Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
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"
It's hard to be surprised these days at anything, but I must admit that I was surprised at the posting by one Paul A. Holloway, Professor of New Testament at the School of Theology at The University of the South, Sewanee, TN.  He is evidently upset that a) his institution gave N.T. Wright an honourary doctorate, without …
Continue reading "Sewanee, N.T. Wright, and Those Strange Biblical Scholars"
Matt Kennedy at Stand Firm finds Archbishop John Sentamu's response about the propriety of women bishops disconcerting: His appeal is to the supreme authority of scripture. How does the Archbishop of York answer? Setamu calmly continued with the service, stating that the appointment of a female bishop was now “part of the law of the …
Continue reading "Women Bishops in the Church of England: The Chickens Are In the Roost"
My church's news site recently noted a gathering down in Jamaica which was a consultation on believers' baptism. There were a couple of ministers from my church there, along with representatives of the World Council of Churches. I'm always nervous when our ministers get involved with WCC people and events. They are like young Siegfried, …
Continue reading "Why I Support the Idea of Believers' Baptism"
Who would have thunk it? "However, there are new discussions that stained glass is seen more favorably by younger generations." DeGroot cited recent research conducted by the Barna Group, which found that Millennials preferred more traditional looking sanctuaries instead of so-called trendy buildings. Stained glass windows are one of the fonder memories of the church …
@roddreher makes an interesting, if somewhat open-ended analysis of the subject: ...my general sense was the same I had when I lived in NYC for five years: that the region overall is cool to Christianity in a way that I have not seen anywhere else I’ve lived (except for South Florida). Needless to say, the …
Continue reading "My Thoughts on "Christianity's Decline in the Northeast""
It's been a bit since Ephraim Radner and Christopher Seitz "crossed the Rubicon" and set forth The Marriage Pledge, which calls ministers to stop officiating civil marriages.  Reactions have been mixed.  The fact that I can say that shows that the steady legalisation of same-sex civil marriage has forced Christians--who have been working to "preserve marriage", …
Continue reading "The Marriage Pledge: A Gratifying Step on Civil vs. Ecclesiastical Marriage"
I've not had the time lately to post in as timely fashion as I would like, mostly because of the semester-by-semester crapshoot which is my PhD pursuit. But there's a long-term issue that deserves some comment, and that concerns a long-overdue attitude adjustment that Evangelicals need to make because of events in the Middle East. …
Continue reading "The Evangelical Comeuppance in the Middle East"
Evidently Justin Welby stirred up more than this blog by his backhanded comments regarding the ACNA and the Anglican Communion. Â It's unsurprising that some of the provinces at least have taken offence to them. Â In Australia, with their interesting system of provinces, dioceses and extraprovincial diocese (Tasmania) we have the Diocese of Northwest Australia warmly …
That's apparently what Justin Welby is doing, or trying to do: At the start of his 3 October 2014 interview with the Church of Ireland Gazette Archbishop Welby noted that he was surprised to learn that “virtually everywhere I have gone the analysis is that the definition of being part of the Anglican Communion is …
Continue reading "Pulling Rank on Who's in the Anglican Communion and Who Isn't"
