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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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Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles – Introduction
The Reformation was not the work, either of a year, or of a generation. Its foundation was laid both in the good and in the evil qualities of our nature.…
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Tract I: What Is Anglicanism?
Tracts for the Times 2.0 I’m often asked the question, “What is Anglicanism?” To which I respond: “Do you want the two-word answer, the long one-sentence answer, or my book…
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Of Article XX of the XXXIX Articles of Religion
An encouragement to the readers and authors of the North American Anglican Of the Authority of the Church. The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: and yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither…
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The Embodied Temple: Candlemas
O Zion, open wide thy gates, Let symbols disappear; A priest and victim, both in one, The Truth Himself, is here. The Presentation of Christ in the Temple is an oft-neglected feast of the church, despite being a “red-letter day.” Although forgotten or overlooked by busy Anglicans and utterly foreign to non-liturgical Christians, this day…
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Jesus and the Abolition of the Ceremonial Law
Introduction There is some confusion today about the place of what can be called the ceremonial commandments of the Law of Moses, regarding circumcision, meats, sacrifices, ritual cleansing, and observance of the Sabbath. Today, millions of people who consider themselves Christians believe that some or all of the ceremonial laws must still be observed in…
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Book Review: “Why I Am Roman Catholic”
Matthew Levering. Why I Am Roman Catholic. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2024. 176 pp. $18 (paper). Reviewing a book by a friend and mentor, especially one whose work aligns with many of your own theological sympathies, is a complex task. It requires threading the needle between admiration and constructive critique, especially when the book…
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Book Review: Sing Unto the Lord (Part 1)
Sing Unto the Lord: A Liturgical Hymnal. Anglican Music Publishing, 2023. 942 pp. $29.95 (hardcover). In my earlier article, I discussed the various criteria for picking an Anglican hymnal.[1] I did so as a starting point for writing a review of Sing Unto the Lord (SUL). As noted in the earlier article, this 2023 hymnal…
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Hail to the Lord’s Anointed – The Third Sunday after Epiphany
Hail to the Lord’s Anointed, great David’s greater Son! Hail, in the time appointed, his reign on earth begun! He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free; to take away transgression, and rule in equity. Oppressed by sin, captive to the devil, and confounded by the world’s deceits is how we are born…
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An Inaugural Prayer Service and the Gospel
On January 21, 2025, the Episcopal Church’s Bishop of Washington delivered a homily at the Inaugural Prayer Service. The president, vice president, and many members of the United States government were in attendance. There is a long history of Anglican bishops and priests preaching sermons to kings who held their very lives in their hands,…
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Book Review: “A Companion to the Book of Common Prayer”
A Companion to the Book of Common Prayer. By Gerald Bray. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., 2023. 522 pp. $117 (hardcover), $46.88 (paper). Prayer Book commentaries—close studies of the Book of Common Prayer that analyze it with regard to its language, liturgy, theology, history, etc.—were once fairly common as a genre.[1] Nowadays such works are…
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Songs of Thankfulness and Praise – Second Sunday after Epiphany
Songs of thankfulness and praise, Jesus, Lord, to Thee we raise, Manifested by the star To the sages from afar; Branch of royal David’s stem In Thy birth at Bethlehem; Anthems be to Thee addressed, God in Man made manifest. In today’s Gospel reading, the Living God visits a wedding (John 2:1-11). The traditional Western…
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The Meaning of “Regeneration” [Commentary on Browne: Article XXVII (1)]
The question of whether infant baptism is a legitimate practice cannot be adequately engaged here without far exceeding the proper limits of a project such as this. Readers may therefore consult Browne’s treatment and rest assured that, as the Article says, infant baptism is “most agreeable with the institution of Christ.”[1] With the propriety of…