Yesterday I posted an explanation of the complex relationships within the Church of England. I explained here about Anglo Catholic, Evangelicals and Liberals. However, this is not the full story. As usual, there is a story behind the story. The divisions between Liberal, Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical are, in many respects, only superficial and historical. The real [...]
I posted a picture the other day of worship at St Peter's. There was a crowd of altar servers, robed clergy in procession and clouds of incense. In the combox someone observed, "Would Jesus recognize this as worship?" I don't know the commenter and his background, but it sounds like the comment is based on [...]
Sin is monotonous. Sanctity is totally original. Underneath this observation lurks a deeper truth--that sin is boring. We believe in original sin, but there is nothing original about sin. This is because evil is derivative. Satan cannot create anything, all he can do is twist or destroy or distort what is good. Take any sin at [...]
St Therese of Lisieux C.S. Lewis once observed, ‘How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.’ In his little biographies of Thomas Aquinas and Saint Francis of Assisi, G.K.Chesterton revelled in the sparkling individuality of both saints. Aquinas was the greatest philosopher of his time [...]
A debate has been cooking amongst various bloggers who are atheists about whether there is such a thing as objective morality. I was interested in the observations that animals behave in a 'moral' way--elephants grieve their dead herd members, dogs stand loyally beside the grave of their dead master, monkeys share and gorillas are tender toward [...]
Click to enlarge Did you know that Ignatius of Antioch was not only appointed to the see of Antioch by Peter himself, but tradition has it that he was one of the children that the Lord took up in his arms and blessed? Ignatius of Antioch was martyred in the Roman Coliseum by being [...]
There. That headline got your attention didn't it? As usual, I'm trying to stand things on their head. This is what I mean: Be self centered. Look after the good of your own soul first and foremost. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. There are several advantages to this. First, it will stop [...]
Here's an excerpt from today's gospel, and there is something there I had never noticed before: The Lord said to him, "Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? [...]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_-BOvWVycM[/youtube] As a fundamentalist boy I had to learn my Bible verses from the King James Bible. One I remember clearly is Hebrews 11.1 "For faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." For some reason I always loved the way that rolled off the tongue. It had a [...]
Do similarities between pagan religions and Christianity dis prove the Christian claims? To understand the relationship between pagan religions and Christianity it is important to understand the Catholic idea of the 'development of doctrine.' This was first set out by fifth century theologian Vincent of Lerins.In this excerpt from his writings he explains how truth develops within [...]