Evangelical v. Anglo-Catholic Preaching: An Anecdote
An amusing story from John Stott's time as a curate.
“Mary: A Marvel”: Another Epigram by Henrik Harder
A new translation from Henrik Harder.
“Warfare has its place, its office”: Protestant Theology of War, 1861
As the scale of the American Civil War became clear to Americans north and south, Protestant clerics engaged the subject of war more regularly…
Melanchthon Defines the Church
An excerpt on the church from Philip Melanchthon's PROPOSITIONES COMPLECTENTES PRAECIPUOS ARTICULOS DOCTRINAE COELESTIS.
Conrad’s Aristotle
On Aristotle's POLITICS in Conrad's UNDER WESTERN EYES.
Justin Martyr on the Oldest Liturgy and the Apostolic “memoranda”
There's no easy way to say, "apomnemoneumata."
Politics and the Prayer Book Revisions of 1785 and 1789
In the aftermath of the American Revolution the newly Americanized Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States—the successor to the colonial Church of England,…
Justin Martyr: Ostensible Credobaptist
Why does Justin seem to presume the rite is simply for older initiates?
“Union and War”: William G.T. Shedd on Divine Sanction for War and Nationalism, Pt 1.
In the third week of November, 1862, William G.T. Shedd mounted the ornate pulpit of New York City’s Brick Presbyterian Church. Historian Mark Noll…
Joseph Conrad’s Book of Common Prayer
Two allusions to the Book of Common Prayer in Joseph Conrad's VICTORY: AN ISLAND TALE.
Dylan’s Auden on the Holy Innocents?
A possible allusion to Auden in Dylan's "Man of Peace."
Nicaea and the Biblical Canon
No, Constantine didn't set the biblical canon.
Eusebius: Circumspect Historian of Constantine?
Impossible, say you?
“Man Fallen and Restored”: Another Epigram by Henrik Harder
An epigram on Adam and Christ by the Danish poet Henrik Harder.
“The Name of Jesus”: Another Epigram by Henrik Harder
Another poem from Henrik Harder.
“To Christ, Born at Night”: An Epigram by Henrik Harder
A new translation of a Latin epigram by Henrik Harder.
Why We Should Pray with Someone Else’s Words
Melanchthon on Luther on prayer.
Liberal Empire and the Limits of Religious Toleration: The Abolition of Suttee in India, 4 Dec 1829
On 4 December, 1829, the Governor-General of Britain’s state-run monopoly and de-facto government of colonial India—the East India Company—issued what became the most controversial…
Reading Apocrypha in the Middle Ages vs. Antiquity
Ancient Christianity is not necessarily the same as medieval Christianity.
Protestantism, Orthodoxy, and Islam in 19th Century Palestine
What happened when Anglicans tried converting Greek and Arab Orthodox Christians in 19th century Palestine?
Heinrich Graetz, and “Influence of Judaism on the Protestant Reformation”
It was in Germany, Graetz argued, that the Reformation, and a Jewish-influenced Reformation, gave the world Luther and modern Protestantism.
Peter Heather’s Christendom: Some Initial Thoughts Before Reading
A few preliminary musings as to what I expect to find in the book.
Ridley H. Herschell and Jewish Conversion to Protestantism in the 19th Century
In 1842, the United States’ major Presbyterian publishing house, the Philadelphia-based Presbyterian Board of Publication, offered to the public one of the strangest books…
In Die Omnium Sanctorum
Happy All Saints' Day! For the occasion, two prayers from Georg Major's book of songs, hymns, and prayers.
Happy Reformation Day!
Two prayers from Wilhelm Löhe for the Festival of the Reformation.
Halloween Revisited
10 years after uncovering the true history of Halloween, Steven Wedegeworth considers the holiday in 2023.
“One Generation Passeth Away, and Another Generation Cometh”: On the Inevitability of Oblivion
Some thoughts on the destruction that time wreaks.
The Arabs and the Anglicans: Samuel Gobat and the Nineteenth Century Protestant Bishopric in Palestine
In the nineteenth century, British Protestants moved to Palestine for the purposes of missionary work among Arabs and Jews. One of most important early…
Christians in the Employ of the Pagan Empire
Even before Constantine, the overall impression is that Christians not uncommonly served the empire in various capacities.
Southern Presbyterians and the Roots of American Philosemitism
In the inaugural volume of The Southern Presbyterian Review published in December, 1847, Benjamin Morgan Palmer the younger reviewed Andrew Bonar and Robert Murray…
Chrysostom’s Vainglorious Virgin Mary
Jesus, says Chrysostom, was more worried about Mary's soul than parental courtesy.
Apuleius and Stoicism in Cupid and Psyche
Come for the Platonist critiques of Stoic positions, stay for the C. S. Lewis reference.
Luther on Children at the Lord’s Supper
Should children come to the sacrament of the altar? Luther responds.
“A Species of Patriotism, So Called, Which the Gospel Does Not Approve”
George B. Cheever and "God's Hand in America", 1841
Melanchthon’s “A Summary of Moral Philosophy”: A Sneak Peek
An excerpt from my forthcoming translation of one of Philip Melanchthon's philosophy textbooks.
Melanchthon Gets a Theology Degree
A new translation of the theses from Philip Melanchthon's 1519 disputation for his theology degree.
Philip Melanchthon on Heroic Impulses
An excerpt from Melanchthon on virtuous heroism.
“Education A Divine Thing”: George Washington Doane and the Divine Foundations of Education, 1854
In 1854, George Washington Doane, Episcopal bishop of New Jersey, addressed the students, faculty, and friends of Burlington College, adjacent to the Episcopal parish…
Stoicism and the Emotions of Jesus
Christ's psychological profile would have had the Stoa squirming uncomfortably.
A Review of *Reformed Theology*, by Jonathan Master
Humans, argues Rev. Dr. Jonathan Master, “need clear answers to the biggest questions in life and the most consequential matters of eternity.” This is…
