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The Holy Spirit or the Zeitgeist? The Bible, The Church, and The Christian
A few days ago I had the privilege of introducing the Anglican tradition to teachers at The Ecclesial School at St. Alban’s. The faculty are a mixed bunch — Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Baptists. Afterwards I had a wonderful conversation with a sincere and devout Baptist who wanted to understand more…
Baptismal Regeneration in the Anglican Formularies
One of the doctrines that were always considered representative of the Old High Church school within Anglicanism, is that of Baptismal Regeneration. Whilst not usually controversial, there have been occasional flare-ups over it, of which the best known is the Gorham Case of 1848-50. The roots of this doctrine lie in Holy Scripture, for example,…
Foundations of unity and accord: in praise of Saint Bartholomew’s Day 1662
J.C. Ryle and Rowan Williams are not, we might reasonably think, natural bedfellows. What, other than beards, could the low church Victorian evangelical and the postmodern Anglo-Catholic possibly have in common? For both Ryle and Williams, Saint Bartholomew’s Day 1662 is a cause for lament. Ryle thundered his condemnation of the events of that Saint…
To Follow One’s Conscience: A Defence of True Protestantism
Contents: Prolegomena First Principles and Individual Judgement The Perspicuity of Scripture The Exclusive Infallibility of Scripture The Visible and Invisible Church The Fallibility of Ecumenical Councils The Protestant Reformation Conclusion 1. Prolegomena I have come to understand that my last article was deeply challenging to some people and forced them to grapple with questions they…
Forsake Not thy Mother: An Essay on Conciliar Authority
“No one can have God as his father, who does not have the Church for his mother.” – St. Cyprian “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.” – Proverbs 1:8 Introduction River Devereux has recently published a provocative essay dealing with several topics that should interest…
“Could Ye Not Watch with Me One Hour?”: The Abiding Necessity of the Traditional Daily Office
Anyone familiar with the classic 1959 science-fiction novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz, will remember a central theme was Christianity’s ability to survive and rebuild even when Mankind uses the creative gifts handed down to us from the Almighty to maim and murder ourselves. In the book, atomic bombs turn on their hubristic creators in a…
World of Wonders: A Review of Marly Youmans’ Latest Novel
“As runs the glass Man’s life doth pass.” New England Primer, 1690 The little couplet neatly tucked in the first few pages of Marly Youmans’ novel Charis in the World of Wonders haunted me as I read her tale, spun from the threads of history and fiction, Puritan mettle and poetry. I know Youmans firstly…
To Reject a Council: An Essay on Scripture, the Church, and the Believer
Introduction In his response to my article on why the Anglican Reformers rejected Nicaea II and condemned the religious veneration of images, Fr. Mark Perkins showed that the debate over this subject really hinges on the deeper questions about how we as Christians arrive at the knowledge of truth. Indeed, to reject what is often…
A Call to Prayer
I just finished reading Paul F. Bradshaw’s Daily Prayer in the Early Church. It was a fascinating read but it is not what I am writing about; its conclusion is the inspiration for what I am writing about. In the conclusion he issues a challenge to make the daily prayers of the church what they…
A Proposal: Purim Redux
The Book of Esther recounts a plan to commit genocide against the Jews during their time of exile under the reign of the Persian king, Ahasuerus. The plot was hatched by one of the King’s officials by the name of Haman, who had a profound loathing for the Jews and used the machinations of government to…
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