Gary Neal Hansen

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You are here: Home / Archives for Antony the Great

Facing Futility (The Writer’s Inner Life)

September 26, 2016 by Gary Neal Hansen 6 Comments

Facing Futility

One of the struggles a writer faces (or anyone else with  creative projects as part of their vocation) is the sense of futility. It is one of those temptations that comes in a kind of inner voice. Why not be old fashioned and just call it one of our demons? The Demon of Futility It can […]

Filed Under: Saints, The Inner Life of the Writer, Uncategorized Tagged With: Antony the Great, Desert Fathers, Futility

Interruptions (The Writer’s Inner Life)

September 6, 2016 by Gary Neal Hansen Leave a Comment

Interruptions

If you’ve been following this series, you know I’m posting on “The Writer’s Inner Life” on Mondays. If you have a calendar, you know that today is Tuesday. Labor Day was an interruption. It was a good one: some time hanging pictures in our new home with my wife, some time in a park with the […]

Filed Under: Saints, The Inner Life of the Writer Tagged With: Antony the Great, Desert Fathers, Interruptions, St. Anthony of Egypt

Fighting Inner Demons (The Writer’s Inner Life)

August 29, 2016 by Gary Neal Hansen 4 Comments

fighting inner demons

For a few posts now I’ve been exploring the writer’s inner life. Today this series of posts becomes all the more important to me: my kids have returned to school, so I am able to write full time. So, daily, I need to write. We’re all fighting inner demons And to write I have to defeat […]

Filed Under: Saints, The Inner Life of the Writer Tagged With: Antony the Great, Desert Fathers, fighting inner demons, Life of Antony, St. Anthony

Accidie — The Noontime Demon (The Writer’s Inner Life)

August 22, 2016 by Gary Neal Hansen 8 Comments

the noontime demon

I’m working on making my working life happy and productive without having to punch a clock or meet institutional deadlines. So my advisors at the moment are the Desert Fathers and Mothers, Christians who moved out to the fourth century Egyptian desert for an isolated life of prayer. Sometimes they hit it straight out of the park, not just […]

Filed Under: Monasticism, Saints, The Inner Life of the Writer Tagged With: Accidie, Antony the Great, Desert Fathers, Evagrius of Pontus, Evagrius Ponticus, Saint anthony, The noontime demon

Find Your Rhythm (The Writer’s Inner Life)

August 8, 2016 by Gary Neal Hansen 3 Comments

Find your rhythm

Having big chunks of time to work on a creative project is a gift. It also brings problems. How do you keep at work with no looming deadlines, no timecard to punch, and no boss? As I move fully into writing, speaking, and other independent work, I’m facing those challenges daily. Of course I’m facing them my […]

Filed Under: Saints, The Inner Life of the Writer Tagged With: Accidie, Anthony the Great, Antony the Great, Desert Fathers

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Theology. It’s good for you.

I'm a Church historian by trade. My writing, speaking, and teaching explores the Christian past to equip today's disciples. Join me here for regular posts on the best of theology, spirituality, community, and ministry. read more…

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