Having entered the Christmas season, we ask those who find the work of the Mystagogy Resource Center beneficial to them to help us continue our work with a generous financial gift as you are able. As an incentive, we are offering the following booklet.

In 1909 the German philosopher Arthur Drews wrote a book called "The Myth of Christ", which New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman has called "arguably the most influential mythicist book ever produced," arguing that Jesus Christ never existed and was simply a myth influenced by more ancient myths. The reason this book was so influential was because Vladimir Lenin read it and was convinced that Jesus never existed, thus justifying his actions in promoting atheism and suppressing the Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union. Moreover, the ideologues of the Third Reich would go on to implement the views of Drews to create a new "Aryan religion," viewing Jesus as an Aryan figure fighting against Jewish materialism. 

Due to the tremendous influence of this book in his time, George Florovsky viewed the arguments presented therein as very weak and easily refutable, which led him to write a refutation of this text which was published in Russian by the YMCA Press in Paris in 1929. This apologetic brochure titled "Did Christ Live? Historical Evidence of Christ" was one of the first texts of his published to promote his Neopatristic Synthesis, bringing the patristic heritage to modern historical and cultural conditions. With the revival of these views among some in our time, this text is as relevant today as it was when it was written. 

Never before published in English, it is now available for anyone who donates at least $20 to the Mystagogy Resource Center upon request (please specify in your donation that you want the book). Thank you.



July 1, 2013

My Favorite Movies of 2013...So Far


Having reached the midway point of the 2013, I am offering below my list of favorite films that I have thus far seen. Instead of giving my usual Top Ten, this year I have chosen to look at my Flixter account to see how I rated each movie after I saw them. I noticed that I gave six films 5 Stars, six films 4.5 Stars and a few more than six films 4 Stars but I have chosen my top six from these. Below is this division, in the order I liked them best within that rating.


1. Mud
2. Before Midnight
3. A Hijacking
4. Star Trek Into Darkness
5. Beyond the Hills
6. West of Memphis


7. The Place Beyond the Pines
8. The Iceman
9. What Maise Knew
10. Frances Ha
11. Iron Man 3
12. Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay


13. The East
14. This Is the End
15. Mama
16. Side Effects
17. Pain and Gain
18. Spring Breakers

I have also been asked by some if I will continue to offer reviews of movies like I did last year. Last year I experimented a little with movie reviews to see how exactly I would like to approach them. Once I update my website a bit in the next few months, I will have a specific section just for movie reviews that will not interfere with the regular posting on my weblog.
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