Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Continuing in this series, we get to the heart of the matter: The body which is born of the holy Virgin is in truth body united with divinity, not that the body which was received up into the heavens descends, but that the bread itself and the wine are changed into God's body and blood. …
Continue reading "Reflections on an Orthodox View of the Eucharist: Part III"
I pick up from last time in John of Damascus' The Orthodox Faith, 4,13: For it was fitting that not only the first-fruits of our nature should partake in the higher good but every man who wished it, and that a second birth should take place and that the nourishment should be new and suitable …
Continue reading "Reflections on an Orthodox View of the Eucharist: Part II"
In a recent posting on MissionalCOG on the contextualisation of Communion, the thread turned from how to contextualise it to what it meant, and specifically whether it was sacramental or simply an ordinance. Related to this question is the nature of the Eucharist. It's always bothered me that Evangelicals, who are generally solicitous about their …
Continue reading "Reflections on an Orthodox View of the Eucharist: Part I"
This week I'm starting a podcast series featuring Roman Catholic liturgical music from the 1960's and 1970's. Since the Vatican has been busy outlawing certain forms of the divine name and other reversions to the "traditional" Mass, I'm entitling this series "Mass Confusion." The best place to start the Mass is with an Introit (generally …
This interesting comment from "JaquesArden54" in Why Anglican England is better than Secular France: The French Etat - and the French people in general - have forgotten that there is a difference between the State and Society. This confusion of two distinct realities is an error found within New Labour, Dave's Tories and the European …
From here, relative to his visit to France: It seems obvious to me today that laïcité (the French policy of exclusion of any religious content in the life of the state) in itself is not in contradiction with the faith. I would even say that it is a fruit of the faith because the Christian …
Continue reading "Pope Benedict XVI and Ferdinand Lot On the Christian and the State"
I noted here that Jonathan Martin has written a paper entitled, "Spirit, Apocalypse and Ethics: Reading Catholic Moral Theology as a Pentecostal" in The Journal of Pentecostal Theology. (The abstract is here.) First: congratulations are in order. It's great to be a published author. It's not always easy either, because everyone else wants "a piece …
Continue reading "Reply to Jonathan Martin on Pentecost and Catholic Theology"
There are some in (well, maybe) the Roman Catholic Church who are taking matters into their own hands: A few weeks ago, a group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests staged what it called an ordination, vesting three Boston-area women in white chasubles and red stoles. It told the local papers that the ordinations were valid, despite …
Continue reading "Liberation Ordination and Women Priests in Roman Catholicism"
On the other hand, Edwards, the greatest Reformed theologian between Calvin and Barth, systematically integrates justification and sanctification, faith and works, election and perseverance, forensic righteousness and mystical participation. This is significant not only for relations between Reformed and Catholic theology, but also for evangelicals and Catholics. Evangelicals have had their own problems putting asunder …
This week, Kendall Harmon featured two pieces on the Roman Catholic Church that caught my attention: one which made more formal some of the language used in the Mass, and another which forbids the use of "Yahweh" as the divine name. A few notes for the uninitiated: all Catholic liturgies are composed in Latin as …
Continue reading "Roman Catholicism: Two More Reasons Not To Go Back"
Positive Infinity 