Bob Burney has an excellent article on the future of the Evangelcal movement on Townhall.
Key passages:
"A few decades ago liberal theologians gained control of the (mainline) seminaries. Instead of teaching their pastoral and theological students to love, trust and revere the Bible as God’s inspired, inerrant revelation to mankind, they were taught to question, doubt and debate the claims of Scripture. To question truth became the ultimate objective rather than discovering truth. The “search” was not a part of the journey, it was the destination.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
The Three Faces of Anglicanism - The Anglo-Catholics
I was raised Catholic. I spent most of my life in free-church congregational churches. Two years ago I cautiously waded into Anglican waters. It made sense to find a "middle ground", one that respected the history of the church and the history of Biblical interpretation for all of 20 centuries. It did not make sense to me to cross the Tiber to Rome, or to embrace the eastern church, simply because the Great Tradition seemed to me to add external things to the Biblical testimony and seemed to force interpretations on the text that could not be supported except through appeal to some mystical inside knowledge and unique revelatory authority granted to the church hierarchy.
As a layman, one who was seeking connection with the early church and who after months of thinking, praying and research into doctrine, I settled on the 39 Articles as a worthy balance between Biblical, Evangelical faith and historic worship and polity. I was fully aware of the liberal slant of the Episcopal church, but was also heartened to find a few Anglican groups who claimed to combine history, biblical authority and the power of the spirit into one Biblical and Evangelical movement. Anglo-Catholicism was not part of my research, but I assumed that the 39 Articles held sway even in those circles. So I must admit a certain degree of shock upon reading the following from the Anglican Missal
"I confess to God Almighty, to Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints, and to thee, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word and deed, by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault. Wherefore I beg blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all the Saints, and thee, father, to pray for me to the Lord our God."
How did a prayer to Michael the Archangel, Mary and apostolic saints appear in a worship liturgy if the 39 Articles specifically proscribed prayers to saints?
As a layman, one who was seeking connection with the early church and who after months of thinking, praying and research into doctrine, I settled on the 39 Articles as a worthy balance between Biblical, Evangelical faith and historic worship and polity. I was fully aware of the liberal slant of the Episcopal church, but was also heartened to find a few Anglican groups who claimed to combine history, biblical authority and the power of the spirit into one Biblical and Evangelical movement. Anglo-Catholicism was not part of my research, but I assumed that the 39 Articles held sway even in those circles. So I must admit a certain degree of shock upon reading the following from the Anglican Missal
"I confess to God Almighty, to Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints, and to thee, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word and deed, by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault. Wherefore I beg blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all the Saints, and thee, father, to pray for me to the Lord our God."
How did a prayer to Michael the Archangel, Mary and apostolic saints appear in a worship liturgy if the 39 Articles specifically proscribed prayers to saints?
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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.
Monday, February 25, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Wisdom from Down Under
Being a devotee of Francis Schaeffer, for whom the "propositional truth" of the scriptures was the cornerstone of all knowledge, I've always bristled at the contention, quite common these days among emergents and post-conservatives, that propositional truth is a false hope of the enlightenment. Always struck me as odd - isn't the statement "propositional truth is false" itself a proposition?
Many - I think most are well meaning - will say that revelation is not found in propositional statements about God, but in God's saving acts in history, that it is the Acts that are revelatory and not the verbal descriptions of them.
So I was tickled, when googling a different topic, to find this article by Evangelical Anglican Canon D.B. Knox, who I don't know much about, save that he was Principal of Moore Theological College, Sydney, Australia, from 1959-1985. The article is titled "PROPOSITIONAL REVELATION, THE ONLY REVELATION".
Many - I think most are well meaning - will say that revelation is not found in propositional statements about God, but in God's saving acts in history, that it is the Acts that are revelatory and not the verbal descriptions of them.
So I was tickled, when googling a different topic, to find this article by Evangelical Anglican Canon D.B. Knox, who I don't know much about, save that he was Principal of Moore Theological College, Sydney, Australia, from 1959-1985. The article is titled "PROPOSITIONAL REVELATION, THE ONLY REVELATION".
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