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Thursday - October 16, 2008Why TEC Has it RightOkay, almost right. The problem being that what they have wrong, has sent them far from where they should be. Monday - August 25, 2008Really Too Good to Pass UpA delightful video that captures the Church of England Wonderfully Monday - July 07, 2008Hitting the Reset ButtonAnglicans are seeking to fix their current problems by simply rolling back the clock. They have failed to adequately diagnose and address the problem. Tuesday - February 05, 2008Anglo Papalism, Catholicism, Orthodoxy and the TACThis particular entry was attempting
to justify AngloPapalism, and seemingly (although it was incredibly hard to
follow) claim that Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, and Orthodoxy are all pretty
much the same, part of the one, true Church, and simply don't quite get that
there are no real doctrinal/dogmatic differences between the
three. ...Because I don’t believe that God would allow the prime Successor of Peter and all those in communion with him to abandon the OTC either through utterly definitive and binding denial of any Catholic truth or through dogmatic affirmation of what is heretical. ...Yet, on the other hand, I also don’t believe that the Bishop of Rome is the only Petrine successor, given the Petrine roots (acknowledged by ancient Popes) of Antioch and Alexandria, the fact that Jerusalem, “the mother of us all”, once contained the whole Church, with Peter as its Primate, and the fact that Constantinople was founded as “New Rome” and recognised as such by the Church.... Or, thus, that the resultant schisms are proof that whoever is not in communion with Rome at any point in time must be outside the OTC. Or that the Church of England committed itself definitively to heresy or intended to be out of communion with the rest of the Church (E and W) in 1559 or since then until the defection over the ordination of women. ...I have to admit to holding to much of this line of thinking not too many years ago. Now, he doesn't support his beliefs here with facts, so its hard to assess the validity of his view on that basis. I suspect that some of his views on Papal primacy and the Pope being the successor of Peter (and the effect of that) are driven by Roman Catholic apologetic arguments, including those of Leo XIII. ...Modern Roman apologists like to assert that he really wasn't teaching heresy, it was a personal opinion, and basically everyone was mistaken about him (including the Popes in subsequent years who declared him to be a heretic). So, while Rome was restored to Orthodoxy with the next Pope, if one Pope could become a heretic, why would he be unable to lead entire Churches into heresy? ...All he says is that "There are, however, some Orthodox who consider that the Filioque is not in itself heretical,.... Papal infallibility is a prime example You need a special degree to figure out when the Pope is making an infallible statement. ...I know of a number of Mormons who think that what they believe is not heresy, and believe themselves to be members of the OTC. Since they do not intend to hold heretical views, nor do they intend to not be a member of the OTC, does that make them a member of the OTC? If the C o E never intended to leave the Church, which I will grant, did they not intend to separate from Rome?... If you intend to separate from Rome, and Rome is part of the OTC (or is the OTC, either way), doesn't separating from them constitute separating from the OTC? ...The only other error which the East might presumably be guilty of is not holding to a view of Papal primacy in agreement with Rome. ...Fr. Kirby asserts that one of the issues is that Papal primacy is not properly understood, just as "some Orthodox theologians" think that the Filioque needs to be properly understood in order for those who disagree with it to no longer do so. ...However, I can guarantee that you can start a fight among Roman Catholic lay apologists if you ask them if Apostolica Curae (the encyclical declaring Anglican orders null and void) is infallible. Apparently phrases like, "Wherefore, strictly adhering, in this matter, to the decrees of the pontiffs, our predecessors, and confirming them most fully, and, as it were, renewing them by our authority, of our own initiative and certain knowledge, we pronounce and declare that ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and utterly void."... Nor is the close of the document, "We decree that these letters and all things contained therein shall not be liable at any time to be impugned or objected to by reason of fault or any other defect whatsoever of subreption or obreption of our intention, but are and shall be always valid and in force and shall be inviolably observed both juridically and otherwise, by all of whatsoever degree and preeminence, declaring null and void anything which, in these matters, may happen to be contrariwise attempted, whether wittingly or unwittingly, by any person whatsoever, by whatsoever authority or pretext, all things to the contrary notwithstanding." Of course, some would declare that it is infallible, but no longer applies as certain Old Catholic Bishops got involved along the way and restored validity to the line. ...In fact, you can be subject to the Roman Pontiff, even if you don't know it. ...In fact, much of what AngloCatholics believe has really been absent from the Anglican Church from the time of Elizabeth (or shortly thereafter) until the 19th century. As a friend used to point out, if the OTC is either the Orthodox Church or the Roman Catholic Church, and there is one down the street, shouldn't you walk down the street and join it? ...Desperately trying to rationalize his continuing presence in the Anglican Church, he waves his hands at all of the significant differences between Rome, the Eastern Orthodox, and the Church of England. Popes are incapable of lapsing into heresy, thus the only things they are mistaken about can't be heresy (question begging). The things they are mistaken about they really aren't mistaken about, its just nobody else really understood what Rome meant. Friday - December 21, 2007Monday - December 10, 2007Anglocatholicism and EssenceBorrowing a bit from the OAD (Oxford
American Dictionary), essence is the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality
of something. We use the word essence with regard to Christ to indicate that he
is truly God - that he shares in the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality
that belongs to God alone. People can share in God's energies - see His glory,
receive His grace, and in that sense we share partake in His nature, but we
never acquire the indispensable quality or intrinsic nature of God.... In some
ways, it may even look like fire - taking on the same orange glow, but
nevertheless, a sword it
remains.
...That is, the Church that Christ founded should have an intrinsic nature, and more clearly stated some indispensable qualities, without which it would cease to be the Church. Most people who call themselves Christian would agree with this, and the debate remains over what are these indispensable qualities. Mitt Romney, and many other Mormons, might assert that it is a belief that Christ is the (but not one and only) Son of God. Jehovah's witnesses might assert that it is a willingness to follow Christ's teachings, but not require a belief that Christ is the Son of God. Many protestants might assert that it is merely a belief in the Trinity and that Christ died for our sins. ...In some cases, they were disowned, because they had left the one true Church (Rome) for Orthodoxy (or so a parent believed), and in others, the problems came about because the family thought that Orthodox was basically the same thing as their particular Church, and so couldn't understand why they could no longer attend services at a non-Orthodox Church.... It appears that the Orthodox are simply being rude, when they are merely asserting that there is a difference in essence here. The Canons of the Church, dating back at least as far as the 4th century, do not permit the joining in to prayer services with heretics. Heretic is a charged term, but is merely a reference to someone who holds to an heretical doctrine, or a doctrine at odds with the doctrine of the Church. ...I apologize for having taken so long to get here, but what I'm getting at is that the essence of the Church must have something to do with the doctrine's held. If you hold to different doctrines, then you must not be of the same essence.... That is, if we do not hold doctrine in common, then we are not of the same essence - at least not completely. I may share essential elements with a caterpillar (we are both from the same Kingdom - animalia), but a caterpillar is decidedly not a human. Scripture is so insistent on our being of one body, of one mind, that in order to be the same, we must hold to the same doctrines - not just a few, but most, if not all. ...What is interesting is that several of those groups would not only not hold all of the same doctrines, but are quite likely to hold contradictory doctrines. For instance, many "High Church" Anglicans are quite reformed in doctrine (as in Calvinist), while the ACA is rather Roman Catholic.... To pick on one point, he asserts that it is wrong to take Christ's words literally about "this is my body, this is my blood."... In one volume, on Catholic Dogma, the assertion is that you have no choice but to take Christ's words literally. These words of Christ are considered so important, that they are probably the one unchanging, consistent element in the Liturgies of the East and West, and in the West between Anglicans and Catholics.... To the degree that people are not of one mind on this thing, I would assert that they are not of one essence, either. ...There is even broader lack of essential unity if you survey all of those who consider themselves Anglican. Given that Anglicanism doesn't seem to be of one essence, unless the only indispensable quality is the presence of Bishops, its hard to see how they even comprise one Church.... Even if one were to find an Anglican parish somewhere that was entirely Orthodox in its beliefs and practices (and I've never heard of one that was), you would still have the problem that they insist on remaining united with those that believe differently, rather than leaving all that and uniting with the Orthodox.... Joel finishes his post with a quote from Terry Mattingly about Michael Ramsey's assertion that the goal of Anglicanism is reunification with the East.... In order to accomplish that, then, Anglicanism must become of one mind, both with themselves, then with Orthodoxy. ...The Tradition is for the Orthodox one indivisible whole: the entire life of the Church in its fullness of belief and custom down the ages, including Mariology and the veneration of icons. Faced with this challenge, the typically Anglican reply is: 'We would not regard veneration of icons or Mariology as inadmissible, provided that in determining what is necessary to salvation, we confine ourselves to Holy Scripture.' But this reply only throws into relief the contrast between the Anglican appeal to what is deemed necessary to salvation and the Orthodox appeal to the one indivisible organism of Tradition, to tamper with any part of which is to spoil the whole, in the sort of way that a single splodge on a picture can mar its beauty." Tuesday - June 19, 2007Drawn to IslamI'll let other folks run the debate
over whether its accurate for someone to consider themselves both Christian and
Muslim, or whether the Episcopal heirarchy should do anything about this
situation.
...It's important to note that Mohammed's wife's uncle was a Christian Monk (although an Arian , which explains how Islam ended up so staunchly anti-Trinitarian), because all of the things that Redding noted drew her to Islam appear to have been lifted from Christianity in the first place. ...I'm not familiar with modern day Islamic Chant, but chanting has always been a significant part of Orthodox worship. Were the prayer services of Islam influenced by the prayer services of the Orthodox Christian world that surrounded Mohammed?... Regardless, the chanting in the Orthodox tradition is extremely beautiful and rich, and as a singer (and pre-novice chanter), it does speak to me - regardless of whether you're discussing Byzantine or Russian (though I admit to a preference for Byzantine). ...That the Episcopal Church in the U.S. is going to predominantly be populated by whites is hardly a surprise, given that it has historically been a principally English Church.... At any rate, within the wider world of Christianity, and especially Orthodoxy is very much multi-ethnic. She found the discipline of praying five times a day — one of the five pillars of Islam that all Muslims are supposed to follow — gave her the deep sense of connection with God that she yearned for. Its interesting that historically, Christianity had 5 prayer hours, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, and Vespers, as well as two other prayer times, Compline and Matins/Lauds, taking you to 7 times a day for prayer (as the Psalmist said , seven times a day do I praise you). Today, in at least the Orthodox monasteries I know of in the U.S., prayer hours are grouped together, and the Liturgy is celebrated every day, so you end up with fewer, but much longer prayer periods.... Now I grant you that people don't assemble at the Church any more for these hours, which is unfortunate, but the practice still exists. The reason I find all this interesting, then, is that all of her reasons for becoming Muslim, or at least most of her reasons, center on practices that indicate both the seriousness with which Islam takes worship, and the beauty and richness of that worship. I understand that appeal, for my wife has made the comment several times about how Orthodoxy just makes sense - how all of the time spent in worship, how the beauty of that worship all just makes sense when you are talking about your relationship with the Creator. So, while Redding does state that she has had difficulty accepting Jesus' divinity, her real issues are a lack of depth and beauty in the Christianity she had come to know. ...Daily services, or the notion of frequent daily prayer is relatively unknown as a spiritual discipline in modern, especially non-AngloCatholic, Anglicanism.... However, as the Episcopal Church continued its drift from the ancient traditions, this practice, too has been lost. I don't think Redding felt drawn to Islam strictly because of these externals, but rather the externals spoke to her of a faith with some depth to it. If you survey the field of modern spirituality you find many attempts at introducing non-Christian spiritual activities to Christianity.... From John Ortberg's "invention" of sleep as a spiritual discipline, to transcendental meditation, soaking prayer, and various other modern phenomena, we can perceive a hunger on the part of many Christians. ...When people like Redding feel drawn to a more extensive prayer life, or to a deeper expression of worship, they shouldn't have to go looking at other religions. They need to understand that all of that is, and always has been, part of Christianity. When Redding (who appears to be single) feels the need to surrender her life, the answer isn't Islam, but perhaps monasticism. We need to realize that evangelism shouldn't always focus on theological arguments, but should focus on presenting the whole faith - and especially its practice. I think that this will resonate with a great many people, and perhaps help them to avoid making the mistake that Redding has. Thursday - May 24, 2007The Challenges of the Continuing ChurchAs early as 1873, when the Reformed Episcopal
Church was formed, the Church of England was subject to splits and divides....
Somewhere along the way they became known as the "Continuing Churches", because
each group declared that they were continuing the traditions of Anglicanism....
The more significant problem, though, is that the continuing churches have
undergone subsequent splintering from the original founding
groups.
...In the article, he identifies one significant cause underlying the fractious nature of the "continuum" is simply power politics.... The jurisdictional problem of the Orthodox Church in the U.S., although not rooted in power politics, now finds resolution challenging precisely because of power politics. He subsequently, however, develops a thesis that the main cause, the root, if you will, of the problems of the continuum is that it has failed to maintain the "continuation" of classical Anglicanism. His proposal is that if only the Continuum would abandon both low church Evangelicalism, and Anglo-Catholicism, it would succeed and be a united group.... The first is, "Is the divergence of theological positions within the Continuum sufficient to prevent unity". The second, perhaps even more important question is, "Will adherence to 'classical Anglicanism' provide the unity and growth so desired?"... He believes that classical Anglicanism is Scriptural, and is therefore reflective of the way the Church was being ordered by the Apostles. I can easily agree with him that holding to a uniform theological structure would give a unity to the continuum that it clearly does not have now.... However, where I might diverge from Mr. Cooper is that I think the lack of uniformity is symptomatic, not causal.... As Cardinal Newman pointed out , since the original articles establish the book of homilies as the acceptable source of interpretation of Scripture, we can use them to reinterpret the articles themselves (especially where the homilies appear to conflict with the articles). Basically we are left with Scripture, and a tradition of one generation, the homilies of the 16th century. This narrow tradition allows some to lean more heavily toward an evangelical, non-sacramental worldview, without contradicting Scripture nor much of the homilies, while allowing another group to become nearly Roman while still operating within the same framework. By jettisoning the first 1000 years of Church tradition, a necessary rudder is lost and the lack of uniformity follows. As I've pointed out before , the Episcopal Church tolerates a huge range of theological positions - often contradictory - even within the narrow range of those who consider themselves "orthodox". Wednesday - February 07, 2007The Middle?There's a new program being run in
Episcopal Parishes around the country. In some cases, it is the first Adult
Education program that has been offered at these parishes in a long
time.
...Like the organization, the program has the name "Via Media" , a reference to the Elizabethan compromise which attempted to steer Anglicanism down a middle road between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.... The people behind Via Media, and this program in particular, are from what used to be considered the far left of the Episcopal Church. For instance, Susan Russell, who is the executive directory of "Claiming the Blessing" , an organization whose goal is to promote same-sex blessings and full inclusion of active gays and lesbians in all orders of priesthood and aspects of Church life, and Michael Hopkins, former president of Integrity , the well known gay and lesbian lobby of the ECUSA. The rest of the list pretty much rounds out the usual suspects, including several people associated with "The Witness", a progressive religious publication, with folks like Barbara Harris and John Chane on the Board of Directors. Now this agenda, decidedly not in what was the mainstream of the Episcopal Church (leaving aside what is mainstream Anglican) the last time I was there, is being marketed to well meaning Episcopalians as Via Media - the middle way. Monday - February 05, 2007Rot Cause AnalysisJames Pike was really the start of all/most of
the current problems, or at least really got the ball rolling.... Along with
that, is a feeling among some, that if only the ECUSA or Canterbury had
something akin to Rome's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly
known as the Inquisition ), this whole mess wouldn't have
happened.
...Rome is somewhat unique in this regard as it has established a strict heirarchy, with one bishop at the head of everything.... It is a popular notion that Rome is, and always has been, rock solid with doctrine because they have the Pope.... Of course, they now have papal infallibility (a 19th century innovation that, although never heard of during the first millenia of Christianity is somehow part of that initial deposit of faith), which makes everything absolutely clear. However, a survey of American Catholics and American parishes will establish that this surety of faith has little impact on the faithful. Many, if not most, are exposed to all manner of clearly heretical teachings (beyond the pale of the usual Roman/Orthodox debates), such as a relativistic salvation (Jesus isn't the only way), and many more teachings which are at odds with "official" Roman doctrine. Very little is usually done to correct such things, and it is frankly the case that there are a large number of conservative AngloCatholic parishes which would frankly do better at Catechizing Roman faithful than many Roman parishes.... There are a couple of hot botton issues that you can use if you want to watch Roman apologists go into gyrations.... There are some who will swear that Apostolica Curae is infallible, and others that will argue it isn't, and so Anglican orders might be valid - and spin away they go. The other really fun issue is over salvation outside the Church - where the older document, Unam Sanctam appears to be superseded by the more recent Ut Unum Sint , which seems to indicate that you can be saved outside of the Roman Church. Some linguistic sleight of hand is required to make both documents not contradict one another, and you can get traditionalist Catholics, and more mainline conservative Catholics really fired up with this one. Let me discuss another form of government, before I bring up a couple of examples that are worth both noting and following with regard to this topic. I will say without defense, in part because I know of nobody familiar with the Orthodox Church, who would deny this, that Orthodox is most well known for having zealously preserved the faith.... The first is that Tradition - the teachings of the Church - have never been taught as something that develops, so that we don't expect to see the writings of Metropolitan Hierotheos contradicting the teachings of, say St.... In fact, Ecumenical Councils, which are another mechanism of defending the faith, must, themselves, be received by the Church at large in order to be deemed Ecumenical. Finally, the monastics, or spiritual fathers, of the Church, have long played a role, both through prayer, and spiritual direction, in maintaining the Orthodoxy of the Church. In many ways, the Anglican Church sought a similar sort of structure, where Tradition, along with Scripture would be the guarantee of retaining the faith and of protecting the Church from innovations of which Rome was guilty.... The first is that there is not exactly a high view of Church councils (see Article 21).... Both are to be subject to those things which are either plainly in Scripture, or can be proved from there. In other words, they are of no worth as the exegetical preference of some undefined individual could supersede the Councils by claiming that something they taught is at odds with something they can prove from Scripture. I've heard a great many interesting things "proved" from Scripture, so I cannot accept that this is a reasonable approach to things. In fact, the homosexual movement in the ECUSA has become quite adept at "re-interpreting" Scripture to find an alternative view to the Traditional one on homosexuality. So in a Church that largely turns its back on Tradition and Church Councils, and which has a limited confessional basis, you would expect that anything goes, and it appears to. As an aside, I should note that Henry VIII did away with the religious orders, and they didn't return until after the rise of the Oxford movement in the 19th century, and at that only in a small way. ...I want to address the other question before I look at some recent historical examples from Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarch which should hopefully be a little bit enlightening. This issue is the one of whether or not James Pike started the whole mess.... After all, the problem wasn't that he denied pretty much the entire Creed, it was that the Church largely didn't care.... A bishop denies the entire creed and its not worth a trial, simply a censure. A millenium before that, a Pope allowed the introduction of some additional words to the creed and the result was a series of excommunications which forever changed the landscape of the Christian world. Clearly, for the Episcopal church to be so blasé about Pike's teaching there must have been quite a buildup over time to get there. ...Finally, in comparing Rome and Orthodoxy there were some recent events, centering around the Pope's visit to Turkey that I think are enlightening. During the visit, and certainly in the context of a very hostile Muslim world, the Pope visited the Blue Mosque, faced Mecca with the Imam, and engaged in what many have called a prayer .... Can you imagine for one moment a group of bishops (or monks for that matter) censuring the Pope over his behavior? Ever since the declaration of infallibility in the 19th century, the Pope has enjoyed an effective infallibility where he can quite literally do no wrong. What was interesting was that shortly after this event, the Pope visits the Patriarch, and attends a Divine LIturgy where he is treated like a visiting heirarch in virtually every way except that he wasn't permitted to actually consecrate the gifts. This, even though the teachings of Rome clearly place them among the what would be deemed heretics in an historical context.... From a spiritual perspective, removing the Patriarch from their prayers may be the worst thing that could happen to him, and they are not shy about taking such steps. Monday - February 05, 2007SchizophreniaOver at GetReligion, TMatt continues in his
Quixotic (in the idealist sense of the word) quest for journalists to actually
get the timeline of events leading to the current crisis in the ECUSA correct.
I actually applaud his efforts to do so, as I'm always quite interested in root
cause (interesting typo - I almost wrote rot cause, which in this case might be
more appropriate) analysis.
I think the timeline is particularly instructive, and the errors of the LA times most egregious.... It is quite instructive that Spong has been denying Christianity for a very long time, and the ECUSA as well as the Anglican Communion have effectively done nothing about it.... Seriously, though, what would be best would be for Spong to repent and demonstrate to his fan club that he was really wrong all this time. So, if it is the case that the problems in the ECUSA predate 2003 a bit (and I'd refer you to this Newsweek column, written in 2003, for more evidence), exactly how far back does it go? ...I think the aforementioned Newsweek column, with its Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: "The gospel it preaches is, ‘By taste are ye saved’... It is not inquisitorial, not even inquisitive, is perfectly well-bred, and can shut its eyes on all proper occasions..."... While Anglicanism doesn't much like change, it will shut its eyes, and over time tolerate more and more.... In response to this, I was asked if I felt that the "schizophrenia" I cited was something that would be noticeable in an stalwart AngloCatholic diocese like San Joaquin . A brief survey of the parishes of the diocese would be in order, but unfortunately, most of the parishes do not appear to have websites, which make such investigations difficult. ...Well, there are a variety of clues, but the killer is this statement, "five optional sacramental rites of Confirmation, Ordination, Unction, Confession, and Holy Matrimony." Now, I agree that not everyone should be married, nor is everyone called to the priesthood, but declaring Confession, in particular, to be an optional rite wouldn't sit well with most AngloCatholics I know. Now, certainly, this may not be the sort of doctrinal dispute you would expect to divide a Church (as opposed to the real presence, Eucharistic sacrifice vs. symbolic only, no sacrifice debate), but Confession and one's view of it, tends to go to the whole notion of being prepared to receive properly. So, at the very least, if there is a parish that firmly believes in Confession in this diocese, you have the beginning of a fault line. ...Except that all of the critical doctrinal issues that are driving San Joaquin to consider leaving the ECUSA, are apparently not nearly as important to these parishes, as they are having meetings with the president of the House of Deputies to discuss how they can continue in the ECUSA. So, I think there may be some element of schizophrenia in that diocese - especially between the should we stay and the should we go crowd.... So, it could well be that the potential confession conflict I listed above may not exist.... Mary's which I linked to, where they find Confession "formative in Anglo-Catholic identify and spirituality", my finding a conflict may be more imagined than real. ...I suspect that with just a superficial look at a limited number of parishes, that there is some potential for significant conflicts and significant diversity in doctrinal views.... Schofield is doing his job well (which wouldn't be terribly surprising) by maintaining a significant degree of doctrinal unity within his diocese. Perhaps if people more familiar with the diocese wander by here, they can chime in. Perhaps there are no serious Anglo-Catholics, and perhaps no serious low-church Evangelicals who can't stand all of the talk of Masses and Sacrifice.... As I said long ago , it is very hard to determine what passes for doctrine in the ECUSA, and I think that same problem exists in the continuing churches and various breakaways as well. Sunday - February 04, 2007Divided They Stand, For a TimeA number of years ago, a book was published
detailing the history of the continuing Anglican movement here in the U.S.
called Divided We Stand .... The book is basically a survey of the history of
the various breakaway groups who, for various reasons, could no longer stand to
be part of the Episcopal Church.... for this link to the Time article in 1966
about former Bishop Pike, heresiarch of the Episcopal Church (I've linked to the
cover, but definitely read the cover story
).
...This might seem like a good thing, as ideas such as adherence to Scripture and Tradition would be what comes with that.... However, there are a few other details which point to the schizophrenia which the Via Media, so lauded by the Anglican Church, has led to. Most notable is that they do the old Reformed Communion one Sunday a month at the 10 a.m. service, then switch to weekly, which is more AngloCatholic at the 12 a.m. service. This tension wouldn't be so noticeable if it weren't for the fact that this church belongs to the APA , which has entered into an intercommunion agreement with the REC . This would be all well and good, except for this group, which has discovered that within the APA closet are a number of very AngloCatholic folks. Now, this anti-union group are absolutely correct, if you ask me, to question the conflict in rather significant doctrinal matters between AngloCatholics and Reformed folks. The answer within Anglicanism has largely been, not to ask, nor to bother about such things. I found this site, which is for some other continuing Church where the claim that "We do not compromise on matters of Faith, Order, Doctrine, Discipline, or Morality", while declaring that "The core statements of the Faith contained in the Creeds -- Apostle's, Nicene, and Athanasian -- are necessary to belief for Christians, but in peripheral issues we are not to judge one another (as St.... The problem with creeds is that they tend to be reactionary - addressing particular heresies - and not comprehensive.... While we adhere to all of its statements, we also understand that the faith is deeper than just the creed itself. Now, to be fair, one thing that all of these groups have in common, is that they claim the 39 articles as their statement of faith. The difficulty with this, as addressed here , is that these articles have been routinely interpreted in many different ways over the years, from Catholic to Reformed, and many places in between.... If it is okay to for members of the same Church to hold absolutely contradictory views on such things as the nature of the Eucharist, and Sacraments in general, on which book belong in Scripture, on how many Sacraments there are, on Salvation (Sola Fide or not?), on how doctrine is established (Sola Scriptura or not?), why is it not okay to question such things as the Incarnation, and the Virgin Birth. Okay, these two items are addressed in the creed, but as noted before, morality really isn't.... There is nothing within the realm of the 39 articles, nor Via Media, which really helps us with these questions. Sunday - February 04, 2007MiraclesA female priest (Episcopalian, of course), was
the poster, so I googled her and discovered that she belongs to supposedly
AngloCatholic parish in San Francisco. I say supposedly, because what they have
are the pretty ceremony without being bothered by the doctrine that comes with
AngloCatholicism.
I decided to read one of her sermons, and was struck by something that I had commented to others about before. ...A hallmark of some protestant responses during and after the 16 th century was to differentiate between what God did in Jesus the Christ and through the apostles and what God does now. They would tell us that God does not engage with us now in the same way – the Holy Spirit is removed just a bit from us – we should not expect miracles.... Even less hopeful was the response that we do not experience a plethora of miraculous healing because of defect in ourselves – because we are simply not praying hard enough, because we are simply not holy enough, not deserving enough – that this is somehow dependent on us, not God. And there is a contemporary explanation too – one that I have crossed paths with again and again in research and study that comes out of the more catholic traditions that have restored the anointing of the sick in the 20 th century. This approach emphasizes the difference between healing and curing – that while we may not see or know or experience a physical cure, the sacramental ministry of healing – particularly the anointing of the sick – heals, heals our relationship with our own body and brings wholeness to an individual human being, heals our relationships with others, relationships broken through the alienation that sickness brings, and heals our relationship with God, broken through anger, pain, feelings of rejection. Sacramental healing gives us strength – if not physically, then spiritually, emotionally, mentally to resist despair and feeling abandoned. I do not in any way want to suggest that these are not important or worthy effects – I believe in them, I believe that the sacrament of anointing does do all this and more. ...The reason that they don't is largely because she hasn't witnessed such miracles.... On the other hand, I know people who have, and yet her entire sermon, and particularly these paragraphs, is predicated on the notion that, in the West, and particularly within Protestantism, miracles have largely ceased.... She does go on to discuss other meanings - perfectly valid meanings - that we should draw from the Gospels. ...But her main thesis appears to be that miracles largely don't happen in the Church anymore, and that saddened me in a profound way.... To be sure, you would hear of the occasional miraculous healing (rare) - mostly coming out of the charismatic movement - a movement I'm highly suspicious of for a lot of reasons.... After all, Benny Hinn and others can come up with a combination of sham miracles and perhaps a couple of real ones to bolster their claims of being anointed or doing God's work, or whatever.... There really is not foundation, in either Scripture or the Church Fathers, for asserting that miracles would cease.... The stories are told all the time - especially if you hang around Monastics, who have either experienced them or have in turn been told the stories. Certainly, these are not all well documented (unlike the Holy Fire ), and maybe some aren't true.... When Gerontissa Markella, at the Monastery of the Theotokos, the Life Giving Spring, told us some stories of miraculous events in the Holy Land, she didn't have her hand out asking for money for a miracle. No, she was merely using these stories to help encourage us, some pilgrims, in our daily walk. Saturday - August 26, 2006What Did Jesus Mean by Unity?Archbishop Rowan Williams has a somewhat
misguided view of unity.
Friday - July 21, 2006A Wonderful, if Melancholy, MeditationBy the kindness of a friend I recently
was blessed with my first trip abroad and with a greater purpose than mere
tourism (though we did a bit of touring).... The monastery is fairly unique in
the Orthodox world - a common monastery - that is having both men and women -
with the women quartered on one side of the village lane and the men on the
other.... There is far too much to the monastery’s life to write about at
this moment for readers of Pontifications, but I would offer the suggestion that
you try reading anything of Fr. Sophrony’s that you happen to
find.
...But I offer my visit to the monastery as a prelude to my thoughts - partly because I went to the monastery first and then made the tourist trek that is the subject of my thoughts at the moment - and partly to say that my thoughts are cast against the backdrop of a week’s quiet prayer and reflection in one of the holier places in our Western world. ...My visit also coincided with the Episcopal Church’s General Convention, an event that probably received better coverage in the English papers than in those of the U.S. - Anglicanism not being a mere footnote in British history. Reading of the Episcopal Church’s descent into chaos (indeed “chaos” was the word used in the Times to describe the convention) while at the same time touring some of her Mother Church’s great cathedrals made for extended meditations. ...But I don’t know how to look for “Catholic” England other than to remember the murdering butchery of Henry VIII (he had the monks at Walsingham drawn and quartered), and the countless brave Jesuits who labored for the Catholic faith long after England had fallen under the dark shadow of Cromwell. My meditation was on how falsely the story of Anglicanism had been related to me when I was an Anglican - both in adult inquirers’ classes and in seminary itself - the myth of the 3 Branch theory of the Church and other stories. ...And there are doubtless many believers who remain - indeed the holy monastery I visited is evidence that the Christian faith cannot be extinguished. Perhaps the most poignant part of my visit was to take a short ride outside of Oxford to see the home of C.S.Lewis and to visit his grave and the Church in which he worshipped.... The parish bulletin’s lead article was all about “labyrinths” and how neat they were and the spirituality associated with them - mostly new-age nonsense. ...I prayed for Episcopalians at home who now have to hear about “Mother Jesus” from the highest levels, and Anglicans across the world who have to sort their way through. ...At Walsingham, where Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox all have shrines to the Mother of God, I overheard a group of school children who were on a daytrip to the shrine (I do not know from what school).... May the faith of the fathers of Britain shine again in that green land - Aidan, Cuthbert, Theodore, Bede, good men and women who kept the faith and knew the way home. Sunday - July 02, 2006Friday - June 09, 2006Returning to a Community of FaithSo as the General Convention of the
ECUSA prepares to meet (starting tomorrow), they have published their Blue Book,
which contains all of the various resolutions and committee reports.... I could
go on for ever about the various items which are being proposed as part of the
"Rites of Passage: Liturgies for Transformations in the Lives of God's People"
book which will presumably be available soon at a bookstore near
you.
...Given the nature of the prayer and the context in which it was located (right after the "Release from Prison" - I'm surprised they don't have a service for escape from prison, but we won't go there), I'm assuming this refers to someone who had renounced the Episcopal Church in some fashion and either gone to another denomination, or perhaps became a Buddhist for a while.... In Orthodoxy (as it is, essentially in Roman Catholicism), the understanding is that in order to return to the Faith after having turned your back on it, you need to be formally received back according to long standing liturgical traditions.... In Orthodoxy, unless you were simply attending a different Orthodox Church, you would need to be Chrismated.... We find in the earliest Church councils (starting at Nicea), that canons were produced governing what to do with folks who had followed various heresies and had left the Church. To the Orthodox, to leave for another Christian denomination de facto means following some form of heresy, so to return would require some sort of Chrismation. ...What this all speaks to is the deplorable lack of an ecclesiology within the ECUSA in particular, and Anglicanism in general. Tuesday - May 30, 2006Diseases and Their ProgressionThe first one is exceptional in its
honesty about evangelicalism, its beliefs, and provides sufficient information
for predictions to be made about the future of
Anglicanism.
...Jensen's honest about evangelicalism's beliefs is not that others haven't also been honest.... To Virtue, orthodoxy means "Biblical Orthodoxy," which is the delusion, held by most evangelical/fundamentalists, that they are adhering to what the Bible says. What they often fail to account for is that they are really adhering to a set of teachings that can be defended to some degree by careful selection of Scriptural passages. So, in fact, this "Orthodoxy" is right/correct (Ortho) only in that it meets with the views held by some subset of the Protestant reformation. ...Each of these statements has some degree of truth underlying them, and then a whole lot of baggage and error of rather modern pedigree.... It is a matter of historical fact that the Church existed before the New Testament had its first letters written. So, although the OT Scripture were authoritative, clearly there was a whole collection of new teachings that went beyond the Scripture.... The Church has always held Scripture in high regard, and looks to it as a primary source of revelation.... That change is that the Holy Spirit was sent upon the entire Church to serve as guide (note - entire Church, not just some small group folks in the West). ...We can continue with the sin/guilt/substitionary atonement question. Clearly, based on Scripture, the writings of the Fathers, and the Liturgies that have come down to us the understanding of our sinful nature has always been a part of Christianity. However, the unique focus on the penal substitution model of the atonement is more a late medieval focus. Yes, this model has its basis in Scripture, but it is only a model, and does not capture the fullness of the Gospel message. One of the unfortunate outcomes of the exclusive use of this model is the basic belief that as Christians we basically remain entirely corrupt, and only get into heaven because of a declaration of our righteousness, not that we ever become actually righteous. One of the unfortunate results of this view will be addressed below, and reflects a huge omission on the part of Bp. ..."Only through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross can there be forgiveness and redemption."... In fact, at one point, he makes another rather alarming statement that we are called to "submission in repentance and faith, bringing salvation from the guilt of sin and so freedom to live the Christian life and the promise of life eternal."... Once again, there seems to be no place here for the resurrection.... Jensen is at all incorrect here, at least as far as his description of evangelicalism. In most confessions I've seen, although they acknowledge the resurrection, it appears to be more of an afterthought. ...Jensen states, that being an evangelical makes you part of the true church, how it is that this evangelical assembly squares its theology with the ancient Christian approach of elevating Pascha (Easter) above all other days. You would think that if evangelical theology were correct that the Church would have always celebrated Good Friday as the most important day of the year. We'd all receive Good Friday baskets or some such, and Easter would be an afterthought for those people not too tired out by the Good Friday celebrations. The other piece missing here is a good theology of the incarnation. You see, the faith once received believes in the transformation of human nature due to God's assumption of that nature. The faith once received believes that we can partake in the divine nature of God. All of this is quite frankly missing from evangelicalism, and this is a huge, gaping hole that leads to further errors and problems. ...We are told that the Church is the very Body of Christ, as well as being the pillar and bulwark of truth.... Jensen, and presumably his fellow evangelicals, it is a fellowship of believers ministering to one another.... Jensen informs us that a proper evangelical will elevate the Gospel above the Church.... How can one be elevated above the other. The Church is yet another way in which we participate in the hypostatic union of God and Man which leads to our very transformation.... Yet, because of a limited view of atonement, and an even more limited view of the incarnation, evangelicals miss that point. One key problem is that the Church can no longer serve as the pillar of truth - simply because the Church appears to be merely all those individuals who share a common belief system.... Jensen himself notes that Arminians and Calvinists exist side by side within this Church - and yet they disagree on some serious fundamentals. ...I'd be interested in seeing how simple worship squares with the worship we see throughout Scripture. In fact, the last images of worship that we see in the pages of Scripture are in the Revelation to John. These images, like all other images of worship in Scripture, are images of incense and robes, and candles, and bowing, and movements.... In fact, God places a great deal of emphasis on worship, especially in the Old Testament, and apparently it is continuously going on in Heaven.... Jensen seems to like the idea of "liquid" church, where the only thing of importance is that it shouldn't be entirely individualistic.... His reading of Scripture has informed him that we need to minister to one another, but that is as far as it goes. Since his theology is lacking a good understanding of the incarnation, and a good understanding of the Church as the Body of Christ, he doesn't have a lot of good ammunition.... Jensen's world we will ultimately see a decline in corporate worship, if for no other reason than nobody within the evangelical world has much of an argument for it.... Jensen points out that another key piece of evangelicalism is individual judgement. So, if the individual judges that he doesn't need to be engaged in a visible church body of some sort, I would gather his judgement trumps the rather vague beliefs on this subject apparently held by all good evangelicals. ...Peter refers in his letters to the priesthood of all believers , echoing a similar phrase in the Old Testament. Clearly we are all, as were the ancient Israelites, called to the priesthood at some level.... Peter is not introducing anything new, as much as most evangelicals seem to want to believe that he is. Even though everyone is called to be a priest - to make sacrifices to God, that does not eliminate for people to hold the formal office of priest - which, of course, we see throughout the New Testament era and beyond.... Jensen thinks we can see the elimination of priests in worship services and the like.... Jude , which points back to a time in ancient Israel when there were some who felt that they, too, didn't need a special office of priest.... So here we have what is really another case of evangelicalism not having a proper theology, and it results in error, and a rather severe error. So, within evangelicalism, we have a group that prefers individual judgement, that seems to ignore passages of Scripture when those passages don't square with their individual theology, and who seek the freedom to worship as they see fit. Compare and contrast this to modernists who do pretty much the same thing. The only difference, really, is that modernists ignore larger chunks of Scripture than evangelicals do.... Yes, certainly, but you see it has been my belief that the reformation is directly responsible for the modernist infection of Western Christianity. The reformation so elevated individual judgement and individual interpretation of Scripture, and so lowered the importance of a visible Church and of an orderly God derived worship, that they opened the door for subsequent generations to simply continue the effort. ...Well, you see, even if all of the modernists are given the boot and are no longer part of the larger communion, I think you have only delayed the necessary progression of a disease.... Most of them have openly acknowledged that they have to join with the evangelicals and pretend that the errors I mention above (along with the many more that come with the package) don't really matter. So, in another 50 years or so, likely even sooner, we'll see the same sorts of things again. The only real solution, IMO, is for Anglicanism to return to its real roots.... A return to its roots as a member of the one True Church - not a loose organization consisting of a bunch of like-minded members, but rather a visible Kingdom on Earth where all worshiped and worked together. Wednesday - December 21, 2005The War on ChristmasFirst we had the Jews against
Anti-Christian Defamation, and now we have an atheist in the London Telegraph
entering the fray. I'll let you read these stories - the opinion piece is
really exceptional, so there is nothing that I can add to it. What is amazing
is that we have atheists and Jews, joining the battle on the side of either
orthodox or evangelical Christians, against...... You know, the folks who were
raised Christian, show up at Church once in a while (usually Christmas, btw,
which isn't even the biggest day of the year in the Church, but these folks
wouldn't know that), but quite frankly have no more belief in God than even Mr.
Heffer has.... However, these people don't even have the courage to admit that
they really aren't Christian anymore. After all, if you really believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, you'd think you would, at the least, not be
ashamed of
it.
...However, my point here is not to pick on secular Christians, as if they are something new on the scene. Frankly they have been around since the time of Ananias and Sapphira , and it only has become worse since Constantine and the legalization of Christianity.... Then, those of us in the Church can return to observing Advent, celebrating Christmas by worshiping, and stop having to deal with the secular Christians regarding Christmas.... Nicholas on his feast day which seems better than celebrating some made up Coca Cola advertising gimmick), no more explaining to the children why we try to wait and begin celebrating Christmas on Christmas day (so we aren't one of those who announce, on the feast of the Nativity of the Lord of all Creation, "thank God that's over"). Once again, Christmas, as important of a holiday as it is, will be placed in the correct perspective, as the second, or maybe even third most important feast in the Church, not the first. What is the most important feast in the Church? Well, if you're not a secular Christian then you know. If you are, you may know only because somebody mentioned it to you, but you likely don't.... The incarnation of our Lord was a huge event, but nothing is more important than the Resurrection itself. If you're not clear why that is, e-mail me following the link below and I can help you out. Thursday - December 15, 2005Okay, Enough Dr. ToonDr. Peter Toon, one time president of
the Prayer Book Society here in the U.S. In a recent essay , Dr. Toon raises
some points to which I have much more specific
problems.
In this essay, Dr. Toon looks to the Tractarian movement as a bad thing, to which I can only agree in that it did not go far enough. The Tractarians, at times, seemed more interested in defending their right to exist within the Church of England, than they really did in converting the C of E to its Catholic roots. Dr. Toon would disagree, and, often in his writings calls people back to the reformed roots of the Church of England.... To speak of the reformed roots of the Church of England is to consider the Church to have been founded at the time of the reformation, rather than more than a millennia earlier. ...Dr. Toon also decries things of the AngloCatholic movement as "ritualism", an attempt to dismiss the entire movement with a slur as opposed to engaging the reality that such "ritualism" was the norm in the universal Church, which Dr. Toon repeatedly in his writings claims to support. What Dr. Toon really supports is a brief 350 year period within the Church of England as being the measure of what the Church should be. He is, in many ways, just another fundamentalist, except that what he holds most dear is not Scripture, but rather the Book of Common Prayer, and more importantly the 39 articles. ...I would recommend that Dr. Toon study the Old Testament a bit more, and realize that God, Himself, established ritual as a necessary part of Worship.... He did not establish hour long sermons and temples which placed the pulpit and the preacher as the center point of worship. If you doubt that this is what reformed theology leads to, just look at any large Church built during the first 200 years or so after the reformation. |