Veritas Ministeria means Truth Ministries, the second title originally given to this website. The first title, in 2010, was simply "The Truth" calling to mind the words of Jesus in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life." As the website continued to expand as did our readership, it became more of a ministry - hence the title change to Truth Ministries, and later, to Veritas Ministeria.
The title is given as "Truth" not because we believe that we have any kind of exclusive claim to "truth," but because each of us are pilgrims on a journey of discovery and growth. We seek deep meaning in many "truths" of our world - political, economic, social, etc. Our purpose is to seek meaning and "truth" through exploring topics throughout the Christian tradition and cover matters such as social justice, inter-religious dialogue, archaeology, textual criticism, mysticism, science and theology, as well as a variety of other such topics.
This font of the logo is chosen intentionally, with the "T" in Veritas actually symbolizing the "Tau" cross found within Christianity. The tau was used as early as the prophet Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible (Ezekiel 9:4), but it was later adopted by a few different penitential movements in the Middle Ages - most notably, the Franciscan Order. The Tau is also a letter from the Greek and Hebrew alphabet, and was one of the most common shape of crosses used by the Romans in crucifixion, leading some to believe that Jesus was crucified on a "high tau" rather than a "low tau" or even an X-shaped cross.
At the conclusion Fourth Lateran Council, Pope Innocent III declared to all present to go and "be bearers of the Tau!" It is believed that Saint Francis of Assisi (AD 1182-1226) was present at this council, and took this declaration literally. He began to sign his letters, his poetry and his work with the Tau cross rather than his own name. His followers wore (and continue to wear) tau crosses as necklaces and other accessories. Some even drew tau crosses on their habits (religious robes) in order to identify themselves with the cross. St. Francis so closely identified himself with the Tau that over time, not only did the Tau become heavily associated with the Franciscan branch of Christianity, but it came to stand as a symbol for unity, love, brotherhood (and sisterhood), and welcoming our fellow human beings.
For a brief period of time in mid-2016, the idea of renaming the website to "the embrace" was toyed around with. This would have included a variation of the Tau cross, with the rest of the letters in lowercase. The idea of "the embrace" re-branding would have been to emphasize the divine, loving and merciful embrace that ought to welcome all people of all cultures, religious traditions, ethnic backgrounds as well as socio-political statuses. However, since the website has been known for this long as Veritas Ministeria, the name remained the same, but the quality, focus and emphasis of the recent articles and posts have been changed in order to better express this idea of "the embrace."
Thus, we now have Veritas Ministeria.
The title is given as "Truth" not because we believe that we have any kind of exclusive claim to "truth," but because each of us are pilgrims on a journey of discovery and growth. We seek deep meaning in many "truths" of our world - political, economic, social, etc. Our purpose is to seek meaning and "truth" through exploring topics throughout the Christian tradition and cover matters such as social justice, inter-religious dialogue, archaeology, textual criticism, mysticism, science and theology, as well as a variety of other such topics.This font of the logo is chosen intentionally, with the "T" in Veritas actually symbolizing the "Tau" cross found within Christianity. The tau was used as early as the prophet Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible (Ezekiel 9:4), but it was later adopted by a few different penitential movements in the Middle Ages - most notably, the Franciscan Order. The Tau is also a letter from the Greek and Hebrew alphabet, and was one of the most common shape of crosses used by the Romans in crucifixion, leading some to believe that Jesus was crucified on a "high tau" rather than a "low tau" or even an X-shaped cross.
At the conclusion Fourth Lateran Council, Pope Innocent III declared to all present to go and "be bearers of the Tau!" It is believed that Saint Francis of Assisi (AD 1182-1226) was present at this council, and took this declaration literally. He began to sign his letters, his poetry and his work with the Tau cross rather than his own name. His followers wore (and continue to wear) tau crosses as necklaces and other accessories. Some even drew tau crosses on their habits (religious robes) in order to identify themselves with the cross. St. Francis so closely identified himself with the Tau that over time, not only did the Tau become heavily associated with the Franciscan branch of Christianity, but it came to stand as a symbol for unity, love, brotherhood (and sisterhood), and welcoming our fellow human beings.
For a brief period of time in mid-2016, the idea of renaming the website to "the embrace" was toyed around with. This would have included a variation of the Tau cross, with the rest of the letters in lowercase. The idea of "the embrace" re-branding would have been to emphasize the divine, loving and merciful embrace that ought to welcome all people of all cultures, religious traditions, ethnic backgrounds as well as socio-political statuses. However, since the website has been known for this long as Veritas Ministeria, the name remained the same, but the quality, focus and emphasis of the recent articles and posts have been changed in order to better express this idea of "the embrace."Thus, we now have Veritas Ministeria.
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