Geoffrey Ready

I want to begin with a confession of perspective. I am an Orthodox Christian presbyter, the rector of a small mission parish in Toronto and the Director of Orthodox Christian Studies at Trinity College within the University of Toronto. I am also, for the past decade or so, someone who has been reading with sustained attention the work of scholars associated with what is increasingly called the “within Judaism” school of New Testament interpretation. These two things—Orthodox Christian faith and “within Judaism” scholarship—are the lenses through which everything I am going to say here is refracted…

As we are all aware, the Divine Liturgy is our present participation in the life of the age to come, a real encounter with the kingdom of God. St Maximus the Confessor teaches that the liturgy is the site where the grace of the Holy Spirit “transforms, remoulds, and truly remodels [each participant] into a more divine image.” …

Kings dominate the story of the Bible, but the scriptural narrative expresses ambivalence towards monarchy. Some years after the people of Israel are rescued from slavery in Egypt and brought to the land God promised them, they begin to desire a king to rule over them. In one sense, the unfolding narrative suggests this desire[…..]

Secularization does not necessarily mean a decrease in religiosity. The philosopher Charles Taylor argues that secularization is a migration of religious devotion from institutional allegiances to other channels. This is a powerful explanatory dynamic.