No School Is an Island
Doug Sikkema
October 24, 2013
Northrop Frye and, later, his student Margaret Atwood established the “garrison mentality” as a d...
Cultural Renewal
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Experiencing Every Square Inch of God's Theater
Ray Pennings
September 25, 2013
Calvin described this world, moved by God's providence, as theatrum gloriae. For him, every aspect of life from work to worship and from art to technology bears the potential to glorify God (Institutes, 1.11.12). Creation is depicted as a platform for God's glory (1.14.20) or a "dazzling theater" (1.5.8; 2.6.1), displaying God's glorious works. Calvin viewed the first commandment as making it unlawful to steal "even a particle from this glory" (2.8.16). Such comments support Lloyd-Jones' later claim that for Calvin "the great central and all-important truth was the sovereignty of God and God's glory."What makes the theater image powerful? It's the interaction between performers and audience. Every performance is unique as the audience responds to the actors who in turn are affected by the response. The lively dynamism shapes the experience.
Last week's Comment interview reminded me of why I prefer John Calvin's metaphor of the world as the theater of God's glo...
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Two Postcards from Canada's Switzerland
Peter Stockland
September 17, 2013
A) Wisdom from friend and Convivium magazine contributor Alisha Ruiss: B) A recent walkabout reflects my building sense of bewilderment:
Two postcards from Canada's Switzerland, where "neutrality" now means the Québec government will employ its monopoly on the use of force to knock all hats off all heads almost equally.
A) Wisdom from friend and Convivium magazine con...
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The Bastard of Irony
John Seel
September 6, 2013
Words matter—just ask Paula Dean—yet we speak them without thinking from dawn to dusk. Collectively, though, they create our world, shape our imaginations, and uplift or wound those around us. The Bible has much to say about words and their importance. From Scripture we might wonder if there is anything more powerful in the universe.
Urban Dictionary: Snark (noun)—combination of "snide" and "remark." Sarcastic comment(s). Also snarky (adjective) and snarkily (adverb).
Words matter—just ask Paula Dean—yet we speak them without thinking from dawn to dusk. Collectively, tho...
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Loyola's Freedom of Religion
Ray Pennings
August 2, 2013
Canada's Supreme Court will hear a case next spring that will greatly impact the future choices available to parents in the education of their children. Things got a bit complicated in Quebec in 2008, however, when the government passed a requirement that all schools (including private schools and home schools) teach a new program called "Ethics and Religious Culture." The ERC purpose is straightforward: "The new program, which reflects the preference of the majority of Quebeckers, will make it possible to offer the same education to all Québec students while respecting the freedom of conscience and religion of parents, students and teachers." .
Update: The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Loyola on March 19, 2015. For an analysis on the ruling, click here.
Canada's Supreme Court will hear a case next spring that...
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Sacrifice Binds Us
Brian Dijkema
July 25, 2013
The purpose of his article, which I heartily recommend and endorse, is to leave behind the placards and plumb the depths of the word and its public implications for North America.
Rusty Reno notes in his opening essay of First Things' June/July issue that "solidarity" is a word that, "for a long time, has been a word of the left: class solidarity, workers' solidarity, solidarity strikes and so forth."
The purpose of ...
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Socialist Acts?
Brian Dijkema
July 2, 2013
I've read The Communist Manifesto, large chunks of Capital, and a bunch of other Marxist material, and compared to the power of the Holy Ghost, the spectre of communism looks like Caspar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The book of Acts does not condone or command socialism because socialism didn't exist in the first century. Socialism is an ideology that arose in response to the social problems brought about by the industrial revolution; the Apostles were preaching the go...
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It Matters
Ray Sawatsky
June 21, 2013
From the small jokes that disarm the fear of pretentiousness to the hand written note I received in the mail today, I am reminded that amidst all our grandiose posturing, it is the little human touches that separate ordinary from extraordinary. It is the hand written note, the expression of gratitude, an affirmation of talent, or the remembering of a name that exhorts and builds us up. This small edification or investment in another person, the living out of 1 Thessalonians 5:11, is so easily set aside when faced with busyness or with the assumption that it is not required, desired, or appreciated. However, nothing could be further from the truth or more important. In terms of human impact it needs to rise to the highest level of priority.
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting and working with a man whom I have long admired from afar. He is the kind of individual who commands attention and rarely, if ever, lets you down with his insight. However, it is not his lofty accomplishments, sharp in...
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After Meaning: Quebec's Religion Problems are Mere Symptoms
Peter Stockland
June 18, 2013
They were devout Jews. It was the Sabbath. They needed him to come to their house and turn off the lights and some electrical appliances. "They don't just talk about what they believe," he said. "They live it in every day life."
Several years ago my son was cycling home to his apartment in Outremont when he was approached at a corner by neighbours asking for a somewhat unusual favour.
They were devout Jews. It was the Sabbath. They needed him to come to their house and turn ...
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Persistence, Underwritten by Hope
Milton Friesen
June 14, 2013
One of the profile people at the event was John McKnight. People in the community leadership and community development world know him well, and I won't re-iterate his well-earned and impressive credentials. What I most resonated with as I step back from the event is the way in which John attends to relational language in his talks and comments.
This past week I had the privilege of participating in the Neighbours: Policies and Programs unconference put on by the Tamarack Institute in Kitchener, Ontario. One of the key ideas that framed the ...
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Sensible Common Sense
Andy Bayer
June 4, 2013
We have a federal government that is frequently at odds with experts in policy decisions: replacing a mandatory census with a voluntary one at the objection of statisticians; putting more petty criminals in jail to the chagrin of criminologists; reducing the GST even though economists say it is bad policy; and investing less in research, resulting in an exodus of PHDs to the U.S. in an increasingly knowledge-based economy. To be fair, there are cases where the government puts forth an evidence-based policy, such as the federal government's aboriginal property ownership plans. But this seems to be less and less the case.
The phrase "common sense" has become ubiquitous in our culture. This phrase implies that whatever is the most widely-held belief is the most correct. In many cases, common-held knowledge is correct, but in Canada I believe our politicians have often based...
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Cultural PTSD
John Seel
May 31, 2013
Academic terms are not normally thrown around the set of NBC's Today Show. More commonly it is the source for fluff pieces, pseudo-news, and celebrity interviews. But recently with great earnestness host Matt Lauer asked Zachary Quinto, "What is it about our zeitgeist that so many of the blockbuster films are apocalyptic in nature?" Zachary was on the show to promote his film, Star Trek Into Darkness, where he plays the character of Spock. Zeitgeist is a German word meaning "spirit of the age or time," and is often attributed to the philosopher Georg Hegel. Sadly, Spock had no meaningful response to Lauer's query. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World: "An asteroid named 'Matilda' is on a collision course toward Earth and in three weeks the world will come to an absolute end. What would you do if your life and the world were doomed?"
Zeitgeist?
Academic terms are not normally thrown around the set of NBC's Today Show. More commonly it is the source for fluff pieces, pseudo-news, and celebrity interviews. But recently with great earnestness host Matt Lauer asked Zach...
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Vocabulary of Difference
Peter Stockland
May 29, 2013
Like their London antecedents, of course, Montreal bridges are now far more famous for falling down than they are for conjugating across chasms. Was the city of collapsing 25-tonne concrete slabs really the charmed place to lay the foundation for unifying conversation between Canada's myriad of religious faiths and the often-adversarial secular society in which they must exist? In doing so, they brought to the surface a much deeper challenge facing Canada's multitudinous faith communities.
A witty fellow sent me an e-mail at the start of this week's Bridging the Secular Divide conference pointing out the paradox of it being held in Montreal.
Like their London antecedents, of course, Montre...
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"Secure Your Own Mask First"
James K.A. Smith
May 24, 2013
But recently I heard a rote part of the flight attendant's script as if for the first time. No doubt this will sound familiar: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I spend a lot of time on airplanes. The rituals of flight have become second nature for me. When the cabin door closes, I shut down my phone, pick up my New Yorker, and tune out the drone of the crew as they enumerate all of the safety procedures we ...
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When Democracy Loses its Moral Authority
Ray Pennings
May 22, 2013
"Harper government had to know $90,000 payment to senator crossed all sorts of ethical red lines"—May 20, 2013 Andrew Coyne column. "Alleged Rob Ford video raises ethical dilemma"—May 20, 2013 Global News report.
"Hard to believe Obama's claims of ignorance in IRS Scandal"—May 20, 2013 Fox News headline.
"Harper government had to know $90,000 payment...
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A Goose on a Roof
Peter Stockland
May 9, 2013
Not that she was fetishistically attentive to physical safety. On the contrary. Her nickname was Mimi Dreamie, earned from her habit of inhabiting imaginary spaces while running full tilt into very real trees and other large, hard, plainly visible objects. On a particular occasion in Calgary, we were running through the neighborhood of Elbow Park and I was cajoling her to try to keep an even pace when I realized she had stopped in her tracks at a street corner half a block behind me.
My daughter was not quite yet an adolescent when she taught me the importance of running with eyes wide open.
Not that she was fetishistically attentive to physical safety. On the contrary. Her nickname was Mimi Dreamie, earned from her habit of inha...
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Small Things Done With Great Love
John Seel
March 21, 2013
What if Jesus wasn't kidding when he asked, "When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith upon the earth?" Too often we've taken this statement as a kind of hyperbolic warning. What if it is a serious possibility? A movement dies when it is no longer able to pass its beliefs from one generation to the next.
"Where are my children?" is a question every parent has asked. "Not in church," is a likely answer.
What if Jesus wasn't kidding when he asked, "When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith upon the earth?" Too often we've taken this statement as ...
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Candid Discussions Worth Having
Ray Pennings
March 20, 2013
"Cardus is hosting an event with Mark Carney?" We look forward to both events advancing Cardus's mission of renewing social architecture.
"Cardus is hosting an event with Conrad Black?"
"Cardus is hosting an event with Mark Carney?"
"Yes," we are delighted to answer our interlocutors. Many Cardus followers last week received invitations to two forthcoming events in the Hill Fami...
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Places of Worship Protected in City Core
Ray Pennings
March 15, 2013
The changes, which emerged out of a series of consultations and research spearheaded by Cardus will, according to the city staff report, "enhance the Center City Plan by acknowledging the impact that faith-based institiutions make in the Centre City’s build and social environments." The report notes that "while many community and cultural groups and organizations have been included within the Centre City Plan, there is very little mention of faith based institutions."
The City of Calgary’s Municipal Planning Commission unanimously passed a series of amendments to the Calgary Centre City Plan on Thursday, clearing ...
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Religion and Realism in Canadian Foreign Policy
Brian Dijkema
February 12, 2013
That is not a quote about Stephen Harper. That is a quote from Denis Stairs referring to Canada's golden boy of foreign policy, Lester B. Pearson. Yes, that Lester Pearson; the same one that won a Nobel Peace prize back in '57. NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair suggests that CIDA's partnering with religious organizations, specifically Christian ones, contributes to a Canadian foreign policy marked by "more religion, less nutrition." Today he went even further, suggesting that religious relief and development organizations were "completely against" Canadian values. He says: "We don't understand how the Conservatives can ... subsidize a group in Uganda whose views are identical to those of the Ugandan government."
"The manse, it seems, was a formative force in External Affairs as powerful as academia."
That is not a quote about Stephen Harper. That is a quote from Denis Stairs referring to Canada...
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Hard-Won Religious Freedom
Janet Epp Buckingham
January 23, 2013
— Jason Kenney (@kenneyjason) January 21, 2013 The prospect of having harboured terrorists can certainly take the wind out of your sails. With allegations from Algeria that Canadians were part of the band of Islamist militants who attacked a natural gas plant in Algeria, we find another welcome opportunity to check ourselves. But if the allegations by the Algerian prime minister prove true, these would not be the first Canadian terrorists. In fact, the first terrorist convicted in Canada lived in the seemingly placid suburb of Orleans, Ontario. I have friends that live very nearby. It was pretty alarming to find out that Momin Khawaja was constructing detonating devices in his bedroom and his family had a shooting range in the basement.
Can't begin to understand those who turn their backs on Canada to embrace the death cult of jihadi extremism,eg these 2 bit.ly/XswU8a
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Publisher's Letter: Thanks to YOU! Happy Birthday to Us
Peter Stockland
January 1, 2013
The first is an interview with Father Ian Boyd, a Saskatchewan-born Basilian priest, English professor and magazine editor whose New Jersey-based Chesterton Review will turn 40 in 2014. The second is an essay from Diane Weber Bederman, a wonderful Toronto writer who sees the world through the lens of Jewish ethical monotheism and who encountered Chesterton's genius by chance in a bookstore in Rome last year. Initially flummoxed by G.K.'s style, she came to place him in the pantheon of God's messengers, alongside Saint Francis and Botticelli.
My journalistic hero G.K. Chesterton described giving thanks as "the highest form of thought" and gratitude as "happiness doubled by wonder." As Convivium celebrates its first birthday with this issue, we have the happy double wonder of having not one but t...
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The Devil's Advocate
Robert Joustra
November 2, 2012
Herds of peaceably grazing policy wonks have been left shaking their heads in dismay as the marauding presidential campaigns have rampaged through their turf, leaving a trail of wrong-headed assumptions, non sequiturs and outright falsehoods strewn behind them....But are election races a useful platform for debating ideas? Preston Manning suggests they’re not, arguing that parties especially are not really good at generating or debating ideas. They are the marketing arm of ideas that have been distilled for public consumption. In the eternal words of Monty Python’s monastic order of the holy hand grenade, "skip a bit, brother."
Even economists are exhausted from presidential prognostications this week. Writing for his blog, Dan Drezner says our financial caste, normally simplistic-prediction happy addicts, are rousing in a cranky stu...
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On the Table
Diane Weber Bederman
November 1, 2012
Diane Weber Bederman urges us to think again about Yad Vashem.
Divisions within the early Christian community, and beliefs adopted by some of its members, led to and gave justification for anti-Semitism among Christians over the centuries.
It is anti-Semitism that led to the mass murder of Europe's Jews and this...