Modern life often feels like one long exam. Not a school exam or a professional test, but a life exam. Every day you have to reaffirm your right to your place. You have to show results. You have to prove you’re not occupying space in vain, that you earn money, that you have a voice. The exam runs with no schedule and no end date, yet the sense of being judged never leaves you for a minute.

Современный человек часто живёт так, будто постоянно сдает экзамен. Не учебный и не профессиональный, а жизненный. Каждый день нужно подтверждатьContinue reading| БЕСКОНЕЧНАЯ ГОНКА САМОУТВЕРЖДЕНИЯ

WHEN MONEY BECOMES “I”: On the False Identity of Material Security Many people today live with a constant background tension. It isn’t always conscious, but it’s almost always connected to money. Is it enough? Will I lose it? What if something goes wrong? Even with a steady income and outward prosperity, the anxiety doesn’t go away. What if I get fired?

[О ложной идентичности материальной безопасности] Многие люди сегодня живут с постоянным фоновым напряжением. Оно не всегда осознается, но почти всегдаContinue reading| КОГДА ДЕНЬГИ СТАНОВЯТСЯ “Я”

The Church often claims that Jesus Christ established a system. By “system” is meant the church as an institution: a structure of authority, succession, a hierarchy and a set of mandatory forms. That claim has become almost an axiom. It is rarely questioned. More often it is inherited. But if you set aside the customary ecclesiastical language and turn to the texts, to history, and to human experience itself, the picture looks different.

Церковь часто утверждает, что Иисус Христос создал систему. Под системой понимают церковь как институт, структуру власти, преемственность, иерархию и наборContinue readingМЕССИАНСКИЙ КАМЕРТОН

One of those who believed in Jesus and his teaching dared to do something unusual. He asked his companions to dismantle the roof of a house and lower a severely ill, paralyzed man on ropes through an opening in the ceiling to where Jesus was. At that moment Jesus, who was preaching, was surrounded by a dense crowd, and hundreds of eyes were fixed on him, on the paralytic, and on everything that was happening.

Один из верующих в Иисуса и Его учение дерзнул совершить необычный поступок. Он попросил своих товарищей разобрать крышу дома иContinue readingНАМЕРЕННАЯ ПРОВОКАЦИЯ

Someone asked Jesus, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” Jesus confirmed that relatively few are saved, invoking an old Jewish maxim that the path to salvation is narrow and that people generally choose the broad road where they feel comfortable. Yes, Jesus used some wise insights coming out of Judaism of his time—the metaphor of the narrow way does appear in the writings of Jewish sages.

“Некто спросил Иисуса: Господи! неужели мало спасающихся?”. То, что спасающихся относительно мало, Иисус подтвердил, приведя старую еврейскую мудрость о томContinue readingТЕСНАЯ ДВЕРЬ ИЛИ РАЗДУТОЕ ЭГ...

Публичное признание Иисуса как Мессии со стороны Иоанна Крестителя стало поворотным моментом, после которого интерес к личности Иисуса резко возрос.Continue readingТЕБЯ НИКТО НЕ ДЕРЖИТ

Many Christians hold the following naive view of how the world works. They assume that God literally rules this world, controlling, permitting, or forbidding events to happen. Thus God is blamed, for example, for the explosion of any bomb or for the flight of a bullet: He supposedly allowed it, therefore it was His sovereign will. Many unscrupulous rulers readily exploit this philosophy, claiming divine election merely on the basis of one simple fact—the possession of power.

The statement "Jesus has redeemed all your sins, 'your record is clean'" does have something in common with Jesus’ teaching. Jesus taught that forgiveness of sins is the consequence of repentance. That principle is universal. It works for any person, whether they consider themselves a believer or not. When someone repents sincerely, their past really does stop determining their present. In that sense one can say that after repentance “one’s biography is cleansed.”

In Christian circles people often talk about the need to “train” faith. The assumption is that if you believe more strongly and pray more persistently, God will inevitably change the situation. If that doesn’t happen, the conclusion is that your faith is weak or insufficient. This approach sounds spiritual, but it doesn’t fit well with what Jesus actually taught. It turns faith into a tool for influencing reality and turns prayer into a form of covert magic.

Многие христиане имеют следующее наивное представлении о мироустройстве. Они полагают что Бог буквально властвует над этим миром, контролируя, разрешая илиContinue readingТЫ СВОБОДЕН

“Не придет Царство Бога видимым образом”.  Любуясь на закат над океаном, человек часто представляет “далекое прекрасное”, точку где земное переходит в небесное, а материальное в духовное, напо…

Once Jesus was invited to a formal dinner. He was popular with the people — sometimes even wealthy Pharisees and high-ranking officials invited him into their homes, though in doing so they partly risked their position or reputation. At the beginning of the meal everyone witnessed an important guest’s unsuccessful attempt to take the place of greatest honor — to the right or left of the host, as was customary then.

Однажды Иисуса пригласили на торжественный обед. Иисус был популярен среди народа – иногда его приглашали к себе домой даже богатыеContinue readingЯ ПЕШКА ИЛИ ФЕРЗЬ?

В массовом сознании христианства образ Иисуса был функционально упрощён до роли Искупителя, что привело к ослаблению восприятия Его как целостной, живой личности с собственным учением и уникальным …

Many people intuitively feel that there are two levels of mind in a person. One is lower, tied to the body, to instincts and to automatic reactions. The other is higher, able to observe, to be aware and to choose, without being reducible to bodily impulses. It can soar very high into the realm of higher values, like an eagle.

Многие интуитивно чувствуют, что в человеке есть два уровня разума. Один низший, связанный с телом, инстинктами и автоматическими реакциями. ДругойContinue readingТАМ НА НЕВЕДОМЫХ ДОРОЖКАХ

Everyone knows the main criterion by which the Old Testament ought to be judged. Jesus himself stated that principle: “Love the Lord your God… and love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Gospel of Matthew, 22). If these are the chief commandments, we can quite easily filter the 613 commandments of the Old Testament and sort them into categories.

It was the second year of Jesus’ ministry. Behind him were miracles of healing and the miraculous feeding of five thousand. Yet Jesus made it plain that he did not intend to become a Jewish king, as the Messiah was widely expected to do. By and large people did not understand his preaching of the Kingdom of God as “within each person.” He knew well that many of his superficial supporters were slowly and irrevocably preparing to abandon him, while the committed disciples, though fewer in number, were growing firmer in their faith.

Jesus spent a great deal of time teaching the apostles. That teaching included both theory and practice — the apostles listened to Jesus and then went out in pairs through villages and towns, trying to convey to people the meaning of the idea of the Kingdom of God, which had already come into people's hearts. “Blessed are the poor in spirit; theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Some people feel themselves to be “rich in spirit” — self-centered, strong, satisfied with themselves.

People disillusioned with religion say there is no such thing as a religious morality. They claim there is only a set of texts from which you can extract anything and justify whatever you need. Take Judaism, for example: the famous commandment “You shall not kill.” Does Judaism say you cannot kill? No — it simply specifies whom to kill, when and how.