The Orthodoxy of Arrogance is a fictional account of historical events and the subsequent personal and familial conflicts they can create. The main character, Mordichai Lebenschitz, is a moyl from Dachau, Germany. As the Nazi regime rises, he changes his name to the more German Moritz. He is pompous, self-centered, and oblivious to the world and its proposed effects on him. He is charming, manipulative and self-indulgent. He and his wife Hannah elude the Nazis from 1941-1944 in the city of Dachau. My novel suggests possible scenarios of events in history. It weaves them with personal, familial, and societal conflicts they affect. It borders on the least likely outcomes of historical events. They are often endured by arrogant and self-indulgent attitudes. The Orthodoxy of Arrogance is the story of sheer will. It is a fictional account of one believing in oneself to the point of selfishness. It is the conflict of ego and how it can work to disrupt human emotions.

We don’t get to choose between humility and orthodoxy. We need both. Orthodoxy, for the faithful, evokes what’s cherished and beautiful and eternal. Yet in our day, orthodoxy is too often wielded like a weapon, used to bludgeon others with differing points of view. The word has become associated with behavior like argumentative, annoying, and arrogant. It’s time for God’s people to demonstrate both right thinking and right attitudes. We are called to embrace and defend biblical truth. But that truth includes repeated commands to love our neighbor, love our enemy, and be clothed in gentleness and respect. In Humble Orthodoxy, bestselling author Joshua Harris examines New Testament teachings about the calling of believers to a love-infused courage that ignores foolish controversies, patiently endures evil, and champions truth with generosity of spirit. Without this kind of humility, Harris asserts, we become like the Pharisees—right in our doctrine, but ultimately destroying the cause of truth with our pride.

Based on a vast array of archival holdings, including the secret archives of the Vatican, this colorful and fascinating story recounts Cardinal William Henry O'Connell's ambitious grasp for power and his arrogant misuse of the trappings of the office. Appointed in 1895 to a minor post in the Catholic church in Rome, Father William O’Connell of Boston built a Vatican power base that made him a bishop, archbishop, and cardinal. His arrogant exploitation of his position drew the wrath of U.S. bishops—who were twice unsuccessful in having him removed from office. Believing that his high position exempted him from the rules of morality, O'Connell was utterly unscrupulous. He discovered multiple ways to turn a profit from his position and by 1923 had amassed a fortune. O’Connell brought further scandal upon his position when he turned a blind eye to the secret marriages of two priests who lived with him, one of them his nephew. When the marriages were discovered, the cardinal brazenly defended his nephew at the expense of the other offender. Had the Cardinal not worn the scarlet that marked him as a prince of the church, he may have gone to the grave a disgraced clergyman. However, his rank, his ability to maintain appearances, and his potent Vatican allies saved him from such a fate. This story serves as a mirror against which to view current affairs in both the Catholic church and the United States.

God is in the dock. Shall we convict him or forgive him? Shall we replace the God of Scripture with another of our choosing, mock and deride him, or ignore him? Shall we replace revelation with the chaos of speculation? We perceive ourselves, ratherthan God, as the center of the world and this universal condition leads to conflict with others and with God. Maintaining our center causes cheating, lying, litigation, divorce, wars, genocide, and human misery. Western civilization is giving up trust in the promise of God's mercy, justice, and forgiveness and replacing it with trust in the goodness of man. Jesus warned us to beware the teaching of the Sadducees and Pharisees. The Sadducees, who denied hope of eternal life, are a rough equivalent of our modern day secularists with their religious trust that this world is all there is. Replacing God with trust in flawed human nature is a mark of arrogance that even pagans would have characterized as hubris evoking divine wrath. The Pharisee's yeast of self-righteousness is a natural condition of us all. Even when cleansed it reappears in every tradition rendering forgiveness and transformation a promise only for those who think they have earned and deserve it. Such a distortion of God's word is congenial to our self-as-center, but it robs us sinners of the justice and mercy of a loving God. Following Jesus's warning we have the opportunity to wipe away the Sadducee arrogance and the Pharisee self-righteousness and discover anew the supreme power and joy of the Christian faith.

The Orthodoxy of Arrogance is a fictional account of historical events and the subsequent personal and familial conflicts they can create. The main character, Mordichai Lebenschitz, is a moyl from Dachau, Germany. As the Nazi regime rises, he changes his name to the more German Moritz. He is pompous, self-centered, and oblivious to the world and its proposed effects on him. He is charming, manipulative and self-indulgent. He and his wife Hannah elude the Nazis from 1941-1944 in the city of Dachau. My novel suggests possible scenarios of events in history. It weaves them with personal, familial, and societal conflicts they affect. It borders on the least likely outcomes of historical events. They are often endured by arrogant and self-indulgent attitudes. The Orthodoxy of Arrogance is the story of sheer will. It is a fictional account of one believing in oneself to the point of selfishness. It is the conflict of ego and how it can work to disrupt human emotions.

Over the past few years, John Pavlovitz's blog, Stuff That Needs To Be Said, has become a virtual hub for millions of people from all over the world, drawn there by his clear, compelling words on compassion, equity, love, and justice. This expansive, like-hearted community transcends race, orientation, gender, religious tradition, political affiliation, and nation of origin--and finds its affinity in the deeper place of our shared humanity, which is the True North of his writing. This collection lovingly pulls together some of John's most widely-read and most beloved essays on faith, politics, grief, and the elemental parts of being human. It is an encouraging, inspiring, challenging storehouse of "stuff that needs to be said."