Welcome to Verbum’s new series on sacred poetry. Each week for the next several months we’re featuring entries from respected poets on divine subjects.
Today’s poem is “The Windhover.” All poetry is meant to be read aloud, and this poem especially benefits from it, due to the density of alliteration and unique rhyme scheme. [Read more…]
This early painting by the Dutch artist Rembrandt beautifully displays the brutality of St. Stephen’s stoning, found in Acts 7.
In the background, you can see the man who became the apostle Paul holding the mob’s tunics. [Read more…]
Welcome to Verbum’s new series on sacred poetry. Each week for the next several months, we’re featuring entries from respected poets on divine subjects.
We’ll begin by looking at a poem from Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889). [Read more…]
This morbid piece from Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is called David with the Head of Goliath. It depicts the exact moment in 1 Samuel 17:57 where David presented the Philistine’s head in triumph to Saul. [Read more…]
Sr. Mary Margaret Funk writes on practicing early monasticism, the International Theological Commission provides five decades of theological reflection, and select works from the great Henri de Lubac publish soon—and here’s what else is new and upcoming in Verbum.
You also can guide the future of Verbum resources by placing a bid for Pre-Pub products, such as the Liturgical Press Wisdom Commentary Series (16 vols). [Read more…]
This is a guest post from author and apologist Steve Ray.
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A Christian can be compared to a man on a journey.
As soon as the traveler crested the hill, he knew he was in dire straits. He was lost and desperately weary from hours of trudging down dusty paths, and his tongue was swollen with thirst. The leather pack his mother had given him grew heavier by the mile. He was nowhere near his destination. [Read more…]
This grim piece from Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is called Giuditta e Oloferne, or “Judith Beheading Holofernes.” It depicts Judith, a young widow, decapitating Holofernes after pretending to ally herself with the enemy.
The deuterocanonical book of Judith describes Judith seducing Holofernes (the leader of the enemy troops), getting him drunk, then taking her sword and beheading him. [Read more…]
This piece from Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is called Crocifissione di san Pietro, or “The Crucifixion of Saint Peter.” It depicts the martyrdom of St. Peter described in the Acts of Peter. [Read more…]
The importance of Tertullian in the development of early Christian thought and his significance for our understanding of early Christianity cannot be overestimated. Though he was certainly not the first Christian to write Latin, he is the first Christian Latin author from whom we have a major literary corpus. [Read more…]
Each month in 2019, Verbum will be highlighting one saint’s life, work, theology, and impact on the Church. This month’s saint, Thomas Aquinas, is one of the most influential philosophers and theologians of all time.
Lived: 1225–March 7, 1274
Feast Day: January 28
Patronage: Academics, apologists, philosophers, and theologians [Read more…]
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