This is the fifth part of Dr. Noll’s series, “Reading and Enjoying the Apocrypha.” Many Anglicans greet the season of Advent with the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” the second verse of which says: O Come, thou Wisdom from on high, Who orderest all things mightily; To us the path of knowledge show, And…
The Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll is Professor Emeritus at Trinity Anglican Seminary and retired Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University. He served on the Statement Group of the first three Global Anglican Future Conferences and gave an inaugural address at the fourth. He has written extensively about the history of the Gafcon movement in The Global Anglican Communion: Contending for Anglicanism 1993-2018 (Anglican House: 2018) and online at “Reviving, Reforming, and Reordering the Anglican Communion: Fourteen Theses for Global Anglicans” (2023). He currently serves on the ministry board of Anglican Compass.
The Book of Judith, the Jewish People, and the Advent of the Messiah
This is the fourth part of Dr. Noll’s series, “Reading and Enjoying the Apocrypha.” The Daily Office readings for November (BCP page 760) insert ten days of readings from The Book of Judith, from the Apocrypha. This book picks up themes from the Books of Maccabees, which I reviewed earlier, and adds some gender balance…
Let Us Now Praise Famous (and Unfamous) Men: The Wisdom of Sirach
This is the third part of Dr. Noll’s series, “Reading and Enjoying the Apocrypha.” “Let us now praise famous men” is the best-known phrase from the entire Apocrypha. In the 20th century, it was used as the title of a photo narrative of poverty in Appalachia by James Agee and Walker Evans and a patriotic…
Reading and Enjoying the Apocrypha: 1 & 2 Maccabees
This is the second part of Dr. Noll’s series, “Reading and Enjoying the Apocrypha.” In my introductory article, “What is the Apocrypha and Why Should You Read It?” I suggested one practical reason for Anglicans to do so is that the Prayer Book lectionary prescribes selections from the Apocrypha. Now I’d like to up the ante…
What is the Apocrypha, and Why Should You Read It?
This is the first part of Dr. Noll’s series, “Reading and Enjoying the Apocrypha.” It is hard enough to pronounce or spell Apocrypha, so why should you want to read it? Good question, and one I plan to answer in this series of articles. Did you know that the Apocrypha is part of the Bible?…
Marriage and the Three-Way Light Bulb
I happen to like three-way light bulbs. They make it possible to have background light for casual conversations and bright light for reading at night. Unfortunately the bulbs and sockets are quite finicky and I keep having to replace them. To be honest, I think the difficulty is that electric current is an on-off kind…
The Purposes of Marriage
Marriage is purpose-driven, that is to say, driven by God’s design from the beginning. In the marriage liturgy, after the majestic words introducing the origins of marriage, there follows a statement of its “causes” or purposes: The union of husband and wife in heart, body and mind was ordained by God: for the procreation of…
