(I want to begin by saying that I'm not quite sure about what I've written and have gone back and forth many times on this issue, so forgive me if I mispoke) As I said yesterday, Bonhoeffer is laid claim to by Conservative Evangelicals and Liberal Protestants as 'theirs'. This is because in a sense he was both. What do I mean? A Conservative Evangelical is merely a … [Read more...]
Clerical Celibacy, Tradition, and Facts
"...when baptized he is attached at once to the rank of readers or exorcists, if, that is, it is clear that he had or has one wife and that he received her as a virgin. Two years after his initiation having elapsed, he can be made an acolyte and subdeacon for five more, and thus can be advanced to the diaconate, if during these times he was judged worthy. Then subsequently, … [Read more...]
Prometheus, Hanoverians, and the Christmas Tree
Since I've been writing so much on Advent lately, from defining Advent, to asking what the point of it was, to explaining Advent traditions, prayers, and spiritual disciplines, I thought I'd write more on the Christmas Tree. In the film Prometheus (2012) that came out recently, the futuristic space explorers still celebrate Christmas, and do so by erecting a Tree in the ship. … [Read more...]
Advent and "The Lives of Others" (2006): A Cinematic View of Christ's Return.
Yesterday I mentioned East Germany in a post, and I think Christ's Second Advent is a little the falling of the Berlin wall. In the film "The Lives of Others" (2006) set during the fall of the Soviet-controlled government of East Germany, there is a beautiful moment when a group of secret police hear on the radio that the wall has come down. They are busy at work opening … [Read more...]
Advent & Christmas Mythbusting: Why Dec. 25th?
The first season of the Church Year in the Liturgical Calendar is Advent. Perhaps the biggest controversy of late regarding this season in the pop culture of the Anglo-sphere has been the date of Christmas. In the days of the Early Church in Britain, the Venerable Bede recorded that the Church catholic almost schismed over the date of Easter, so it's not an unusual … [Read more...]