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Many years ago, as a graduate student, I spent a summer with a Christian Palestinian family in Bethlehem. It was my first visit to the Holy Land, and, as it does for many new pilgrims, it rocked my world.One thing struck me immediately. Throughout the Holy Land, you can see the word hic inscribed in various locations, like churches and alleyways. This simple word, Latin for “here,” was written as a reminder to the believer that the events recorded in the Gospels all happened in …

In the Italian region of Tuscany stands a mountain called La Verna (or Alverna). It was once owned by an Italian Count named Orlando Cattani, but in 1213, the Count donated the mountain to Francis and his monks as a place to go for silent prayer and contemplation. The Count’s note to Francis read, “I have in Tuscany a faithful mount that is named Mount of La Vernia, which is really isolated and wild and perfect for those who want to do penance in a remote place or to those who …

“Constantine has been a whipping boy for a long time, and still is today. In popular culture (Dan Brown, Da Vinci Code), among bestselling historians (James Carroll, Constantine’s Sword), and among theologians (Stanley Hauerwas, John Howard Yoder, and their followers), his name is identified with tyranny, antisemitism, hypocrisy, apostasy, and heresy. He was a hardened power-politician who never really became Christian, a hypocrite who harnessed the energy of the Church for his own …

“A historical myth is a widely held interpretation of historical events that is believed, not for its veracity, but because it explains the past in a way that somehow satisfies the worldview of those who believe it. Myth is not simply the result of ignorance or misunderstanding; it is believed because people wish, in spite of all countervailing evidence, to believe it.” - Thomas S. Freeman and Susan DoranIt is not shocking that Catholics have been vilified and scapegoated throughout …

In 1986, Peter Gabriel had a hit with the song “Big Time,” in which a man with an inflated self-worth declares his liberation from the provincial values of his community of origin. He aspires to be what the American writer Tom Wolfe called a “master of the universe” in his 1987 novel Bonfire of the Vanities. The protagonist of Gabriel’s song declares, “There’s so much stuff I will own” and “I’m on my way, I’m making it.” Mo …