The ‘azyme controversy of 1054’ became so divisive it contributed to the schism of east and west. But it has a lot to tell us about how we understand bread.
Antisemitic incidents have spiked in recent months.
AP Photo/Nicolas Landemard
In recent years, the relationship between antisemitism and anti-Zionism has taken on renewed importance and competing definitions of antisemitism have emerged. What is antisemitism?
AI-created sermons have proved controversial for some religious leaders.
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put a spotlight on the views of the Russian Orthodox Church. A scholar of Russian religion explains the structure and history of Orthodox Christianity.
A still from the Netflix series “Midnight Mass.”
Eike Schroter/Netflix
A scholar of religion in film explains the varied representation of Catholicism in horror. In some films, it is used in the fight against evil, while others show the Church itself as evil.
Communion – including drinking the symbolic blood of Christ – is a spiritual act, not a medical cure. To argue otherwise is a dangerous corruption of Christian belief.
Communion has been described as the ‘fount and apex of the whole Christian life.’
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Amid controversy over US bishops’ plans to deny Communion to pro-abortion rights Catholics, a scholar of sacramental theology explains the importance of the ritual to members of the church.
When Pope John Paul II was beatified, Zimbabwe’s ruler, Robert Mugabe, was in attendance and given Communion.
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Biden is not the first public figure to whom the Catholic Church wants to deny Communion. Over the centuries, the Church has often come under criticism for either denying or giving Communion.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at a town hall in Florence, South Carolina. He was denied communion by a priest in South Carolina.
Sarah Blake Morgan
Joe Biden was denied communion for pro-choice views. Catholics with ‘unforgiven’ sins can’t receive communion. A theologian says many Catholics would question if Biden was indeed in a ‘sinful’ state.
Pope Francis conducts the Maundy Thursday service at Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City in April 2017.
EPA/Ettore Ferrari
Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity