My recent post on the women's ordination in the ACNA has been passed around a decent amount. I've gotten a lot of direct feedback, and I thought I would quickly discuss a few of the more important points. I should add that I am now drawing more attention to this topic...
Steven Wedgeworth
Augustine on the Worship Due to God Alone
In Book 10 of City of God, St. Augustine contrasts the way that Christians worship God only and the way that the Platonists worship angels and other heavenly powers. The worship of angels is the main topic on Augustine's mind, and he devotes several chapters to...
Philip Schaff’s Reading of Augustine’s Theology of the Eucharist
Many people are surprised to learn that it has been entirely common for Protestant theologians to claim the early church fathers as positive support for their doctrine of the eucharist, including what is sometimes called the real presence. Lutherans and Reformed,...
Neither Dissembling Nor Cloaking in the Women’s Ordination Debate
The Anglican Church in North America is a house divided on the question of women's ordination. It has been this way since its inception. I think early on, the assumption was that the opponents of women's ordination would surely fade away or reluctantly get on board...
The Historic Commination Service: What Was the Anglican Ash Wednesday Service?
A few years ago I wrote a historical study of the Ash Wednesday service in the Anglican tradition. The big surprise was that no ashes were used until very recently. But this leaves the big question, if you don't have the ritual imposition of ashes in your Ash...
Thoughts on a KJV Christmas
My World Opinions piece on using the King James Version of the Bible for Christmas has gotten some attention. It's been an "editor's pick" for a couple of days, and I was asked to make an audio version of it for their daily podcast "The World and Everything In It." I...
A Fake John Chrysostom Letter: Eucharistic Dogma, Text Criticism, and Propaganda
[This post was originally published on June 8, 2017. It is reprinted here with only minimal formatting updates.] Around the year 1548, Peter Martyr Vermigli published the following quote from John Chrysostom, said to be from a letter to Caesarius the monk: For as [in...
Thoughts On When People Become Anglican
So the Evangelicals of the internet had a medium-sized explosion this past week as Matthew Barrett announced that he is becoming Anglican. The whole thing was interesting, and I've been thinking about it and the broader matter of Anglican identity, who and what the...
Is There A Calvinist Doctrine of the Trinity?
[This essay was originally posted in May of 2012. It is reposted here in its original form with only slight formatting changes.] Recent years have enjoyed a great renewal in theological conversations on the Trinity. As new questions arise, we find theologians...
The Fake Slogans of Church History
By now we have all learned the rule that if a C S Lewis quote (or St. Augustine quote or a Martin Luther quote) doesn't come with an actual citation, then it's fake. In all things charity-- except for imposter sourcing. This problem goes beyond fake quotes though....