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“The rock was Christ”: St Benedict and C.S. Lewis on Psalm 137

The Rule of St Benedict is traditionally divided into daily readings, running through the full Rule three times a year. The cycle has just restarted, and the reading for 5 May covers part of the...

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Dunstan: statesman, prelate, monk, patriot – and saint

Today is the feast of St Dunstan (909-988), a figure who perhaps ought to be better known than he is. Today’s Universalis has a good essay on him, in which it describes him as: one of the three makers...

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Post-Christian, or post-“Bible Religion”?

It’s widely accepted that Britain is a “post-Christian” society – which, of course, presupposes that it was once a “Christian” society. Certainly it seems undeniable that Britain had a distinct...

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Why people don’t go to church

A redundant church. Photo by Jeff Buck, copyright and licensing information here. As a postscript to my previous post, here is a quick thought on modern English attitudes towards churchgoing, from...

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The Holy Trinity as notion and reality

For Trinity Sunday, here are some thoughts on the Trinity from Bl. John Henry Newman, in his Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (see previous post). One of the distinctions Newman makes in the Grammar...

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Simone Weil and perfectly pure desire

I’ve been intrigued by the French philosopher, anarchist and mystic, Simone Weil (1909-1943), ever since hearing a lecture about her by Rowan Williams (from the same Holy Week series as Dr Williams’...

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The end of the mind’s tether: St Thomas’s “third way”

“Why is there something rather than nothing?” This may not be a question that we ask ourselves every day, but it is still (as Denys Turner puts it in his book Thomas Aquinas: A Portrait) a question...

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“Felt needs” and the desire for grace

Denys Turner, in his book Thomas Aquinas: A Portrait (see previous post), has an interesting discussion on the extent to which it is possible for human beings to desire God’s grace of their own...

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Whether the incarnation is self-contradictory?

Objection: It seems that the incarnation of Christ is self-contradictory. For, as John Hick says, to say that Jesus was both man and God is like saying the same shape can be both a square and a circle....

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The difference between men and fish

Canon Leslie Virgo (src) I’ve recently picked up a book edited by the Revd Canon Leslie Virgo, the late rector of St Martin of Tours, Chelsfield (a parish not far from my house). In addition to his...

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The “mystical union” in Lutheran spirituality

Googling for articles on “Lutheran spirituality” (as you do), I came across the essay Lutheran Spirituality and the Pastor (PDF) by Gaylin R. Schmeling. Two themes highlighted in this essay leapt out...

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The heart of Lutheran spirituality: oratio, meditatio, tentatio

As I mentioned in my previous post, Gaylin Schmeling in his essay Lutheran Spirituality and the Pastor (PDF) describes Luther’s phrase “oratio, meditatio, tentatio” (prayer, meditation and affliction)...

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Psalm 46: a “Lutheran” chant

One of my favourite Anglican psalm chants is the one for Psalm 46, based on Luther’s Ein Feste Burg: Last year, it occurred to me that this could be adapted for the short chants used in modern Lutheran...

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Steven Paulson: Doing Lutheranism

I’m currently awaiting delivery of Steven Paulson’s book Lutheran Theology, from T&T Clark’s “Doing Theology” series. In the meantime, this review from Themelios by Orrey McFarland has been...

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Lutheran spirituality: anguish and joy

Continuing the theme of Lutheran spirituality, I read an interesting paper on this by the Rev Matthew Lynn Riegel, in which he adopts “the venerable tradition of providing a set of theses”: 32 theses...

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Justifying God

I’ve now taken delivery of Steven Paulson’s book Lutheran Theology (see previous post), and so far it’s proving as remarkable as I’d hoped. Quite mind-blowing at times, in fact. One of Paulson’s themes...

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Communication and the cross of Christ

How does the crucifixion of Christ save us? Steven Paulson addresses this question in a densely-argued chapter of his book Lutheran Theology (see previous post). He begins by distinguishing the...

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Reckoning and not reckoning

It’s worth labouring the point that we saw Steven Paulson making in my previous post: that the cross of Christ saves us through a “communication of attributes” in which Christ takes upon himself the...

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The mystery of the missing sacraments

“Our people have been unjustly accused of having abolished the Mass. But it is obvious, without boasting, that the Mass is celebrated among us with greater devotion and earnestness than among our...

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From the drafts folder: Terry Eagleton on Thomas Aquinas

As I’ve said before, Terry Eagleton seems to have a better understanding of theology than many Christians. He also has an affinity with Dominicans that is as strong as his aversion to the “New...

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