It's done: Late last week, Christian geneticist Francis Collins resigned abruptly as a researcher at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). On Wednesday this week, the U.S. Senate held a confirmation hearing for a new NIH director, Stanford University medical professor Jay Bhattacharya, a fellow Christian who Collins privately disparaged as one of “three fringe epidemiologists” during the COVID …
Something Worse than Monarchical Absolutism
Sometimes the most interesting and profound of statements come from some of the unlikeliest places, and this is one of them: it was reprinted in the January 1919 edition of Crane Valve World, the periodical of the Crane Company, the Chicago based company that makes valves and other fittings for piping of air, steam, water …
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“Old High Church” Planting–North American Anglican, with Some Comments
https://northamanglican.com/old-high-church-planting/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=old-high-church-planting Ah, the Old High Church... The popularity of the Old High Church--both in the Colonial period and in the years immediately after World War II--is something that flies in the face of a lot of Evangelical church growth orthodoxy. How is it possible to grow a church with such as specific form of worship? …
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Hopefully, @JDVance Won’t Be Too Soon Old and Too Late Smart About Roman Catholic Social Justice Teaching
The Catholic Church in the US is distressed about Trump's immigrant policies: Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, the USCCB president, said in a Wednesday statement that some provisions of Trump's executive actions, including those that affect immigrants and refugees, "are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences." To which Vance came back: "I think that the U.S. Conference …
My Impressions of “Communion Chapel”
Most of you who have followed this blog know that I was able to do two series at my local church (the North Cleveland Church of God) on liturgical worship and the liturgical calendar. That’s not something that is typical in a Pentecostal church, but it isn’t unique either; I’ve been aware of things going …
The Pre-Vatican II Catholic Church’s Stand on Abortion
As sort of an aside to The Elephant in the Room on Baptismal Regeneration, this, from Farrell's Parish Catechism: Is abortion always a mortal sin? Abortion--willfully causing the death of an unborn baby--is always murder, even when suggested or demanded by a surgeon for any reason whatsoever. Abortion is the murder of the innocent unborn infant. …
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The Elephant in the Room on Baptismal Regeneration
https://northamanglican.com/the-meaning-of-regeneration-commentary-on-browne-article-xxvii-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-meaning-of-regeneration-commentary-on-browne-article-xxvii-1 I've been thinking about posting on this topic, but, in their inimitable way, North American Anglican has posted this. Like many things in Christianity (vernacular liturgy being an important example,) Anglicanism has wrestled with many things it inherited from Roman Catholicism long before the Catholics did, and this is one of them. The core …
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Reformed vs. Re-formed: A Synopsis–North American Anglican
https://northamanglican.com/reformed-vs-re-formed-a-synopsis/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=reformed-vs-re-formed-a-synopsis I did my best to follow this back and forth, but it wasn't easy. For me, however, the key point finally came here: The crux of this dispute is the nature and substance of the English Reformation. The basic facts of what occurred during the English Reformation are generally agreed upon, but its larger …
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Book Review: We Believe: An Exposition of the Church of God Declaration of Faith
Thanks to recent events, the whole business of the Church of God Declaration of Faith has become more important. Those of us who teach at Church of God institutions such as Lee University—even when that teaching isn’t theological in nature—are required to avoid teaching that which is contrary to the Declaration of Faith. Our ministers …
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Smyth’s Spankings Come Back to Haunt British Evangelicals
It's not getting better, even with the departure of the current Occupant at Canterbury: The long knives are out. John Smyth's sadistic behavior which has claimed the Archbishop of Canterbury, could claim as much as 30 percent of the Church of England's evangelicals, a confidential source told VOL. There has been a conspiracy of silence …
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