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A Robust Protestantism

It would probably scare some folks half to death to hear that the commonest form of High Churchmanship in the mid-1800s was described as a robust Protestantism. This was because it took seriously the Bible, the Prayer Book, and the Articles of Religion, and had, historically, grown out of churchly reaction against rigid Calvinism which…
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Marriage and Celibacy in Concert [Commentary on Browne: Article XXXII]

According to the Article, celibacy—defined as “the state of not being married”[1]—is “not commanded by God’s Law” for “Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.” A number of commentators on the Articles have claimed this teaching is uncontroversial and that even the Church of Rome, which practices clerical celibacy, would grant as much: “This subject admits of the…
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Joshua Against Pacifism

Violence, Young Men, and the Culture War When St. Dunstan’s Academy considered naming our program for high school graduates after Moses’s longtime apprentice and eventual successor, Joshua, we had some reservations. The book of Joshua is one of the most controversial in the Bible, thanks to a brutal conquest narrative that one could accurately, if…
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Lighten Our Darkness – Whitsunday

This entry is part 33 of 33 in the series A Walk in the Ancient Western Lectionary

Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, and lighten with celestial fire; thou the anointing Spirit art, who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart: The Spirit descends from on High and comes to lighten our darkness. He is the great Illuminator of our hearts, our minds, our spirits, and our souls (cf. John 1:9; 2 Corinthians 4:6)….
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Knowing God: A Classic Rediscovered

Knowing God. By J. I. Packer. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023. 400 pp. $29.99 (hardcover). Thanks to the Colson Fellows Program, I read Knowing God by the late great Rev. Dr. J.I. Packer for the first time. I knew about Packer’s work, but never encountered it at a bookstore or had someone personally recommend it to…
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In What Sense the Eucharist is a Sacrifice [Commentary on Browne: Article XXXI]

The fact that “the one Oblation of Christ” is “once made” tells us that the Eucharist, whatever the precise nature of its sacrificial character may be, cannot be a sacrifice in exactly the same way that Christ’s death on the Cross was. Browne, appealing to the fathers, writes that “we find no certain reference to…
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For A Distinctive Anglican Way

In The Pastoral Use of the Prayer Book by the Rt. Rev. William Paret (1826-1911), the once bishop of Maryland tells his young clergy and postulants they should be asking themselves this question: “How am I going to act, what am I going to do in the service and pastoral work which are before me?”[1]…
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Atonement is Cosmic Reconciliation

Atonement, Justice, and Divine Hospitality We’ve been arguing about who’s in the lifeboat, when the atonement was about calming the whole storm. In other words, Christ’s atonement is about more than who gets in and out of heaven; it’s about the whole cosmos. These reflections came to me over the last few months as I…
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Hail to the King – Ascension Day

This entry is part 31 of 33 in the series A Walk in the Ancient Western Lectionary

All hail the power of Jesus’ Name! Let angels prostrate fall; bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all! bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all! All hail the King of Kings. The incarnated, flesh-and-blood Jesus, who took upon Himself our humanity in the Virgin Mary’s womb, goes…

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