Os Guinness on Frank Schaeffer

Os Guinness has, thankfully, written a review of Frank Schaeffer's disturbing expose' Crazy For God. This is a detailed rebuttal from someone who was there. People need to read the whole thing, and pray for Franky. He is truly a bit of a lost soul.

Larry Norman - Rest in Peace

Larry Norman passed away on Sunday. He was 61. I was probably about 12 when I first heard Larry's music and saw him perform in Missoula, Montana. I had never seen anything like Larry Norman and never have since. He was part Bob Dylan, part Bill Cosby and part John the Baptist. With just a nylon string guitar, a thin tenor and a razor sharp wit, he spellbound me and influenced me forever.

Larry's songwriting was deceptively simple and deep. He was the originator of Contemporary Christian Music, but few these days really understand his genius. What made Larry's music powerful in the early days was the way in which he tied spiritual urgency to the full spectrum of 1960s American life. He wrote songs about the Vietnam war, about drug abuse and sexual promiscuity. He wrote about false religions, the commercialization of Christmas, and a decidedly Hal Lindsey influenced understanding of end-times prophecy. He was fearless in his naming the name of Christ, yet knew how to be blunt at times and deftly subtle at others. Only Visiting This Planet remains, in my mind, the best Christian rock recording ever, recorded in London with the fifth Beatle, George Martin as producer.

The Three Faces of Anglicanism - The Evangelicals

To understand the “evangelical face” of Anglicanism, one first needs a bit of history of the Anglican church to put things in context.

It is commonly believed that Henry VIII broke from the Roman church over a marriage, but the issue was a bit deeper than that. Henry’s main issue was whether the Pope should have power over the needs of the English State, particularly his own need of an heir to the Royal throne. In the 16th century, both Popes and Kings held secular and sacred authority. Henry's intent was to free the English Church from Papal rule. He sought out bishops who would side with him to annul a barren marriage and declared, in essence, that the English Church was simply put, English.

But Henry’s doctrine remained decidedly Catholic. In his “Six Articles”, he fully affirmed such Catholic doctrines as Transubstantiation, Communion in one kind, clerical celibacy, and auricular confession.

The cleric who Henry chose to lead his English church was Thomas Cranmer. Cranmer became quite familiar with the Reformation in Europe and his doctrine was very much influenced by the Reformers. Cranmer proceeded to create a liturgy and a prayer book for England, in the native tongue. To do so, he borrowed from what he felt were the best liturgies of previous centuries, but he took pains to remove, over time, many of the elements of those liturgies that echoed the concerns of the Reformers. Eventually, a few central points of doctrine were summarized in what is now known as the 39 Articles of Religion.

The Three Faces of Anglicanism

I have been swimming in Anglican waters for approximately two and a half years. In the course of that time I have been keenly aware of the divide that exists between the conservative and orthodox as opposed to the progressive and liberal wing. This divide is vividly being played out as conservative Anglicans leave the Episcopal church in the United States and seek refuge from conservative bishops in the global south.

But what I was not fully aware of is a divide that lurks beneath the surface, hidden by the more pressing matter of essential orthodoxy and moral heresy. I am coming to understand that Anglicanism consists of three distinct groupings, and I will do my best to describe them here.