On the back of a rotten dream and a few following unsettled nights, I dragged just about every scriptural reference book I own out, blew off the dust, and began scratching out the following. It’s heavy but it’s worth the toil. I think. The Catholic doctrine of Purgatory has always been a scandal to the … Continue reading The Fires That Cleanse: On Purgatory, Scripture, and the Uneasy Middle
Tag: Life
The Great Grift of the Double Income
We’re told, in the dulcet tones of history textbooks and corporate diversity videos, that the ‘double income household’ was the great liberation. Women marched out of the kitchen, men learned how to boil an egg, and all was well with the world. Cue a slow-motion montage of shoulder-padded power suits, briefcases clacking like castanets, and … Continue reading The Great Grift of the Double Income
The Machine That Would Not Stop
If you want to terrify a modern reader, you needn’t bother with haunted houses, poltergeists, or even climate change. All you need to do is thrust E. M. Forster’s 1909 short story The Machine Stops under their nose and whisper: “This is you. Right now. With your Wi-Fi password tattooed on your soul.” Forster, that … Continue reading The Machine That Would Not Stop
The Beast of Gévaudan: Folklore in Fur, Politics in Fangs
Some creatures exist twice: once in the flesh, once in the imagination. Wolves, lions, demons, politicians - take your pick. In the wild hills of Gévaudan between 1764 and 1767, one such double-lived beast stalked the countryside. To the peasants it wasn’t simply a wolf, but la Bête - a monster, a terror, and an … Continue reading The Beast of Gévaudan: Folklore in Fur, Politics in Fangs
St. George, the Dragon, and the Colours We Raise
There he stands - or rather, rides - our St. George, spear braced, horse rearing, dragon writhing beneath (featured image below). It’s an image both timeless and terribly timely. Though centuries have passed since this tale was first illuminated in parchment or carved into stone, its symbolic force remains more urgent now than ever. For … Continue reading St. George, the Dragon, and the Colours We Raise
Wording 