Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
"Spiritual But Not Religious" and the Path to God
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The following article was originally published on the Roads from Emmaus weblog in March of 2011. It’s been revised for this publication. I sometimes encounter folks who tell me that they are “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR). I wish I asked more often what exactly that is supposed to mean, though I am usually held back from asking by a strong suspicion…
Nearly Orthodox
In a rush...
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In a rush, I lit the candles on my altar today. I was in the middle of at least three other conversations. It was automatic, cleaning out the old wax from the votives first, replacing them with new ones, long wicks, while I settled an argument between my boys. We got a late start today. There was no time for quiet, no time for waiting and listening and silent prayer and deep…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
The "Biblical" Argument for Abortion
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A fellow pro-life friend of mine recently sent me a post by the theologically and politically liberal Christian writer Fred “Slactivist” Clark in favor of abortion titled The ‘biblical view’ that’s younger than the Happy Meal. It begins this way: In 1979, McDonald’s introduced the Happy Meal. Sometime after that, it was decided that the Bible teaches that human life begins at…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
We're All Children Now - A Response to Bledsoe (and Leithart) on Orthodoxy
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Peter Leithart (a minister in the PCA, author of multiple books on theology, literature, etc.) has recently re-blogged some thoughts from a counterpart in the “Federal Vision” movement, Rich Bledsoe. These thoughts were directed towards both Roman Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox Church. For those unaware (likely the vast majority of you), the “Federal Vision” is a theological movement within present-day Reformed Presbyterianism,…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Leithart's Double Edgy Sword
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I know we’ve posted a number of responses to Leithart over the past several weeks, but his work is actually quite interesting and (we think) worthy of response. If anything, we respond out of respect for someone who’s engaging in his theology. Almost as if yesterday’s post summoned him forth, Dr. Peter Leithart tweeted today: I somewhat cynically read this as both…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Ecclesiological Darwinism: Reformed Catholicity's Denial of the Foundation of the Reformation
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It has always been one of the central claims of the Protestant Reformation that what was being reformed was a distortion of Christian life. The foundational narrative of the Reformation has always been precisely one of return, which is why the watchwords ad fontes (“to the sources”) rang with such power. With an embrace of sola scriptura, it was believed the Protestant…
Nearly Orthodox
where faith lives...
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In prayer this morning, as I lit the candles before the icons of the Theotokos and that of Theodora of Alexandria I remembered those in Aurora, CO who were injured or killed. I remembered the families and friends of those victims. I remembered those people who sat in that theater and watched this happen, those who were trapped, those who were able to run to safety. I remembered the shooter, the family…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Convention Season
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We’ve been a bit sparse on posts the past couple of weeks, so I thought I would at least put up a brief note so you don’t think we’ve disappeared. Our collective quietness has been due, of course, to some summer vacationing, but also because some of us are attending to the professional habits that summer so often occasions—conferences. I always imagine…
Nearly Orthodox
taking root...
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We’re thinking about moving again. Our Nashville house is on the market and if that sells soon enough there’s a chance we’ll be able to buy a house in Chicago. It’s a good move, a positive move but it’s a move nonetheless. It strikes me that it was just about this time last year that we came to the decision that we’d finally be moving to Chicago from Nashville. It strikes me…
Nearly Orthodox
Circling wagons...
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When the panic sets in I circle the wagons. The world is frightening and generally I feel unprepared. I forget myself there in the middle of the wagon train and turn my back to the world, to social events, to branching out and trying new things. Things have been so bad in my brain and in my spirit lately that I have not been able to even put words to paper in any…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
The Eminem Ethic
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The following article was originally published on the Roads from Emmaus weblog in February of 2012. I spotted this image on Facebook today, and it puts forth a commonly accepted ethic, which I’ve dubbed here the Eminem Ethic. Essentially, various categories of race, sexual desire, physical appearance, and economic status don’t matter when it comes to winning his kindness. What matters is…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Venerating the Virgin: Orthodox Christian Reflections for Protestants
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One of the more divisive issues between Orthodox Christians and Protestants is how Mary, the Theotokos, is viewed by the Church. I frequently meet people who are on the fence about what church to attend, who have a great interest in Orthodoxy, but who are uncomfortable with the place of Mary in our faith and worship services. The purpose of my article…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Fourth of July Reflection: Holy Kingship and Ecology
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At Camp Karoondinha (a Delaware term for “Land of Shining Waters”) on the wooded banks of Penns Creek, at the last morning of Webelos camp this summer, the American flag ran up the pole outside the dining hall with trumpet blaring. The Scouts saluted. My son and others then ran for breakfast, only to stop when they saw a big beautiful green…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Sacrament and Culture: Why Protestants Don't Redeem the Time
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The new group weblog Orthodox Arts Journal recently published a piece by Nicholas Kotar with a rather ambitious title, “The Creation of a Christian Culture“: Of all the great callings that Christians are reminded of on a daily basis, the creation of culture is not among the most mentioned. I would even hazard a guess that many Orthodox would find [the calling…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
St. Cyprian's Seamless Garment: An Answer to Peter Leithart on Church Unity
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I‘m very grateful for the dialogue that has emerged in recent weeks with regards to the catholicity, unity and uniqueness of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, particularly in an engagement with the camp calling itself “Reformed Catholic” (a minority group within the general Reformed tradition), represented most prominently by Dr. Peter Leithart. One of the assertions that this group has…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Muslim Comedian Dean Obeidallah Defines "Good" Christianity
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Dean Obeidallah, a Muslim and professional comedian, recently opined for CNN in “Where are the good Christians?” on his longing for a Christianity he would prefer. The title caught my eye, as it suggests not only that there is a clearly defined line between “good” and “bad” Christians but also that this author knows where this line is and feels it’s obvious…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
"The Limits of the Church" by Fr. Georges Florovsky
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The following piece by Protopresbyter Georges V. Florovsky was originally published in 1933 in Church Quarterly Review. Where Florovsky does not translate foreign phrases, we have supplied a translation in brackets for non-specialists. It is very difficult to give an exact and firm definition of a ‘sect’ or ‘schism’ (I distinguish the theological definition from the simple canonical description), since a sect…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
No True Church? No True Church History.
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One of the criticisms of Orthodoxy’s understanding of its own history (not to mention, Roman Catholicism’s) is that there really is no unbroken Christian tradition of anything at all, that Church history is really just about multiple movements, doctrines and practices that cannot coherently be traced back to the Apostles. This is essentially one version of the historiography of the anti-ecclesiologists. If there is…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
No True Scotsman does Church History Polemics
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One of the criticisms of Orthodoxy’s understanding of its own history (not to mention, Roman Catholicism’s) is that there really is no unbroken Christian tradition of anything at all, that Church history is really just about multiple movements, doctrines and practices that cannot coherently be traced back to the Apostles. This is essentially one version of the historiography of the anti-ecclesiologists. If…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Orthodoxy at the Emmys
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Not that I watch awards shows more than perhaps once every five years or so (and I didn’t see this one, either), but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this is the first time that Orthodox Christian monastic enclave Mount Athos was mentioned in an Emmy speech. This is Jonathan Jackson winning his fifth Emmy. Readers may recall my…
Nearly Orthodox
puzzles...
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That old anxiousness creeps back in from time to time. It is anxiety that has followed me around for most of my 44 years. It is the fear of missing something, it is the fear of not missing it at all. The absence of “care” on my part or on the part of someone else. We’re home from Liturgy today because three of the four kids are sniffling snotty messes. We’re home…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
The Sinner's Prayer: Baptists Debate the Evangelical Initiation Rite
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We ran a piece yesterday regarding the Calvinism/Arminianism debates at the Southern Baptist Convention Great Commission Baptist Convention, and now there’s another fascinating doctrinal development at the convention: The vote wasn’t taken with every head bowed and every eye closed, but delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting today supported the “Sinner’s Prayer” after considerable debate. Jimmy Scroggins, chairman of…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Some passing thoughts on Catholicity (or, an Ehrman/Pagels view of catholicity)
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This post was originally featured on the Lux Christi site. The original is here. Herein is a quick comment on the continuing online saga of what constitutes “catholicity.” So far most of the things I have read have been coming from Orthodox and Reformed bloggers, and I just wanted to my give two cents on something touched on, but which needs some…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Granola Robots
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…we are supposed to act with great deference to natural rhythms and patterns when it comes to nature “out there,” but extend—by government fiat, if necessary—the greatest possible technological control over human reproductive rhythms and patterns. We should learn to live with and in nature out there, but conquer nature in here. To what can one attribute this fundamental contradiction? Peter J. Deneen, “Forward”…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Why Do the Baptists Rage?
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As Baptists Prepare to Meet, Calvinism Debate Shifts to Heresy Accusation, by Weston Gentry at Christianity Today A statement by a non-Calvinist faction of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has launched infighting within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, and tensions are expected to escalate Tuesday as church leaders descend on New Orleans… The May 30 document, ‘A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Tweeting Comparative Religion, Mega-Church-Style
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Nearly Orthodox
you're doing it wrong...
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One of the first weeks after we began to attend our church here in Chicago I had a conversation with a woman after church during coffee hour. She introduced herself to me, she was very friendly, very sweet. She sought me out as I tried to hide in the corner. I had my children with me that week for the first time. They were busy sugaring up on donuts and apple juice,…
