By Ian Wilson … The celebrated mystic, St. John of the Cross, was born Juan de Yepes y Alvarez on June 24, 1542, in Fontiveros, Spain. Even as a child, John knew he wanted to live the ascetic life. After the untimely death of his father and older brother when John was only three years old, John was sent to a boarding school for poor orphaned children. There, he received a religious education, and served as an acolyte at an Augustinian monastery.
By Ian Wilson … It was hard to describe; it wasn’t human, nor was it like any animal I had ever seen, like a parody of biology, a satanic practical joke. Its gawky body was ink-black. Multiple eyes blazed out of its head. Its mouth, if you could call it a mouth, was a mass of dripping tentacles. I screamed. Holding my rosary aloft, I shouted, “In Christ’s name, get back!”
By Ian Wilson … If you read the title of this article, you already know the conclusion I’m coming to. Halloween has been celebrated in Western Christianity, particularly in Britain, for hundreds of years.
By Ian Wilson What is known about St. Valentine is scant and open to conjecture, shrouded in legend. It is difficult to separate fact from fable, to the point that in 1969, the Roman Catholic Church removed Valentine from their official calendar due to lack of evidence for his existence. Valentine may not even have […]
By Ian Wilson (G) Considered the most astute of the three Cappadocian Fathers, the man who would become Gregory of Nyssa was born into a large, devout Christian family sometime in the fourth century. His older brother was none other than Basil of Caesarea, another one of the Cappadocian Fathers. Together with Gregory of Nazianzus, […]
By Ian Wilson Like millions of Americans, I saw the movie Red One over the Christmas holiday. It was a great film, and like all good stories, it revealed an even deeper truth about the nature of reality. I must warn you that this article will contain numerous spoilers, so if you haven’t seen Red […]
By Ian Wilson (G) One of the most beloved saints of the church was born sometime in the third century AD to wealthy parents in the town of Patara in Asian Minor (modern Turkey). Nicholas’ devout parents raised him the nature and admonition of the Lord, and due to their influence, the young Nicholas dedicated […]
By Ian Wilson John Bosco was perhaps one of the more eccentric saints of the Catholic Church, though can one truly be a saint without being a bit odd? As a young lad in Sardinia (Italy), Bosco saw a performance by a circus troupe and was instantly obsessed. He began training himself in acrobatics and […]
The 23rd Pope of Rome was born sometime in the third century, AD – no one knows exactly when. Little is known of the details of his life prior to his papacy other than he was born in the city of Rome to ethnically Greek parents. From a young age, he was drawn by God […]
By Ian Wilson (G) To begin to interpret the Bible, we must first read and understand it on it’s own terms. We cannot bring our modern, Westernized sensibilities to the text. We cannot bring to the text a meaning which the authors did not intend. We cannot bring modern, textual criticism to the text, the way we […]
By Ian Wilson (G) The most prolific writer of the New Testament was probably born sometime around 4 BC to a devout Jewish family in Tarsus, present-day Turkey. His story is one of redemption and the incredible grace of God. Nothing is known of his formative years, other than he was trained by Gamaliel, one […]
By Ian Wilson I frequently see this sentiment expressed that we, as Christians, should “follow Jesus, not just the Bible” or that we should “unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament” or even that we “follow Jesus, not Paul”. In Roman Catholic or Orthodox circles, I hear it expressed as “Jesus established a church, not a […]
By Ian Wilson (G) Born in 1615, Richard Baxter lived in a tumultuous time in British history. In a time when it might have been easy to be an extremist, Baxter always sought to seek peace, and hold the middle ground between the warring factions. He was fond of saying “In necessary things, unity; in […]
By Ian Wilson (G) Not much is known about the childhood of the Belgian Protestant Reformer, Guy de Bres. He was born in the year 1522, in the Belgian town of Hainaut. While nothing is known of his father’s profession, he was apparently prosperous enough to afford to send Guy to university, where he first […]
photo by Jan Kopriva on Unsplashed As I’m sure we all know by now, Adam and Eve did not continue on in perfection and bliss forever; they fell. What (or who) caused them to fall? Why did they eat from the tree? And who exactly was the Serpent? Now the serpent was more subtle than […]
(Image by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash) Ian Wilson (G) It’s easy to get hung up on the details of Genesis while missing the deeper meaning – that our God is a God of order. He is a God who places everything in it’s proper place, who sets a limit for the season and calls the […]
By Ian Wilson … Born in 954 in Somerset, England, Aelfheah had everything – a noble family, wealth, food, drink, servants – yet none of those things had affected him so much as knowing and drawing nearer to God. Much to his family’s dismay, Aelfheah entered the monastery, where he was respected for his austerity and extreme piety.
By Ian Wilson … In her youth, Juliana had quickly learned Latin and memorized the works of St. Augustine and St. Bernard of Clairvaux, devoting herself to theological study; an unusual pursuit for a woman in her time. At the young age of 13, Juliana was welcomed into the order.
LogoSophia Magazine 