On Dying
Where, O Death, is your sting? If we increase the IV Morphene bolus You won’t feel a thing. There is nothing painful or hateful About this death. Cast your anxieties on Him — Be anxious for nothing. Or X units of…
Articles by The Rev. Ben Jefferies
The Rev. Ben Jefferies is a sinner, grateful to the Lord for his mercy. He grew up in England, and emigrated to the United States in 1999. He went to Wheaton College, and several years later discerned a call to ministry and went to seminary at Nashotah House Theological Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Duncan in 2014. He currently serves The Good Shepherd Anglican Church in Opelika, Alabama. He served on the Liturgy Task Force of the ACNA from 2015-2019, and was the lead designer for the production of the printed prayer book. He continues as the Assistant to the Custodian of the Book of Common Prayer (2019), and serves on the board of directors of Anglican House Media Ministries. He is married with three daughters.
Is the Eucharistology of the Anglican Reformation Patristic? – Part 3
Part III of III: After Article 29 SUMMARY OF PAST TWO ESSAYS In Part One of these essays, I sought to demonstrate that the Fathers held a real, objective view of Christ’s presence under the form of bread and wine, and that this can be distinguished as differing from the view of the “Jewel-school” of…
Is the Eucharistology of the Anglican Reformation Patristic? – Part 2
II of III: A Comparison of Formularies In part one of my essay I argued that the Church Fathers and the “Jewel School” of Anglican theologians teach a different thing with regard to the Holy Eucharist. I also asserted (without argument) that there is a real difference between the teaching of the Jewel school and…
Is the Eucharistology of the Anglican Reformation Patristic? – Part 1
I of III: Fathers vs. Reformers The Challenge “Show that Hooker and Jewell and Ussher don’t know what they’re talking about. Until that happens, it is hard to take seriously these arguments that one cannot hold both “the faith” of the Fathers and of the Reformers.” Thus Mr. Ramsey threw down a gauntlet back in…
A Dissuasive from Popery
A Letter To a Friend St. Augustine of Canterbury, 2020 Dear Brother ————, I empathize with the tug you feel toward the Roman Church. In the face of regions where the ACNA is yet still feebly established, and in the midst of an ACNA that is a hodge-podge of practice and conviction, and tolerant of…
The Shape-Fallacy Fallacy
While reading Samuel Bray’s recent assessment of 20th century Prayerbook revision I was reminded of a poem by Tony Hoagland [they]…casually dropped his name the way pygmies with their little poison spears strut around the carcass of a fallen elephant. “O Elephant,” they say, “you are not so big and brave today!” It’s a bad…
Of Altar Books and Additions to Common Prayer: An Open Letter to Mr. Ramsey
This letter is in response to an article found here. Dear Mr. Ramsey — It is of course discouraging to pour your heart and soul into something and for the first response to be a total broadside, but I shall try not to be bitter. I wish to address: (1) implied over-statements, (2) the principle…
A Crisis of Communion: Implied Eucharistologies in the midst of COVID-19
Introduction As Anglican churches across the country have scrambled to adapt to mandates from civil and ecclesial authorities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of tenets of Eucharistic theology have been asserted and circulated across the province that have been received without sufficient theological analysis. In a time of crisis, quick decisions are…
Universalism’s Many Heads
THE PROBLEM Most Anglicans I know have enough respect for the Scriptures and their traditional interpretation that when confronted with a bald Universalism — such as that presented last year by David Bentley Hart’s latest book — they have enough sense to reject it. But Universalism is a Hydra with many heads. To my great…
Holy Orders and Prophets: Another Response to Fr. McCaulley
INTRODUCTION Why does the Church not practice the baptism for the dead, as mentioned in 1 Cor 15:29? Mormons do, of course, but why don’t Christians? It is, after all, right there in the Bible, so perhaps this is something that has gotten lost in the course of history, and needs to be recovered? No,…