Crannóggy Island

The Wilderness Consultation In the second year after the exodus from Egypt, the Tent of Meeting stood at the centre of the camp of Israel. God spoke to Moses from within the tent. Moses carried what he received to the people. The arrangement was straightforward, if demanding. The Committee for Ongoing Discernment on Covenant Standards had established itself nearby. It had not been asked for. It had, nonetheless, arrived. Moses had been going in and out of the tent all morning. "He's been in there a long time," said the younger committee member, who was responsible for stakeholder engagement. "God is speaking to him," said the secretary. "Yes, but the Amorite delegation have been waiting since the third hour, and they've come a considerable distance." Moses emerged from the tent. He was carrying a scroll and wearing the expression of a man who had not slept well since Egypt. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," he said....

  Three theologians, a Protestant, a Catholic, and an Orthodox monk, met in a dream at the edge of a vast and empty plain. At the centre of the plain stood a single stone. It was ancient, weathered smooth by centuries of wind, and half-sunk into the earth. All three recognised at once that it was a foundation stone. None doubted that something had once been built there, nor that whatever might yet be built would have to begin from it. The Protestant approached first. He brushed the dust from the stone and struck it lightly with his hand, testing whether it would bear weight. "It is firm," he said. "That is enough. A house stands because it trusts the foundation beneath it. If the foundation holds, the builder need not fear." He rested part of his weight upon the stone, almost instinctively. "A perfect design built on mistrust collapses no less surely than a crooked wall." He spoke as though the greatest danger were not weakness in the foundation but despai...

  An emergency cabinet meeting at Number 10 reportedly lasted six hours after someone accidentally unplugged the only remaining opinion poll showing Keir Starmer was popular (in the Falkland Islands). Witnesses say the prime minister attempted to restore order, but was drowned out by Animal shouting ‘EVERTHING IS FINE!’ while Beaker presented a 97-slide PowerPoint entirely made of panic noises. Kermit has allegedly been tasked with explaining why everything is actually going according to plan. Meanwhile, Downing Street insiders insist morale remains high. Miss Piggy is understood to have demanded three resignations before breakfast, Fozzie Bear is handling media strategy (‘Wocka wocka, Burnham is no good!), and Gonzo is in charge of revising the government's policy priorities (benefits, benefits, benefits). Officials deny claims the government is now being run entirely by the Muppets, although one aide was heard to admit: "In fairness to the Muppets, they usually rehearse fir...

Introduction What a Christian makes of Mary reveals more about his theology than almost any other question he can be asked. This is not because Marian doctrine is central to the Gospel. Catholics do not claim it is. The disagreements about her turn out, on inspection, to be disagreements about almost everything else: the nature of Scripture, the authority of tradition, the scope of redemption, and the communion of the living and the dead. Indeed, Catholics themselves have not always presented Marian devotion well; exaggeration and romanticism can obscure what the doctrines are meant to protect. For many Protestants, Marian doctrines appear to have little biblical foundation and are an elaborate edifice built on human tradition rather than Scripture. For Catholics, these doctrines are grounded in Scripture, illuminated by apostolic tradition, and developed across centuries of theological reflection. Most Protestant challenges are not disputes about individual texts. More often, they a...

  "Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n"   (Satan, Milton's Paradise Lost) Introduction Before the serpent, before any human being drew breath, or any garden was planted, something turned. That's the question this essay sits with. Not why evil exists in some abstract philosophical sense, but how the very first act of rebellion was even possible. Lucifer, the tradition tells us, had no excuses. No tempter whispering in his ear, no passion clouding his judgment, no ignorance to hide behind. Pure spirit and intellect; created good and held in grace, and yet, at some point in what we can only call the morning of creation: non serviam . I will not serve. The human fall has contextual factors. There's a serpent, there's embodiment, there's the particular vulnerability of creatures who learn gradually and can be deceived. When Adam and Eve make a wrong choice, we can see contributing conditions. But Lucifer strips the problem to its bones. His ...