Tag: church

Mediated by Christ: A Review of From Isolation to Community

A number of Werntz’s suggested practices—e.g., regular use of corporate and pre-written prayers, and identifying with a classic confession of faith rather than a mission statement—are already common in many, more traditional Protestant churches and in Roman Catholic churches. Indeed, one gets the impression that Werntz’s argument is aimed primarily at nondenominational evangelicals and Baptists.

A Pastoral Inheritance: James Rebanks and a Tribute to Our Late...

There is much wisdom contained in English Pastoral for suffering churches. If the last fifty years have shown that innovation and modernization aren’t the solution to our ill-health, they have also made a nostalgic return to yesteryear an impossibility.

With One Eye Squinted: R.R. Reno and Living Life in a...

Let us not, however, in our haste to condemn Reno for his imprudent practical advice, ignore the truth of the underlying point. Religious believers hold that there is more to existence than this material life.

The Ordinary Christian Option

Elevated figures in church history have a great deal to teach us, but we should not forget that we can also learn from the early, run-of-the-mill Christians who were as ordinary as we are, yet who, as the collective body of Christ, experienced vibrant faith and incredible growth in an inhospitable environment.

Institutionally Challenged? Obadiah to the Rescue

By God’s grace, this child of parachurch upbringing coupled with a healthy dose of American independence is growing in his appreciation for the institution ordained by God.

The Theological Need for Mediation: Considerations from Alexis de Tocqueville

During a class I was teaching at our parish last fall, a woman pulled me aside afterwards to ask a question. The woman was...

A Culture of Millstones

A plea for pastors to remember their audience.

Monarchy and Regalism

A thing without proper limits becomes its own opposite, and benevolence quickly becomes a tyranny which threatens both civil and religious order.

Kingsley Amis (!) On the Priesthood

Then it’s a bit up to you to be jolly crusty and jolly full of hell-fire and sin and damnation.

An Arch Needs Many Stones: A Response to “God’s Economy”

But how can such plural sovereignty be realised under the circumstances of this century? Who will guard the guardians, so to speak? How will the stones of the arch fit together?