Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
My parting attempt at humour notwithstanding, the long and involved debate with Anglican Ablaze's Robin Jordan isn't as "over" as one would like. For his part he has sounded the trumpet against the monstrous regiment of Charles Finney. For mine, I'd like to take this another direction, because, as I said, I don't think the …
Continue reading "Calvinism, Perseverance and Assurance: Some Further Analysis"
Those of you who have followed my recent posts on Calvinism (this and this) and even my exposition on Origen and the literal sense of Scripture know that these have elicited a vigorous rejoinder by Robin Jordan of Anglicans Ablaze. With the responses from same and now his own blog post on the "slippery slope" …
Continue reading "Going Downhill with Anglicans Ablaze's Robin Jordan"
As a follow-up to my earlier post on Calvinism—and a partial response to Anglicans Ablaze’s Robin Jordan—I wanted to supply more details on my contention that Calvinism “…is the fastest road to universalism in Christianity.” Following is a part of Robert Morey’s Death and the Afterlife, where he discusses and ultimately refutes universalism. I heartily …
Fr. Victor Novak's recent article in VirtueOnline about Calvinism, Catholicism and the Thirty-Nine Articles opens an interesting subject for disparate groups such as Anglicans, Baptists and Pentecostals: why is there so much attraction these days for Calvinism in places where it was either non-existent or not well represented? Let's start with Fr. Novak's article. He …
One thing that surprises me in Anglican circles is the growing trend to insist on a literal interpretation of the Scriptures. In the old days Anglicans/Episcopalians used to believe that such hermeneutics was for “them”, a term loaded with educational, ecclesiastical and socio-economic overtones. After a half century of revisionism, however, a correction is understandable. …
Continue reading "The Significance of the Literal Meaning of Scripture: An Example from Origen"
I have to confess that I enjoyed the "Ugley Vicar" John Richardson's exposition on women bishops in the Church of England as it relates to the CoE's relationship with the state. I recommend it highly, especially to my American readers, who generally don't think in terms other than the construct we have. (And that, sad …
Continue reading "Women Bishops in the CoE: Cutting the Knot or Tying It?"
Century 27269 (1965) For those of you who survived the 1960's folk Mass scene, some questions: did you ever wonder how "Kumbayah" became emblematic of people sitting around, holding hands? Or why Michael had to row the boat ashore when technology of the time had outboard motors (as depicted on the right)? Or why, with …
Continue reading "Frederick Gere and Milton Williams: The Winds of God"
As I mentioned earlier, the Church of God will convene its General Assembly next week in Orlando. The agenda is out and posted. Most church meeting agendas like this are full of arcane items that may be very weighty to those whom they directly impact but of little relevance to everyone else, even for general …
It was a pleasant surprise to see Philip Jenkins article When Evangelicals Were Cool about what many of us refer to as the "Jesus Music Era". Given the protracted trashing that Evangelicals have gotten since (done, in part, because they're perceived as a threat) it's nice to see someone bring up an era--the late 1960's …
Continue reading "When Evangelicals Were Cool: He Doesn't Know the Half of It, Musically at Least"
There were two things I was hoping to escape when I joined a Pentecostal church: social-climbing Christianity and social justice Christianity. Silly me: I've achieved neither of these. I deal with the former on an irregular basis. I think my church people and pastor are aware of my rants on the subject but up to …
Continue reading "Why I've Never Been Sold on "Christian Social Activism""
Positive Infinity 