The blog of a Middle Anglican
From the monthly archives:
How often is it heard that religion is the cause of all wars? Even for people as semi-educated as some new atheists seem to be, that is a statement which can only be made if it is accompanied by a complete and wilful ignorance of historical fact. Was the First World War caused by religion, [...]
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After Paul and Polycarp, the next saint I want to write a post on is Polycarp’s pupil, Irenaeus. Irenaeus is probably best known for his opposition to Gnosticism, and also for being the author of the earliest surviving list of canonical New Testament books (circa 180AD). It can be surprising to realise the extent to [...]
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I have just seen the following question on a forum: “Are Jessus’ ethics livable?” The short answer to that is no, they are not. Our inability to live them is the meaning of original sin. But that last sentence could be misunderstood. It does not mean that we are not under an obligation to aspire [...]
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My impression is that there is something ressembling Pelagianism in present day Christianity; especially on the other side of the Atlantic. Remarks such as, “if we could all be jolly nice to one another, wouldn’t things be wonderful?” are often to be found on the internet. They are left by professed Christians, who have presumably [...]
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Polycarp’s life is traditionally represented as having been lived between 65-155AD. Probably it is a not inaccurate, but the exact dates are not known. One of Polycarp’s chief claims to fame is that he knew the Apostle John, and perhaps also some of the other apostles. There are two extant epistles which help to throw [...]
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A project I thought I might try on this blog is a “history of the Church,” consisting of overlapping lives of the saints, starting in the first century and coming right up to the present day. I can easily imagine that such a project will be easier to pull off for some periods of church [...]
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