of my normal gig. I spent 12 years in Catholic schools and contrary to popular protestant belief, we do actually read and study the bible. So, over the years whenever presented with…
Nearly Orthodox
water...
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I need to work out more often and I need to drink more water every day. I can feel the cumulative effects of stress and aging on my body. I can feel the winter coming, the absence of moisture in my skin. I know I need to work out. I know I need to drink more water. In some moments I remember to do these things and I also make time to…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Is the Rapture (really) today?
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The following is a somewhat expanded and revised version of a post I made five months ago, the last time the Rapture didn’t happen. From suggestions that we should all release blow-up dolls filled with helium at exactly noon on May 21, to an invitation on Facebook for post-Rapture looting (here’s the Oct. 21 event; after all, many cars will be “unmanned,” you know),…
Nearly Orthodox
dress code...
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It would be easier to just go back to being Catholic. That’s a known quantity. Why not just go back to being Catholic? It’s tempting. I won’t lie. I’m pretty sure all I’d have to do is catch up on my Easter Duty…go to confession, go to Mass. By Easter I’d be Catholic again. I already know all the words, the doctrine, the stand-sit-kneel combos. Why not just go back to being…
Nearly Orthodox
giant in the road...
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I co-led a retreat this weekend. It’s a retreat that I developed and organized called The Wise Woman. I’ve been leading this a couple of times a year for the last 5 years and it has always been intense, difficult, rewarding and spiritually focusing for me. The retreats in Chicago are mainly driven by a friend of mine and I come in and do my “thing.” I read a lot of my…
Nearly Orthodox
Groundwork
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The plumber came today. There’s water dripping from the shower into my kitchen so the landlord sent Constantine by to have a look. I was out at the time. Dave was here with the kids. When Constantine walked through the kitchen he stopped near my prayer corner. He said to Dave in his thick Greek accent, “Are you Greek?” Dave answered, a little confused, “no, Swedish.” Constantine persevered, “your wife?” “No, German…
