As many of you know, for me, in one sense, this is it: at the end of August, I will be leaving as Ministries Coordinator of the Church of God Department of Laity Ministries. Next week is our General Assembly in Orlando, in many ways the place where I will make my parting "social." As …
The Government Leans on the Church of England for Jeffrey Johns
Damian Thompson's list for why Dr. Jeffrey John (the openly gay CoE clergyman who may become Bishop of Southwark) is a good one, but this item especially caught my eye: David Cameron apparently supports Dr John’s candidacy. Nothing could underline Cameron’s right-on credentials more effectively than supporting the episcopal ordination of a Left-wing gay priest. …
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Katharine Jefferts-Schori: Pushing People Towards the Margins
If you are given the opportunity to talk long and frequently long enough, you will blurt out the truth, as Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori did in New Zealand: Disagreement with The Episcopal Church about gay bishops is one thing: but why have those two ordinations provoked such intense antagonism? Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori …
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Rufinus on the Canon of Scripture
From his Commentary on the Apostles' Creed (36-38): Whence also the Apostle says, "All Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable for instruction." And therefore it seems proper in this place to enumerate, as we have learned from the tradition of the Fathers, the books of the New and of the Old Testament, which, …
Is This the Parting Point Between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion?
Drew asked me an interesting question regarding this in response to a previous post: Do you think that at any point in the foreseeable future, the ABC or the rest of the Anglican Communion will sever its ties with the ECUSA in favor of one of its rivals? The short answer is this: I think …
The Direct Road to Jefferts Schori vs. Williams Started When She Was Elected: A Prediction from 2006
While researching something else, this, from a post I made in the wake of TEC's GC 2006: There is no question that most of the Anglican Communion will not stomach the election of a woman Presiding Bishop, especially one that supports homosexuals the way she does. There is also no question that the Episcopal church …
The Episcopal Church and the Soviet Restaurant
Creedal Christian's post on the meltdown of the Anglican Communion (HT to Stand Firm) got me thinking about many things. One reaction to this is that the "middle" is AWOL in this discussion. But I think that view overlooks some things that have been at work both in TEC and our society in general. One …
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National Cathedral Might as Well Dump the Books
National Cathedral's uninspiring financial situation is leading to desperate measures: Then news came this week that the cathedral, visited by every U.S. president since Theodore Roosevelt laid its foundation stone in 1907, was considering selling off part of its rare books collection, probably worth millions. Cathedral officials said the potential sale of the books is …
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Book Review: The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Vol. 2: The Patristic Age
I've always been a strong advocate of patristic studies. That's not an easy advocacy in Evangelical Christianity, but it's one that needs to be made. It's not always easy in Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy either, because the Fathers of the Church--or more precisely those who wrote and, as we learn here, preached, during the Roman …
An Episcopal Church Gets Its Roof Repaired. But Who Will Fix the Confirmation Class?
Well, at least at Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach: Construction is under way to replace part of the roof at the historic Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea. The roof covers the administrative offices and the choir room overlooking the courtyard and gardens. Advanced Roofing is the contractor. David Semadeni, a junior warden and a member of the …
Positive Infinity 