In February 1387 the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Jogaila, returned to his capital city of Vilnius bearing a new name, Władysław, and sporting the white robe of the newly baptised.
One thing - of the very many - I'd like to say is that I'm a bit surprised you don't talk about the place for fairies in Christianity. The idea that spirits had to be either angels or demons - and spirits of nature must be demons - where does that fit into the story?
As a former active Christian, this is really thought provoking. One of the many reasons I ventured into paganism was to heal the breach I felt Christianity had with the natural world. I didn't want to believe that Creation was made to serve us: I wanted to believe that we were all part of a greater creative purpose. The light of god is in all of us and every living thing. I still strive to exist in an enchanted world.
Took me a while to get around to read this, but I'm glad I finally did. My own thinking has been very much along the same lines, and my friends and I in our small apostolate, Creatio, played out this exact point of tension between those of us who long for a thoroughly re-enchanted world (like myself) and those who don't see it as necessary or helpful for living the Christian life. We discussed it for hours one night. It's an interesting bit of a disagreement, especially being someone who sees this kind of enchantment as a major step on the way of adopting a fully Catholic worldview sans modern and materialism in all their forms.
One thing - of the very many - I'd like to say is that I'm a bit surprised you don't talk about the place for fairies in Christianity. The idea that spirits had to be either angels or demons - and spirits of nature must be demons - where does that fit into the story?
As a former active Christian, this is really thought provoking. One of the many reasons I ventured into paganism was to heal the breach I felt Christianity had with the natural world. I didn't want to believe that Creation was made to serve us: I wanted to believe that we were all part of a greater creative purpose. The light of god is in all of us and every living thing. I still strive to exist in an enchanted world.
Took me a while to get around to read this, but I'm glad I finally did. My own thinking has been very much along the same lines, and my friends and I in our small apostolate, Creatio, played out this exact point of tension between those of us who long for a thoroughly re-enchanted world (like myself) and those who don't see it as necessary or helpful for living the Christian life. We discussed it for hours one night. It's an interesting bit of a disagreement, especially being someone who sees this kind of enchantment as a major step on the way of adopting a fully Catholic worldview sans modern and materialism in all their forms.