Over the years, I've noticed that some people take a break for Lent on social media. Some of that is to avoid the dumpster fire that social media is and has been for a long time, and that's understandable. On the flip side, some want to take a break from putting out content and concentrating …
At Least George Conger Permits a Rummage Sale
This interesting tidbit came out during the last episode of Anglicans Unscripted: https://youtu.be/kY1UtXTJXXU?t=237 For people raised at Bethesda-by-the-Sea in the 1960's and 1970's (as George and I were) this has some historical import: in 1968 the Vestry was highly disparaging of Bethesda's rummage sale, which ultimately led to its end. That in turn led to …
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The Faults We Share on Left and Right
Tim Fountain makes an interesting observation along these lines: And, as is a fault for Americans today on both the left and the right, they conflate the church and government. Whether it be the Trump is our new King Cyrus movement or the Christian Socialists, there is the belief that holding control of government will …
So Really, Why did Christ Come and Die for Us?
The recent Twitter storm (it doesn't take much) over Canon Theologian Emily Hunter McGowin's opining on why Jesus came and died for us (the "soteriological question," to put things more formally) and the reaction thereto got me to thinking about this. It's tempting to pass over it as another Anglican food fight, but the question …
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Are Anglican Ministers Successors to the Apostles?
Back in December I published a post in response to one Rev. Chris Findley on Dodging the Important Questions on Priests and the Holy Communion. Unsurprisingly there was no response. Who knows, Rev. Findley might still be stuck in Murfreesboro's traffic, which is experiencing serious spillover from Nashville. In any case, in that post I touched …
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Is the “Classic” Concept of Original Sin Based on a Mistranslation?
An intriguing suggestion from J.N.D. Kelly's Early Christian Doctrines. First, concerning Ambrosiaster's influential Commentary on Romans: Ambrosiaster's teaching is particularly noteworthy because it relies on an exegesis of Rom. 5, 12 which, though mistaken and based on a false reading, was to become the pivot of the doctrine of original sin. In the Greek St. …
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The Intellectual Shell Game of Critical Race Theory in the Anglican/Episcopal World
Matt Kennedy's thoughtful piece on critical race theory lays out many things very succinctly. My purpose here is to take a look at this from another point of view. The way Matt links current critical race theory with the class theory of Marxism connects many dots, dots which have driven many of my life decisions, …
Francis Chan Bails on Bill Clinton’s Eucharistic Theology
As you see here: https://youtu.be/QP9roQQwzsA "Bill Clinton's Eucharistic Theology" is my catty description of Zwinglian theology, which posits that the Holy Communion is a mere symbol. As I noted in my piece entitled Bill Clinton's Eucharistic Theology: It Depends Upon What Is Is: Until the Reformation Christianity uniformly confessed that, when Our Lord said “is” …
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On the Prayer Book as Constitution — Ad Orientem
The prayer book controversies, however, are an illustration of one of the banes of the English speaking world: debating substantive issues by arguing over documents. Today in the U.S. we debate many issues in our society, not on their merits, but by their constitutionality. The basic problem with the newer prayer book is that many […] …
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The Year the 1928 Book of Common Prayer Ran Out of Gas
The release of the ACNA's new prayer book this past year doesn't change the fact that not everyone is happy with it, even in the ACNA. One competitor in the field--especially amongst churches that most would classify as High Church in one form or another--is the venerable 1928 Book of Common Prayer, kept in front …
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Positive Infinity 