An interesting thread broke out after a recent post I made about N.T. Wright and the need to bring genuine discipline to academic debate. The thread (to use shorthand) revolved around private judgment, the priesthood of believers, sola Scriptura, and the ministerium of the Church. How’s that for a summary? I thought I would add …
Let the Gentleman Do His Thing
I had made a mental note to post something about N.T. Wright’s comments on the Christian faith of Marcus Borg. Life has been busy, and this might be yesterday’s newspaper by now, but I would like to add my two cents. Those who missed the flap can catch up on it by looking at some …
A Girard Jag
As those who read the Easter sermon below can possibly tell, I am currently on a Rene Girard jag. I have read The Scapegoat, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, and am currently halfway through Violence Unveiled by Bailie, a man developing a number of Girard’s central insights. After that, I have a number of …
Christ is in the Participles
One of the standard ways to talk about the difference between a Roman Catholic approach to the Lord’s Supper is to refer to altar versus table. This is helpful, but it can still be misleading. When this happens, the debate reduces to a contest between the Roman Catholic “real presence” and the Zwinglian “real absence.” …
The Return of the Blue Pomegranates
Citing the Second Commandment (Ex. 20:4-6), Dr. Paul Owen asks, “Does this commandment forbid physical demonstrations of veneration before images, and the adoration of the Eucharistic host in the worship services of the Church? I do not believe it does” Since I do believe that it does, let me mention just a few brief responses …
Take the Blue Pomegranates For Example
It is perilously easy to read your own practices and assumptions back into the history of the Church. This anachronistic impulse is universal, and much of the time it is merely funny and endearing, but when it is elevated to the point of dogma, and insisted upon as a religious duty, the problems that result …
Freedom? What Freedom?
Most Christians do not have a problem in acknowledging God’s sovereign control over every aspect of the physical creation. Not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father, and He know the numbers of atoms that make up the planet Jupiter. We will consequently spend our time here considering the two areas that …
Authority and Apostolic Succession
A number of years ago I had a number of friends who maintained that the way to argue with me was to answer yes to the first question, and then to stoutly say no thereafter. I mention this because I am about to attempt something that I think our Roman Catholic friends might want to …
The Real Action Is Elsewhere
Jesus told the parable of two sons who were told to go work in the vineyard. One said he would go and did not. The other said he would not go, and then went. “Which one was obedient?” Jesus asked. The recent posts that I have offered on Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy have certainly …
Loyalty As Grace
In a recent debate with an atheist, I was asked why I was a Christian. I replied that it was because my mother had spanked me. But I admit that this needs to be filled out a bit, and when we do, we will discover that the explanation is releveant to our discussions over the …