The Genius of Christian Thought
Anno Domini
With Linda Distad and Matthew Wangler.
(Edmonton, AB: Provincial Museum of Alberta, 2000)
Reading the Bible as Life-Giving Word
(Camrose, Alberta: Chester Ronning Centre, 2013)
“Ways of Imperfection: Spiritual Disciplines for the Healing of the World”
An essay by David Goa exploring the insight of the muslim theologian, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and the Christian Orthodox spiritual teaching on the Beatitudes, particularly, “blessed are the poor in spirit”.
See Ways of the Spirit, Persons, Communities, Spiritualities,
Edited by M. Darrol Bryant
(Kitchener, Ontario: Pandora Press, 2015).
The Stranger at the Gate and the Cry of the Human Heart
A Philokalia Conference, the House of Culture, Ineu, Romania. Fr. Teofan asked me to reflection on the spiritual vocation of the family, on Saint John Chrysostom’s call to engage the stranger, on the Psalms as the cry of the human heart and my own journey to Orthodoxy. Romanian and English.
Orthodox Pathways
A Philokalia Conference, the Orthodox Church in Cintel, Romania. We were taken by horse drawn carriage with outriders into the village, greeted by many in local costume and welcomed with bread and salt. Settled in the church Fr. Teofan asked me to reflect on a variety of matters including my initial encounter with Orthodoxy at Saint Mary’s Romanian Orthodox Church near Andrew, Alberta, and following the services in Great Lent and Pascha, the most important things I had learned from my mother and father, on teaching as the care for the soul of the young, on the vocation of politicians, and, on teaching in prison those charged with terrorism. Romanian and English.
Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIy_Ebn4SPg
Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKVJf-Z-Nzo&t=71s
Approaching Scripture as Life-Giving Word
A conversation with Brad Jersak in which David and Brad explore a third way of engaging scripture, a recovery of its revelatory character, after the tragedy of it’s colonization in the twentieth century by the co-dependent twins, liberal modernism and evangelical literalism.
In Conversation with Brad Jersak
In June I sat down with Bradley Jersak at his home in Abbottsford British Columbia. He is a teacher and preacher who’s formation was in the evangelical church, Baptist and Mennonite with a little of the charismatic movement along the way.
In Conversation with Andrew Corley
I welcome you to our conversation moving from his way of shaping business and questions of purpose, on what it means to be “salt and light” in the market place, and, on how working in prisons is transformative for those who enter behind the walls of separation.
Poor in Spirit, Rich in Life
A homily at the Divine Liturgy on the Gospel of Luke, 12:16-21. Given at Saint Maximus the Confessor Church, Theological Faculty, Aurel Vlaicu University in Arad, Romania. Immediately following the homily Fr. Teofan Mada asked that David reflect on three questions he posed. English with translation into Romania.
The Art of a Presence Seen
Reflections on the Encounter with Anno Domini
I was invited to give the keynote address to the Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA) biennial conference held at the University of Dallas in May 2001. The invitation came as a result of my curating an international exhibition, Anno Domini, Jesus through the Centuries, at the Royal Alberta Museum.
For the Life of the World
This document, long awaited, is a welcome opportunity to discuss Orthodox “social doctrine in terms appropriate to modern reality.” It provides general parameters, avoids nebulous abstractions and sweeping generalizations, simplistic, pietistic, or legalistic pronouncements. Anchored in the Gospel it calls us to consider and think about major issues facing the life of our fragile and struggling world
“If There is Any Excellence” A Conversation on Virtue [Arete]
Are we called to duties and living up to the commandments, what we “ought” to do? Does the Christian spiritual life speak to us about who we are as created beings in our creatureliness, and the kind of being unfolding in our life, free of regimentation and restriction, calling forth the excellence “that is within us?”
Religious Particularity & the Civil Canopy: Beyond Multiculturalism
The words of Jesus Christ, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes unto the Father except by me" frame the backdrop for this conversation on particularity and universals. The Jewish patrimony accents the gift of particularity. Christianity, like Islam and Buddhism, treasures its revelation and sees its significance for all times and places, a "universal" insight. In modern liberal democratic societies the particularity of cultural gifts and the civil striving for universal rights and responsibilities is often confused and entangled. David Goa and Brad Jerak, in conversation, walk into the thickness of religious particularity and think about the importance of the civil canopy of "universals." The danger of absolutes and the importance of holding with care our ultimate concerns are tempered with and through friendship.
ON HUMAN PRESENCE
in a Post-Human World
The Faculty of Theology, Arad, Romania, celebrated their bicentennial in 2021 with a symposium. I was invited to participate and address, The Meaning of Theology in Today’s Society and Culture. The fruit of this symposium is also being prepared for publication and my essay “On Human Presence in a Post-Human World” may be found here for those interested in reading it.
A Regard for Creation: Collected Essays
(Dewdney BC: Synaxis Press, 2008, reprinted 2010, 2013)
“Passions and the Disciplines of Compassion: Christian Orthodoxy on the Spiritual Life”
An essay by David Goa exploring the way the liturgical life draws the faithful onto the pathways of compassion “for the least of these.”
Published in Practices of Compassion, An Exploration and Experience.
Edited by M. Darrol Bryant, Lama Doboom Tulku and Yanni Maniates
(New Delhi, India: Manohar, World Buddhist Trust, 2018).
Art and the Landscape of Human Meaning
A Philokalia Conference, The Elite High School for the Arts, Arad, Romania. Fr. Teofan asked me to speak about the gift of the arts and its relationship to the spiritual life. I reflected on St. John Chrysostom’s words, “The arts are given to us so we may hold the world together” and on the arts as a form of presence to the meaning of human joy and sorrow. Our gathering was opened by two of the students, a piano solo and a beautiful Romanian song. Romanian and English.
A Philokalia Conference, the Cultural Centre, Sebis, Romania. Fr. Teofan asked me to discuss the nature of the Church, the nature of the Christian family, acedia, the noon-day demon, and my work in prisons with men who had been charged under Canada’s terrorism laws and the question of belonging.
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oflO6rj9yW0
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPjrcMDupC8&t=3s
The Spiritual Vocation of the Family
A Philokalia Conference, the Theatre for the Cinematographic Arts, Arad. The gathering was opened with a beautiful Romanian song. Fr. Teofan asked me to reflect on the spiritual vocation of the family. He also asked that I speak about the great Romanian historian of religion, Mircea Eliade. Romanian and English.
Estrangement and Being Human
David Goa and Archbishop Lazar at the Monastery of All Saints of North America discuss the insight into human nature, estrangement, and the pathways to salvation in the Orthodox Christian tradition.
The children in the Holy Hierarch Nicholas primary school sing a welcoming song for Fr.Teofan Mada and David Goa
We explore the gifts and challenges Ray Sawatsky was bequeathed through his early formation in the Brethren Gospel Halls, an evangelical and fundamentalist portion of the protestant church with an impact far above its weight. The gifts of the Brethren Church carried a shadow that Ray has struggled with and found his way through.
In Conversation with Symeon van Donkelaar
I welcome you to our conversation on the meaning of icon and of place; on what is often described as the impurities in the soil, which Symeon sees as its distinctive personality, and, on the act of translating the Orthodox tradition through the soil of Canada.
Reflections on the Spiritual Vocation of the Family
Originally given as a lecture in the Summer Institute on the Spiritual Life at the Monastery of All Saints of North America this essay explores the genius of the Christian family as a school of virtue. While appreciative of the discussion on the family often focusing on cultural values and led by conservative Christians it suggests such perspectives have failed to pull forward the spiritual gifts of the family replacing them with a set of single issues confined to the moral life. How is virtue cultivated in the family, Christian and otherwise? It was originally published in A Regard for Creation: Collected Essays, David J. Goa, published by Synaxis Press, 2008.
How the Protestant Reformation Still Drives Western Civilization 500 Years Later
Chicago Public Radio, WBEZ, asked several scholars, Roman Catholic and Lutheran, to reflect on the importance of the Protestant Reformation for Western culture and the Church. I was asked, following their fine reflections, to think about my first hero, Martin Luther, and what the Reformation has wrought.
Deep Voice
A young friend of mine has his own YouTube broadcast called “The Deep Voice Show.” His voice is deep and “deep voice” is his nom de plume. His interests are wide ranging from gardening and growing mushrooms to aspects of mental and spiritual illness, from mythic images in popular culture to theological quandaries and the curious images and metaphors in scripture, from marshal art to the spiritual preoccupations of his own generation: atheists, goths, and those who are religious refugees.
I appreciate the questions he raises and the themes he wishes to think about. His outreach to a part of our society often marginalized is laudable. We will be pulling forward many of these YouTube broadcasts over the next few months and invite you to explore any that may be of interest.
Rethinking the Ekklesia
Over the last few years and exacerbated by the pandemic many clergy have found themselves questioning the shape and purpose of the church. Who is she? Is she, our denomination? Does she only exist when we gather? Does she exist on-line? Why gather? Along with these and other questions it is also noteworthy that many clergy are facing a crisis of vocation, and many parishioners have had their sense of ekklesia stirred or troubled.
In this series of conversation, Rethinking the Ekklesia, I talk with clergy and committed laypersons about how they understand the ekklesia and its work for the life of the world.