Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Oliver Pritchett's piece on dumping brunch and bringing back the English breakfast has me thinking of many things English, American and otherwise. That's especially true with the upcoming Anglican Primates' meeting and Justin Welby's last throw at getting everyone to play nice. In particular, this statement from the Curmudgeon piqued my interest: And it can …
Continue reading "The Anglican Communion and the English Breakfast"
That's a question that's as old as Anglicanism itself, as Bossuet pointed out a long time ago in his History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches, VII, 45-47: Accordingly, it thence came to pass, that Henry VIII gave the bishops power to visit their diocese with this preface: "That all jurisdiction, as well ecclesiastical …
This continues a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. The disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans was a process written in blood, as was their inclusion in the Sultan's realm. The Romanian count who is known as Dracula fought to keep up the independence of his …
Continue reading "The Ottoman Tales VIII: Christians, Keep Your Promises"
They talk a good game, but as a recent Pew report notes, those purveyors of same-sex marriage bomb in the racial diversity department. Â Even with the choice of Presiding Bishop Curry, the Episcopal Church is whiter than--horrors--the Southern Baptist Convention! It's hard to blame non-white people from avoiding the Episcopal Church; in fact, it's …
Continue reading "Those Undiverse Episcopalians, and Others"
That's one way of looking at Sarah Hey's assessment of TEC's new Presiding Bishop: 2) Presiding Bishop-elect Curry has a lovely speaking voice and will continue to offer nice sermons. This will serve, no doubt, to assuage some of the embarrassment that moderates and not a few liberal Episcopalians felt when they heard Katherine Jefferts …
Continue reading "The Episcopalians Go From Smashmouth to Mealymouth"
Anyone who works in a university environment these days--especially in a public university whose state support continually evaporates--has heard about the concept of "safe space". It's an idea promoted by LGBT advocates where parts of the campus are designated as safe for such people to be without fear of opposition. The problem with that is …
Continue reading "An Important Way Church Needs to Be a Safe Space"
Well, we're up against it: we're starting to see Evangelicals, generally thought reliable adherents to Scriptural Christianity, defect to the other side over the LGBT business. Â For people raised in the system, this is a shock they are not mentally prepared for. Â For those of us who came out of liberal churches of long ago, …
Continue reading "Some Advice to Evangelicals on Major Division from Anglican/Episcopal Experience"
Back in 2006, before the accession of the current Occupant, I began to write a little novel entitled The Ten Weeks. It describes, among other things, the result of a democratically elected left-wing government and how it, using the sexual revolution as one of its weapons (and mob action as another), took progressive power in …
Continue reading "The Assault on Christians Wasn't Supposed to Happen This Fast"
Nothing Baptistic on this blog: (Don't ask me why, they don't allow embedding on this video, but you can click to go to it on YouTube anyway). The lyrics are very old, going back to the end of the Western Roman Empire. The tune is by Ralph Vaughan Williams. One of the advantages of this …
Continue reading "What You're Supposed to Sing on Easter Sunday"
It's official:  I felt drawn to the Episcopal church because it offered some practices I felt were missing in my evangelical experience, like space for silence and reflection, a focus on Christ’s presence at the communion table as the climax and center of every worship service, opportunities for women in leadership, and the inclusion of …
Continue reading "Rachel Held Evans Becomes an Episcopalian"
Positive Infinity 