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.
Compared to many other commentators on the Articles, Browne takes a special interest in affirming what has traditionally been known as the magisterial cura religionis, or care of religion: It has been observed in a former Article, that the Jewish state may be considered in some respects as a model republic; and that, notwithstanding the…
It should come as no surprise that Roman Catholics, by and large, do not accept the validity of Anglican orders, as to do so would severely undermine their own claim to be the One True Church. Ever since the Church of England became independent, then, Romanists have lodged a number of arguments against those orders….
As Browne observes, it is commonly agreed with respect to the Homilies that The kind of assent, which we are here called on to give to them, is general, not specific. We are not expected to express full concurrence with every statement, or every exposition of Holy Scripture contained in them, but merely in the…
This Article upholds the logic of Article XX—in which the normative principle of worship is affirmed—and extends it. As the church “hath power to decree rites or ceremonies,” so “every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain, change, and abolish, ceremonies or rites of the Church, ordained only by man’s authority.” Hence, “It is…
The nature of excommunication is one of those topics about which there seems to be little room for dispute in the Anglican tradition. The Article states that those worthy of excommunication are to be cut off by “the Church” and, upon repentance, received into the Church by “a Judge,” both of which phrases are widely…
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…
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…
Browne identifies the practice of communing using only the bread and withholding the wine from the laity as another outgrowth of Roman Catholic eucharistic doctrine: “The doctrine of transubstantiation naturally led to the belief that, inasmuch as the elements were wholly changed into the substance of Christ, therefore whole Christ, Body and Blood, was contained…
The Great Return: Why Only a Restoration of Christianity Can Save Western Civilisation. By Jamie Franklin. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2025. 272 pp. $24.99 (hardcover). Settled beliefs are, by their nature, difficult to disrupt. Indeed, a dramatic occurrence of some kind is often a necessary impetus for people to re-evaluate their deepest assumptions. For many,…
Part 2 of 2 Rather than give an exhaustive account of lying, it will suffice for present purposes to arrive at a basic understanding of what a lie really is. In the process it will become apparent that while all lies are deceptions, not all deceptions are lies. Once the true definition of a lie…