It’s ten years now since JP2’s encyclical Fides et Ratio. It is a great analysis of what B16 calls ‘the dictatorship of relativism’. Part of the encyclical analyzes the underlying assumptions in our relativistic society which contribute to the relativism of our day. The four types of thought which Pope John Paul discusses are: eclecticism, historicism, scientism and pragmatism. Eclecticism is the tendency to gather ideas, concepts, moral principles and methods of thought from a wide range of different cultures... Read more

Picture England twenty years from now. The Church of England is on its last legs. They have far too many buildings. The clergy are ancient and have to look after ten or fifteen parishes. The atheistic English government has refused to step in and maintain the ancient medieval churches, cathedrals and abbeys. The Church of England has closed numerous churches as the English population declines and Islam advances. The Catholic Church has also declined. Churches have closed and Catholics are... Read more

There is much talk of the ‘end of Anglo Catholicism’ and the ‘end of the Anglican Communion.’ Nah.  Here’s my prediction: 1. Anglo Catholicism will endure. Some Anglican priests will still do worship in a Catholic way. They’ve been Catholic congregationalists all along anyway. They’ll just pull up the drawbridges even more. They’ll probably be allowed to keep their ‘flying bishops’ arrangement a bit longer. Even when that is withdrawn many of them will learn how to get used to... Read more

The Church of England General Synod has voted to have women bishops, and surprising to me, it has also voted not to provide formal safeguards for Anglo Catholic traditionalists who are opposed. Instead there will be an unwritten ‘code of practice’ to minister to opponents of the innovation. The Daily Telegraph reports here. Damian Thompson comments here, saying the Church of England has, at last, confirmed that it is a Liberal Protestant Church, not part of the ancient Catholic Church.  My... Read more

Here’s a defense of women bishops in the Church of England. The author, Jane Hedges, was ordained in my diocese when I was an Anglican priest fifteen years ago. Notice the drift of her arguments: they are based on three things: utilitarianism, sentimentality and politics. The utilitarian argument is, “Women priests do a good job. People like them. They’ll be great bishops.” The sentimental argument is, “Jane is such a nice person. She is so spiritual. She is a great... Read more

Here’s another fascinating news story to come out of England. The Church of England General Synod is meeting at this time. Tomorrow they debate women’s ordination to the Episcopate. Monday they vote. The Daily Telegraph reveals here that a group of senior Church of England bishops has gone to the Vatican to discuss the crisis with the Catholic Church leaders. The timing of this is, of course, very crucial. Just when the Church of England is about to debate the issue... Read more

I’ve been reading a book by Chet Raymo called Skeptics and True Believers. As a scientist he tries to pull of a quasi religious sense of awe by invoking the vastness of outer space and the billions and billions of years that the world has been in existence. This one has always baffled me. Who cares if the universe is vast if it’s empty? Nobody has found anything out there so far but rocks floating around. So what if it’s big?... Read more

The insightful Carl Olson posts here on a new (yet wearingly old) attempt to discredit the established churches because their origins are pagan. This time the attack comes not from your polyester suit fundamentalists, but from some hip and groovy ’emergent church’ types. Think Chick tract in jeans and T-shirt with a iPod. Olson’s post refers you to a guy called Witherington, a proper Protestant historian who critiques the new book. I have posted before on the problem of primitivism:... Read more

Here’s a spirited debate by two members of the Church of England on whether or not to have women bishops. If you are opposed to this innovation, take time to read George Pitcher’s arguments in favor. It’s a good exercise in trying to understand the other side’s point of view. Most of all, take time to see how he deals with the New Testament passages which those against women’s ordination use as their proof texts. You’ll begin to understand why,... Read more

I grew up in a fundamentalist Bible church, whose pastor was influenced by Dispensationalism. This is a form of Biblical interpretation cooked up in the nineteenth century and promoted by an American preacher called C.I.Schofield. There were lots of similar freelance Protestant preachers doing end time stuff at the time. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons etc. Like most Protestant doctrines, Dispensationalism is a mish mash of man made, late invented theories never heard of before in the great history of the Church.... Read more