One of the things that drew me to my current parish was its use of Rite 1. But, I wondered, how many knew why it’s used? For me, it’s not just the beauty of the Elizabethan prose and the continuity of hundreds of years, but the plain declaration of the gospel it makes. For instance, when the …
The finality of Christ’s atonement undermines the claims of any other mediator, be it temple, priesthood, and even church. Other mediators leave people conscious stricken. Christ leaves our consciences clean. So, why are the consciences of many Christians still guilt-ridden? First, because some may not yet be regenerated. Their religion is akin to “having a form of godliness but denying …
Here’s a quick English pop-quiz: what is the subject and what’s the verb in this very long sentence? In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias …
“Bind them… fix them,” Deuteronomy 6:8’s call to a veneration of the actual written word of God was consistent with other common religious practices in the ancient near east. Moreover, the pious act was voluntary. By contrast, the mark of the beast is a mandatory, state-decreed identifier. Both emblems are concrete, with real-world implications. Likewise, evangelical …
I have been, at various times, an Anglo-Catholic, a Tridentine Romanist, and an Evangelical Anglican. Interestingly, my core belief in the substitutionary atonement and propitiatory sacrifice of Christ on the cross was the one constant, the one evangel. This leads me to say that “evangelical” is a theology and not a good way to describe …
