Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
It took long enough, but Jonathan Martin finally "threw his wallet on the table" about this: I do not hold to the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation-it is too speculative for my taste. But I do believe very much in real presence, that there is a mysterious way that we partake in the presence and power …
Continue reading "A Pentecostal Finally Gets It on the Eucharist"
So we now have Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee for President. It's an odd thing in many ways, not because the party grandees threw their lot in with him--that's par for the course. It's odd because they were able to get it past the people who supposedly dominate the party--the "Religious Right", those dreadful …
Continue reading "Mitt Romney and the Religion of the Middle Class"
Last week I took a page from "cassock and surplice" Anglicanism--the funeral of World War I flying ace Manfred "Red Baron" von Richtofen--to show what "1662 BCP" Anglicanism looked like in a celebrated event. The significance of my slighting the alb was well understood. So I guess a little "equal time" might be in order. …
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"
Every now and then I have stop and protest one thing or another that has become fashionable among Evangelicals. We’re always told that every good and trendy thing comes from the Throne Room. But that isn’t really the case, and it makes sense to call some of these things out. I have friends on Facebook …
One question that Christians often ask each other is “What preacher (or minister or priest) had the greatest influence on your life?” For me that’s never been an easy question to answer, especially in the church I’m in now. Most people would assume that the church I’ve ended up with produced the most influential one, …
Continue reading "The Most Important Minister: My Tribute to Fr. Donald F.X. Connolly"
However small, however modest, however tentative this may be, it will perpetually give rise to contests and divisions. And this quest of a common denominator in contrasting convictions can develop nothing but intellectual cowardice and mediocrity, a weakening of minds and a betrayal of the rights of truth. (Jaques Maritain, True Humanism, Bles, 1938, p. …
Continue reading "What Happens When Everyone Is Supposed to Believe the Same"
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""
Note the sign to the right. You think we need one like this for our fiscal condition?
Positive Infinity 