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Excerpt #4 From “The Witness of Beauty and Other…
“There is never a situation in which we have no choice but to commit sin. God does not oblige us to break the very laws that are derived from…
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St Dunstan’s Academy: An Interview with Fr Mark Perkins
Andrew and Isaac interview Fr Mark Perkins about a new Anglican boy’s boarding school in Virginia. Read Fr Eric PArker’s article about St Dunstan’s Academy here. Visit the St…
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“Anglican History” a New Article for Logos.com
I was recently honored with the opportunity to write an introductory article on Anglicanism for the Logos.com “Word by Word” blog. Here’s the introduction: Anglicanism is a religious identity claimed…
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Numbering the Sacraments [Commentary on Browne: Article XXV (1)]
It is widely recognized that the term “sacrament” has historically been a flexible one, even after the early church adopted it from the broader milieu of Roman culture into a specifically Christian context: “The commoner use of the word is either for a sacred rite in general, an outward sign of some more hidden reality—or…
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Forgotten Fenceposts: The Two Books of Homilies
Anglicanism has theological landmarks and boundaries guiding the flock and fencing in the faithful clergy less they lead their flocks in error. Unfortunately, these fences have been routinely ignored, circumvented, broken, and left in disrepair thereby leading flocks astray, ministers confused, and Christians in general questioning whether Anglicans have any standards of belief. The saying…
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Book Review: “The Triumph of the Slippers”
The Triumph of the Slippers: On the Withdrawal from the World. By Pascal Bruckner. Translated by Cory Stockwell. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2024. 118 pp. $19.95 (hardback). The thesis of this book is presented on the second page: “This generation is in no way ready to face adversity.” The author contends that some of the…
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The Convergence on Vernacular Liturgy [Commentary on Browne: Article XXIV]
It is a matter of historical fact—invoked by the Article and observed by Browne—that the early church conducted its public prayers in tongues “understanded of the people”: Greek, Latin, and Syriac were languages spoken by the great bulk of the nations first converted to Christianity; and therefore the earliest liturgies and translations of the Scriptures…
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A Parent’s Prayer
As I write, it is St. Augustine’s feast day. This saint perhaps has shaped Christian theology and orthodoxy more than any other since St. Paul. Yet many forget, omit, and outright never knew that yesterday was the feast day of his mother, Saint Monica. It’s poetic and appropriate that Augstine’s mother should precede him, for…
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Book Review: “Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds”
Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds. By James Matthew Wilson. Grove Village, IL: Word on Fire, 2024. 128 pp. $24.99 (hardcover). The current state of poetry in our day is marked by its unanchored and erratic character. As an art form, poetry stands isolated like an unfamiliar relative at the family reunion. We do not…
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A Brief Aside on Women and Holy Orders [Commentary on Browne: Article XXIII (2)]
Concerning the practice of ordaining women, Browne is silent. This is not unusual for the time in which he wrote, when it was rare, but at least a couple of other commentators do touch on the subject. Thomas Rogers writes that those ordained “are to be men, not boys nor women,” and that they are…
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An Elevator Pitch for “Reformed Catholicism”
In modern Christianity, Anglicanism is often misunderstood, even by its most devoted adherents. This is undoubtedly true for a variety of reasons, but the result is that we often do a pretty poor job of articulating the essence of Anglicanism, and that’s partly because it’s a trickier proposal to articulate than “we’re Catholic” or “we’re…
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Episcopacy as Essential to the Church – A Phantasmic Position [Commentary on Browne: Article XXIII (1)]
In articulating what it means for ministers to be “lawfully called,” Article XXIII makes no mention at all of bishops: “The latter portion of the Article is somewhat vaguely worded…. It is but generally asserted, that lawful calling can only be given by those, ‘who have public authority in the Church to send labourers into…
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“Beatific Friendship” honoring Ron Dart
“Beatific Friendship” was originally printed as a chapter in The Scholar-Gipsy. Upon Dr. Ron Dart’s retirement in 2023 from a long teaching career at the University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford BC, Canada, friends suggested doing a Festschrift in his honor — not uncommon for a retiring academic. Ron wanted something different though: a “Liber Amicorum”…