J. I. Packer. The Heritage of Anglican Theology. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021, 384 pages, $39.99)
About a decade ago, I came across a copy of J.I. Packer’s Knowing God in Kathmandu (long story). I remember little from my reading that night save for Packer’s obvious, humble confidence […]
What do Pioneers, Native Americans, a strange stick figure called Sparkie, Little bear Cubs, and Scripture memorization have in common?
AWANA!—at least if you grew up in some churches in the early to late 90s.
AWANA indelibly shaped my experience of church and early Christian formation. Every Wednesday night, I would […]
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One of the terrible ironies of church history is that the sacraments, which are supposed to both enable and embody our unity as Christians, have often been the source of intense division.
It has been nearly one year since our parish last gathered together for worship without any COVID-19 restrictions in place. We had an Ash Wednesday service together, but only a few weeks later we were holed up in our respective homes and celebrating Holy Week on Zoom. Our great joy at the resurrection of Christ was overshadowed by […]
The 2015 second edition of Bishop Colin Buchanan’s Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism, published by Rowman & Littlefield, is an extraordinarily comprehensive and informative resource for getting a grasp on the historical breadth and depth of the Anglican tradition.
Yes, the book is expensive, but it would be well worth the expense for an Anglican […]
The Seabury Society has published a slim volume called A People’s Companion to Holy Communion, meant to function as a guided tour through the Holy Communion service in the ACNA’s 2019 Prayer Book. As explained in the Preface, this book builds upon the 1914 work of Bernard Iddings Bell, The People’s Book of the Holy […]
In November of 2019, I sat in our priest’s office at church with my ministry partner, Jessi, as we naively discussed small group plans for 2020. It had been a discouraging season in ministry, but we had finally found a topic to get excited about. We would spend the beginning of the year […]
Theology and worship are, or at least ought to be, inseparable. Furthermore, every Christian is a theologian, not just the academics. And we Christians should follow the examples of our early brothers and sisters in Christ who “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). What a fine […]
Recently, a Lutheran pastor asked me a simple question. He was thinking of affiliating with either the Anglican Communion or the Roman Catholic Church. He wanted to know how we (Anglicans) understand Apostolic Succession. I am assuming he wanted to be in a church that had an unbroken line of succession to the first Apostles, namely to Peter and finally, […]
There is a rather common saying that the Book of Common Prayer is composed of 85% bible passages. It is true. As J.I. Packer once said, “The Book of Common Prayer” is the Bible arranged for worship. I like that.
(To learn more about the Book of Common Prayer, read our Rookie Anglican […]
Whenever I’m with my family and I make a dumb joke, my parents like to roast me by saying that they look forward to eventually writing in my baby book the first time I tell a good joke. If this mythical baby book that has been dangled over […]
A liturgy makes it easier to pray with others, and to pray with the church—past, present, and future. Liturgical prayers are not the only kind, but there is something special about them. These prayers can be etched on your heart, taught to your children, and remembered at the close of life. For Anglicans, these prayers are found in […]
I get a fair number of great questions from our readers via our contact form (which goes straight to my email inbox). I’m going to start sharing some common questions and my answers in these blog posts. I hope they’re helpful. If you have a clear, charitable suggestion for how my answer to a given question might be improved, […]
Book Information: Reformation Anglicanism: A Vision for Today’s Global Communion, vol. I in The Reformation Anglicanism Essential Library, eds. Ashley Null and John Yates III (Crossway, 2017, 224 pages, $35.00).
Reformation Anglicanism is the first volume of The Reformation Anglicanism Essential Library, a series that seeks to cast […]
Christmas Eve is rough on preachers; at least for this one.
The atmosphere for a truly great sermon is all there: scenery, families, music, lighting, Scripture, attendance, joy, and a holy hope in every heart and on every face. But my Christmas Eve sermons (33 and counting) are never equal to this setting. They always seem weak […]
“If you want to understand what a particular verse of Scripture means you have to stop reading it. In fact, you should never read a Bible verse.”
This is how I have opened virtually every talk that I have ever given to would-be Bible students. The Bible is a collection, not […]
Did you know about the online calendar of Sunday Lessons and Collects? Our founder, Greg Goebel, has created an easy to use Lectionary calendar for free!
You can subscribe to it and see the name of each Sunday, and all Feast days in the BCP 2019 Sunday and Feast Day lectionary. That way you can […]
In 2008 Phyllis Tickle made the important observation that about every 500 years, a significant transformation takes place in the Church. She points to the arrival of Jesus in the first century, the collapse of the Roman empire five-hundred years later in the late 5th century, the Great Schism five-hundred years after that in 1054, and finally the […]
Can Anglican priests get married? What about deacons? Bishops?
As a married Anglican priest myself, I’m happy to report that the answer is “Yes“!
As Article 32 of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion puts it:
Of the Marriage of Priests
Bishops, priests and deacons are not commanded by God’s law, either to vow the estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage; therefore […]
Anglicanism taught me that the Church exists.
I once thought that everyone had their own relationship with Jesus and they got together on Sundays to sing and talk about it. I know now that the Church is a ‘she’ not an ‘it,’ a great tradition that spans time and space, and a real spiritual home […]
(Note: Anglican Compass has published a book about Advent! Check out The Liturgical Home: Advent, by Ashley Wallace!)
Advent is the first season of the Church year. It lasts for four weeks leading up to Christmas Day on December 25:
Today I found myself completely distracted by my little robot vacuum. (We call him “Eufy.”) While I should have been helping the kids with their homeschooling, I found myself increasingly frustrated by his sense of aimlessness.
All I wanted was for Eufy to clean the kitchen. With four teenagers in the house all day, that […]
Years ago I started researching a book about celebrating Advent. I learned so many things along the way! Here are ten of my favorite unusual discoveries about Advent.
In England and Ireland, plum pudding […]
We just published Simply Anglican by Winfield Bevins. Winfield graciously agreed to answer some questions about the book’s backstory and what he hopes it will accomplish!
