Author Archives: Bert Hielema

July 8 2023 OUR DEAL WITH THE DEVIL. The God thou servest is thine own appetite. (Doctor Faustus) A deal with the Devil (also called a pact with the Devil, Faustian bargain, or Mephistophelian bargain) is a cultural motif exemplified by the legend of Faust and the … Continue reading →

July 1 2023 I am worried. ‘Sinning against creation is sinning against God’.  An Iowa meteorologist is resigning from his television station because he developed post-traumatic stress disorder after threats over his climate change coverage.   Jeremiah 26 has a similar story. This … Continue reading →

June 24 2023 THE RUSH IS ON. From my student days a Greek saying pops up after 75 years: panta rhei, oude menei, which translates as ‘everything (panta), flows (rhei), nothing (oude), menei (remains the same). (The rivers Rhine and … Continue reading →

June 17 2023 SOCIETAL SUICIDE? The date, June 17, brings back many memories. On that day, 70 years ago, in Hamilton, Ontario, my fiancée, Diny Hilbers, and I were married. My wife died on October 23 2020. On our gravestone … Continue reading →

June 10 2023 THREE SOCIETAL FAILURES My Latin dictionary defines the verb deficio, as: to fail, or, to do less than one might. Our word ‘deficit’ finds its root there, a ‘failure’ to live up to expectations. Societal failure affects us all. The most … Continue reading →

June 3 2023 A bit about me. In 1975, after I sold business and home, our family moved from urban St. Catharines, On., to rural Tweed, halfway Toronto-Ottawa, where I had bought 50 acres, 20 hectares, mostly woodland.  My first … Continue reading →