ABSENT FROM THIS column all summer, I have been walking, in the words of the 23rd Psalm, “through the valley of the shadow of death.” It has been both a dreadful and a wonderful experience. The ancient power of prayer,…
Margaret Thatcher’s funeral was a memorable, moving, and magnificent occasion. Obsequies for great statesmen can be tightrope walks across the divide between the temporal and the eternal. There are many conflicting pressures: past controversies, political sycophancy, private grief, and religious…
The greatness of Margaret Thatcher is readily apparent to those who honor the conservative principles by which she lived. She believed in rolling back the power of the state, allowing free enterprise to flourish, breaking the stranglehold of organized labor…
While all eyes have been on Rome in recent weeks for the election of a new pope, the world’s third-largest Christian denomination has enthroned a new archbishop of Canterbury. He is Justin Welby, the global leader of 90 million Anglicans….
TIMES ARE TOUGH for Christian communities in the Middle East. They are being slaughtered in Syria, persecuted in Iraq and Iran, bullied in Egypt, and frightened by the rising tide of militant Islam in almost every Arab country. But there is…
Coming back from death—real death—has only happened once. Its political equivalent has been almost as rare. Yet as 2013 gets under way, recent evidence highlights two examples of this phenomenon: Richard Nixon and Conrad Black. Last month marked the 100th anniversary…
It is an extraordinary experience to go back to a scene of your childhood and to understand from rekindled memories where and how the first seeds of your faith were planted. I recently had this experience, courtesy of the BBC,…
Later this month we start Advent, a spiritual season rich in visual and musical images. Its contemporary manifestations include pop-up calendars, corporate carol services, school Nativity plays, and endless renditions of “Joy to the World” or “I’m Dreaming of a…
What makes a prosperous country? Is this purely to do with economic factors or should wider is-sues be taken into account such as personal happiness, individual freedom, and spiritual faith? An innovative new American-led think tank, the Legatum Institute, believes…