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…
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…
Perhaps the most noble vocation is that of Christian parenthood. Parents are called to die to themselves for their spouse and while raising children in an increasingly hostile world. The Lord’s admonishment rings more urgently than ever to “See that you do not despise one of these little ones.” (Matthew 18:10, ESV). Unfortunately, parents today…
The Second Adam and the New Birth. By M. F. Sadler. Monroe, LA: Athanasius Press, 2004. 288 pp. $21.95 (paper). Some years ago when a friend and I were both becoming interested in Anglicanism, I accompanied this friend on a visit with his Baptist family. My friend’s mother heard that I, like her son, was…
“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…
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…
“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…
The axe and maul and splitting of the wood; The climbing up stone stairs above the house; The climbing down stone stairs below the house; The cutting of sasanqua blooms on the ridge; The standing straightly, shoulders back and down; The slanting path and vegetable plots; The clacking of the big 4-harness loom. Her solar…
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…
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…