The Need for Catechesis I call upon our parishes to strengthen all their catechetical and educational programs. Our world is Biblically illiterate. Even many in the church do not know the Scriptures. David Younts writes in his book, Beggaring Belief, “Pollster George Gallup Jr. has long referred to America as a ‘nation of biblical illiterates.’…
People are like dinner glasses Born long laid dusty Time slowly spins them Round in wash of water and cloth Till dripping full of soapy years they reach their age of translucence. Yet you shattered young, Flûte à France What life within would Wrinkles echo forth? Would we see England’s Joan, rancor Calcified, sagging maniac, Or…
When I’m frustrated or at an impasse with a fellow Christian, I find it’s not necessarily differences in the doctrinal details of our faith in Christ that divide us. Often, profoundly different beliefs about the world we all occupy are at the root of our conflict. The thing is, if we misjudge the basic features…
Concerns over Christian nationalism have filled the pages of Christian blogs, journals, and magazines especially in the wake of Donald Trump’s unambiguous co-opting of Revivalist groups’ Christo-Americanism[1] for his political coalition. It seems undeniable that their movement is at best foolish and tacky, and, more likely, heretical. But does this mean that Christian nationalism is…
A Case for remaining in the ACNA “What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means!” —Romans 3:3-4a The Bride of Christ is wounded and bleeding. She will not die, because the Life she has been united to — Christ himself — is immortal, but some of her…
Historically, Anglicans have rejected open communion in both its radical and moderate forms. The idea that the unbaptized should be admitted to the Lord’s Supper seems to be a product of the late 20th or early 21st century. And until the middle of the 20th century, it was the norm for Anglicans to fence the…
Conversion and Election: A Plea for a United Lutheranism in America. By Francis Pieper. Ithaca, NY: Just and Sinner Publishing House, 2020. 140 pp. $14.00 (paper). In the late nineteenth century, Lutherans in America were at odds with each other over the doctrines of election (i.e., predestination) and conversion. The conflict was reignited in 1912…
A young hummingbird approaches my feeder, Wings a flash of anxious silver, Grimly eyeing me, the giver Of the gift of glinting nectar. Head aswivel, tensely twitching, Guarding his own greedy sipping, As if worried, maybe wondering When I’ll snatch back all he’s loving. Frantic bird with frantic trill, Ever-moving, ever-shrill, Maybe someday we both…
In the former part of this Homily, good Christian people, I have declared to your contemplation the great goodness of Almighty God in the creation of this world with all the furniture thereof for the use and comfort of man, whereby we might the rather be moved to acknowledge our duty again to his Majesty….
This letter is a brief clarification of the position that I argued regarding Christian universalism in my book, The Devil’s Redemption (2018). During the last year and a half, I have found that many of those who read David Bentley Hart’s review of my book—but who have not read the book itself—have ended up with…