In 1984 I was attending Fuller Theological Seminary, working toward graduate degrees in both the School of Psychology and the School of Theology... and I was wrestling (both personally and academically) with this issue of self-esteem. What I discovered in both my study of theology and clinical research in the behavioral sciences was a mixed bag of expert opinions, with a lot of hints but no unequivocal answers to my questions.
Read moreAppeals that God loves a cheerful giver, that we should give--not until it feels good--but until it hurts, that even Jesus paid deference to the Temple's receipts from the widow (Mark 12: 41-44; Luke 21: 1-4) have fallen on deaf ears. If, as Lenin said, capitalists will sell the rope with which the communists will hang them, I refuse to pay into church coffers merely to prolong their slide into the Sheol of oblivion.
Read moreThat final echo of doubt hints to a broader drift. Until the middle of the last century, there were several foundations like Filsell's across New York, choir schools where boys were sculpted into singers. The Saint Thomas Choir School is the sole survivor, making it the last church-affiliated choir boarding school in North America.
Read moreNot by politics
Read moreThese prognoses followed a warning to Swedes from two top defence officials that they needed to prepare for war[ii]. Other parliamentary speakers from the Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have more recently delivered strong warnings about the preparedness of the west in the event of an expanding conflict in Europe. The United States is making serious preparations as it moves nuclear warheads back onto British soil after an absence of fifteen years[iii].
Read moreThat is until 1974 when the Philadelphia Eleven burst upon the scene and sent the first fission through the Episcopal Church and eventually the entire Anglican Communion.
THE INFAMOUS PHILADELPHIA ELEVEN
Read moreThe audience consisted of women priests who were offended. They protested and the conference organizers decided to unseat Fr. Robinson from the summary panel. The Rev'd Jeffrey S. Miller posted this explanation: For the concluding panel discussion of the 2024 Mere Anglicanism Conference, Father Calvin Robinson was pulled from participating not because of his views on women's ordination, but because he failed to address in his plenary presentation the topic that was assigned to him.
Read moreThe European Commission, faced with the decision of whether or not to include the Church in the formulation of its structures, in a continent shaped and guided by the Christian faith, chose to adopt a secular model and secular theories of law based on claimed rights rather than trusted values.
Read moreMORAL CLARITY: DETERMINING THE SEASON
Read moreThis crisis is both political and personal. It is political in that white evangelicals have been the steadiest base of support for the least outwardly faithful president in half a century, at the alleged expense of their prior platitudes about morality and ethics being central to public service. But, as Alberta explains, it is also deeply personal, leading to rifts in families, communities, and congregations.
Read more