As I have mentioned elsewhere, whenever I am asked about the difference between the Anglican Tradition and Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy, I answer that it ultimately boils down to authority. Per the Anglican Formularies, found in the Book of Common Prayer, the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, the Ordinal, and the two Books of Homilies,…
In 1970 the Episcopal Church USA eliminated the canon for deaconesses and included women in the canon on deacons. In 1976 its General Convention approved the ordination of women to both the diaconate and priesthood. Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church condemned both moves, protesting that these changes were made unilaterally and against…
I You were shuttering light With your triggered eye, Locking the cool, humid light Into phosphorescent memory. “As the light gets better,” you said, And commanded the play Of peonies, white tulle, And laughter on the cusp of a cliff. The light got better. And the pines Which bristled endlessly Became something of green and…
Section II. — Scriptural Proof. I. 1. Purgatory On this subject, and indeed on all the subjects of this Article, the burden of proof evidently lies with those who maintain the affirmative side of the question. If there be a purgatory, and if saints and images be objects of adoration, there should be some evidence…
I found a vale of spring at summer’s end Before the trees had changed their green to gold. I plucked the fruit of fall and hiked the path To watch the harvest fire in the cold, To see your faces flicker with the flame Of youth that takes no thought of growing old. I loved…
How the English Reformation was Named: The Politics of History, 1400-1700. By Benjamin M. Guyer. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. 240 pp. $85 (cloth). In common parlance, “the Reformation” is conceived as a unified phenomenon, the various national manifestations of which can all be causally traced to the original German reformation spearheaded by Martin…
From Knots Untied, here is a brief appeal by Ryle to teach the Thirty-Nine Articles in Anglican churches: (2) In the second place, I ask all who read this paper to teach the Thirty-nine Articles to all young people who are yet of an age to be taught. It is a burning shame that the Articles are not made an…
Across the Anglican Communion, it is safe to say that the Thirty-Nine Articles have fallen into disuse. A general lack of familiarity among the laity and hesitancy to embrace, when not outright rejecting, the Articles among the clergy seems to characterize a growing number of Anglican churches in North America and throughout much of the…
After six years away, today the sunlight weaves through plum and amber leaves to fend off Boston’s gray. Most things avoid most change; rush hour traffic snarls and honks along the Charles, but pulling in is strange. It’s not repainting by the neighbors, or new faces, or all the gaping spaces where trees had blocked…
Article XXII. Of Purgatory. THE Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardons, worshipping and adoration, as well of images, as of reliques, and also invocation of saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God. De Purgatorio. DOCTRINA Romanensium de purgatorio, de indulgentiis,…