Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
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""
This exchange of correspondence about someone who wanted to transfer their membership to one of the "seceding" dioceses' parishes would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic. Basically, the parish of the Diocese of Dallas (whose Dean's parting shot was commented on here) refused to start a "canonical" transfer of membership to one of the …
Continue reading "The Episcopal Church: Getting Out While the Getting Out Was Good"
From Gerald Bray at the Churchman, the best wrap on the man and his role I have seen yet: The shipwreck of the Covenant brings us to the heart of Dr. Williams' long-term failure as archbishop. He sincerely wanted to keep the Anglican Communion together but believed that he could do this by political compromises …
Continue reading "A Tough (but Realistic) Assessment of a "Double-Minded Man", Rowan Williams"
I found retiring Dallas Episcopal Dean Kevin Martin's reflections on his long life in ministry fascinating, largely because his career span--to say nothing of his span as an Episcopalian--sweeps most of the enormous transformation that has taken place both in TEC (which was PECUSA when he started) and in the country at large. The question …
Continue reading "Two Score of Episcopal Ministry: My Response to a Dean's Reflections"
Things aren't going to plan in the vanguard against liberalism: It gets worse. In 2010, the NAE adopted a resolution seeking "common ground" and "fresh national dialogue" on the subject of reducing the number of abortions in the United States. Cizik's successor, Galen Carey, said at the time that partnering with notorious pro-abortion groups like …
A hard conclusion to avoid: In a move that took most people by surprise, the Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Rwanda, the Most Rev. Onesphorus Rwaje publicly handed over a number of US bishops and clergy who had been canonically resident in Rwanda to the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, Archbishop of the Anglican Church …
Continue reading "Turning it Over to the ACNA: The Rwandans Have Had All the Fun They Can Stand"
Positive Infinity 