James Clark is the author of The Witness of Beauty and Other Essays, and the Book Review Editor at The North American Anglican. His writing has appeared in Cranmer Theological Journal, Journal of Classical Theology, and American Reformer, as well as other publications.
In the early days of the church the doctrine of the Trinity soon became fraught with controversy, as anyone with even a basic sense of Christian history is aware. When consulting Browne’s historical survey of this controversy, one theme becomes apparent: in all times and places, perversion of the doctrine of God—and the doctrine of…
If you turn to the Litany of any American Book of Common Prayer, you will find among the deprecations (prayers for deliverance) the following: From all inordinate and sinful affections; and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil, Good Lord, deliver us.[1] The corresponding deprecation in the English Book of…
Bisschop’s Bench: Contours of Arminian Conformity in the Church of England, c. 1674‒1742. By Samuel Fornecker. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. 256 pp. $83 (cloth). There is, Samuel Fornecker writes, a historiographical tradition that says the post-Restoration Church of England was a “via media” characterized by “a distinct ‘Anglican’ identity in contrast to the…
Although Article I is titled “Of Faith in the Holy Trinity,” its first sentence is a concise statement of what is today often called classical theism or the classical doctrine of God: There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker and…
(Editor’s Note: recent concerns regarding this book are addressed here) The Case for Christian Nationalism. By Stephen Wolfe. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2022. 488 pp. $24.99 (paper). The contemporary effort to formulate an alternative political vision to liberal democracy has been underway for some time now. However, much of the constructive literature thus far has…
As the work that Browne undertakes here is an exposition or commentary on the Thirty-nine Articles, it is not surprising that he says a few words in the Introduction on the right way to go about reading and interpreting them: In the interpretation of them, our best guides must be, first, their own natural, literal,…
Thanks in large part to the revisionist Tractarian understanding of the Anglican via media, it is now commonly supposed that the substance of Anglicanism is not Protestant. “The glory of the English Church is, that it has taken the VIA MEDIA, as it has been called. It lies between the (so called) Reformers and the…
There are few myths about Anglicanism more prevalent or persistent than “Henry VIII founded the Church of England because he wanted a divorce.” It is half-true, in that Henry’s desire to annul his marriage with Catherine was a primary impetus for the events that later became known as the English Reformation. However, to suggest that…
How the English Reformation was Named: The Politics of History, 1400-1700. By Benjamin M. Guyer. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. 240 pp. $85 (cloth). In common parlance, “the Reformation” is conceived as a unified phenomenon, the various national manifestations of which can all be causally traced to the original German reformation spearheaded by Martin…
The Openness of Being: Natural Theology Today. By E. L. Mascall. Nashotah, WI: Nashotah House Press, 2022. 288 pp. $15.25 (paper). Since their establishment in 1887, the Gifford Lectures have been devoted to the exploration of natural theology, defined on the lecture series website as “the attempt to prove the existence of God and divine…