In this two-part article, I am offering a case study in how the Confirmation process can be used to advance the efforts of traditional Anglicans in helping what I am calling “suspicious evangelicals” deeper into the Anglican Way. In the first part, I introduced “Rick” (a composite of many of our parishioners) as the kind…
Article XI tells us “we are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings.” To say we are “accounted” righteous indicates that the Article treats justification as forensic, meaning that in justification we are legally declared righteous as…
Editor’s note: this essay is based on a homily for Independence Day preached by the author at All Saints Anglican Church in San Antonio TX, a parish that uses the American 1928 Book of Common Prayer The role of individual Christians and of the Church in civil and political life is often a matter of…
The work of catechizing believers is a central task of the Church in every generation. In this present moment, in which many evangelicals and non-denominational Christians are moving towards more historic and liturgical expressions of the Faith, traditional Anglican churches have an opportunity–and a challenge–in catechizing these newcomers. While the task of catechesis is (ideally)…
Let’s toss aside our fishy preoccupation with historicity. Let’s say they sunk him into text to type our slow descent to self, into an empty belly intent for Tarshish, which is a fancy way to say really far away. His then is our slow awakening that these, our lodgings, are something less than satisfactory. His…
One of the Thirty-nine Articles’ distinctive features is that, on a number of disputed topics, they allow for multiple interpretations within limits. Browne underscores this tendency in noting the broad language of Article X: There have been, ever since the reign of Elizabeth, two parties in the English Church, one holding the doctrines of Calvin,…
In this episode Jesse was able to catch Andrew on the road, driving his car to a meeting of the Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy. We took the opportunity afforded by the miles and the road to unpack Andrew’s spiritual journey with Christ into the Anglican ministry. Reach out to us! Andrew: Andrew.Brashier@Anglicanchaplains.org…
James Clark has already written here in response to Hans Boersma, Gerald McDermott, and Greg Peters’s expression of concern that GAFCON, in the Kigali Commitment, commits to a “strict ‘Bible alone’ viewpoint” that is “a departure from the approach of the English Reformers”; he has shown that the Kigali Commitment is not intended to open…
The term “concupiscence” is obscure these days, little discussed or even understood by contemporary Christians. It therefore seems appropriate to dwell on it and clarify its meaning, given that the account of original sin contained in Article IX hinges on how the term is defined. “Concupiscence” is a synonym for “lust,” which in this sense…
The controversy between a North American primate and the provincial tribunal regarding another bishop—let’s keep names out of this for now—has caused the most serious constitutional crisis in the life of the Anglican Church in North America to date. It has also caused confusion and consternation among educated and serious laypeople. Conservative rectors and those…