Sunlight
On asking the philosophers, What is the sun?, we get in answer, An angel perched; a heap of furze Some god has set ablaze; a burning Iron that melts from sword to plow To spearhead with the seasons’ turning. And some wise soul guffaws at them Or, condescending, calls it “poetry” To disbelieve…
Infant Baptism in the Anglican Formularies
The reformed liturgy for baptism in the 1549 Prayer Book includes a biblical justification for the baptism of infants, Mark 10:13-16: At a certayne tyme they brought children to Christe that he should touche them, and hys disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus sawe it, he was displeased, and sayed unto them:…
Tract II (Part III): How Did the British and Roman Churches Compare?
Tracts for the Times 2.0 In this final part of Tract #2 on the Church in the British Isles before 597, I will discuss some of the differences between the Church in the British Isles and the Roman and Continental churches and then provide a summary and chronology of the Church in the British Isles…
Christmas as High Defiance
We watch the trees die every year. They shed. They imitate the sunset and pile their darkness in the yard. It is a thick darkness that you can sit in, lie in, fall in. And it smells. Those leaves, the windblown evidence of death and dying, come down with scent. It is the smell of…
Sartre’s Funeral
Paris, 19 April 1980 Immense, the crowds that line the cortege route Pay homage now to him that set them free, Emancipated from Church piety. Delivered from the bonds of creed, they doubt, Just as he taught them, urging them to flout God’s pleasure-killing laws of chastity. Hands stretch to touch the hearse; eyes strain…
Of Reading Lists, Foreign Divines, and Local Parishes
When the subject of Anglican theological formation comes up, what texts come to mind? What should clergy and literate laity be reading? It’s no surprise that the list will have changed since the sixteenth century, but one title that can still make a strong case for a spot is Bullinger’s Decades. Of course, many foreign…
The Gospel in the Prayer Book
This piece is reproduced with the permission of J.I. Packer. The Gospel in the Liturgy Do we value the Prayer Book enough? Do we appreciate its real quality? Do we make the best use of it? Certainly, the Prayer Book does not play in the lives of the present-day churchmen anything like the part it…
Death Experienced
By Rainer Maria Rilke Translated by Susan McLean We know nothing about this going hence, which shares nothing with us. We’ve no foundation for showing hate or love and reverence toward death, whose mask of tragic lamentation strangely disfigures him. The world is still full of roles we play. As long as we worry about…
Imago Dei, Persona Christi
The debate touched off by Emily McGowin’s article on Women’s Orders in Anglican Pastor has opened onto the vast territory of the theology of gender. That is, of course, an important controversy to have out (though perhaps not on comment boards), but in the midst of the ruckus, I think that it is worth returning…
A Cruciform Calendar
“Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” (Ps. 90:12) Humans are temporal creatures bound in time. But time should not be viewed as a prison; it should be seen as the progress of potentialities—momentary movements from glory to glory. This relentless succession of minutes and months becomes a…