With all the chat about AI and chatbots, you might think there really isn’t anything distinctive about consciousness or, God forbid, we bring up the soul let alone the afterlife. This is certainly the impression some scientists are feeding the rest of us. But, is this really the case? And, should we buy it? In…
A History of Global Anglicanism. By Kevin Ward. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 376 pp. $66.99 (paper). Anglicanism is inescapably English; not only does the name imply it, but the tradition originated due to specific political actions of the English monarch. Kevin Ward challenges this claim in his book A History of Global Anglicanism. Although…
As I look up from my cup of coffee, I see the logo of the coffee shop I’m visiting painted on the wall. What does this image do? It does what all images do. It brings to mind a certain reality. In this case, it brings to my mind the existence of Radford Coffee Company,…
As discussed previously, Browne argues that “Hell” in Article III should be understood as “Hades,” the place of departed spirits, and does not refer to “Gehenna,” the realm of damned souls. However, even simply stating that Christ entered Hades broadly rather than Gehenna specifically is not uncontroversial. Browne notes that Calvin argued Christ’s descent into…
The popular conception of life after death—inasmuch as the idea is still entertained by the average person—undoubtedly draws on Christianity, but in a muddled fashion. Confusion on the subject is so pervasive that even professing Christians are liable to use terms such as “Heaven” and “Hell” in ways that do not conform to biblical teaching….
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. By Diarmaid MacCulloch. London, England: Penguin Books, 2009. 1184 pp. $32.00 (paper). The average Christian immediately interjects, “Wait, Christianity is not 3,000 years old.” Where does this story start? Clearly, Diarmaid MacCulloch intends to lay some groundwork for what Christians know and practice in the present day. This impressive…
Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing the plenary speakers of the upcoming Anglican Way Institute – Summer conference. This year’s conference theme is “Re-Formed Catholic Anglicanism” and I was able to get a sneak preview of each of the plenary sessions from the speakers themselves. I hope you enjoy the interview and will…
I A haggard rabbit sits in the shadows of the eaves of the house, looking out at the snowbound yard with its marble eye and wondering what we’re all wondering: how am I supposed to get through this? Up the street someone has revved a snow blower and begun chugging down the sidewalk in the…
INTRODUCTION In 1930, the Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops issued a controversial resolution on the role of artificial contraceptives within the confines of marital sex. For the first time, a mainstream Christian tradition made allowance for a limited use of contraceptives, what they described as the “moral obligations” and constraints of the married couple as…
As we have seen, Article I affirms God is “without…passions.” To say God is without passions, i.e., impassible, means that God is not susceptible to being harmed or deprived of any good that is constitutive of his well-being. He is never acted upon so as to become disposed in a manner contrary to his well-being…