The way of imagination

  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. “Eavesdropping on Jesus” (22 Nov 20: Matthew 25.31-46)      If you had the chance to travel back to any point in time ,  when  would you go?  Would it be to New Year’s Eve, 1999? …1989 Berlin? …1969 Woodstock? …1969 on the Moon? …1789 Paris? …1759 Québec City? …1517 Wittenberg?  All of these moments would seem strange to us, but at least the events that occurred at these times are considered important  to Westerners .  But how if we were to travel to the distant past to a part of the world where the culture is extremely different from our own?  How about the capital of the Roman province of Judea around the year 30 AD?  As we seek to understand today’s Gospel, I invite you to accompany me on a journey back in time to the turbulent, mysterious and intriguing world of first-cent...

     Growing up, I enjoyed a book series entitled “Choose your own Adventure”.   At key points in each story, I (the reader) would be faced with a choice – “if you wish to enter the cave, go to page 24; if you would rather continue down the forest path; turn to page 17”.   My decisions determined the outcome of my literary adventures.   Funny how life can imitate art.   Little did I know how my response to a dinner invitation three summers ago would forever alter the course of my life.      It had been a hectic Spring, a period of transition, finish lines, false starts, and invitations .   The internship was over, I was racing to finish (a draft of) my long overdue thesis, and the new job would begin in a few weeks.   A couple from the parish had offered to host me at their cottage, and the departure date for this trip to the Maritimes became my deadline for the submission of that stubborn paper which was beginnin...

     La dépression peut-elle se guérir en prenant une pilule?   Le journaliste britannique Johann Hari discute des « causes méconnues » et les « soins novateurs » de la dépression dans son livre Chaque Dépression a un Sens , paru en 2018.   Hari décrit sa propre expérience de se faire prescrire des antidépresseurs alors qu’il était adolescent.   Malgré qu’il ait passé 13 ans à prendre la dose maximale des antidépresseurs chimiques, Hari a continué d’être hanté par la dépression.   Afin de bien comprendre ce qu’il vivait, Hari a entrepris de parcourir le monde en faisant un voyage de 65,000 kilomètres pour interviewer les principaux scientifiques et chercheurs en santé mentale. Le résultat de son enquête était la publication de son deuxième « bestseller » ( New York Times ).      Hari remet en question la croyance populaire qui veut que la dépression soit fondamentalement un problème au sein du ...

     Can depression be fixed with a pill?  British journalist Johann Hari proposes to “uncover the real causes of depression – and the unexpected solutions” in his 2018 book Lost Connections .  Hari describes his own experience of being prescribed antidepressants as a teenager.  Despite having spent thirteen years taking the highest possible dose of chemical antidepressants, Hari continued to be haunted by depression.  To get to the bottom of his struggle, Hari embarked on a 40,000-mile odyssey around the world to interview leading scientists and mental health researchers.  The result is his second New York Times bestselling book.      Hari challenges the widely accepted belief that depression is fundamentally a problem in the brain. When Hari first complained about his depression, his doctor explained that he was simply suffering from a lack of serotonin and that the appropriate medication would remedy the problem and resto...

Review of BBC Two/PBS miniseries “Wolf Hall”, season 1 (2015).      Wolfhall (or  Wulfhall ) is the site of a manor house, home of the Seymour family in Burbage, Wiltshire. [1]   Episode 5 begins with King Henry and his entourage arriving at Wolf Hall during his Royal Progress.   TV/film aficionados will recognize Claire Foy (Anne Boleyn) from the first two seasons of “The Crown” (2016-) as well as Bernard Hill (Anne’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk) who played Theoden, king of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003).   Let’s not forget Mark Rylance [2] (Thomas Cromwell) who played Rudolf Abel alongside Tom Hanks’ James Donovan in Bridge of Spies (2015) and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Rafe Sadler, Cromwell’s secretary) who stars in the 2020 miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit”.      Season 1 charts the ascent – over a seven-year period – of Thomas Cromwell, who goes from serving as lawyer to Thomas Cardinal Wolsey (Archb...

      Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer: A Life . New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2016 [1996]. 632 pp., pbk.  ISBN 978-0-300-22657-7 The English Reformation played out very differently than those on the Continent, and by the time it got underway, the continental reform movements were already welcoming a second generation of leaders.   In modern evangelical contexts, much attention is given to the nonconformists of 17 th & 18 th -century England while those figures who initially moved the English Church away from Rome during the 16 th century are largely unknown due to neglect.   Surely Puritans, Baptists and Wesleyans are easier to include in the evangelical family tree than paedobaptist Bishops who struggled to reform an established Church from the top down.   I believe that this “life” of Cranmer will serve 21 st -century evangelicals by introducing them to a theological ally (and ancestor), albeit one who found himself at the...