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Archive for the ‘Medieval Church’ Category

A welcome hearing for establishments

Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Church of Scotland, Confessional Subscription, Constantine, Establishments, Free Church of Scotland, Historiography, Medieval Church, The Church in America, The Kingdom of God, Two Kingdoms Theology on March 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Establishments got some good press last week, at least on a respectable Reformed podcast. Kudos to Christ the Center for welcoming on Timon Cline to a panel discussion last Friday. While I’ve never heard of Timon before, I am sure going to read and listen to more of him. And I’m sure I’m not alone!

The panel discussion focused on Dr. Alan Strange’s newly published book, Empowered Witness: A Panel Discussion on Politics, Culture, and the Spiritual Mission of the Church. Giving feedback and critiques were D. G. Hart, Nick Wilborn, and Timon Cline. I’ve not read Strange’s book, so I’m only commenting on the video. The discussion up to Timon and related rejoinders was interesting enough. But Timon sure rocked the boat pretty hard when he brought up the obvious (at least from a historical Reformed perspective and not an American echo-chamber), that is, what about the spiritual nature in the church in light of the classic, confessionally Reformed and Presbyterian endorsements of religious establishments?

It’s clear that Dr. Strange was a bit flustered, though keeping a gracious demeanor. Sadly, though a respectable and accomplished Reformed scholar whom I otherwise appreciate, Strange’s response to Timon was more or less a rigmarole of informal fallacies and non-answers. Hart, however, just became flummoxed and unhinged. In contrast to Cline’s calm, measured demeanor, and even more importantly, to his much more careful, close, and logical reasoning (they guy’s a practicing lawyer, and it shines), Hart just full-on melted down, notwithstanding a clever little jab about Timon’s alleged tap-dancing like James Cagney. But even that was more amusing than apropos, as it only thinly veiled his chagrin. The young no-namer clearly bested his betters.

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Alcuin of York on catechesis

Posted in Care for the Youth, Catechesis, Medieval Church, Missiology, Pastoral Theology, Sacraments on March 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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The following selections are from Alcuin of York (c. 735-804), some of which were directed to the Emperor Charlemagne​. Drawn from The History of Christian Missions, by George Frederick Maclear (1863).

* * * *

“The Apostolic Order . . . is first to teach all nations, then is to follow the administration of baptism, and further instruction in Christian duties. Therefore in teaching those of riper years, that order should be strictly maintained, which the blessed Augustine has laid down in his treatise on this special subject.

First, a man ought to be instructed in the immortality of the soul, in the future life, in its retribution of good and evil, and in the eternal duration of both conditions.

Secondly, he ought to be taught for what crimes and sins he will be condemned to suffer with the devil everlasting punishment, and for what good and beneficial actions he will enjoy eternal glory with Christ.

Thirdly, he ought most diligently to be instructed in the doctrine of the Trinity, in the advent of the Saviour for the salvation of mankind, in His life, and passion, His resurrection, ascension, and future coming to judge the world. Strengthened and thoroughly instructed in this faith, let him be baptized, and afterwards let the precepts of the Gospel be further unfolded by public preaching, till he attain to the measure of the stature of a perfect man, and become a worthy habitation of the Holy Ghost.”

Alcuin in another letter exhorts the emp​e​r​o​r to provide competent catechists for his newly-conquered subjects: “They ought to follow the example of the apostles in preaching the Word of God; for they at the beginning were wont to feed their hearers with milk, that is, gentle precepts, even as the Apostle Paul saith, ‘And I,​ ​brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed​ ​you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were​ ​not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able​.’​ And​ ​thereby that great Apostle of the whole world, Christ​ ​speaking in him, signified that newly converted tribes ought​ ​to be nourished with mild precepts, like as children are with milk, lest if austerer precepts be taught, their weak​ ​mind should reject what it drinks. Whence also the Lord​ ​Jesus Christ Himself in the Gospel replied to those asking
Him why His disciples fasted not, ‘Men put not new​ ​wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine​ ​runneth out, and the bottles perish; but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.’ For, as the​ ​blessed Jerome saith, the virgin purity of the soul which​ ​has never been contaminated with former vice is very different from that which has been long in bondage to foul​ ​lusts and passions.”

“In this sacrament​ . . . there are three visible​ ​and three invisible things. The visible things are the​ ​priest, the person to be baptized, and the water; the in​ ​visible are the Spirit, the soul, and faith. The three visible things effect nothing externally, if the three invisible​ ​have no internal operation. The priest washes the body​ ​with water, the Spirit justifies the soul by faith. He that​ ​will be baptized must offer his body to the mystery o​f​ the sacred washing, and his mind to the voluntary reception of the Catholic Faith. These points ought a teacher​ t​o consider most diligently if he desire the salvation of the​ ​neophyte, and he must beware of slothfully or carelessly​ ​celebrating so great a sacrament.”

[image source]

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The Parson in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

Posted in Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Medieval Church, Parish Theory & Practice, Pastoral Theology, Vignettes from the Old Parish Way on October 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

parsonct

A PARSON of a certain township who
Was poor, but rich in holy thought and work.
He also was a learned man, a clerk;
The Christian gospel he would truly preach,
Devoutly his parishioners to teach.
Benign he was, in diligence a wonder,
And patient in adversity, as under
Such he’d proven many times. And loath
He was to get his tithes by threatening oath;
For he would rather give, without a doubt,
To all the poor parishioners about
From his own substance and the offerings.
Sufficiency he found in little things.
His parish wide, with houses wide asunder,
He’d never fail in either rain or thunder,
Though sick or vexed, to make his visitations
With those remote, regardless of their stations.
On foot he traveled, in his hand a stave.
This fine example to his sheep he gave:
He always did good works before he taught them.
His words were from the gospel as he caught them,
And this good saying he would add thereto:
“If gold should rust, then what will iron do?”
For if a priest be foul in whom we trust,
No wonder that the ignorant goes to rust.
And it’s a shame (as every priest should keep
In mind), a dirty shepherd and clean sheep.
For every priest should an example give,
By his own cleanness, how his sheep should live.
He never set his benefice for hire,
To leave his sheep encumbered in the mire
While he ran off to London and Saint Paul’s
To seek a chantry, singing in the stalls,
Or be supported by a guild. Instead
He dwelt at home, and he securely led
His fold, so that the wolf might never harry.
He was a shepherd and no mercenary.
A holy, virtuous man he was, and right
In showing to the sinner no despite.
His speech was never haughty or indignant,
He was a teacher modest and benignant;
To draw folks heavenward to life forever,
By good example, was his great endeavor.
But if some person were too obstinate,
Whether he be of high or low estate,
He would be sharply chided on the spot.
A better priest, I wager, there is not.
He didn’t look for pomp or reverence
Nor feign a too self-righteous moral sense;
What Christ and his apostles had to tell
He taught, and he would follow it as well.

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