Esse of the Church

In conjunction with some of my recent discussions, I taught a Sunday School class on the essence of the Church and its historical visible development.  This may be of interest to some of you.

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More on Frankfurt

Thomas Noble’s Images, Iconoclasm, and the Carolingians looks quite good.  A significant portion of it is available on googlebooks, and I’ve looked over as much of it as is available.  His treatment of Frankfurt is very helpful.  He notes that Frankfurt was:
1) A long time coming.  Alcuin and then Theodulf composed lengthy theological writings on [...]

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A Few Patristic Sources Against Icons

The early church is a complicated place.  The Reformers all claimed an antique heritage, truly believing that the original Christian doctrine was their own.  Now of course, anyone who reads deeply into the fathers knows that this claim is easier said than done.  Many times the record is mixed, but the Reformers used that very [...]

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History and Apologetics

Some of the contributing factors to “conversionitis” come from a false view of history.
Many fundamentalists have a skewed narrative, assuming some sort of “great apostasy of the Church” after the death of the last apostle.  The true religion was, according to this story, recovered at the time of the Reformation.  The presupposition here is that [...]

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Richard Field on the Development of Purgatory

In explaining how many of the medieval Roman errors came into being, Richard Field relies on men like Jean Gerson and William of Ockam.  He also displays a strong grasp of the patristics in his own right.
Regarding the subject of purgatory, Field states that the idea that the Pope, or anyone else for that matter, [...]

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Reformed Images

My friend Eric has a great little post up about Zwingli’s Illustrated Bible here.
The Reformed did not oppose the making of images (pictures, paintings, sculptures), but rather the use of images in worship, along with superstitious ideas that the image was some sort of locus for the divine.  They appealed to the 2nd commandment, the [...]

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I Suppose I Should Advertise

My recent lectures on Rome, EO, and conversion sickness are now available for download: http://www.auburnavenue.org/media/mp3.html

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Calvin on the Tradition of the Fathers

In his preface to the Institutes, addressed to the king of France, John Calvin gives his own view of the patristic tradition and how it relates to the situation prior to the Reformation.  Both admiration and critique can be seen in Calvin’s outlook.  He writes:
4. It is a calumny to represent us as opposed to [...]

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Nathaniel Dimock

Along with Daniel Waterland, Nathaniel Dimock is a very important reader of the patristic sources.  He helped combat the fallacious claims of the Oxford movement, and while not downplaying various historical discontinuities throughout the ages, he vindicates the Reformed position on the Eucharist as a thoroughly catholic one.
His On Eucharistic Worship in the English Church [...]

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Wiki’d Andrewes

I was comparing a few sections from Pierre Du Moulin with Andrewes, since all the recent hoopla has him on my mind, and so I thought I’d wiki to find a few dates.  I’d look to see if any quick info could help me get a picture of who was where when.  And I do [...]

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