From the end of his Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire: By his expression of Christian ideas in the natural language of Roman thought, by his insistence on the reality of the historic Jesus and on the inevitable consequences of human conduct, by his reference of all matters of life and controversy to …
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 …
An Aggie Throwback: Answer Coffeehouse Rehearsal, Forty Years Out
Another milestone on the blog: the fortieth anniversary of the recording of the Answer Coffeehouse Rehearsal in College Station, Texas. It's primitive in many ways but for those of us who were involved in it it's the only recording out there. There aren't many Christian coffee-house recordings from the day around in general; this is …
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When Your Metairie is Wiped Out: My First Post After Hurricane Katrina
This weekend is the tenth anniversary of the Gulf Coast landing of Hurricane Katrina, which wrought so much destruction in both Louisiana and Mississippi. I had started the predecessor format of this blog earlier that year. Given ancestral and business interests, a disaster of this size made an impact on me, especially after visiting the …
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The Ottoman Tales XI: They'd Rather Die Christian
This ends a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. If there's one thing to be learned about studying the Ottomans, it's that there are many strange stories to tell. What makes up "strange" depends upon one's frame of reference. In his book on Palm Beach, Laurence Leamer characterised …
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Those Undiverse Episcopalians, and Others
They talk a good game, but as a recent Pew report notes, those purveyors of same-sex marriage bomb in the racial diversity department. Â Even with the choice of Presiding Bishop Curry, the Episcopal Church is whiter than--horrors--the Southern Baptist Convention! It's hard to blame non-white people from avoiding the Episcopal Church; in fact, it's …
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The Pope, Technology and Slavery
The Holy Father has once again ambushed American Catholics with Laudato Si, his encyclical on the environment and global warming. As was the case with his earlier document on social teaching, we should not be too surprised; there is a great deal of precedent for this kind of thinking. As R.R. Reno points out: In …
The Eucharist, Spiritual and Corporeal
From Bossuet's History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches, III, 12, this gem: For although the Eucharist, as well as the other mysteries of our salvation, had a spiritual effect for its end, it had, like the other mysteries, that which was accomplished in the body for its foundation. Jesus Christ was to be …
An Important Way Church Needs to Be a Safe Space
Anyone who works in a university environment these days--especially in a public university whose state support continually evaporates--has heard about the concept of "safe space". It's an idea promoted by LGBT advocates where parts of the campus are designated as safe for such people to be without fear of opposition. The problem with that is …
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On the Creation of the Universe: The Assistance of Divine Wisdom in the Creation of the Universe
Putting a wrap on Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, III, 8: Now there is only this beautiful place in Proverbs, where the uncreated wisdom speaks thus: The Lord has possessed me, generated me, from the beginning of his ways. I am myself this beginning, being the worker idea of this great artisan and the original …
Positive Infinity 