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Reformed Methodist
The Forgotten History of the Methodist Influence on the Reformed Episcopal Church When I was confirmed as an Anglican, I joined the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), a province founded in 2008. However, the formation of the ACNA has a long and complicated history that stretches long before 2008. Much like organizations such as…
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Lenten Sonnet
O God, who mak’st the tow’ring mountains melt, Look not upon my westward-facing sin: I pray thee to expunge the wrong I’ve dealt And turn my soul toward the East again. I have no sacrifice to offer thee: Thy word and sacrament my heart accuse. Accept my purple robe from Calvary; Thy son no contrite…
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Holy Orders and the Archetype of Christ and His Bride
The question of whether holy orders should be restricted to males arises from deeper theological principles, grounded in both creation and redemption. To understand the issue fully, we must examine the archetypal union of Christ and His Bride, the Church, and the corresponding reflection of this union in creation. As Scripture reveals, creation is not…
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The Kingdom on Earth: A Picture of Ecclesiology in Matthew and Luke-Acts
Introduction By presenting the work of contemporary scholarship and engaging in literary criticism, this essay will explain the nuanced and robust ecclesiology demonstrated across Matthew’s gospel and Luke-Acts. The scope of the essay will discuss in detail how each piece of literature demonstrates the church as the local community, as the institutional continuation of Christ’s…
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Forty Days, Forty Nights – First Sunday in Lent
Forty days and forty nights Thou wast fasting in the wild; Forty days and forty nights Tempted, and yet undefiled. Forty is a number of significance. As I write, I enter the year in which I will turn forty, Lord willing. Culturally, we consider it the notable age in which one is half way in…
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A Lenten Poem
’Twas forty-days of the journey long, long, long; dragging through the desert. Boots worn thin and tired from hurt. Sand between toes tires even the strong as they travel wearily cross the dunes. No food but Words, swirling within. A morsel of water to calm the gullet, and no bed but a mat, covered in…
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The Impetrative Sacrifice of the Mass
“Christ our passover lamb is sacrificed for us.” At the heart of the Roman Catholic rejection of Anglican holy orders is the claim that Anglicans relinquished an adequate conception of the Eucharist as a sacrifice. While many have responded to this claim at length (including in my own forthcoming book Null and Void: The Catholic…
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A New -ism for the New Heresy
During the Trinitarian controversy of the 4th century, the label “Arian” was attached to those who espoused and defended the teaching of Arius of Alexandria. Arius denied that the Son of God was co-eternal with God the Father, and thus taught that the Son had been created by the Father before the creation of the…
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Life, Love, & Lent: Ash Wednesday
Kind maker of the world, O hear The fervent prayers with many a tear Poured forth by all the penitent Who keep this holy fast of Lent! Our call this Ash Wednesday and throughout Holy Lent is to exercise our mouths by confessing our sins. We are beckoned to empty our hearts and our bellies…
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A Short Defense of the Imposition of Ashes
Does receiving ashes on the forehead, a custom widely practiced on Ash Wednesday, go against Christ’s command to keep your fasting a secret (Matt. 6:16–18)? This command appears in the Sermon on the Mount. Christ’s teaching there on fasting is the last in a mini-series on spiritual disciplines which includes almsgiving and prayer. He opens this…