Monthly Archives: September 2024

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On the Ordering of the Sacraments of Initiation

Introduction In the history of the sacramental practice of the Church, the order of receiving the Eucharist and Confirmation has been a subject of theological reflection and liturgical variation. Traditionally, the sacrament of Confirmation has been administered before one’s first reception of the Eucharist, serving as a completion of Baptismal grace and a preparation for…

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Book Review: “Mad about Belief”

Mad about Belief: Religion in the Life and Thought of Bertrand Russell. By Larry D. Harwood. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2024. 362 pp. $66 (hardback), $46 (paper). Bertrand Russell is often analyzed in terms of his philosophical ideas, logic, and critiques of religion. In fact, he is often taken to be a despiser of religion…

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Lectio Divina as True Biblical Exegesis

The other day, I read a lovely book by Stephen Meawad, who teaches theology at Caldwell University. Titled Beyond Virtue Ethics (2023), this book argues that all too often, we treat ethics in isolation, as if it were either just a bunch of rules imposed on us, or else a matter of developing patterns of…

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Book Review – “Protestantism, Revolution and Scottish Political Thought”

Protestantism, Revolution and Scottish Political Thought: The European Context, 1637‒1651. By Karie Schultz. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2024. 208 pp. $110 (hardback). Historians have often assumed that “political concepts traditionally associated with the modern state ‒ such as consent of the governed, parliamentary sovereignty or the election of magistrates” are correlated with “a process of…

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“In the Midst of Life,” A Reflection

A minister holds a strange position in society. He wears black from head to toe. He is neither blue-collar nor white-collar, but is vocationally connected to both and called to minister to both. In fact, his collar is black all the way to his neck, until a hint of white wraps around the neck to…

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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…

(c) 2024 North American Anglican

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