Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
An eye-opener, indeed: Fifty years later there’s good reason for evangelicals to believe Stott’s argument ultimately won the day. For instance, unlike his more liberal predecessor, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is a charismatic evangelical (and a member of Holy Trinity Brompton before he was ordained), and his counterpart in York, John Sentamu, comes …
Continue reading "Evangelicals Took Over the Church of England? So What?"
It was the "standard" rendition of the Holy Communion when I grew up at Bethesda-by-the-Sea, and the paid youth choir did a proper job of it. This rendition comes from St. John's Cathedral in Detroit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzYoVS8WMxQ It remains one of the most moving "masses" (that term didn't sit well with many Episcopalians) I have ever …
Continue reading "Healy Willan's Missa de Sancta Maria Magdelena"
Bossuet, in his History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches, I, 7, gets to the point: Justification is that grace which, remitting to us our sins, at the same time renders us agreeable to God. Till then, it had been believed that what wrought this effect proceeded indeed from God, but yet necessarily existed …
Continue reading "The Strange Consequence of Luther's Concept of Justification"
Certainly didn't for the Episcopal Church in their "recovery" of the San Joaquin diocese: What would you say of a trustee who spent $6.8 million of his trust fund's money to recover just $1 million? Is that a healthy example of how a fiduciary should carry out his duties? You probably already guessed before I …
Continue reading "Justification by Litigation Doesn't Work, Either"
One of the real shockers of recent American Christianity was the conversion of Hank Hannegraff, the "Bible Answer Man," to Greek Orthodoxy. That was upsetting to many who had followed his Bible answers for many years, but it was especially upsetting to the Reformed types, who basically acted like he had left Christianity. (That sounds …
Continue reading "Was Augustine Really the Worst for Christian Theology?"
I've not done much posting re the Anglican Communion these days. That's because, to be honest, it's not an improving story. Predictably the Church of England is going the way of its Episcopal counterpart, having learned nothing from their experience. The orthodox Anglicans have appointed a former tank commander to lead the charge; they're going …
Continue reading "What I Learned About Approaching God From the 1928 Book of Common Prayer"
Archbishop Cranmer relates the following rather odd exchange at the Church of England synod: A few other Synod questions relate to the diversity obsession: Miss Prudence Dailey (Oxford) to ask the Chair of the House of Bishops: Q21 Is the House of Bishops aware of evidence that unconscious bias training is ineffective in increasing the …
Continue reading "The Church of England Plays the Postmodern Card on Bias Training"
Today is Ascension Day, when we celebrate Our Lord's bodily ascension into heaven. The Acts of the Apostles describe the "aftermath" on earth as follows: While they were still gazing up into the heavens, as he went, suddenly two men, clothed in white, stood beside them, And said: "Men of Galilee, why are you standing …
Continue reading "You Could Just Stand There and Look Stupid: An Ascension Day Reflection"
...and they've stepped into it with their report on the subject, visible here. The ACNA came into the world with considerable baggage, some of which was due to the way they had to "patch together" the institution from several provincial efforts. That was one of those things that led Greg Griffith to swim the Tiber, …
Continue reading "Women's Ordination: The ACNA's Trickiest Minefield"
It's in front of them: Now, a close associate of the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Rev. Tory Baucum, the Rector of Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia (along with his eighteen-member vestry), has followed along this postmodern Humpty Dumpty trajectory, re-defining “Reconciliation” away from its biblical meaning of unity in Christ and in the truth of …
Positive Infinity 