Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.
This is Jesus' invitation to discipleship in Matthew 11:28-30.
Father Patrick M. Crino, Pastor
The following articles and links served to support Fr. Ken's 2023 Summer and Fall Teaching Series around Tom Holland's Dominion.
The below 56-minute presentation is entitled, “Invisible Fire” and was made by Tom Holland to “Open Doors”, a non-profit organization based in the UK that provides relief to persecuted Christians in some 60 countries. The video was hosted on Premier: Unbelievable? and introduced by Justin Brierly. Holland begins by talking about his experience in 2016 covering the grim and devastating persecution of the Yazidis in Sinjar, Iraq for the BBC (Isis: The Origins of Violence). He ties the use of crucifixion by the Isis to its Roman origins. As a result of his experience in Sinjar, Holland rewrote the beginning of Dominion to focus on the use of crucifixion as a form of public execution intended to humiliate and suppress opposition. His analysis gives a whole new understanding to Christ’s passion and death.
Another theme of this talk is that the concept of human rights does not find its origins in classical or secular thought but exceptionally in Christianity! He maintains that human rights are not self-evident but fundamentally a theological belief. This view very much rankles Western liberal thought and assumptions.
Holland also speaks quite personally about how his deep dive into Christian history and thought has impacted his own faith and practice.
The 58-minute video dialogue below between the renowned New Testament scholar N.T. Wright and Tom Holland was presented on July 20, 2018, on the Premier Unbelievable podcast, moderated by Justin Brierly.
Wright and Holland set out a sharp, and at times disturbing, contrast between the early Christian movement and the Roman culture of the day. St. Paul’s letters, along with the Gospels, are essential in establishing the Christian message with its incredible claims of a crucified and resurrected Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Note that Holland describes himself in 2018 as an agnostic. But what a remarkable “agnostic” with his deep, detailed, and articulate understanding of St. Paul, the New Testament, Christian theology, and history of the early Christian communities.
The 3:46 minute audio file of Tom Holland on The Sacred Podcast talking about his faith was recorded on April 29, 2020. Here he describes himself as believing in “the sacredness of human life” but goes on to say that such a belief can only be advocated through the extraordinary interpretation that Christians give to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He also speaks of the importance to his belief of J.R.R. Tolkien’s understanding of the Christian myth as being the “true myth”. But his on-going struggle with the historicity of Christ’s Resurrection is clear. This is ironic given that St. Paul was the great witness to the necessity of the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ to Christian faith and practice.
Below is an 8-minute video in which Holland makes the distinction between the extreme loathing of Friedrich Nietzsche and Nazism for Christian morality and teaching versus the naïveté of most contemporary Atheists. Holland speaks with John Anderson, the Former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.