Category: Insights

Dean W. Arnold’s newest book is available on Amazon. More info here.

 

Sola Scriptura Article:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/tca_solascriptura.aspx

Mary as Ever-Virgin article:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/evervirgin.aspx

 

 

On my last visit to Ethiopia, the Academic Vice Dean (basically the head man under the bishop) told me they have great difficulty obtaining theological books for themselves and their students. 

Levi and I made a serious effort to bring them books. But our boxing job was pretty lame. (Two boxes, actually.) Would they make the two-leg transnational trip?

The Ethiopians can’t even obtain these theological books online. Ethiopia is treated differently by the Amazons of the world, as the government doesn’t always play ball with the global corporations. (You don’t see Starbucks or McDonalds either, although Levi has scored several bottles of Coke so far.)

Protestant and Catholic books can be obtained, but not Orthodox theological books. They particularly want books by Russian mystical theologians, and more particularly a group of scholars who fled Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution and set up shop in Paris for a generation before landing in St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary 45 minutes north of New York City. Some of you may know the names: Schmemann, Meyendorff, Lossky, Florovsky, and others.  Continue reading “Taking books for granted (day not sure – Dean in Ethiopia)”

We have arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

It is too soon to say much. We arrived at 2 a.m. their time, found our AirBnB, slept a bit and are just now emerging. 

The morning started with asking “Momma Gennett” to make us coffee. Levi and I wanted to cut out of this small apartment and find some wi-fi so I can connect with my people here by email (phones not working yet), and wanted some caffeine first. But in Ethiopia, coffee means a ceremony, a ritual, and “let’s kick back and take forever and roast and brew coffee for a long time and then drink it” mentality.  Continue reading “1st and 3rd worlds (day 1 – Dean in Ethiopia)”

 

During our flight tonight, Levi could have been getting his first experience with Ethiopia. I’ve flown Ethiopian airlines several times, once or twice overseas. Great airline. Great people. Great experience.

But tonight we are on Turkish Airlines. It’s Turks for Levi, and our assessment for this cultural experience will have to come in a later post. 

It’s been a stormy road with the Turks over the centuries. Our great Orthodox Byzantine empire fell after 1000 years of Roman greatness when the Ottoman Turks sacked Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453.

We have a lot of saints who are honored for being martyrs, for being tortured and impaled for the cause of Christ. Perhaps the greatest cathedral ever built, Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia, was taken over and turned into a mosque. 

Today, things aren’t so swell with the Turks either. They used to be a solid NATO ally, but their leader has been dancing too much lately with the Russians. Then an attempted coup happened there about a year ago and President Erdogan blamed it on U.S. intelligence operatives. He purged the place of Western intelligence, and American did something bad back in return. I can’t remember what it was, but now Turkey doesn’t honor U.S. passports. 

Too bad, because Levi and I have an eight hour layover in Istanbul on the way back (it’s one of the reasons we booked this particular flight and accepted the idea of a Turkish cultural experience). We had hoped to visit the Hagia Sophia, which has now been turned into a museum, some of the Christian icons recovered from being painted over centuries ago, and available for tourists to visit. 

However … just a few weeks ago there was some news about Trump and Erdogan having some nice nice talk. I’ve been watching the Turkish and U.S. state department sites like a hawk, hoping something thaws for us just in time. 

If nothing else, we’ll learn more about Turks. 

One day away. Sort of.

Yes, tomorrow Levi and I fly out of Dulles airport in D.C. toward Ethiopia. We leave Monday night but don’t arrive until early Wednesday morning. So it’s pre-day one for leaving but still three days from actually arriving. Whatever. I’ll try to get you a blog every day regardless. Maybe I’ll start using fractions.

It’s only a 20 hour flight. But when you add in the time zones, it takes over 48 hours by the clock. The good news is, it will take about one hour by the clock on the way back. I wonder if you just flew that direction non-stop, could you defy time and never age?  Continue reading “The time is now (pre-day 1 – Dean in Ethiopia)”

My last trip to Ethiopia, several “angels” crossed my path.

Firstly, on my way to Axum, the Northern ancient capital (where the Ark of the Covenant is preserved), I was going by myself, with no translator or guide, with no place booked to stay that night.

A lot of people there do speak English, but I’d say about 90 percent of them speak broken English. The ones who don’t have such a thick accent you can only decipher about half of it. It’s not easy. Continue reading “Angels I met in Ethiopia (pre-day 2 – Dean in Ethiopia)”

Ethiopians love my beard. 

They can’t grow them that well. When an Ethiopian has one, it is usually a holy man who hasn’t shaved or done much else for years. And even then, it’s a stringy, not very full kind of thing.  Continue reading “It’s all about the beard (pre-day 3 – Dean in Ethiopia)”

One goal for this trip next week—and I don’t know if I’ll pull it off—is to spend a half a day or so at a town in Ethiopia that has no electricity and no cell phone coverage, and never has had it. In the small and large cities, power and Western amenities are generally available. But I’m told there are many of these unplugged towns, easy to find and access. We’ll see. 

Continue reading “Life without technology (pre-day 5 – Dean in Ethiopia)”