In the 4th Volume of his History of the Christian Church, Philip Schaff devotes a chapter to the discussion of torture. Professor Schaff is wholly opposed to the use of torture in order to extract information or obtain a confession of guilt, and it is clear...
Steven Wedgeworth
Anglican International
J D Vance is Right About the Pope
Earlier this week, the Vice President of the United States of America made two controversial comments about Pope Leo XIV. On Tuesday, J D Vance said that the pope should "be careful" when talking about theology. This is a comment which, strictly speaking, is...
Lactantius Against the Use of Images in Worship
"For the likeness of a man appears to be necessary at that time when he is far away; and it will become superfluous when he is at hand. But in the case of God, whose spirit and influence are diffused everywhere, and can never be absent, it is plain that an image is...
How Should We Think About The Liberal Trad?
Over the past five years or so, I have begun encountering a kind of person I call the "Liberal Trad." The Liberal Trad fully accepts political liberalism, to include late liberal norms that are often described as "progressive." The Liberal Trad normally supports the...
The Cessation of Tongues in Classical Anglicanism
Anglicanism currently has a substantial charismatic element to it, particularly in the ACNA. Over at the ACNA website, they even have this statement about the so-called "Three Streams" of the Church which are held together in Anglicanism: The Protestant movement...
Doctrine of the Church in the Homily for Whitsunday
Whitsunday is the older English name for Pentecost. And there's a sermon about it in the Second Book of Homilies. That sermon explains the significance of Pentecost, gives a short teaching on the person of the Holy Spirit, and then discusses the gifts of the Spirit....
The Art of Natural Law: Custom and Decorum
This title probably sounds boring to a lot of people. Don't worry. I will get back to refuting the arguments for women's ordination soon enough. But this post is necessary foundation work. "Natural Law" is enjoying something of a renaissance, particularly among...
The Confession of Faith of the Global Anglican Communion
The recent meeting of the Global Anglicans in Abuja, Nigeria has left a little bit of confusion. What exactly happened there? I will come back to that in future essays and installments. But at least one thing came out of the meeting that was very good. In the "Abuja...
Poking Some Holes in the Lutheran View of Real Presence
What's more classic than a Reformed vs. Lutheran debate on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper? Well, I will try to keep it friendly, even as I want to skeptically interrogate a recent Lutheran discussion on the real presence. Andrew Packer is an old online acquaintance...
Why 1 Timothy 2 Is A Universal Normative Guide
In the debates over women's ordination, a historically decisive passage in the New Testament is 1 Timothy 2:11-15. It is so direct that critics call it a "clobber passage." And indeed, some critics argue that it says much more than even very conservative...