Category: Uncategorized
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Images in the Church of England
A Historical Sketch A Text by Sir Robert Phillimore [Updated and edited] The following post is excerpted from a book published in the 19th century. In the book The Principal Ecclesiastical Judgments Delivered in the Court of Arches 1867 to 1875 by the Right Hon. Sir Robert Phillimore, D.C.L., there is an interesting case that reflects…
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Clerical scandals in the 19th century
We can be tempted to think that clergy behaving badly is a uniquely modern phenomenon, but it is nothing of the sort. Edmund Wilson’s fantastic book Patriotic Gore contains letters from Calvin Ellis Stowe to his wife Harriet Beecher Stowe on the subject of prominent scandals in his day. He wrote: “I have thought much…
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Jerome on how the early church used violence
Jerome discusses bishops who had been Arian and then renounced their Arianism. Some people wanted them removed from being bishops, but Jerome says: Deprive the old bishops, they will say, and ordain new ones. The plan was tried. But how many whose conscience does not condemn them will allow themselves to be deprived. Particularly when…
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Islamic apocalyptic literature and Jews
In light of the pogrom that Hamas carried out on Israeli citizens and others, it is helpful to realize that Islamic apocalyptic literature is almost uniformly filled with hatred for Jews. Their versions of Left Behind, Late Great Planet Earth type books are full of evil towards the Jews. David Cook wrote Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic…
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Restoration Anglican (Minneapolis) Departs UMD
Restoration Anglican (ACNA) in Minneapolis, pastored by Rick Stawarz, has departed the troubled Upper Midwest Diocese for the Diocese of the Rocky Mountains. I would speculate that this is all about Bishop Stewart Ruch’s disastrous mismanagement of past situations, including the Josh Moon debacle. The news as shared follows: Dear Restoration,I am happy to share…
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ACNA Bishop Todd Atkinson Gone?
The word is that Bishop Todd Atkinson walked away from the ACNA rather than face an investigation and trial. Where is the press release about this? Is it true? Recall that Bishop Ruch was a primary backer for Atkinson and Via Apostolica to enter the ACNA, a move which was a disaster. It is another…
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Statues as channels of divine presence
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…
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Icons: St. Irenaeus discusses the Gnostic leader Carpocrates
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…
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Icons: veneration of pagan images
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…
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Icons: cutting out the church
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…