This is one in a series from Bossuet’s Elevations on the Mysteries. The previous post is here. More information on the Bossuet Project is here. Creation of man "You have lowered him slightly below the angel; you crowned him with glory and honor, and you have appointed to him all the works of your hands.” …
The Creation of Men and Angels: Perseverance and bliss of the holy angels
This is one in a series from Bossuet’s Elevations on the Mysteries. The previous post is here. More information on the Bossuet Project is here. "There was a great war in heaven, Michael and his angels against the dragon and his angels: the dragon and his angels fought, and their strength failed them," and they …
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The Creation of Men and Angels: The creation of the angels
This is the first in a series from Bossuet’s Elevations on the Mysteries. More information on the Bossuet Project is here. God, who is a pure spirit, wanted to create pure spirits like him, who like him live in intelligence and love, who know and love him as he knows and loves himself, who like …
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"Garbage In Garbage Out" Works for the Soul, Too
From Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, IV, 8: To correct the abuse and distraction of our wandering and dissipated imagination, it is necessary to fill it with holy images. When our memory fills up, it will only take us to those religious ideas. The water wheel pushed by the flow of a river always goes, …
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Revisiting the Catholicism of "Christ Among Us"
Educating new Christians in the basics of the faith has always been an important task of the Church. A few years back I featured a series on Cyril of Jerusalem's Catechetical Lectures, which date from the fourth century. Evangelical churches can be very casual about the whole business, their reputation for dogmatism notwithstanding. With Roman …
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Is Reformed Religion Rational?
One of my Pentecostal academic friends directed me towards this piece, "How Christian Rationalism Turned Me Into a Psychopath, or A Biblical Defense of Feelings," by one Michael Minkoff, Jr.. It summarizes his journey through Reformed religion, how same religion attempted to drill into him the virtues of rationality and the vices of letting your …
Getting it Right on Palm Sunday
We're coming up on Holy Week. Churches will be rolling out their Easter musicals. Because people don't go to church on Good Friday like they used to, churches will also put the Passion narrative on Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday...what's that all about? It is, strictly speaking, the celebration of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, beginning …
Some Thoughts on Bossuet's History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches
One of the things that some of the major Anglican blogs will throw out from time to time is the question of what their readers/commenters are reading on the side when they're not keeping up with the latest Anglican debacle (like the recent Primates' Meeting.) Through the Christmas holidays, while waiting for some long runs …
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It's Time for Cleveland to Lose "Tall Betsy"
We're coming upon Halloween, that time of year when things get scary. (I'll throw in the fact that Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses and started the Reformation on Halloween, something that Bossuet could appreciate.) In any case "ghost stories" make their way to the surface. In Cleveland, TN, that means "Tall Betsy," a story …
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Should a Woman Lead the Church?
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 …
Positive Infinity 