Image:  The danger with the relentless researching of your subject in preparation for an interview is that you're bound to make some assumptions. My first was that Null, a Yale and Cambridge alumnus who is a leading expert on Thomas Cranmer and the theology of the English Reformation, might be intimidatingly intellectual and inaccessible to us mere mortals. My second was that this might make for a difficult interview with an overly fastidious subject. I was wrong on both counts. Null does indeed have a fierce intellect. Throughout our conversation, he hones in on the one word in my qu ..read more

Image:  This decision is contrary to scripture and to Anglican expressions of the teaching of scripture in our formularies, including the Book of Common Prayer, and Lambeth resolution I.10, clearly affirmed by the Archbishop of Canterbury as the standard of Anglican doctrine as recently as the Lambeth Conference in 2022. I'm very grateful for the gracious and courageous way in which many English brothers and sisters in Christ have taken a stand in their General Synod for biblical authority and the trustworthiness of Jesus' teaching on human identity and sexuality. We express our suppo ..read more

Image:  At the Washington National Cathedral, their "labyrinth coordinator" instructs practitioners to pray to God or the Universe while walking the labyrinth, with Christianity left to a matter of personal taste. --- Wyatt Flicker For what purpose do you suppose we ministers are sent forth? Is it merely to wear a surplice, and read the services, and preach a certain number of sermons? Is it merely to get a comfortable living, and be in a respectable profession? No! indeed! we are sent forth for other ends than these. We are sent to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power ..read more

Image:  Though the approval process has been described as a narrow win or victory by a vote by Houses: Bishops 22 for, 12 against; Clergy 99 for, 88 against; and Laity 95 for, 91 against; it nevertheless shows the true state of a Church whose Bishops have abandoned the truth of God's Word and have sacrificed the authority of the Scripture for a postmodern Cultural trapping. It must be pointed out that these Archbishops and Bishops at their Consecration accepted and accented to the Doctrine and Historical Formularies of the Anglican Church, but by this recent decision of the General Sy ..read more

Image:  The bishops then reverted to their original plan and proposed to this July's Synod that "standalone services" now simply be commended. This was described as being "for a trial period," but that makes no sense given commendation is an episcopal judgment the prayers are already legal, and it was admitted during the Synod that once commended they were highly unlikely ever to be withdrawn. This is now likely to happen shortly after February 2025, despite this liturgical change being so far from "common worship" that it will require delegated episcopal oversight for parishes that o ..read more

Image:  Some are very happy with what is a clear trajectory: namely for what appear to be sexually-active relationships outside of heterosexual marriage to be blessed, including for clergy. Some may not currently agree with the new forms of blessing, but do not consider this something to split over. They claim that it is possible to hold on the one hand a thoroughly orthodox and historic commitment to the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman, that being the only godly place for sexual relationships, and on the other that those who seek to bless other sexually active rela ..read more

Image:  Circumcision Paul used the example of circumcision to teach some important principles to his mixed Jewish and Gentile congregations. Circumcision was strictly required of Jewish men and its applicability to Gentile believers was an extremely controversial question at that time (not unlike the role of women in churches today). We must ask: to what extent are Gentile Christians to fully endorse and seek to follow all of the injunctions from the Old Testament... and more to the point, to what extent do the following principles laid out by Paul apply to his New Testament rules as ..read more

Image:  Heavenly Father, We are so grateful that, in Jesus Christ, you broke down the barriers between us and You. Being forgiven, we can now come before your throne of grace without shame or fear. Now, we can fellowship with You, learn from You, and receive the guidance that we need for this life. We thank You for this great privilege. At this time, we do not ask that You be with us, for we know that You are already with us; You are everywhere. And You have given us Your Holy Spirit. We ask... that You help us to stay aware of Your Presence and nearness, that we might more fully seek ..read more

Image:  And yet, the West is in a profound identity crisis, to the delight of anti-West ideologues. From Pride parades each June to intellectual elites, including a sitting member of the U.S. Supreme Court, who claim to not know what a woman is, Western society is increasingly unhitching from the traditional beliefs and values that grounded its understanding of human dignity. We are, as Os Guinness has often noted, a "cut flower civilization," and this detachment from those roots that brought the world such blessing has only left Western sins more pronounced and obvious. One result of ..read more

Image:  There was tremendous pressure especially by the Jesuits who controlled Rome at the time to agree to this teaching that no precedence in church history, even though Catholics today are told that the idea goes back to the medieval church and even to antiquity. Arguments for "the primacy of Peter" were not initially directed to doctrinal truth, but rather as an attempt to strengthen the church's power. On this day in 1870 the council overwhelmingly adopted this statement: “The Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in discharge of the office of pastor and teache ..read more