Gilbert and Sullivan on the English Elites and the Iwerene Mess

In this post on the subject on Anglican.ink, an interesting observation about some of the participants: Here one has to raise a very serious question viz a viz GAFCON. Why was Andy Lines (also a product of this culture and apparently abused by his mentor, Fletcher) selected and by whom to be chairman of GAFCON …

Pete Buttigieg, Episcopal Snob

The first round of Democratic Presidential debates is, mercifully, over.  Winners and losers will sort themselves out in due season, but in the meanwhile let's consider one whom the media fawned over: Pete Buttigieg, South Bend's mayor.  He's made quite a career doing something that none of his rivals have done to the extent that …

Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church: The Unauthorised Tour

via Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church: The Unauthorised Tour

Renunciation is Central to Christianity, But You’d Never Know It

I recently had an interesting back and forth with a guy I went to prep school with on "Renouncing Privilege."  Evidently he and I have a different take on what that means, as evidenced by his comment: Many of the students were, and probably still are wealthy, still privileged. I would not try to make …

The Thing About Myself that @rachelheldevans Brought to Mind

I was saddened by the last voyage of Rachel Held Evans.  It is never good for such a thing to happen, especially at this time in life.  She was not so far from us and my wife and I know several of her fellow parishioners at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Cleveland. It's best to …

ACNA and CANA: The Baling Wire Unravels, and Some Thoughts About Ethnicity and Churches

They put a good face on a messy situation: Archbishop Foley Beach, Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, and Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), have signed an agreement regarding the status of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) dioceses in both provinces... The agreement provides …

The “Acceptable Religion” Concept Makes a Comeback

Historical amnesia is a common American malady.  One of those aspects of American life that is oft forgotten is that of the "acceptable religion," the idea that certain religions are more socially acceptable (and thus more amenable to their adherents moving up) than others.  In the past, this was mostly an intramural contest within Christianity …

Beating the Sheep Doesn’t Work

I recently reviewed Latta Griswold's The Middle Way, this is another quote from that, in his advice on sermons: The most ineffective, and ultimately the most objectionable of all preachers, is the scold. There is a vast difference between rebuking evil and exposing to a congregation the sins to which they are prone, and scolding. …

Book Review: Latta Griswold’s The Middle Way

If there's one term that gets misused in Anglican-Episcopal circles more than any other, it's the via media, the middle way, which Anglicanism is supposed to embody. Probably it's original intent was best expressed by the men who "translated" the King James Bible. In their dedication to their "dread sovereign," they said the following: So …

About Those Honorary Doctorates in the Church of God…

I've spent the past several weeks going on about social and political things, but this week I'd like to discuss a pet peeve of mine in the glorious church Church of God I'm a part of: the issue of honorary doctorates, and the calling of their recipients "Doctor."  Fortunately our Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. …

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