Hannah King’s call to “make a start” for unity with the Episcopal Church of the United States invites a fresh response–and not the sort that rehashes the well known divisions between progressive and orthodox Anglicans. But as another young priest in the ACNA (and another Texan as it happens), I write out of concern for…
It will soon be the anniversary of the consecration of the first American bishop, 14 November, which prompts reflection on the effects of that momentous occasion. Samuel Seabury of Connecticut received episcopal orders from three Scottish bishops — Primus Robert Kilgour, Arthur Petrie, and John Skinner — on 14 November 1784, the Twenty-Second Sunday after…
On Private Speculation and Public Instruction in the Anglican Church, Especially as it Relates to the Bible, our Formularies, and Catholic Tradition. My proposal for a Reformed Litany of the Saints unintentionally caused quite a stir. What I intended to be a constructive creation was received in large part as being destructive. Moreover, the wave…
For my entire life, I have watched the institutions of Christendom’s power be turned against her in cruel and inhuman ways. We have all watched the horror which inevitably arises when the mechanisms of morality (churches, governments, academia, media, etc.) are violently disconnected from their Christian foundations only to be weaponized against us and our…
Meeting God in the Bible: How to Read Scripture Devotionally. By John M. Linebarger. Dallas, TX: Fontes Press, 2019. 163pp. $15.95 (paper). Of the making of devotional aids there is no end. Nevertheless, in his new book, Meeting God in the Bible: How to Read Scripture Devotionally, John M. Linebarger (MDiv, MBA, PhD) manages to…
At dawn a clammy silence wraps the ridge. Before he makes his tea, the hermit hikes Through grounded cloud to the summit, the very edge Of the world. Before him, nothing. The hidden creek’s Wind-noise speaks to him from the rising whiteness. A hawk skirls and hangs where the sky clears. Morning leans through the…
What follows is speculative theology. I do not claim that it is right, only that it is possibly right. At the transfiguration, Jesus talked with Moses and Elijah. For in the Lord’s glory is revealed the invisible presence of his saints, who stand in his presence and with whom he converses. Furthermore, Jesus said, not…
LETTER XXV. From the Spiritual Letters of Edward Bouverie Pusey August 30 [1879]. I am truly sorry for the unwisdom which you tell me of. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin originally meant the taking of her soul into heaven. I forget when it began to be taught that the body too was taken. Some…
rticle 22 authoritatively asserts that the, “…Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.” Indeed it is. Nowhere in the Bible has God revealed that the departed saints are capable of hearing our petitions. They may, but we cannot…
in a time of intemperate speech Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Proverbs 17:27 The speakers meet, shake hands, ready to debate The issues of the day before tense groups Of partisans the moderator calms With calls for quiet, respect, and courtesy. Each…