CONTRA FATUM

Raphael: Paul in Athens "And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them." (Zech. 13:9) In my studies of American and global Christianities I've come across a phenomenon that is rather strange to my Danish background: Apologetics. The word means giving excuses for or defending something, and refers to the attempt to render Christianity 'reasonable' for the human intellect.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder: The Fight Between Carnival and Lent (??) "Fasting is primarily an act of willing abstinence or reduction from certain or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time." (Wikipedia) In Denmark celebrating lent mostly means eating loads of filled pastry. It seems, however, that the practice of fasting has gained increasing popularity amongst post-modern protestants recently: Inspiration is picked up from, e.g., the practices of the late-antique 'desert fathers' and medieval monasticism (which was of course much more severe, than its modern variants), or what have you.