Finished reading Fitzgerald's translation of the Aeneid yesterday evening. Absolutely wonderful. But I can't help contrasting the Trojans' battle for their Italian promised land with that of the Israelites. In Greco-Roman religion, following even the revealed will of the gods was no guarantee of success because what one god willed a greater might oppose. So Hera stirs up the Latins & Rutulians against Aeneas, but she is opposed by Jove, who has promised Italy to the Trojan remnant.

An important letter from Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky, Michael Ignatieff, J.K. Rowling, Salman Rushdie, and many others on the left about the rising tide of illiberalism and cancel-culture in contemporary society.

harpers.org/a-letter-on-ju… "It is now all too common to hear calls for swift and severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and thought."

Some good thoughts from Gilbert Meilander on what he calls the "ecumenism of time."

"Many questions are never really 'answered' in a way that makes continued reflection on them unprofitable or pointless..." "Much of what we learn about human nature and human life comes from gradually working our way into a tradition of thought and learning from predecessors within it, especially those who are acknowledged masters.

“Although the theme of the restless heart provides no apologetic argument by which Christians can persuade others to believe, it does shape an anticipation and suggest an invitation... It anticipates an unfulfilled longing for rest, and it invites one to turn, as Augustine eventually did, to “the food that is incorruptible” (Conf. 3.1)....

Last night I dreamt I was at a banquet where the main speaker’s talk was devoted to tearing down an article I had written on Hieronymus Bosch. This came as a great surprise to dream-me, as I had no inkling such an attack was coming. Partway through his lecture, the guest speaker directly asked me to defend my work. But dream-me couldn’t even remember what I’d written in the article, which made the whole situation all the more stressful.

On this day in 1631 John Donne entered into glory. Though dead, he still preaches the Gospel to those who will hear. His poetry in particular has been a consolation to me for many years (in the pictures below is my facsimile edition of the 1633 edition of his poems). In his final sermon, Donne counselled his listeners to remember that "unto God the Lord belong the issues of death" (Ps. 68:20). To that end, he concludes by commending his listeners to the mercies of Christ, in whom we find our final deliverance:

"God dwells with us in darkness..." So writes Jochen Klepper in this haunting hymn. Klepper was no stranger to darkness: his wife was of Jewish descent, and the family was driven to suicide during the Nazi regime.

This hymn is entitled "The Night Will Soon Be Ending," with music written by Johannes Petzold (this is the music used in Germany and was written specifically for this hymn; it is not the music which appears in the Lutheran Service Book 337). The lyrics follow:

I will not let Thee go, Thou help-in-time-of-need.
Heap ill on ill
I trust Thee still,
E'en when it seems that Thou wouldst slay indeed.
Do as Thou wilt with me,
I yet will cling to Thee,
Hide Thou Thy face, yet, Help-in-time-of-need,
I will not let Thee go. I will not let Thee go; should I forsake my bliss?
No, Lord, Thou'rt mine,
And I am Thine,
Thee will I hold when all things else I miss.
Though dark and sad the night,
Joy cometh with Thy light,
O Thou my Sun; should I forsake my bliss?
I will not let Thee go.

Pastors, if your church is suspending services as a result of COVID-19, give parishioners hymnals to take home. The hymnal is a rich devotional treasure, and one that people will need in a quarantine situation—especially older members unable to tune in to live-streams. The same goes for those who have to self-isolate due to sickness and those staying home from services because they are at greater risk if they contract COVID-19. Get these people hymnals. And make sure they have a Bible at home that they can easily understand.

Martin Chemnitz with some wonderful reflections on "the washing of renewing of the Holy Spirit" which comes through baptism. Thread: "Paul indeed briefly but thoroughly covers and describes this whole process of renewal (Ro 6:4 ff), where he says... ...first, that we, being planted by Baptism into the death of Christ are also buried with Him into death, namely that the power and efficacy of the death of Christ not only forgives us sins, but also begins to crucify, mortify, and...

Fr. Thomas Rosica has stepped down as CEO of Salt and Light following the exposure of a pattern of plagiarism earlier this year:
saltandlighttv.org/statements/ LifeSite, which broke the story on Fr. Rosica's widespread plagiarism, asked me for comment in their story on his resignation. (I had helped to uncover significant plagiarism in Fr. Rosica's writings for Canadian news media, as well as in his academic writing.)

George Herbert’s The Temple was the tenth book on my 2019 Reading List. Hebert’s poetry, first published in 1633 (the same year he died), seeks to demonstrate that “beauty and beauteous words should go together” (to borrow a phrase from his poem “The Forerunners”). For Herbert, the deepest beauty is that of God and His love. This book of verse runs the gamut of Christian faith and experience, its griefs as much as (or more than) its joys.

In 2015, Fr. Rosica was invited to be Keynote Speaker at @archvancouver's “Symposium on Christian Unity.” The speech was subsequently published online by the Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops (@cccb). I estimate at least 2/3 of this 14-page speech is plagiarized. You can download my full 31-page analysis of plagiarism in this speech—which was entitled “The Decree on Ecumenism: 50 Years Later”—and documentation of it sources here: dropbox.com/s/k9v7ocv3hbb8…

I can now confirm that Fr. Rosica's 1994 journal article "Encounters with Christ: Word and Sacrament" is extensively plagiarized.

The image below shows 4 of the 5 pages of the article, with word-for-word plagiarism highlighted. A full rundown on the plagiarism and its sources can be seen here: dropbox.com/s/ri4ie98mtc73…

The eighth book on my 2019 reading list was Walter Kasper’s brief book Martin Luther: An Ecumenical Perspective. Here Cardinal Kasper sketches the forces behind Luther’s reform and his significance for contemporary ecumenical discussion. He dismisses historic Catholic caricatures of Luther, noting that the contemporary academic Catholic assessment of Luther is that he “rediscovered something that was primordially Catholic.”

Book seven on my reading list for 2019 was a collection of seventeen sermons by Ælfric, a tenth century English Benedictine monk and prominent writer of the Old English period. Carmen Acevedo Butcher’s translation brings Ælfric’s words into clear, simple English (a reflection of the monk’s own preoccupation with bringing the Word of God into readily understood prose).

Ælfric: "That God was willing to be a person in this life and redeem us through himself is a much greater miracle than even the miracles that he worked among humanity while he was here on earth. And the unseen miracles—through which he blotted out the hidden sins of our souls—were better for us than the visible miracles through which those persons were healed, but later died. The soul healed from sins and persevering in faith surely goes from this life to God.

Since a few people have asked why I'm interested in the Fr. Rosica plagiarism story, here are a few comments beyond what I've already said in my op-ed for The National Post. I gather that there are some differences of opinion in Catholic circles about Fr. Rosica. Frankly, I know very little about that: I’m a Lutheran. But I am interested in uncovering the truth.

I have just completed an analysis of Fr. Thomas Rosica's 1992 academic journal article "In Search of Jesus: The Emmaus Lesson,” (Church. Vol. 8. (1) Spring 1992. I can confirm that it contains extensive plagiarism. (See the following thread.) I will include comparisons of the plagiarized text below but you can also download all of this information as a pdf here:

dropbox.com/s/7b9i8ep2twmu…

This evening @nationalpost published two pieces detailing the revelation of Fr. Thomas Rosica's extensive plagiarism: a news story by @JosephBrean as well as a commentary piece from me on the same subject.

My column is here: nationalpost.com/opinion/opinio… National Post began work on their story after receiving my column, along with the evidence I had accumulated detailing Fr. Rosica's plagiarism in articles for Canadian newspapers spanning more than a decade. Brean's story is here:

nationalpost.com/news/its-wrong…

Canada's Christian media community is fairly small. That's one of the reasons why I'm distressed to hear that one of its most prominent members, Fr. Thomas Rosica, has apparently been plagiarizing extensively for many years. I don't know Fr. Rosica personally but I enjoyed a talk he gave once at a Canadian Church Press event years ago. I've also enjoyed what I've read of and about him in Canadian media. He's even been profiled in @globeandmail: theglobeandmail.com/news/world/can….