Anglicans like to claim that bishops and vestries are checks against clergy who abuse their authority. In reality, people selected for these roles are filtered out before election and are almost always good “company men” (and women) who will seldom, if ever, stand up to the rector. Add to that the fear of being seen […]
Serapis transformed into Christ. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 2 Peter 1:16 John Roop, Anglican Diocese of the South “canon theologian” and priest at Apostles Anglican Church in Knoxville, wrote a […]
Alain Besancon writes: The biblical texts directly targeted popular idolatry, which confused God and the idol. For example, images were taken to the sites of battles and shared the arm’s fate. Pausanias reports the case of images that were chained to restrain the god, and of images that were mistreated when it was necessary to […]
Some people think anything old is better than anything in our age. It is often this way with image worship. Just because our fathers had statues of Baal in the Temple doesn’t mean it is ok, to put this in the context of Judah. Modern clergy who have never read Ramsey MacMullen or Furta Sacra […]
St. Irenaeus discusses the Gnostic leader Carpocrates and his followers, and in so doing, hints at the origin of icons. He says of these heretics: They style themselves Gnostics. They also possess images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material; while they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made […]
One fundamental justification for “venerating” images as opposed to worshipping them (as if this is different) is that we are not really doing anything to the icon, but to the saint or God behind the icon. And yet, that is exactly what an ancient worshiper of Zeus would have said. Alain Besancon writes: The biblical […]
In her book The Formation of Christendom, Judith Herrin writes: It was in their role as intercessors between man and God that the icons commanded particular devotion. Numerous legends of women, whose inability to conceive a child (or sometimes, more particularly, a son) was removed by prayers directed to icons, reflect an anxiety common to […]
Thomas F. Mathews says that Christian icons “…grew out of a strong tradition of pagan panel paintings of the ancient gods…” (p. 179) Mathews points to some glaring examples of this transfer from paganism to eastern Christianity. …a fresco painted directly on a house wall in Karanis to serve as a permanent icon shows the […]
Arnold Samuelson was a young man who met Hemingway and ended up working on his boat for a year. Hemingway told him to read these books in order to be a writer: “Here’s a list of books any writer should have read as a part of his education,” he said, handing me the following list:Stephen […]
Matthew McNaught describes a Nigerian Islamic movement that imitates African Pentecostal Christianity: NASFAT targeted the professional class and those aspiring towards it, founding a university, running networking groups, and offering management courses presenting the Prophet Muhammad as an exemplary businessman. The movement encouraged the participation of women, some of whom ascended to leadership roles. NASFAT-linked […]