A sixth Sola?

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Yesterday I wrote about the “five solas” of the Reformation.  These are things we rely on for specific aspects of our faith and were coined to describe specific challenges the Reformation identified.  Because of this I think that it should be possible to identify other “solas”, so long as we don’t try to get those… Continue reading A sixth Sola?

Do Evangelicals and Catholics believe in the same God?

A good while back I wrote articles asking whether or not Christians and Muslims worship the same God and whether or not liberals and Evangelicals believe in the same God. I was reminded of those articles by recent conversations following the death of the Pope. One person suggested that we should recognise our creedal unity… Continue reading Do Evangelicals and Catholics believe in the same God?

Can the Church of England be reformed and revived

Linked to Simon Jenkins article in the Guardian, I’ve seen a number of people comment that they hope the Church of England might experience revival and recognition that this will require reformation. I’m sorry to pour cold water on the suggestion but I don’t think it is possible. Nor, frankly so I think it is… Continue reading Can the Church of England be reformed and revived

Introducing Galatians

Our church are about to embark on a teaching series on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Here are some introductory notes. When was the book written? Nowadays it is usually viewed as an early letter, if not the earliest of Paul’s letters. Some reformers including Luther considered it to have been written later though, seeing… Continue reading Introducing Galatians

The sins of the fathers – case studies in how (and how not) to do church history

I’ve seen two examples recently of people attempting to make connections between the thoughts and actions of predecessors and culture today.  Both are concerned with the influence of the reformation and its aftermath on western, especially American, Christian culture. Here’s the first example: And here’s the second: I want to suggest that one example, unsurprisingly… Continue reading The sins of the fathers – case studies in how (and how not) to do church history

What was the basis of the Reformation criticism of veneration of Saints?

Explaining the basis for the reformation criticism of the veneration seems at first to be a straight-forward task of finding out what the arguments were that the reformers used.  However, a number of contemporary historians have criticised the reliability of such an approach arguing that the reformers arguments alone fail to explain why change occurred… Continue reading What was the basis of the Reformation criticism of veneration of Saints?