When most people think of St. Patrick’s Day, they think about one of two things. 1. An excuse to drink a lot of beer, or 2. Legends about Patrick driving away snakes from Ireland, and using the shamrock to describe the Trinity. Well, neither of those two things have anything to do with the actual, historical St. Patrick. But the real story is much better than legend. Patrick was a fifth century Christian, missionary, and bishop. We have three surviving works... Read more
The following are quotes from St. Ambrose’s treatise On Jacob and the Happy Life. This can be found in vol. 65 of CUA Press’s The Fathers of the Church series. “For the man who has been redeemed as a slave has his freedom, and as for the man who has been called as a free man, it is good for him to know that he is a slave of Christ, under whom servitude is safe and freedom secure…For in truth we are all freedmen... Read more
Saint who? It is unfortunate that many of our Patristic forebears have been lost on the contemporary church. Yes, we all know St. Augustine, Jerome, Irenaeus, and Athanasius, but there are several writers who deserve attention that they are not afforded. One such writer is a little known Augustinian theologian known as Fulgentius of Ruspe. Fulgentius was a North African theologian and bishop who wrote in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. He was known as the “second Augustine”, being... Read more
Lent has been formally observed by Christians since the 4th century, but the practice of fasting, repentance, and prayer before Easter has been observed since at least the 2nd century according to the testimony of St. Irenaeus. Easter has always been a time of celebration for the church. On Easter we remember the victory that Christ won through his resurrection; we celebrate the fact that he overcame death, hell, and the devil by conquering the grave, as he burst forth... Read more
“A law was not given that could give life, but which might show his sins to the sinner. For the sinner had forgotten himself, and saw not himself; the law was given him, that he might see himself. The law made him guilty, the Lawgiver freed him: for the Law-giver is the Supreme power… There is therefore a law of the mercy of God, a law of the propitiation of God. The one was a law of fear, the other... Read more
I was pointed to an article by one of my readers regarding the issue of women in ministry. This article (which can be found here)is an official document of the Evangelical Covenant church in defense of their allowance of female clergy. This is particularly interesting to me because I was raised in the Evangelical Covenant church, a small church body which has its roots in Swedish Pietism. Because this paper gives many of the common reasons that many use to argue... Read more
I have had numerous emails and comments about the sources I have recommended for seeing a “Lutheran” doctrine of justification in the Church Fathers. This is an attempt to put together a list of Patristic sources which I think approach a Lutheran doctrine of justification.I had mentioned on my podcast, two apostolic fathers. First is Clement of Rome, who writes,“All these, therefore were highly honored and made great, not for their own sake, or for their works, or for the... Read more
Continuing my examination of this popular image supposedly refuting a traditional Christian approach to sexuality, I come to the following claim: The original language of the NT (dealing with the issue of homosexuality) actually refers to male prostitution, molestation, or promiscuity, non-committed same-sex relationships. Paul may have spoken against homosexuality, but he also said that women should be silent and never assume authority over a man. What I find particularly interesting about this statement is that it presents two contradictory arguments. On the one... Read more
I am continuing my response to common arguments against the Biblical teaching on human sexuality. Claim: The O.T. also says it’s sinful to eat shellfish, to wear clothes woven with different fabrics, and to eat pork. This is easily both the worst and most common argument against Biblical sexuality that I hear. It is repeated ad nauseum by atheists, gay rights activists, internet memes, television shows, etc. The argument is so bad, and so easily refuted, that anyone with even a basic... Read more
With all of the good that has been accomplished by social media, one big downfall of the interconnectedness that we now share around the globe is the nature of intellectual discussions, how we talk with others about important cultural and political issues in contemporary society. Rather than thinking through one’s own ideology and having in-depth discussions on such issues, our contemporary culture utilizes pictures, phrases, and articles which are passed around without any thought on facebook, tumblr, twitter, etc. The... Read more
Just and Sinner
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