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Orthodox Origen

Origen:  On First Principles edited and translated by john behr oxford, 800 pages, $200 In its eleventh canon, the Second Council of ­Constantinople (553) anathematized Arius, ­Eunomius, Macedonius, ­Apollinaris, Nestorius, and ­Origen, along with their impious writings. Adding Origen’s . . . . Continue Reading »

The Word and the Rule of Faith

Evangelicalism is awash in the 3Rs: retrieval, renewal, and ressourcement. As Michael Allen and Scott Swain explain in Reformed Catholicity, recently published by Baker Academic press, various movements have emerged sharing the conviction that “the path to theological renewal lies in retrieving resources from the Christian tradition.” In their view, these efforts have been haphazard, and their book sketches a “programmatic assessment of what it means to retrieve the catholic tradition . . . on the basis of Protestant theological and ecclesiological principles.” Continue Reading »

The Ann Rice Meme

Ann had an interesting meme post which I noticed today, the “Ann Rice” meme. This meme asks us to: Name 3 things that really annoy you about church in general. Name 3 reasons why you stay.So, without further ado: here’s my list.Annoyances When Christians make references to . . . . Continue Reading »

Ms Rice and Our Divided Church

Some ink (some virtual) has been spilled on novelist Ms Rice announcing that she has “left the Church” but not left Christ. Recently I have been reading and studying the five theological orations by St. Gregory the Theologian (also known as St. Gregory of Nazianzus where he was Bishop . . . . Continue Reading »

Noetic Noah and the Fluffy Hermeneutic

This started as a reply about hermeneutic in the context of the flood on my personal blog. Do we take the flood literally or not. My interlocutor was exasperated exclaiming that to not take the text literally implies words have no meaning. This is exactly backwords. Here is my response to him.Yes, . . . . Continue Reading »

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

As an Irishman, on my father’s side, I’m very pleased to celebrate Saint Patrick’s day as the day to honor the one who was instrumental in bringing the Gospel to my ancestoral people and home. Here from “Crosstalk.com” is the real story of Saint Patrick:If you ask people who Saint Patrick . . . . Continue Reading »

What Shall I Read?

I have a very weird Lenten practice which I’ve attempted to hold to over the last few years. I’m a reader. I’ve always read books. It is the thing I am most likely to do given more than a few minutes free time. Somehow a few years back at the start of Lent, a rhyme that brides use . . . . Continue Reading »

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