10/29/09

What the Pope actually offered the Anglicans

Here is an excellent article spelling out what we do and do not actually know at this point about the offer being made by the Pope to Anglicans who wish to become Roman Catholic. It dispells 5 myths that are out there among blogs and news sites.

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10/23/09

Methodist-Lutheran Unity Statement

As you may have heard, this past summer the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) accepted the full communion agreement with The United Methodist Church (UMC), that the United Methodist General Conference also had accepted back in the summer of 2008. So now our churches are in "full communion." We recognize one another as equal and fully legitimate expressions of the one body of Christ, proclaiming a common faith, celebrating common sacraments, with interchangeable clergy and seminaries and so forth.

I've only recently read the unity statement called "Confessing our Faith Together" (available beginning on page 12 of this study guide). It is always nice to read these ecumenical statements because they set forth what each Church considers the fundamentals of its own faith and practice, and so form a nice "refresher" in the basics of Lutheran and Methodist theology. It is also reassuring to note that the general theological flavor of this document is orthodox, especially with regards to Trinity, Christology, soteriology, and sacraments.

A couple of points are worth noting:

In the section on theological authority, paragraph 12 reminds us that Holy Scripture is the primary authority for both Churches; para. 13 points out that both see the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed as basic statemtents of the apostolic faith; and para. 17 notes important elements of the tradition that serve as practical authorities, naming the teachers of the Early Church, Martin Luther, and John & Charles Wesley as formative teachers for our common faith.

The Section on Prevenient Grace has this well-said quote:
Since all life is enveloped by the wooing activity of the Holy Spirit, God draws people to the saving grace given to us through Word and sacrament and received by faith in Jesus Christ.

The second part of this sentence is an excellent way to phrase the relationship between God's initiative in giving grace through the Bible and through the Sacraments (the "means of grace") on the one hand, and the importance of our recieving grace by faith in Christ on the other. This forms the foundation of a Christianity that is at once both sacramental and evangelical. Through the Biblical Word and through the sacraments God gives grace; while it is by faith in Christ, trusting our Lord and Savior, that we recieve his grace. In this way we hold together the Biblical truths that the sacraments really do incorporate us into salvation (see John 3:5; John 6; Rom. 6; 1 Cor. 10; Titus 3; 1 Pet. 3) and also that salvation is through faith (John 3:16; Eph. 2:8-10, etc.).

Note also the nice emphasis on a high eucharistic doctrine held in common by both Churches in para.s 40 & 41:

In this sharing (koinonia), Christ offers his life-giving body and blood through bread and wine to all who take part in the celebration of this meal (1 Corinthians 10:16). In the words of Christ that institute this meal stands a promise that he himself is truly present for us. These words in the Supper call us to faith...It is by the living word of Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that the bread and wine become the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood.

The document also implicitly calls for the celebration of Holy Communion to be as frequent as possible (in para. 46):

This meal unites us with God and with one another; the more time we spend at the Lord’s table, the more we come to love one another and appreciate the Giver of every good and perfect gift.

So, I recommend this theological statement to Methodist and Lutheran Christians, and to others interested in the unity of the Church, or the basics of the catholic faith held in common across denominational lines.

Unfortunately, this full communion agreement itself has something of a cloud hanging over it, since the same Lutheran Conference that accepted this agreement then turned around and removed the rules requiring their clergy to hold to Biblical sexual standards (in order to facilitate actively homosexual clergy; click here for an interesting description). This move will undoubtedly fracture the unity of the ELCA itself over time, leaving a big question-mark over the future of this full communion agreement.

Pondering this calls to mind the words from The Book of Common Prayer (and Wesley's revision of it): "...inspire your catholic Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and harmony and grant that all who confess your holy Name may agree in the truth of your holy Word, and live in unity..." And we see in these strange times how much we need to continue praying that prayer for the Church.
[pictured above, ELCA Bishop Hanson (left), and UMC Bishop Oden applaud the move toward full-communion]

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10/18/09

Wesley on how to read the Bible

How to Read Scripture:

If you desire to read the scripture in such a manner as may most effectually answer this end, would it not be advisable,
1. To set apart a little time, if you can, every morning and evening for that purpose?

2. At each time if you have leisure, to read a chapter out of the Old, and one out of the New Testament: if you cannot do this, to take a single chapter, or a part of one?

3. To read this with a single eye, to know the whole will of God, and a fixt resolution to do it? In order to know his will, you should,

4. Have a constant eye to the analogy of faith; the connexion and harmony there is between those grand, fundamental doctrines, Original Sin, Justification by Faith, the New Birth, Inward and Outward Holiness.

5. Serious and earnest prayer should be constantly used, before we consult the oracles of God, seeing "scripture can only be understood thro' the same Spirit whereby it was given." Our reading should likewise be closed with prayer, that what we read may be written on our hearts.

6. It might also be of use, if while we read, we were frequently to pause, and examine ourselves by what we read, both with regard to our hearts, and lives. This would furnish us with matter of praise, where we found God had enabled us to conform to his blessed will, and matter of humiliation and prayer, where we were conscious of having fallen short.
And whatever light you then receive, should be used to the uttermost, and that immediately. Let there be no delay. Whatever you resolve, begin to execute the first moment you can. So shall you find this word to be indeed the power of God unto present and eternal salvation.
-John Wesley
Preface to Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament
EDINBURGH, April 25, 1765.

You know, one might expect this to be the sort of thing that one was assigned to read if one went to a United Methodist seminary. Of course, in all fairness, it may have been assigned on a day that I didn't finish all of my homework. That is very possible. Still, as we spent so much time talking about Biblical hermeneutics (the reading and interpretation of the Bible) it would seem that this little passage should have been brought up on several occasions, though I can't say that I remember that happening.

Anyways, it is never too late to learn more about being a disciple.

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10/17/09

Is the New York Times anti-Catholic?

Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan says that it certainly has been. Read here for more.

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Newest gothic cathedral to be consecrated

Thur. 10/29 will see St. John's Anglican Cathedral consecrated in Brisbane, Australia, making it the world's latest Gothic Cathedral. Construction began in 1906 on the 1889 design. Click here for images.

10/12/09

Falling away from the faith

One of the most disturbing discoveries I made in college as I was transitioning out of some particulars of (Southern) Baptist theology into a more classical sacramental theology, as it is embodied in the Wesleyan tradition, was that most Christians do not, and have not across the ages, believed in "once saved always saved" - which is one of the most sacred doctrines of my Baptist brethren. Once a person had experienced a conversion (generally by praying The Sinners' Prayer at an altar-call), he could never be seperated or fall away from his saved state. There was an ontological change in that New Birth (which was entirely synonymous with that conversion moment) that could not be undone and which itself assured one of final salvation at the coming of Christ.

I discovered, however, that Methodists, Catholics, Anglicans, the Orthodox, most Pentecostals, and perhaps even Lutherans (I'm a little iffy on Lutherans, but see Article 11, paragraph 42 of the Formula of Concord) do not believe this. The vast majority of Christians held in a catholic consensus that falling away from the faith was at least theoretically possible - that those who "have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come" (the power of resurrection and New Creation at work in inner being - exactly the ontological change my friends were trusting in, as in 2 Cor. 5:17) can nevertheless become those who "have fallen away" and who are "holding him [Christ] up to contempt" and who cannot be restored to repentance while they are doing so (Hebrews 6:4-6).

It took me a while to really let this sink in, because it was very different than what I had heard growing up in Baptist-saturated North Louisiana.

Here is an excerpt from the writings of the early Methodist theologian John Fletcher, a fellow Anglican priest who travelled extensively with John Wesley and wrote against 5-point Calvinism. His theological writings were very influential in the early Methodist movement. I recently ran across this, which got me to thinking about this debate again. You will see that Fletcher draws upon several Biblical passages and Scriptural ideas in arguing against "once saved always saved." Wesleyan theology instead argues, along with the catholic consensus, that the converted must continually live and grow in the grace of Christ. If they fall into sin or deny him, the Spirit will call them back to faith and they must turn back to him with faith and repentance if they are again to walk in his grace (Roman Catholics emphasize the importance of confessing to a presbyter and recieving absolution at this point).

It seems to me that the Wesleyan question the is not only "have you been converted in the past?" (as is suggested by the Southern Baptist theology I had heard), but more to the point, "are you walking and growing in the grace of Jesus Christ right now in the present?" And if not, let us confess our sins and pray for the Spirit to give us true repentance (as it says in the old Common Prayer Book liturgy).

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10/8/09

Celebrating 10 years of Justification consensus

Protestants - Lutherans and Methodists in particular - and Roman Catholics are gathering in Old St. Patrick's Church, Chicago, today to celebrate 10 years of a consensus on the doctrine of Justification by Faith with the Roman Catholic Church.

Considered the most significant agreement since the Reformation, the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was signed by the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation on Oct. 31, 1999 in an effort to end centuries of doctrinal dispute.
"For hundreds of years, the issue of justification by faith divided Catholics and Protestants," said Bishop Gregory Palmer, president of The United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops, in a released statement. "This agreement celebrates consensus on the basic truths of the doctrine of justification."
Methodists joined the agreement in 2006 during a World Methodist Council meeting in Seoul, South Korea.


For the full article, click here.

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10/6/09

The Top Theological Schools

HERE is an unscientific list of some of the top theological schools in North America according to the "First Things" website (which is a source I generally enjoy reading).

Though not exactly a numerical ranking, it does name Duke Divinity School and Notre Dame as the top two programs on the continent. Both have remained on top for years he says because they have consistently hired "intellectually exciting professors who are committed to students and care deeply about the future of a decidedly orthodox and church-oriented vocation of theological scholarship."

One of the questions that often gets asked about some of the other United Methodist divinity schools (besides Duke) is whether the academic explorations going on are really in service to the Church's Biblical mission, or only to the academic aspirations of the faculty (though the two may indeed walk together at times). This is, I think, a fair question.

After these Princeton Theological Seminary and Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto are praised for their various strengths. The article also notes that unfortunately a number of traditionally fine Jesuit colleges, as well as many of the oldest and most revered Protestant schools have become enamored with various types of contextual theology or "innovations" such that, while they still have much to offer academically, the commitment to Christian orthodoxy and strengthening the Church's mission has become more marginal - though he does list some exceptions.

The institutions affiliated with Catholic University (such as the John Paul II Institute and Dominican House of Studies) get high praise, on the other hand, for focusing on Christian vocation hand-in-hand with serious theological study.

He closes out his list mentioning the excellent work by notable faculty at The University of Dayton; my own seminary, Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University (which I am glad to see made this list); Baylor University; and the Dominican School of Philosophy and theology at Berkeley which make them all solid options for graduate studies.

So that's the list at First Things. What about you? Any other suggestions on the Top Theological Schools in North America?

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