Have you ever wondered why a snake entwined on a staff is a symbol of medicine? Or why doctors take an oath to practice medicine?
History
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Los Angeles in letters
Los Angeles is a city that grabs you by the arm—nearly by the throat—and insists you hear another explanation of what it means.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
The Jesuit institution uncovering the truth (and fake news) about saints
Most of what we know about saints—from the most beloved to the most obscure—comes from the little-known Bollandist Society.
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
Does suffering always lead to greatness?
By itself, suffering is no gateway to greatness. Yet it’s hard to find titans of history who didn’t know great sorrow.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Is archaeology academic liturgy?
Recognizing the ritual nature of scientific inquiry will allow universities to undertake that inquiry in a manner that better serves its mission.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Daniel E. Burns: Don’t appoint bishops. Elect them.
The Catholic church would benefit if bishops felt more like local leaders and less like regional managers in a Rome-based nonprofit. One way to move in that direction would be to have the clergy elect their bishops.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Massimo Faggioli: Electing bishops will not solve the church’s problems.
There is no question that the process for the appointment of bishops should be updated. But the election of bishops with procedures similar to democratic elections would only exacerbate all kinds of rifts in the Catholic Church today.
Posted inArts & Culture, Film
A Catholic queen is surprisingly woke in ‘Mary Queen of Scots’
The messages of “Mary” that can be applied to our own age are received early, and often.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: The roots of American conservatism
William F. Buckley Jr. was more than a prolific writer: He was the brains and coalescing force of a post-World War II philosophy that gradually became known as “conservatism” and which culminated with the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan as president.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
The U.S. can’t match Mary’s perfection, but we can aspire to her humility
Is it conceit or coincidence that a saint who was conceived without sin is the patron of a country that believes the same about itself?