Taking Up the Cross in the 21st Century: Self-denial and the Ordinary Christian
October 23, 2013
Loyola Marymount University
Throughout history, Christians have responded to Jesus' invitation to take up the cross and follow him in a variety of ways. Catholic and Orthodox Christians have rich traditions of self-denial cultivated by monks, mystics, clergy, and laity. Asceticism is a living tradition, practiced in rites, gestures, fasts, and prayers in churches, cells, trains, planes, automobiles, and homes.
The Huffington Ecumenical Institute and the Catholic Studies program of Loyola Marymount University were pleased to offer an evening of presentations by two special experts on how today’s ordinary Christian can take up the cross and carry on the living tradition received from our Christian ancestors. Kathleen Norris, best-selling author of The Cloister Walk, Dakota, and Amazing Grace and Fr. John McGuckin, Nielsen Professor of Early and Byzantine Church History at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Byzantine Christianity at Columbia University, offered reflections on the task of taking up the cross for today’s Christian.
Video of event: