Introduction On September 30, 2026, a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv nearly fell from the sky. The co-pilot attacked the captain with the cockpit's emergency axe, and the plane plunged thousands of feet. The captain was wounded but still got the cockpit door open, and passengers rushed in and overpowered the attacker. Reserve pilots landed safely in Saudi … [Read more...] about One God, Three Messengers: Jesus, Muhammad & Rev. Moon
Christianity
Anthony de Mello’s Awareness: 5 Lessons for Modern Life
Introduction What if the life we are waiting for is already happening?We often imagine that happiness is just one achievement, one relationship, one change, one moment of approval, or one answer away. We tell ourselves that when something finally changes, we will relax. We will feel secure. We will know who we are. We will begin living.Anthony de Mello’s … [Read more...] about Anthony de Mello’s Awareness: 5 Lessons for Modern Life
Anthony de Mello’s Awareness: What Does It Really Mean?
Introduction What does it really mean to "wake up"?In Awareness, Anthony de Mello argues that much of human life is lived almost automatically. We inherit ideas about success, happiness, love, identity, religion, and even ourselves, then gradually forget that we inherited them. We begin treating our conditioning as reality.But some of de Mello's most … [Read more...] about Anthony de Mello’s Awareness: What Does It Really Mean?
The Waste Land Explained: What Did T. S. Eliot Mean?
Introduction What was T. S. Eliot really trying to say in The Waste Land?Nearly a century of interpretation has produced familiar answers: postwar disillusionment, spiritual collapse, sexual alienation, cultural fragmentation, loss of faith, and the breakdown of modern civilization.But Eliot himself complicated those explanations. He resisted reducing the … [Read more...] about The Waste Land Explained: What Did T. S. Eliot Mean?
If God Is One, Why Do Religions Divide Us?
Introduction If God is loving, why has religion so often become a reason to divide, condemn, and kill?Across centuries, human beings have built temples, mosques, and churches in search of the divine. Yet the walls raised to honor God have sometimes become barriers separating one community from another. Sacred names meant to guide people toward mercy have … [Read more...] about If God Is One, Why Do Religions Divide Us?
Stand With Jesus: What If People Tried to Stop the Crucifixion?
Introduction What would you have done if you had been standing on that road?It is easy to answer from two thousand years away.We know the name Jesus Christ. We know what happened at Golgotha. We know that the crucifixion became one of the defining events in human history.But the people standing along the streets of Jerusalem did not possess our view of … [Read more...] about Stand With Jesus: What If People Tried to Stop the Crucifixion?
Convenience Store Woman: Is the New Normal Really Normal?
Introduction Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman begins with a woman who does not fit the conventional picture of adulthood.Keiko Furukura is unmarried.She has no children.She has spent eighteen years working in the same convenience store.Her family worries.People around her assume she should want something different.Part One asked whether Keiko should … [Read more...] about Convenience Store Woman: Is the New Normal Really Normal?
Could Japanese Culture Succeed Where Religion Has Failed?
Introduction Japan presents a fascinating contradiction to many visitors.It is a country where relatively few people organize their daily lives around exclusive religious belief, yet visitors frequently encounter behaviors traditionally associated with moral teaching: honesty, consideration, cleanliness, respect for shared spaces, social responsibility, and … [Read more...] about Could Japanese Culture Succeed Where Religion Has Failed?
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ Explained Through Its Characters
Introduction What if Jesus knew how much suffering would later occur in his name? José Saramago’s The Gospel According to Jesus Christ is not a conventional retelling of the life of Jesus.It is a moral confrontation.Saramago takes figures familiar to billions of people—Jesus, Joseph, Mary Magdalene, God, and the Devil—and places them inside questions … [Read more...] about The Gospel According to Jesus Christ Explained Through Its Characters
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ Explained by Top Scholars
Introduction by José Saramago Did Saramago reject Christianity, or challenge Christianity to examine its relationship with authority and suffering? I wrote a book about Jesus, and many people assumed that meant I intended to write a book against Jesus.I did not.The Jesus who interested me was precisely the opposite: a human being caught between what he … [Read more...] about The Gospel According to Jesus Christ Explained by Top Scholars