VATICAN CITY-- Reacting to a report that Pope John Paul II practiced self-mortification, including flagellation, experts in spirituality said ascetical practices are part of the Christian tradition, ...

Creative mortification would be if someone says your art sucks, so you stop pursuing a career in the arts altogether. Or if you quit your job after that brainstorming session because you thought you ...

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. Mel Gibson’s Tuesday apology for an anti-Semitic rant after his drunken driving ...

Stephen Johnson is Senior Staff Writer for Lifehacker where he covers pop culture, including two weekly columns “The Out of Touch Adults’ Guide to Kid Culture” and “What People are Getting Wrong this ...

All of you bible-banging head thumpers - or is that bible-thumping head bangers - should get ready to bellow hallelujah as loud as your guttural grind voice will let you. Australian Christian extreme ...

Lenten habits of voluntary suffering—what Christians have long called “mortification”—help us to imitate Jesus and join in his work. Growing up as a Methodist, the church calendar oriented my ...

A new book released by a Vatican official on Wednesday details lesser known facts about the late John Paul II, including his self-mortification practices, hand written instructions for his resignation ...

“Worldlings go in search of sensual gratifications,” writes Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri, founder of the Redemptorist congregation, “but the followers of Christ seek only corporal austerities.” And so ...

Every year during Holy Week, I am asked why we have extreme forms of self-inflicted pain among Filipinos, the most dramatic of which are the flagellants and the ones who get themselves crucified.

You’re nervous. You’ve been writing and revising this poem for a week. You finally show it to your husband, and he dismisses it with a curt, “Meh.” You’ve been taking dance lessons for the past month ...