Thomas Merton’s fuga mundi, or “flight from the world,” was a complex and multi-faceted thing. When I envisioned this series back in the fall I had to idea it would end where it did. I didn’t ever think that Star Wars would factor into my fuga mundi reflections. But there it was, right at the center of Star Wars story–and in the…
A recent post over at ChurchPOP about the conversion to Catholicism of famed actor Alec Guinness (a.k.a Obi-Wan “Ben” Kanobi) got me thinking about the monastic dimension of the whole Star Wars saga. The picture at the top of the post shows the enrobed Kanobi with the desert planet of Tatooine behind him. This congers up images of the Christian monks…
Welcome to the third installment of the Fuga Mundi Series. Christians have always been faced with the challenge of how to be “in the world, but not of the world.” The Latin phrase for this is fuga mundi, which literally translates as “flight from the world.” This series explores how famous monastic persons or groups lived out the fuga mundi. …
Welcome to the second installment of the Fuga Mundi Series. Christians have always been faced with the challenge of how to be “in the world, but not of the world.” The Latin phrase for this is fuga mundi, which literally translates as “flight from the world.” This series explores how famous monastic persons or groups lived out the fuga mundi.…
Welcome to the first installment of the Fuga Mundi Series with St. Antony the Great. Here and over the next few weeks I’ll be reflecting on the paradox that withdrawal from the world is what allows us as Christians to be authentically Christ to the world. Page references below in parentheses are from the biography of St. Antony by St.…
Looking at some of the best examples of how Christians have successfully lived in the world but not of the world.
