Tag Archives: history

Piety and Science

Records of the human quest for knowledge have existed for four to five thousand years, revealing that as humans have confronted the vastness of the cosmos, as they have watched and listened and felt the natural environment, their response has … Continue reading

Posted in books, Christianity, European history, History of Science | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Great Commission and the Discovery of America

Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Americans and Europeans, after they had come to know the variety of indigenous tribes of North America, were perplexed by the question of their origins. The seventeenth-century Puritan clergyman Roger Williams argued that the Indians had remarkable … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Christianity, Great Commission | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Captain John Smith’s New England

If anyone in American history has the honor of being called the discoverer of New England, it is Captain John Smith. That’s right—John Smith, one of the founders of Jamestown, the savior of the infant colony of the Virginia Company, … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Biography, books | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Conundrum of the Past and Present

The Conundrum of the Past is coming an hour and now is… The mirror of the past is the only way to peer at the image of the Son of Man. The reflection is darkened by time and sin. Specters … Continue reading

Posted in Christianity | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

God’s Shadow over American History

Jean-Pierre Caussade in Abandonment to Divine Providence writes truthfully that God is behind all historical events. If so, then it is God’s will that the United States is in 2025 exactly where He wills it to be. And further, that … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Christianity, God's Providence | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Southern Hill Country Mentality

Reflections on the people of the American South after the Civil War into the 20th and 21st centuries as they confronted the perils of modernization. The Southern hill country personality type is a reticence towards others, even a reticence toward … Continue reading

Posted in American History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Christianity and Independence Day

Independence Day in America is a secular holiday celebrating freedom with picnics, fireworks, parades, and the proud display of the American flag. For Christians, Independence Day means even more, for by the signing of the Declaration of Independence a series … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Christianity | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bartholomew de Las Casas: Missionary Advocate for the Indigenous People of New Spain

When in 2016 Pope Francis visited Chiapas, Mexico, to demand rights for the indigenous people of Mexico, he was on familiar ground for champions of indigenous rights. Four hundred and eighty-one years earlier, in 1544, one of the great champions … Continue reading

Posted in Christianity | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fanny Allen (1784-1819): From Vermont to the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph

Fanny Allen’s commitment to the Great Commission was not flashy, the stuff of grand tales of perseverance, suffering, and martyrdom—more the everyday, the challenges to faith of family and friends, the renewed commitment time and again, the daily putting on … Continue reading

Posted in Biography, Christianity, Great Commission | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Juniper Berthiaume (1744-?) French Missionary to the Penobscot Tribe

Pope Francis said on his Apostolic Journey to Canada in July 2022, “I have been waiting to come here and be with you! Here, from this place associated with painful memories, I would like to begin what I consider a … Continue reading

Posted in Biography, Christianity, Great Commission | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment