Podcasts about Oxford Movement

"The philosopher aspires towards a divine principle; the Christian, towards a Divine Agent." St. John Henry Newman's Oxford Sermons, delivered during his time as an Anglican preacher at the University of Oxford, were isntrumental in shaping the Oxford Movement, which sought to revive High Church traditions within the Church of England and ultimately led to many conversions to Catholicism. In addition to the profound influence these sermons had on both Anglican and Catholic theology, they also bore a personal significance for Newman's own conversion to Catholicism years later. These fifteen sermons, though deeply interconnected in theme and insight, are not sequential in nature; rather, each stands on its own as a distinct and self-contained reflection on faith and reason. Newman lays the groundwork for themes developed in later works, such as Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. In this second sermon, Newman illustrates how the foundational awareness of God's existence ascertained by natural religion (human reason and observation of the world) is perfected and deepened by the personal knowledge of God offered by revealed religion (divine revelation, especially in the person of Christ). Links The Influence of Natural and Revealed Religion Respectively full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/oxford/sermon2.html SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268 SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"The philosopher might speculate, but the theologian must submit to learn." St. John Henry Newman's Oxford Sermons, delivered during his time as an Anglican preacher at the University of Oxford, were instrumental in shaping the Oxford Movement, which sought to revive High Church traditions within the Church of England. In this collection of fifteen sermons, Newman especially explores the relationship between faith and reason, and lays the groundwork for themes he would later develop in works like his Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. In addition to the profound influence these sermons had on both Anglican and Catholic theology, they also bore a personal significance for Newman's own conversion to Catholicism years later. In this first sermon, Newman argues that it was Christianity which first promoted a properly philosophical disposition, by encouraging a mindset and instilling the virtues essential for a truly scientific approach to the pursuit of truth. Links The Philosophical Temper, First Enjoined by the Gospel full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/oxford/sermon1.html SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268 SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

Today's poem, though written for the far more infrequent crowning of monarchs, contains plenty of sentiments fitting for a quadrennial presidential inauguration. Happy reading.On a pillar on the west wall of Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey is a white marble bust to poet and clergyman John Keble. The bust is signed and dated by Thomas Woolner, 1872 and is just inscribed 'JOHN KEBLE'. The memorial was originally much more elaborate and was in the south west tower chapel of the nave (now St George's chapel), placed between Dr Thomas Arnold and William Wordsworth. The bust, on a foliated corbel, was set within a decorated oval frame set with jewels with two small pillars either side of the bust. Above was a decorated cross and below a square tablet with the inscription:In memory of John Keble, author of the Christian Year. Born 1792. Died 1866. In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. Isaiah xxx.15. He rests in peace at Hursley of which he was Vicar 30 years.When the chapel was redesigned in 1932 the memorials there were all moved - Arnold to the north west nave chapel and Wordsworth to Poets' Corner. Only the bust of Keble was retained and mounted on a new Purbeck marble bracket in the Corner.He was born at Fairford in Gloucestershire on 25th April 1792, son of the Reverend John Keble and his wife Sarah (Maule). After education at home he attended Oxford University. In 1827 he published his popular work The Christian Year. He was professor of poetry at Oxford and became rector of Hursley in Hampshire in 1836. With Newman and Pusey he instigated the Oxford Movement. He married Charlotte Clarke but there were no children. He died on 29th March 1866 and is buried at Hursley. Keble College in Oxford was founded in his memory.-bio via Westminster Abbey This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe

Weekly Update - Highlighting the Annual Leadership Retreat and a Special Introduction to Father James Brzezinski In this week's update for the third week of Epiphany 2025, we are introduced to Father James Brzezinski, the new rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Additionally, the episode covers the recent annual Leadership Retreat of the Diocese, held at Prude Ranch in Fort Davis, Texas, with visits to local churches and organizations. Key topics include the challenges faced by Border Patrol agents, the concept of Migration with Dignity, (Tool kit here: https://bit.ly/40mSZxr ) and the Oxford Movement's influence on contemporary church practices. Don't miss a detailed dive into the traditions and activities at seminaries like Nashota House, explaining the significance of Anglican vestments, worship practices, and the importance of bringing Christ to the community. 00:00 Weekly Update Introduction 00:32 Diocesan Leadership Retreat Recap 01:08 Exploring the Big Bend 04:09 Migration with Dignity Week 05:22 Meet Father James Brzezinski 06:08 Life at Nashota House Seminary 22:45 High Church vs. Low Church 26:59 The Oxford Movement and Clerical Attire 35:12 Unity in Diversity

This blogcast explores “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" written and read by Jonathan Sitko.In this blog post, Jonathan reflects on the popular Advent hymn and it's connection to the Nativity of Christ. As a brief refresher, it is a song whose lyrics are based on the Divine Liturgy of St. James and has been used as a hymn in Greek since around the third or fourth century. Speaking about the awesome power of Christ and his gift to us through the Eucharist in vanquishing the powers of hell and bringing eternal light, this hymn was revitalized during the Oxford Movement of the 19th Century and adapted to English. For Catholics, we believe in the Real Presence, so our understanding and awe hopefully go much deeper when sung with lyrics such as: “King of kings, yet born of Mary,As of old on earth He stood,Lord of lords, in human vesture,In the body and the blood;He will give to all the faithfulHis own self for heav'nly food.” For me, this song about Christ Jesus descending and giving of his own life and blood for us – simply because he loves us – is a powerful and calming reminder of what Advent is really about. It is not just about Christmas, and the gift giving, or even just the celebration of Christ's birth. His birth is not what saved humanity. It was his sacrificial death and gift of the Eucharist that provides us that opportunity to join him in heaven for eternity as fulfillment of the covenant between God and his people. In a season with some of the darkest and coldest days for us in America, a song like this helps us remember that even in our darkest moments, Christ is there as a hopeful light. While the season of Advent is wrapping up, I invite you to take a few moments during your busy season to reflect on the power and awesome love of God's gift to us, and the preparations we need to make for his return. Author:Jonathan Sitko is the Director of Programs for the Catholic Apostolate Center, where he focuses on managing and implementing programmatic elements of the Center. His work also includes coordinating relationships with the Center's affiliates and collaborating organizations, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, St. Joseph's College Online, and SLIconnect – an online formation ministry at St. Luke's Institute. He also manages program development for any Center-focused programs and production, including webinars and videos, websites and online resources, podcasts and other audio productions, and events. Follow us:The Catholic Apostolate CenterThe Center's podcast websiteInstagramFacebookApple PodcastsSpotify Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. also appears on the podcast, On Mission, which is produced by the Catholic Apostolate Center and you can also listen to his weekly Sunday Gospel reflections. Follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube to remain up-to-date on the latest Center resources.

Full Text of ReadingsTuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 450The Saint of the day is Saint John Henry NewmanSaint John Henry Newman’s Story John Henry Newman, the 19th-century's most important English-speaking Catholic theologian, spent the first half of his life as an Anglican and the second half as a Roman Catholic. He was a priest, popular preacher, writer, and eminent theologian in both churches. Born in London, England, he studied at Oxford's Trinity College, was a tutor at Oriel College, and for 17 years was vicar of the university church, St. Mary the Virgin. He eventually published eight volumes of Parochial and Plain Sermons as well as two novels. His poem, “Dream of Gerontius,” was set to music by Sir Edward Elgar. After 1833, Newman was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement, which emphasized the Church's debt to the Church Fathers and challenged any tendency to consider truth as completely subjective. Historical research made Newman suspect that the Roman Catholic Church was in closest continuity with the Church that Jesus established. In 1845, he was received into full communion as a Catholic. Two years later he was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome and joined the Congregation of the Oratory, founded three centuries earlier by Saint Philip Neri. Returning to England, Newman founded Oratory houses in Birmingham and London and for seven years served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. Before Newman, Catholic theology tended to ignore history, preferring instead to draw deductions from first principles—much as plane geometry does. After Newman, the lived experience of believers was recognized as a key part of theological reflection. Newman eventually wrote 40 books and 21,000 letters that survive. Most famous are his book-length Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, Apologia Pro Vita Sua—his spiritual autobiography up to 1864—and Essay on the Grammar of Assent. He accepted Vatican I's teaching on papal infallibility while noting its limits, which many people who favored that definition were reluctant to do. When Newman was named a cardinal in 1879, he took as his motto “Cor ad cor loquitur”—“Heart speaks to heart.” He was buried in Rednal 11 years later. After his grave was exhumed in 2008, a new tomb was prepared at the Oratory church in Birmingham. Three years after Newman died, a Newman Club for Catholic students began at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In time, his name was linked to ministry centers at many public and private colleges and universities in the United States. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Newman in London. Benedict noted Newman's emphasis on the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, but also praised his pastoral zeal for the sick, the poor, the bereaved, and those in prison. Pope Francis canonized Newman in October 2019. Saint John Henry Newman’s liturgical feast is celebrated on October 9. Reflection John Henry Newman has been called the “absent Father of Vatican II” because his writings on conscience, religious liberty, Scripture, the vocation of lay people, the relation of Church and State, and other topics were extremely influential in the shaping of the Council's documents. Although Newman was not always understood or appreciated, he steadfastly preached the Good News by word and example. Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

LINKS His diocese's bio of Basios Cleemis https://malankaratvm.com/welcome/majorarchbishopcatholicos  Christianity in India: The Anti-Colonial Turn (Google Books Preview) https://books.google.com/books?id=xEmMDwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PT83&dq=Pakalomattam&hl=en&source=gb_mobile_entity&ovdme=1#v=onepage&q=Pakalomattam&f=false  Pakalomattam Family Traditions (apply grains of salt as appropriate): http://pakalomattamfamily.org/history/  The St Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India (full access free w/login via Internet Archive) https://archive.org/details/stthomaschristia0000unse/mode/1up  Baselios Cleemis on FIU's Cardinals Database (by Salvadore Miranda): https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios2012-ii.htm#Thottunkal  Baselios Cleemis on Gcatholic.org: http://www.gcatholic.org/p/3363   Baselios Cleemis on Catholic-Hierarchy.org: https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bthoi.html  Archeparchy of Trivandrum (Syro-Malankara) on Gcatholic.org: http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/mont1.htm?tab=info  Archeparchy of Trivandrum (Syro-Malankara) on Catholic-Hierarchy.org: https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dtrml.html  Code of canons of Oriental Churchs: https://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_INDEX.HTM   Thank you for listening, and thank my family and friends for putting up with the massive time investment and for helping me out as needed. As always, feel free to email the show at Popeularhistory@gmail.com  If you would like to financially support Popeular history, go to www.patreon.com/Popeular. If you don't have any money to spare but still want to give back, pray and tell others– prayers and listeners are worth more than gold! IMAGE CRED: By Prathyush Thomas - Own work, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47706671  This episode's image is from Wikipedia since they're pretty chill about image-sharing as long as I credit them and I don't have time to go creating a new image-permission request every day, I've got stuff to talk about. Also, yes, I, a degreed librarian, consult Wikipedia during my research as they are generally a solid aggregator of resources. You have my permission to consult Wikipedia as well, just remember they are not a source in their own right or else citogenesis may occur (P.S. Randall Munroe is a treasure). TRANSCRIPT Welcome to Popeular History, a library of Catholic knowledge and insights brought to you daily. To help make this library as useful as possible, this episode includes show notes with links and a transcript. Also, despite my insistence that I'm trying to make my episodes shorter, today needs more groundwork than usual so it will be longer than usual. It wouldn't be very good of me to just say things that are true about today's cardinal without explaining them- this is meant to be a handy introduction, after all, and a lot of what comes up today needs a bit more introduction than usual, because today's cardinal has gotten up to a lot and we've got a lot of new titles and concepts to discuss to help you get your bearings. You'll see what I mean here in a minute. Isaac Thottumkal was born on June 15th, 1959, and I know that a certain percentage of you are already confused as you go to double-check the episode title. We'll get to that. Isaac is part of the overall Pakalomattam family, which is more relevant than you might think because for centuries the Archdeacons [pronounced Arkdiyakons] of India came either exclusively or almost exclusively from this family. And no, I haven't forgotten how to pronounce Archdeacon, it just so happens that in this cultural context that title is pronounced as Arkdiyakon, and it's not the worst thing that it has a different pronunciation, because we're not talking about a deacon as we know it in contemporary western Catholicism, or even an archdeacon. You see, back in the day, the Christians of India were part of the Church of the East, that is, the form of Christianity that came about from the Persian Empire. The Catholicos, that is, the head of the Church of the East, would appoint the Arkdiyakons who would head then the Church in India. Though from what I can tell the Arkdiyakons were not bishops- they were, in the end, deacons- they did have such baller titles as "Lord of the Christians". Now I mentioned Arkdiyakon basically being a family matter, specifically a Pakalomattam family matter, and I mean it. It was apparently straight-up patrilineal succession like you might expect from a traditional monarch, which is weird if you're used to clerical celibacy but as a rule the further east you go tradition-wise the less clerical celibacy applies, and also even in the west keep in mind there's less of an emphasis on that for deacons anyways. I should note that all of this is poorly sourced and there are some discrepancies with the traditions we have, so apply caution especially if you decide to go to the Pakalomattam family website I've linked in the show notes since that is functionally propaganda but it explains the general received tradition pretty well, from what I can tell. Breaking the Pakalomattam monopoly on control of the Church in India was a big priority for the Portuguese when they came onto the scene during colonial times and they were eventually mostly successful despite strong resistance. Obviously there's still a family tradition, but it's no longer the only way to go. Now, as a refresher, the global Catholic Church is made up of 24 sui iuris- that is, self-governing- churches. The Latin Church is the one you're probably most familiar with, and it's active in India, to be sure, thanks to the Portuguese and the Jesuits generally. But we'll set the Latins aside for a minute here. These days there are two indigenous sui iuris churches that serve the needs of Saint Thomas Christians, as India's native Christian community is known: the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. Isaac, and I think this is the longest I've gone without mentioning the cardinal of the day, but Isaac is from the Syro-Malankara tradition, which (unlike the Syro-Malabar) rejected Catholicism outright for many years but eventually signed up with the Pope through a reunion movement in the 1930s. If you know the Oxford Movement, it was sort of like that. Now that we're halfway through our target runtime, let's get to what's usually the second half of the first sentence. Isaac was born in Mukkoor, a village in the south Indian state of Kerala. Kerala has long been the heartland of the Thomas Christians, to the extent that I'm surprised when I see a Thomas Christian was born anywhere else in India. Isaac's initial priestly education was a normal mix of theology and philosophy, though I have to note that the seal of the Papal Seminary, where he did his theology training, appears to not only have the papal tiara and Peter's keys, but also in a wonderful touch in what appears to be a lion holding a sword. I mean sure, he'd go on to get a doctorate in ecumenical theology from the Angelicum in Rome, but that doesn't beat a lion holding a sword in my books. Anyways, in 1986 at the age of 26 he was ordained a priest for the recently-established Eparchy of Battery, an Eparchy being the Eastern equivalent of a Diocese, with Archeparchies also corresponding to Archdioceses. You get the idea. Isaac–now Fr. Thottumkal– was made Auxiliary Bishop of Trivandrum in 2001, Trivandrum being the mother see for the Syro Malankara Catholic Church. At that point he took the name Isaac Mar Cleemis, Mar or you may also see Mor being the normal honorific for a bishop in the Church of the East. He chose Cleemis in honor of the Church father Clement of Alexandria, who I'll get to at some point next year. His first spot as a full-on bishop–Eparch, really–came a couple years later, when in 2003 he was made Eparch of Tiruvalla. In 2006, the Eparchy was elevated to an archeparchy, and Thottumkal rose along with it, becoming an Archeparch. At that point, he added the honorific Baselios to his titles, bringing us to the the most common shorthand for him today: Baselios Cleemis. But his greatest promotion came the next year, and it's not actually him being made Cardinal. You see, in January 2007, the Bishop of Trivandrum passed away, and Mar Cleemis was unanimously elected as his replacement by the Episcopal Synod of Syro-Malankar Catholic Church. Back when Mar Cleemis had done his stint as an auxiliary for Trivandrum at the start of the new millenium, it was an archeparchy- nothing to scoff at. But I mentioned this was a greater promotion than being made a Cardinal. In the time since we last checked in, Trivandrum had been promoted the status of a Major Archdiocese– Major Archeparchy, rather, since we're in eparchy territory rather than diocese territory. According to canon 154 for the 1990 Code of canons of Oriental Churches which governs such things and which uses eparch and diocese interchangeably, quote: "Major archbishops hold the precedence of honor immediately after patriarchs" end quote, which does place them above Cardinals in precedence, given that patriarchs are the only ones above Cardinals, and we're putting them immediately below patriarchs. I know all these titles and terms are, well, a lot, and I am working on getting glossary episodes to link in the show notes. For now, at least you'll have the transcript to give you the spelling. Beyond the titles, Cleemis has gotten up to a lot, from building AIDS hospitals to founding the center of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in North America, to his roles in the Curia as a Cardinal and in India's Bishops conference. Baselios Cleemis was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict in his last consistory in 2012. Cleemis was the youngest Cardinal in the world at that time, and as the first Syro-Malankara Cardinal was one of four Eastern Catholic Cardinals to participate in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis. Baselios Cardinal Cleemis is eligible to participate in future conclaves until he turns 80 in 2039. That's enough for today. I'm sure tomorrow will be a banger as we begin our Encyclopedia Catholica project with an introduction to Catholic cosmology.. Thank you for listening, God bless you all.

Walking with the Saints Podcast | Feast of St. John Henry Newman, Patron Saint of Journalism and Ecumenism | October 9     Today's saint was a former member of the Anglican Church (Church of England), who converted to Catholicism at the age of 44, after reading the truths about the Catholic Church. He was canonized two years ago, perceived as future patron saint of journalism and ecumenism (unity of all Christian Churches). He is none other than St. John Henry Newman, the author of many books and of the famous “Lead Kindly Light”, a, poem fondly quoted by millions. St. John Henry Newman was born in London on February 21, 1801, the eldest of three sons and three daughters. His father was a banker and his mother descended from the noble family of Huguenots. He experienced many trials in life but was able to overcome all difficulties. As a student at Oxford Trinity College, he became a famous writer and editor of magazines. While pursuing a priestly career, he and his friends founded the Oxford Movement which was set to revitalize the Church in England. Yet, in his readings about Catholicism, he discovered that the Catholic Church is the closest in continuity with the Church established by Jesus Christ. He converted, became a Catholic priest, two years later, to the disappointment of most of his countrymen. He lost his job, his reputation, his friends and even family members, who never spoke to him again. For the next 45 years, side by side with his work as a Catholic priest, he worked for social changes in England and at the time of his death on August 12, 1890, it had already become acceptable to convert to Catholicism. In fact, famous celebrities like Oscar Wilde, Ronald Knox, Evelyn Waugh, G.K. Chesterton and others followed him. As a priest in Birmingham, he was a pastor for 40 years. He took care of all his parishioners, not only spiritually, psychologically, but also materially.  He visited the sick, the imprisoned, fed the hungry, gave counselling, even helped financially those in difficulty. In the area of ecumenism he believed that people with different faith can work together for greater unity, preserving their own traditional faith and practices, respecting each other's beliefs, while considering the historical sources of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ. He was extraordinarily remarkable a pastor, a holy priest, a great preacher that Pope Leo XIII made him a Cardinal in 1879. The people of his parish and his acquaintances loved Cardinal Newman so much that when he died 15,000 people took to the streets to view his mortal remains and accompany it to his resting place. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI beatified him in London. The two miracles that qualified him for sainthood were two immediate and complete healings: the cure of a man's spinal disease and of a pregnant woman's unstoppable bleeding. At his canonization by Pope Francis on October 13, 2019, 20,000 people came to witness the ceremony.  Among them were English dignitaries, including Prince Charles, who spoke after the canonization rite. His feast day is celebrated on October 9.   Virtue: holiness, truthfulness, moderation, altruism, empathy, hard work     Prayer: Let us pray with St. John Henry Newman: “Lord shine on me that I may be a light to others, but it will be you shining on others through me.” ·        Reflection: Do I respect those who do not belong to my religion?    

Full Text of ReadingsTwenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 133The Saint of the day is Saint John Henry NewmanSaint John Henry Newman’s Story John Henry Newman, the 19th-century's most important English-speaking Catholic theologian, spent the first half of his life as an Anglican and the second half as a Roman Catholic. He was a priest, popular preacher, writer, and eminent theologian in both churches. Born in London, England, he studied at Oxford's Trinity College, was a tutor at Oriel College, and for 17 years was vicar of the university church, St. Mary the Virgin. He eventually published eight volumes of Parochial and Plain Sermons as well as two novels. His poem, “Dream of Gerontius,” was set to music by Sir Edward Elgar. After 1833, Newman was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement, which emphasized the Church's debt to the Church Fathers and challenged any tendency to consider truth as completely subjective. Historical research made Newman suspect that the Roman Catholic Church was in closest continuity with the Church that Jesus established. In 1845, he was received into full communion as a Catholic. Two years later he was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome and joined the Congregation of the Oratory, founded three centuries earlier by Saint Philip Neri. Returning to England, Newman founded Oratory houses in Birmingham and London and for seven years served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. Before Newman, Catholic theology tended to ignore history, preferring instead to draw deductions from first principles—much as plane geometry does. After Newman, the lived experience of believers was recognized as a key part of theological reflection. Newman eventually wrote 40 books and 21,000 letters that survive. Most famous are his book-length Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, Apologia Pro Vita Sua—his spiritual autobiography up to 1864—and Essay on the Grammar of Assent. He accepted Vatican I's teaching on papal infallibility while noting its limits, which many people who favored that definition were reluctant to do. When Newman was named a cardinal in 1879, he took as his motto “Cor ad cor loquitur”—“Heart speaks to heart.” He was buried in Rednal 11 years later. After his grave was exhumed in 2008, a new tomb was prepared at the Oratory church in Birmingham. Three years after Newman died, a Newman Club for Catholic students began at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In time, his name was linked to ministry centers at many public and private colleges and universities in the United States. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Newman in London. Benedict noted Newman's emphasis on the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, but also praised his pastoral zeal for the sick, the poor, the bereaved, and those in prison. Pope Francis canonized Newman in October 2019. Saint John Henry Newman’s liturgical feast is celebrated on October 9. Reflection John Henry Newman has been called the “absent Father of Vatican II” because his writings on conscience, religious liberty, Scripture, the vocation of lay people, the relation of Church and State, and other topics were extremely influential in the shaping of the Council's documents. Although Newman was not always understood or appreciated, he steadfastly preached the Good News by word and example. Learn about these 10 influential Catholics! Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

A Journey to Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging We are honored to have the Rev. Dr. Brandt Montgomery speak with us about his call to ministry and experiences as a school chaplain, and his key role in bringing to life a program that promotes diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging at Saint James School, an Episcopal boarding school in western Maryland.Highlights:[00:00:00] INTRO [00:01:41] Being the Chaplain at St. James School [00:04:16] Relationships [00:06:10] Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging [00:11:08] Surprises Along the Way [00:15:51] Call to Priesthood [00:20:43] Being a Priest Who Happens to be Black [00:23:23] Learning from History [00:24:36] Learn More or Contact Brandt [00:25:03] St.Mark's, Lappans [00:26:28] ThanksThe Rev. Dr. Brandt Montgomery is the Chaplain of Saint James School in Hagerstown, Maryland, having previously served at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Lafayette, Louisiana as Chaplain of Ascension Episcopal School from 2014-2017, then as Associate Rector and All-School Chaplain from 2017-2019. From 2012-2014, Fr. Montgomery was the Curate at Canterbury Episcopal Chapel and Student Center at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.Fr. Montgomery's scholarly interests lie in the areas of American religious history, Episcopal Church history, the Oxford Movement and Anglo-Catholicism, the Civil Rights Movement, and practical theology.Resources mentioned in this episode:Saint Mark's Episcopal Church Saint James SchoolListening for Clues | On the Journey with Jon and LaurenListening for Clues is pleased to present our new series, "Good News!" featuring weekly conversations with people who are making a difference, large or small. We want everyone to know what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how. So, our listeners and viewers can experience the good news and go out and make a difference themselves. Listening for Clues invites you into conversations that discover clues, rather than solutions to life's problems. Join the journey with Jon Shematek and Lauren Welch, Episcopal deacons, as we explore whatever lies ahead. Check our website Listening for Clues.© 2023 Listening for Clues

The Oxford Movement; Twelve Years, 1833-1845

John Keble worked to reintroduce the practices of the ancient church, joining with the Oxford Movement to return the Eucharist as the principal liturgical Sunday service.

Simon Heffer, a distinguished author and historian, joined the History of the Papacy Podcast to discuss the Victorian era and its impact on religion in Britain and America. Heffer explored the religious climate in Britain during the Victorian era, including the rise of religiosity and secularism at the same time. Heffer also discussed notable religious movements during this period, including the Oxford Movement and its contribution to the rise of Anglo-Catholicism, and the Non-conformist movement and its challenge to the authority and practices of the Church of England. Heffer also delved into how the religious ideas and movements of Victorian Britain influenced religion in the United States, shaping the religious landscape in America today. Learn more and join the conversation! #VictorianEra #Religion #Britain #America #OxfordMovement #AngloCatholicism #NonConformist #Diversity #Secularism #History #HighMinds #SimonHeffer #Podcast to continue the conversation and discover more resources on this topic. Today's Guest: Simon Heffer, Author of “High Minds: The Victorians and the Birth of Modern Britain” https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/High-Minds/Simon-Heffer/9781643139173 You can learn more about the History of Papacy and subscribe at all these great places: http://atozhistorypage.com/ https://www.historyofthepapacypodcast.com email: steve@atozhistorypage.com https://www.patreon.com/historyofthepapacy parthenonpodcast.com https://www.gettr.com/user/atozhistory The History of the Papacy on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6DO2leym3kizBHW0ZWl-nA Get Your History of the Papacy Podcast Products Here: https://www.atozhistorypage.com/products Help out the show by ordering these books from Amazon! https://smile.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1MUPNYEU65NTF Music Provided by: "Sonatina in C Minor" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) "Funeral March for Brass" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) "String Impromptu Number 1" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) "Intended Force" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Agnus Dei X - Bitter Suite Kevin MacLeaod (incomptech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Begin Transcript:

Donate to the Living Church. What's more important, unity or justice? Today we're travelling back in time with the Rev. Dr. Brandt Montgomery and the Rt. Rev. R. William Franklin to look at some influential figures from the Episcopal past -- John Henry Hobart and the founders of Saint James School in Maryland -- and how they influenced the shapes of political engagement of Anglicans in the United States. We'll examine the choices they made that encouraged justice and flourishing among God's people, especially among Black Anglicans -- or not; and mistakes they made that, however clear or unclear they were at the time, we can now see in retrospect. What can we learn from them? One interesting pattern that we'll trace from the 19th century to today is the high-church Anglican habit of reserve, which often includes a strategy of gradualism or reticence when it comes to social justice issues. How do you balance social justice with a peaceful or coherent community life? Is it a matter of balance? Or some other kind of equation? Together Father Brandt and Bishop Franklin will examine this speckled history as it plays out in these leaders' responses to social ills and evils, especially those that affect Black Americans, from slavery to civil rights. And what do the Anglo-Catholics have to do with all of this? Bishop Bill Franklin is assisting bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. He was previously Bishop of Western New York, and has also served, among other places, at St. Paul's Within the Walls in Rome, as associate director of the American Academy in Rome, and as associate priest of the Anglican Centre in Rome. He served as dean of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, and as a professor at the General Theological Seminary in New York and at St. John's University in Minnesota. Fr. Brandt Montgomery is the chaplain of Saint James School in Hagerstown, Maryland, having previously served as the Chaplain of Ascension Episcopal School in Lafayette, Louisiana and curate at Canterbury Episcopal Chapel and Student Center at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He is a trumpet player and profound lover of jazz, as well as a scholar of American religious history, Episcopal Church history, the Oxford Movement and Anglo-Catholicism, and the Civil Rights Movement. Last but not least, our interviewer today is the Rev. Mark Michael, who is our editor and interim executive director here at the Living Church. Now ready the horses and hold onto your garters. We're headed into 200 years of history to see what we can learn for today. We hope you enjoy the conversation. Donate to the Living Church. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/living-church/support

On today's show Fr Chris Yates discusses climate change alarmism and much more. GUEST OVERVIEW: Originally from Manchester in England, Fr Chris moved to Oxford at the age of eighteen where he met his wife Rachel and became a Policeman, serving for ten years in both Oxford and London. Fr Chris discovered the ‘Oxford-Movement' and Anglo-Catholicism whilst in Oxford and trained for the priesthood at Cuddesdon, Oxford, with liturgical studies at St Stephen's House where he was ordained Deacon in 2010. Fr Chris and his family moved to Newcastle, Australia later that year at the invitation of the bishop and took up the post of Assistant Priest at Williamtown, Medowie and Mallabula; he was ordained priest on 2nd May 2011 at Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle.

At this point in his ministry, Spurgeon was engaged in a particular battle against sacramentalism, the idea that the means of grace actually and immediately bestowed grace in and of themselves (an idea technically referred to as ex opere operato). So, for example, and as we have already seen, Spurgeon contended against the idea of baptismal regeneration. In Spurgeon's day, this thinking was becoming more prominent, not least in the Anglican communion, where men like Edward Pusey (1800–1882) were leading lights in the so-called Oxford Movement, under which a ‘high church' agenda was pursued and various Roman Catholic doctrines and practices were reintroduced into Anglicanism. In this sermon, Spurgeon hits hard at the underlying flaws of this movement, contrasting the unprofitable flesh of carnal externalities with the life-giving operations of the Holy Spirit. While the fruits of Puseyism are still evident around us, the principles set forth by Spurgeon remain vital for the ongoing commitment of Christ's church to true spirituality and simplicity of worship, and our confidence in the means which God has provided. Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon. Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

At this point in his ministry, Spurgeon was engaged in a particular battle against sacramentalism, the idea that the means of grace actually and immediately bestowed grace in and of themselves -an idea technically referred to as ex opere operato-. So, for example, and as we have already seen, Spurgeon contended against the idea of baptismal regeneration. In Spurgeon's day, this thinking was becoming more prominent, not least in the Anglican communion, where men like Edward Pusey -1800-1882- were leading lights in the so-called Oxford Movement, under which a 'high church' agenda was pursued and various Roman Catholic doctrines and practices were reintroduced into Anglicanism. In this sermon, Spurgeon hits hard at the underlying flaws of this movement, contrasting the unprofitable flesh of carnal externalities with the life-giving operations of the Holy Spirit. While the fruits of Puseyism are still evident around us, the principles set forth by Spurgeon remain vital for the ongoing commitment of Christ's church to true spirituality and simplicity of worship, and our confidence in the means which God has provided.

At this point in his ministry, Spurgeon was engaged in a particular battle against sacramentalism, the idea that the means of grace actually and immediately bestowed grace in and of themselves -an idea technically referred to as ex opere operato-. So, for example, and as we have already seen, Spurgeon contended against the idea of baptismal regeneration. In Spurgeon's day, this thinking was becoming more prominent, not least in the Anglican communion, where men like Edward Pusey -1800-1882- were leading lights in the so-called Oxford Movement, under which a 'high church' agenda was pursued and various Roman Catholic doctrines and practices were reintroduced into Anglicanism. In this sermon, Spurgeon hits hard at the underlying flaws of this movement, contrasting the unprofitable flesh of carnal externalities with the life-giving operations of the Holy Spirit. While the fruits of Puseyism are still evident around us, the principles set forth by Spurgeon remain vital for the ongoing commitment of Christ's church to true spirituality and simplicity of worship, and our confidence in the means which God has provided.

Full Text of ReadingsSaturday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 454All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint John Henry NewmanJohn Henry Newman, the 19th-century's most important English-speaking Catholic theologian, spent the first half of his life as an Anglican and the second half as a Roman Catholic. He was a priest, popular preacher, writer, and eminent theologian in both churches. Born in London, England, he studied at Oxford's Trinity College, was a tutor at Oriel College, and for 17 years was vicar of the university church, St. Mary the Virgin. He eventually published eight volumes of Parochial and Plain Sermons as well as two novels. His poem, “Dream of Gerontius,” was set to music by Sir Edward Elgar. After 1833, Newman was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement, which emphasized the Church's debt to the Church Fathers and challenged any tendency to consider truth as completely subjective. Historical research made Newman suspect that the Roman Catholic Church was in closest continuity with the Church that Jesus established. In 1845, he was received into full communion as a Catholic. Two years later he was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome and joined the Congregation of the Oratory, founded three centuries earlier by Saint Philip Neri. Returning to England, Newman founded Oratory houses in Birmingham and London and for seven years served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. Before Newman, Catholic theology tended to ignore history, preferring instead to draw deductions from first principles—much as plane geometry does. After Newman, the lived experience of believers was recognized as a key part of theological reflection. Newman eventually wrote 40 books and 21,000 letters that survive. Most famous are his book-length Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, Apologia Pro Vita Sua—his spiritual autobiography up to 1864—and Essay on the Grammar of Assent. He accepted Vatican I's teaching on papal infallibility while noting its limits, which many people who favored that definition were reluctant to do. When Newman was named a cardinal in 1879, he took as his motto “Cor ad cor loquitur”—“Heart speaks to heart.” He was buried in Rednal 11 years later. After his grave was exhumed in 2008, a new tomb was prepared at the Oratory church in Birmingham. Three years after Newman died, a Newman Club for Catholic students began at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In time, his name was linked to ministry centers at many public and private colleges and universities in the United States. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Newman in London. Benedict noted Newman's emphasis on the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, but also praised his pastoral zeal for the sick, the poor, the bereaved, and those in prison. Pope Francis canonized Newman in October 2019. Saint John Henry Newman's liturgical feast is celebrated on October 9. Reflection John Henry Newman has been called the “absent Father of Vatican II” because his writings on conscience, religious liberty, Scripture, the vocation of lay people, the relation of Church and State, and other topics were extremely influential in the shaping of the Council's documents. Although Newman was not always understood or appreciated, he steadfastly preached the Good News by word and example. Learn about these 10 influential Catholics! Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

"Frank Albo is a Canadian architectural historian. He is the academic inspiration behind The Hermetic Code (2007) and the author of Astana: Architecture, Myth, and Destiny (2017). Frank specializes in architecture, Freemasonry, and the Western esoteric tradition. For his discoveries into the Freemasonic symbolism of the Manitoba Legislative Building recounted in The Hermetic Code, Albo has been dubbed "Canada's Dan Brown" and "one of Winnipeg's foremost architectural historians". Since 2009, Albo has led the Hermetic Code Tours of the Manitoba Legislative Building, which more than 45,000 people have attended. Albo grew up in the West End of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in religion and anthropology at the University of Winnipeg in 2002. He continued his studies at the University of Toronto, where he was awarded a Master of Arts (MA) degree in ancient Near Eastern civilizations following completion of a thesis entitled Nebuchadrezzar and the Stars: A New Perspective of the Theophany in the Book of Habakkuk 3:3–13. He acquired a second MA degree in Hermetic philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam in 2006. His thesis was entitled Ritualist Revival: Fin de siècle Esotericism and the Oxford Movement. He started attending Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, in 2007, where he attained his Master of Philosophy degree in the history of art in 2008 with the thesis Charles Robert Cockerell and his Theories of Gothic Proportions from his Lectures at the Royal Academy and then a Doctor of Philosophy degree in the history of architecture in 2012 with the thesis Freemasonry and the Nineteenth-Century British Gothic Revival." via Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_AlboTune into this episode as Frank Albo takes us on a journey of understanding the history of Freemason influence in architecture around the world, that lies hidden to the eye unless one "has the eyes to see it". Listen as he explains how numerology, the golden ratio and other esoteric knowledge has been imbedded into our lives byway of architecture and symbology with this hidden knowledge. Learn how he first stumbled upon these findings right in his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, that ultimately lit the fire for becoming a student of unlocking the mysteries of the esoteric; and taking him all the way around the world to Astana, Kazakhstan. Frank Albo is undoubtedly one of the world's most interesting men; we hope you enjoy this eye opening interview as much as we did! Learn more about Frank and his work at https://www.frankalbo.com/If you enjoy our content, consider becoming a Patreon and get access to our podcasts and other exclusive content first for as little as $1 a month! https://bit.ly/3Ov4Q5k

This week we talk about The Oxford Movement.

ST. JOHN HENRY NEWMAN l PATRON SAINT OF JOURNALISM AND ECUMENISM Feast Day: OCTOBER 9 Today's saint was a former member of the Anglican Church (Church of England), who converted to Catholicism at the age of 44, after reading the truths about the Catholic Church. He was canonized two years ago, perceived as future patron saint of journalism and ecumenism (unity of all Christian Churches). He is none other than St. John Henry Newman, the author of many books and of the famous “Lead Kindly Light”, a, poem fondly quoted by millions. St. John Henry Newman was born in London on February 21, 1801, the eldest of three sons and three daughters. His father was a banker and his mother descended from the noble family of Huguenots. He experienced many trials in life but was able to overcome all difficulties. As a student at Oxford Trinity College, he became a famous writer and editor of magazines. While pursuing a priestly career, he and his friends founded the Oxford Movement which was set to revitalize the Church in England. Yet, in his readings about Catholicism, he discovered that the Catholic Church is the closest in continuity with the Church established by Jesus Christ. He converted, became a Catholic priest, two years later, to the disappointment of most of his countrymen. He lost his job, his reputation, his friends and even family members, who never spoke to him again. For the next 45 years, side by side with his work as a Catholic priest, he worked for social changes in England and at the time of his death on August 12, 1890, it had already become acceptable to convert to Catholicism. In fact, famous celebrities like Oscar Wilde, Ronald Knox, Evelyn Waugh, G.K. Chesterton and others followed him. As a priest in Birmingham, he was a pastor for 40 years. He took care of all his parishioners, not only spiritually, psychologically, but also materially. He visited the sick, the imprisoned, fed the hungry, gave counselling, even helped financially those in difficulty. In the area of ecumenism he believed that people with different faith can work together for greater unity, preserving their own traditional faith and practices, respecting each other's beliefs, while considering the historical sources of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ. He was extraordinarily remarkable a pastor, a holy priest, a great preacher that Pope Leo XIII made him a Cardinal in 1879. The people of his parish and his acquaintances loved Cardinal Newman so much that when he died 15,000 people took to the streets to view his mortal remains and accompany it to his resting place. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI beatified him in London. The two miracles that qualified him for sainthood were two immediate and complete healings: the cure of a man's spinal disease and of a pregnant woman's unstoppable bleeding. At his canonization by Pope Francis on October 13, 2019, 20,000 people came to witness the ceremony. Among them were English dignitaries, including Prince Charles, who spoke after the canonization rite. His feast day is celebrated on October 9.Let us pray with St. John Henry Newman: “Lord shine on me that I may be a light to others, but it will be you shining on others through me.” Do I respect those who do not belong to my religion?

In this very special episode, Clinton and Jamie are joined by principal of Pusey House, Fr George Westhaver to discuss the mystical exegesis of Scripture practiced by the Church Fathers, how these exegetical practices were picked up and used in the early Oxford Movement and how we today might benefit from a rediscovery of these treasures.Thanks for listening. To get in touch, please send an email to holycofe@gmail.comand follow us on Twitter @holycofe1.

Dr. Jack Kilcrease joins us again on Doth Protest Too Much! What a fascinating conversation we had on the theological (and Christological) differences between Reformers Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli, especially in regard to the Holy Eucharist. Jack also weighs in on what he liked about the Netflix series Midnight Mass.Dr. Kilcrease is a Lutheran lay theologian and currently a member of Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's Commission on Theology and Church Relations. He earned his PhD in Systematic Theology and Ethics from Marquette University in 2009. He is the author of several books and many articles. He is an Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at the Institute of Lutheran Theology- an independent seminary and graduate school where yours truly studies at. If you are interested in reading further work from Dr. Kilcrease, I encourage you to check out his website www.jackkilcrease.com  You can find links to past articles, radio shows and podcasts he has appeared on there as well as read from his blog.*The interview on 'Spirit Christology' that was referred to in this episode with Dr. Leopoldo Sánchez can be listened to here: https://onscript.study/podcast/leopoldo-sanchez-sculptor-spirit/*Also: John Mason Neale is the Oxford Movement hymn writer that Rev. Andrew could not think of in the moment who was drawn toward Eastern Orthodoxy --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Full Text of ReadingsFriday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 453All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint John Henry NewmanJohn Henry Newman, the 19th-century's most important English-speaking Catholic theologian, spent the first half of his life as an Anglican and the second half as a Roman Catholic. He was a priest, popular preacher, writer, and eminent theologian in both churches. Born in London, England, he studied at Oxford's Trinity College, was a tutor at Oriel College, and for 17 years was vicar of the university church, St. Mary the Virgin. He eventually published eight volumes of Parochial and Plain Sermons as well as two novels. His poem, “Dream of Gerontius,” was set to music by Sir Edward Elgar. After 1833, Newman was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement, which emphasized the Church's debt to the Church Fathers and challenged any tendency to consider truth as completely subjective. Historical research made Newman suspect that the Roman Catholic Church was in closest continuity with the Church that Jesus established. In 1845, he was received into full communion as a Catholic. Two years later he was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome and joined the Congregation of the Oratory, founded three centuries earlier by Saint Philip Neri. Returning to England, Newman founded Oratory houses in Birmingham and London and for seven years served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. Before Newman, Catholic theology tended to ignore history, preferring instead to draw deductions from first principles—much as plane geometry does. After Newman, the lived experience of believers was recognized as a key part of theological reflection. Newman eventually wrote 40 books and 21,000 letters that survive. Most famous are his book-length Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, Apologia Pro Vita Sua—his spiritual autobiography up to 1864—and Essay on the Grammar of Assent. He accepted Vatican I's teaching on papal infallibility while noting its limits, which many people who favored that definition were reluctant to do. When Newman was named a cardinal in 1879, he took as his motto “Cor ad cor loquitur”—“Heart speaks to heart.” He was buried in Rednal 11 years later. After his grave was exhumed in 2008, a new tomb was prepared at the Oratory church in Birmingham. Three years after Newman died, a Newman Club for Catholic students began at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In time, his name was linked to ministry centers at many public and private colleges and universities in the United States. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Newman in London. Benedict noted Newman's emphasis on the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, but also praised his pastoral zeal for the sick, the poor, the bereaved, and those in prison. Pope Francis canonized Newman in October 2019. Saint John Henry Newman's liturgical feast is celebrated on October 9. Reflection John Henry Newman has been called the “absent Father of Vatican II” because his writings on conscience, religious liberty, Scripture, the vocation of lay people, the relation of Church and State, and other topics were extremely influential in the shaping of the Council's documents. Although Newman was not always understood or appreciated, he steadfastly preached the Good News by word and example. Click here for our list of top 10 most influential Catholics! Saint of the Day Copyright Franciscan Media

Catherine Pepinster, Kate Kennedy, Tim Stanley and New Generation Thinker Dafydd Mills Daniel join Rana Mitter to look at the poet, theologian and now Saint John Henry. The programme explores Newman's conversion from the high church tradition of Anglicanism and the Oxford Movement to the Catholic faith looking at his thinking, his poetic writing and what his story tells us about Catholicism and the British establishment. Catherine Pepinster is former editor of the Tablet and the author of The Keys and the Kingdom: The British and the Papacy Dafydd Mills Daniel is McDonald Departmental Lecturer in Christian Ethics at the University of Oxford and a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker. His book is called Ethical Rationalism and Secularisation in the British Enlightenment Tim Stanley is a columnist and leader writer for the Daily Telegraph who studied history at Cambridge and who is a contributing editor for the Catholic Herald https://www.timothystanley.co.uk/index.html Dr Kate Kennedy is Oxford Centre for Life-Writing Associate Director and a music specialist who has written on Ivor Gurney, and co-edited The Silent Morning: Culture and Memory after the Armistice and The First World War: Literature, Music, Memory. You can find her presenting a Sunday Feature for Radio 3 about her research into Ivor Gurney. You can find a playlist Free Thinking explores religious belief https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03mwxlp including contributions from Ziauddin Sardar, Richard Dawkins, Karen Armstrong, Rabbi Sacks, Marilynne Robinson and Simon Schama. Producer: Ruth Watts

“There is a well-defined and generally recognized Wisconsin type of churchmanship.”- said Fr. Fayette Durlin. This episode explores that history as well as the history of the Oxford Movement, its underlying theology, and more. A few years back, Rev. Andrew spent a lot of time researching this and is presenting it on the episode of this podcast. Shownotes: CORRECTION: our previous guest who presides over EFAC is Rev. Zac Neubauer, not Rev. Sean Duncan (who also has been on the show to discuss Richard Hooker) *Rowan Williams' quote on the "three corners" of Anglicanism is from his preface to Love's Redeeming Work: The Anglican Quest for Holiness. Oxford University Press, 2001. On the history and belief of the Oxford Movement, we referred to the following books: *Mark Chapman, Anglicanism (A Very Short Introduction). Oxford University Press, 2006 *Owen Chadwick, The Mind of the Oxford Movement. Stanford University Press, 1960. *The appraisal and critique of the Oxford movement quoted from Rev. Andrew is from Vernon Faithfull Storr, The Development of English Theology in the Nineteenth Century. Longman, Green, & Co., 1913. Other critiques referenced: *Peter Benedict Nockles, The Oxford Movement in Context: Anglican High Churchmanship 1760-1857. Cambridge University Press, 1994. *Peter Toon, Evangelical Theology1833-1856: A Response to Tractarianism. John Knox Press, 1979. **For further reading of Richard Hooker's Doctrine of Justification: https://churchsociety.org/docs/churchman/114/Cman_114_4_Foord.pdf *Some of the information on the earlier Wisconsin history in this episode was taken from the book: Harold E. Wagner, The Episcopal Church in Wisconsin: 1847-1947. Courier Printing Company, 1947. *A brief biography of Bishop Jackson Kemper: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Jackson_Kemper.htm *A brief biography of Rev. Richard F. Cadle http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/greene_cadle.pdf *For full text of the Episcopal Church's Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/indigenousministries/repudiation-of-the-doctrine-of-discovery/ *The quote from historians David Hein and Gardiner Shattuck Jr. about Jackson Kemper's influence on Wisconsin Episcopal churchmanship is from the book: David Hein and Gardiner Shattuck, Jr. The Episcopalians. (Church Publishing Inc., 2004) *The above quote from Fayette Durlin is from his Sermon on 50th Anniversary of the Diocese of Milwaukee. Milwaukee County Historical Society, MSS-0331, Box 44. *The sermon from Rev. Azel Cole about problems facing the church: “A Message to the Students at Nashotah”. Milwaukee County Historical Society, MSS-0331, Box 44. Retrieved Nov. 23, 2016 *Info about Cole's ghost: Martinez, Steven. “Haunted History at the Nashotah House seminary still spooky after 150 years.” Lake Country NOW. October 21, 2015. (article online) *The fictional book about Kemper's ghost and Madison Church: Robert E. Gard, The Deacon: Story of the Ghost of Grace Church *The quote from Bishop Donald Hallock on race: “Racial Group Gets Support”, BOX 6A in Milwaukee County Archives, author, date, and publication unknown- presumably Milwaukee Journal *Joint-Statement from church leaders opposed to women's ordination: “An Evangelical and Catholic Covenant”, Accessed Nov. 23, 2016 at Milwaukee County Historical Society, MSS-0331, Box 6a *The conference at Grace Church, Madison was transcribed into the book Liturgical Renewal of the Church: Addresses of the Liturgical Conference Held in Grace Church May 19-21, 1958 (Oxford University Press, 1960) Episode artwork: picture of All Saints Cathedral- Milwaukee --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

A companion to literature student

Louisiana historian Dr. Cheryl White joins the podcast in this episode to discuss the 19th-century Episcopal missionary bishop Leonidas Polk and the Episcopal Church during the Civil War. We also scratch the surface of some of Dr. White's other research interests (the shroud of Turin and the Yellow Fever epidemics of Louisiana).Dr. Cheryl White is a Professor of History at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. Her research interests include local/regional history, Christian Church history, Tudor England, Late Medieval Europe, and Folklore. She is the author or co-author of several books including Historic Haunts of Shreveport, Wicked Shreveport, A Haunting Past: Essays on Folklore of Louisiana Antebellum Plantations, and Confederate General Leonidas Polk: Louisiana's Fighting Bishop published in 2013 (which we discuss as Polk is the main topic of today's conversation). If you are interested in further reading of this book, copies can be purchased at this linked: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781609497378 Episode shownotes:*The book on the shroud that Andrew mentions is The Shroud: Fresh Light on the 2000-Year-Old Mystery by Ian Wilson (Bantam Books, 2010). It is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003D87PS6/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1*The book mentioned that is by Bishop Charles McIlvaine that is his rebuttal of the Oxford Movement from his evangelical perspective is Oxford Divinity Compared with that of  the Romish and Anglican Churches. A full digitized copy be accessed (for free) at this link: https://archive.org/details/a591301900mciluoft/mode/2up*The upcoming book we mentioned from Dr. White that she co-authors with Ryan Smith and Fr. Peter Mangum on the Roman Catholic priests who lost their lives in the Yellow Fever epidemic in Shreveport is titled The Surest Path to Heaven: Shreveport Martyrs of 1873. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Catherine Pepinster, Kate Kennedy, Tim Stanley and New Generation Thinker Dafydd Mills Daniel join Rana Mitter to look at the poet, theologian and now Saint John Henry. The programme marks 175 years since Newman's conversion from the high church tradition of Anglicanism and the Oxford Movement to the Catholic faith on 23 Feb 1846, with a conversation exploring his thinking and poetic writing. Catherine Pepinster is former editor of the Tablet and the author of The Keys and the Kingdom: The British and the Papacy Dafydd Mills Daniel is McDonald Departmental Lecturer in Christian Ethics at the University of Oxford and a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker. His book is called Ethical Rationalism and Secularisation in the British Enlightenment Tim Stanley is a columnist and leader writer for the Daily Telegraph who studied history at Cambridge and who is a contributing editor for the Catholic Herald https://www.timothystanley.co.uk/index.html Dr Kate Kennedy is Oxford Centre for Life-Writing Associate Director and a music specialist who has written on Ivor Gurney, and co-edited The Silent Morning: Culture and Memory after the Armistice and The First World War: Literature, Music, Memory. You can find a playlist Free Thinking explores religious belief https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03mwxlp including contributions from Ziauddin Sardar, Richard Dawkins, Karen Armstrong, Rabbi Sacks, Marilynne Robinson and Simon Schama. Producer: Ruth Watts

Catherine Pepinster, Kate Kennedy, Tim Stanley and New Generation Thinker Dafydd Mills Daniel join Rana Mitter to look at the poet, theologian and now Saint John Henry. The programme marks 175 years since Newman's conversion from the high church tradition of Anglicanism and the Oxford Movement to the Catholic faith on 23 Feb 1846, with a conversation exploring his thinking and poetic writing. Catherine Pepinster is former editor of the Tablet and the author of The Keys and the Kingdom: The British and the Papacy Dafydd Mills Daniel is McDonald Departmental Lecturer in Christian Ethics at the University of Oxford and a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker. His book is called Ethical Rationalism and Secularisation in the British Enlightenment Tim Stanley is a columnist and leader writer for the Daily Telegraph who studied history at Cambridge and who is a contributing editor for the Catholic Herald https://www.timothystanley.co.uk/index.html Dr Kate Kennedy is Oxford Centre for Life-Writing Associate Director and a music specialist who has written on Ivor Gurney, and co-edited The Silent Morning: Culture and Memory after the Armistice and The First World War: Literature, Music, Memory. You can find a playlist Free Thinking explores religious belief https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03mwxlp including contributions from Ziauddin Sardar, Richard Dawkins, Karen Armstrong, Rabbi Sacks, Marilynne Robinson and Simon Schama. Producer: Ruth Watts

Check out the meaning and the importance of the Oxford Movement. Visit our academy www.learningliteraturewithpurba.com to discover a wide range of online classes and courses.

Join me, Ferdi McDermott, Headmaster of Chavagnes, for a friendly chat about the good old days, with a gathering of young friends, and of course (especially for this subject) some of my oldest and best friends ... Let's talk about nostalgia. Is it innate in man? Is there a gene for it? Or is it a folk memory of Eden? Or is it something that comes out when times are hard? Is it a comfort mechanism? Or a a survival mechanism ? With us this evening are Chavagnes Young Masters Philip Marhsall (Durham and Oxford) Charles Eric Lorin (McGill), Antoine Bureau (Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon), Antoine Bertier (ESCP), plus three extremely fine Old Masters : my friend for over 25 years, Charles Coulombe (ITI, Austria), celebrated writer and journalist, then dear friend of 20 years and literary scholar Robert Asch (Montréal), former professor at Chavagnes from 2002 to 2012 ... and last but not least, former Chief Librarian at the Manchester University Rylands Library and international authority on Cardinal Newman and the Oxford Movement, Peter Nockles, another old friend from my London days in the 1990s. Welcome to all these fine gentlemen.

On the Lord’s Supper in Time of Sickness and Plague by William Klock When you walked into the church this morning I’m sure you noticed that the Lord’s Table looks different.  Instead of the coloured burse and veil covering the chalice and paten, there’s a big brass container.  For those who may not be familiar with this sort of thing, it holds individual glasses of wine.  We’ve decided to make a temporary change in how we share in the Lord’s Supper.  The local public health unit is advising that we could be living with the Health Ministry’s guidelines for worship for at least another year.  This change isn’t ideal.  It alters the symbolism of the Lord’s Supper and that’s not a good thing, but it is permissible on a temporary basis.  Bp. Sutton warned me that most the REC went to these individual glasses during the Spanish Flu epidemic a century ago and that it took 70-80 years to get rid of them.  So we’re going here cautiously. In light of that, today, I’d like to talk about the Lord Supper, what it is, how it works, the importance of the symbolism involved.  In terms of thinking about how the Lord’s Supper works, Christian thinking has become encrusted with different ideas, some biblical and some not, so let’s start with something surprising similar that I think we can all understand.  It’s another ritual: the birthday party.  Birthdays are full of symbolism, just like the Lord’s Supper.  We invite our family and friends, we may dress up or wear funny hats, we decorate the house, we bring gifts for the birthday boy or girl, and most important, we have a cake covered with candles.  Someone lights the candles—ideally the number of candles corresponds to how old the person is—and then he or she makes a wish and blows them out.  And everyone sings “Happy Birthday”.  Even if the party is simple and only has some of the elements, we’d all recognise it for what it is.  And what is it?  Are we merely celebrating the fact that our friend has made another trip around the sun?  No.  It’s more than a celebration of another year.  It’s a celebration of our friend’s birth.  It looks back to the past.  For some of the big milestones we may even drag out the baby pictures.  But it also looks to the future with hope.  We sing “Happy Birthday” and then follow it up with “…and many moooore” and the birthday boy or girl makes a wish.  Here’s the key I want you to think about: The birthday party celebrates today, but while it does that, it also looks back to the past, draws it into the present, and looks hopefully to the future. Now, let’s think about another party.  This one’s in the Bible, in the Old Testament, and it takes the form of a feast or a meal—or a supper (see where I’m going with this?).  In Exodus we read about the Passover and how the Lord told his people that it wasn’t a one-time event, but something that was to observed every year in perpetuity.  And so if we were to visit a family in the time of Samuel or the time of King Hezekiah…or if we were to visit the family of Joseph and Mary at the time of Passover, we would find them eating this meal that they had eaten with their parents, and their parents with their parents, and so on all the way back to that night before Israel left Egypt.  Everyone who was circumcised, everyone who bore God’s covenant sign was summoned by the Lord to be part of this meal right from the beginning and down through the generations.  Families gathered in their homes and the father or grandfather would recall those events of long ago: How God’s people had been slaves in Egypt and how the Lord had rescued them, brought them through the Red Sea, given them his law, and eventually led them to the promised land. At one point in the meal, the youngest boy chimes in as part of the liturgy—what the Jews call the Haggadah: “Why is this night different from all other nights?”  And Father or Grandfather would respond with the ancient words of the liturgy that “this is the night when our God, the Holy One, blessed be he, came down to Egypt and rescued us from the Egyptians.” You or I, not being familiar with what’s going on might say, “But this isn’t the night.  That night was over three thousand years ago.”  And they might explain to you that, yes, it is.  It’s not about them as individuals.  It’s about them as the covenant people of God, united through the ages by his promises and by faith in his faithfulness.  Everyone who bears the covenant sign of circumcision is part of that people, just as everyone who takes part in this meal is part of that people.  And everything they do in this meal points to this reality.  The little boy asks more questions: Why are we eating unleavened bread?  Why are we eating these bitter herbs?  Why do we recline instead of sitting at the table?  Why do we eat this roasted meat?  And Father explains—again this is all part of the liturgy—that the unleavened bread reminds them of the haste with which the Lord led them out of Egypt.  There was no time for bread to rise.  The bitter herbs remind them that in Egypt they were slaves.  To recline at the table is the posture of free people.  Slaves stood.  And this reminds them of the Lord’s deliverance.  And the roasted meat recalls the Passover lamb eaten that night, it recalls the burnt sacrifices made in the temple, and it recalls the blood painted on the doorposts of our houses. The lamb and the blood were especially important.  The Lord’s people were already marked out by their circumcision, but the blood painted on the doorposts served as a sign to distinguish the Israelites from the Egyptians when the Lord swept through the land, taking the lives of all the firstborn.  The Passover served to distinguish the people of God from all other people.  The elements of the meal served to remind the people what it meant to be God’s people: They were once slaves, but the Lord had delivered them and made them his own, and he had given them his promises for the future—a promise of a Messiah who would set all to rights—for whom they continued to live in hope.  And so the meal not only marked out a people for deliverance from Egypt, it continued to mark out a people who would be delivered one day by the Messiah, a people to be delivered into the life of the age to come.  This is how this night hundreds or even thousands of years after those events could still be that night.  Through this meal, given by the Lord, his people were not only set apart from all others, but united across the generations in his promises. Now, we come to the meal that you and I share each week.  I hope you’ve started see the connections and I hope you’ve started to see how it works.  We gather together as the people whom the Lord has made his own through baptism, we hear the Scriptures read and recall the history of God and his people.  And then we come to his Table where the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection are recalled, where we hear again the words of Jesus, spoken in the upper room in the last Passover meal he celebrated with his disciples, and we eat bread and drink wine.  What’s going on?  How does the Lord’s Supper work?  What’s the significance of the symbols and images involved?  I hope you’re beginning to see that now. Still, we may have to clear away some clutter to see it clearly.  I’ve spoken about the Passover and what it did and what it meant, because that’s where we have to start if we’re going to understand what the Lord’s Supper is all about.  Just as Jesus created a new people of God, a new Israel, with roots firmly planted in the old, but now centred on himself, Jesus also took the Passover, put himself at the centre of it, and gave this new people a new meal.  Passover is the key, but over the years Christians have often lost that focus.  Many of the Church Fathers turned to Greek philosophy—particularly the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato—to explain things, instead of looking back to the Old Testament and to the Judaism of Jesus’ day.  By the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas had worked out a whole theology rooted in these Greek ideas.  And the focus of the Lord’s Supper became centred, not on participation in the meal, but on a transformation believed to happen in the bread and wine during the blessing or what became known as the “prayer of consecration”.  Outwardly the bread and wine were still bread and wine, but inwardly, their essence was transformed into the essence of the body and blood of Jesus.  This led to all sorts of abuses of the Lord’s Supper.  People took to worshipping the bread, believing it to literally be Jesus.  The congregation was excluded from the Supper and, when they did receive, the wine was withheld from them.  Individual wafers were introduced—called “hosts”, because they were believed to “host” the literal body of Jesus after being consecrated. But it went further.  These pagan philosophical ideas led to very different understanding of ministry and ordination.  The idea developed that ordination was mostly about the bishop—in succession from the apostles themselves through the laying on of hands—imparting a spiritual gift to the new priest so that he could effect this mystical change when celebrating the Lord’s Supper.  Both the Lord’s Supper and the ministry of the clergy were twisted into something far different from what we see in the New Testament. The Reformers saw this and worked to rectify it, but they didn’t agree on everything.  Martin Luther made some significant reforms, but for him, even if the bread and wine didn’t literally change, it was still about the real presence of Jesus in, with, and under the elements.  John Calvin, on the other hand, had a greater sense of what I’ve been talking about.  He was still focused on the idea of Jesus’ presence in the Lord’s Supper, but was right to understand that the Lord’s Supper doesn’t work through a change in the bread and wine, but through our participation in it.  He argued that Jesus isn’t brought down to the Table, but that as we participate we are lifted up to experience the heavenly feast.  Others in the Reformed camp, like Ulrich Zwingli, argued that the bread and wine were simply symbols and the meal was strictly a memorial of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  The English Reformers steered a course between Luther and Calvin.  The Articles of Religion allowed for a range of belief on the Lord’s Supper, sort of with Luther’s ideas as a guard on one side and Calvin’s on the other.  Down through the centuries Anglicans have bounced back and forth between the two.  It wasn’t until the 19th Century that the ideas rejected at the Reformation were brought back into Anglicanism by the Oxford Movement and some Anglicans bounced over the wall and out of bounds.  Our Reformed Episcopal Church was formed in response to that trend, which is why our Declaration of Principles, reaffirming the Articles of Religion, denies very clearly “That the Presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper is a presence in the elements of Bread and Wine.” You see, if we look back to the roots of the Lord’s Supper in the Passover and if we look at what Jesus did in the upper room, we can see that this simply isn’t how the Lord’s Supper works.  Jesus didn’t give his disciples a new sacramentology when he handed them the Passover bread and wine.  There was nothing about the Passover that needed explanation by Aristotle or Plato and the same goes for the Lord’s Supper.  As the Passover worked by participation—by eating the meal—so the does the Lord’s Supper.  Jesus simply took the bread and the wine of the Passover meal and said, “This is me.  This is my body and this is my blood which are about to be given for you.”  The disciples would never have read some Aristotelian change in the essence of the bread and wine into that statement and neither should we.  Matt Colvin, in the book he published last year, makes the case that the portion of bread that Jesus used was a bit that was traditionally reserved to represent the coming Messiah.[1]  He makes a very good case, which highlights just what Jesus was doing.  Every year the people of God ate this meal in which the symbolism of its elements recalled to them their deliverance, affirmed their status as God’s covenant people, and caused them to look forward to the day when he would usher in the age to come.  And, as he took the bread and wine and identified them with himself and the sacrifice he was about to make, Jesus was saying, “The day you’ve longed and hoped for has come.  The Passover is fulfilled this day.  I’m about to lead you into a new Exodus and to create a new people.  From now on, the bread and the wine will recall to you not your deliverance as slaves from Egypt, but that you are the new Israel delivered from the slavery of sin and death.” Just as the Passover recalled and brought into the present the Lord’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt, just as the Passover made each new generation participants in the Exodus, just as it united them with those who first took part in those events, in the Lord’s Supper, as we recall the death and resurrection of Jesus and eat the bread and drink the wine he’s given us, we are united with him in his death and resurrection.  As the blood of the lamb was painted on the homes of Israel, marking them out as the people of God, sparing them from judgement, and giving them a hope of life in the promised land, so our participation in the Lord’s Supper marks us out as the new Israel, as God’s people apart from all others, to be spared his judgement, and living in hope of the age to come.  Think of the acclamation we make during the Supper: Christ has died.  Christ is risen.  Christ will come again.  Both the past, when Jesus set us free from sin and death, and the future, where all are set to rights, are brought together with the present, with today, here at the Table. St. Paul sums this up and covers a lot of points all at once in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22.  His concern was Christians who might be enticed back to idolatry, not necessarily through actual worship in the temples, but by eating food that had been sacrificed to idols.  The pagans believed that eating these meals in the temples was a means of identifying with the pagan gods.  Paul says, “Don’t do that!  Why?  Because you are united with Jesus now.”  And as evidence he points to the Lord’s Supper.  Look at verses 16 and 17: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?  Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.   The Supper joins us with Jesus in his death and resurrection, not through some kind of “real presence” (however that’s defined), but as with Passover, as we participate in the events of our deliverance from sin and death.  But, too, the Supper also unites us to each other in Jesus.  Paul stresses the significance of the one loaf of bread and the one cup of wine from which we all share.  They bring us back to Jesus, the one who died and rose for us, but they also unite us into a single body. And that brings us back to where we started, with this funny tray of individual wine-fill glasses on the Table.  Can you see why observing the Lord’s Supper this way is less than ideal?  The same goes for individual wafers.  We share in one bread—in the one Jesus—not our personal Jesuses.  And just so with the cup.  This is why we use a single loaf of bread and a single chalice.  This is why the Reformers fought against the use of wafers in their day.  The first edition of the Prayer Book stressed that the bread was to be round and unleavened and sufficiently large so that it could be broken in pieces for everyone present.  A few years later, the second edition changed the rubric and called the sort of bread that was commonly eaten at ordinary meals, but of the best and purest flour.  Archbishop Cranmer understood that it was important that the bread look like the bread people are used to eating.  Whether it was leavened or unleavened was a matter of indifference.  The point is that Lord’s Supper is a meal.  Yes, it’s a ritualise meal, but it’s still a meal.  Using weird bread that doesn’t look like the bread people ordinarily eat undermines that and leads to superstition. Now, that said, while it’s not ideal to change the symbolism of the Supper, doing so doesn’t change what the meal is.  It might lead us astray in what we think about it, but the Lord’s Supper remains the Lord’s Supper.  This is why I’ve preached on this today.  I want to be sure that there’s no misunderstanding that results from this temporary change. The other option in our current situation is what we’ve been doing: observing the Lord’s Supper sub una—under one kind.  I’ve fielded a few questions about this.  Some churches have continued to include wine in the Supper, but have reserved it for the minister.  I think that’s unwise and leads us back to the errors of the Middle Ages.  If the people don’t get it, the priest shouldn’t get it either.  This is the same reason that I don’t celebrate the Lord’s Supper when I’m alone or with my family on holiday and away from a church.  I think it’s wrong to deny you the privilege of the sacrament by my absence, but then take advantage of it myself.  That’s not right.  No, Jesus envisioned situations in which wine would not be available.  In ancient Israel, wine was for special occasions.  Ordinary people didn’t usually have it available—not for a weekly observance like the Lord’s Supper.  The poor and slaves certainly didn’t.  In our liturgy we read Jesus’ words at the Last Supper as they are recorded by St. Paul.  He says to take and eat the bread in remembrance of him, but when he instructs the disciples to take and to drink the cup, he adds the words “as often as you do this”.  It’s a little clearer in Paul’s Greek what’s going on here, but what’s happening is that Jesus is putting a qualifier on the wine and not the bread, recognising that wine may not always be available.  “Eat the bread in remembrance of me and, as often as you are able, drink the wine in remembrance of me also.”  Again, while observing the Lord’s Supper without wine is certainly less than ideal, Jesus foresaw such a situation and doing it that way is, I think, better than the minister drinking the wine while denying it to the people. Now, lastly, another issue these last months for many: What happens when we can’t gather together physically?  Some have asked why we haven’t livestreamed our service.  The easy answer is that we don’t have the equipment or internet connection to do so.  But there’s more to it than that.  It’s hard to fault churches for making mistakes on this point, because we’re all in territory that’s new to us, but I also think this is why it’s important to have an understanding of the Lord’s Supper and an understanding of just what the Church is in advance, before we’re under the sort of pressure we’ve been under to come up with solutions.  I’ve seen churches livestreaming their Communion services and inviting people to go to the kitchen for bread and wine and so that the minister can consecrating them over the TV or Internet connection.  Others have consecrated bread and/or wine in advance and distributed them to church members to have while watching the livestream.  Increasingly, as churches are becoming accustomed to this, the services aren’t even livestreamed anymore; they’re put together in advance and then released Sunday morning.  At that point, it seems to me that we’ve been reduced an illusion of gathering.  More recently I’ve seen one minister perform what he called a “pantomimed Communion” on his livestream.  No bread or wine, just saying the words and going through the motions, then pretending to hand the bread and the cup through the computer screen.  In many cases, a minister and one or two others eat the Lord’s Supper and simply invite others to watch from a distance over the Internet. Brothers and Sisters, none of these things is the Lord’s Supper.  The emphasis on either consecrating elements through the screen or distributing preconsecrated elements in advance totally misses the point of the Supper.  It doesn’t work through the blessing of the bread and wine.  When Jesus blessed the bread and wine, he wasn’t doing so to change them.  He was giving thanks for them as any good Jew would have done at any meal, including the Passover.  In our terms, he was “saying grace” before they ate.  No, the Lord’s Supper “works” through the participation, through the eating as the Lord’s people gather together to share them.  That means, first, that you actually need real bread (and hopefully wine).  Jesus was clear, “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink” (John 6:55).  But, second, it also means that we have to gathered together physically.  Consider that when it came to the Passover, the Lord’s instructions specifically said that everyone had to be under the same roof.  Cousin Saul can’t participate in the family Passover via Zoom.  He has to find another household to join if he’s away from home.  These meals work by participation and participation requires physical presence and real food.  What goes for Passover in this case goes for the Lord’s Supper.  Modern Christians have been increasingly buying into a sort of Gnosticism that downplays the physical and the material and puts all the stress on the spiritual and it’s because of that that we’re reach a point where we think that virtual gatherings or a pantomimed meal are actual substitutes for the real thing.  They’re not.  Brothers and Sisters, virtual meetups can have their place when we’re unable to meet together physically, but I fear we’ve forgotten that they are not adequate substitutes for gathering in person as God’s people.  The very name used for the Church in the New Testament, ekklesia, on the one had translates a Hebrew word meaning to be “called out”—we are the people called out of the nations by God—but it’s also a word that means “assembly”.  The ekklesia cannot be the ekklesia without physically assembling together.  One pastor I know introduces his pre-recorded livestream every week joyfully shouting, “Welcome to church!”  A virtual gathering to watch a prerecorded sing-along and sermon might be the best some can do right now, but it’s not “church”.  That’s not what ekklesia means.  That doesn’t mean we can’t take a temporary break from physical gatherings if necessity demands as has been the case for many churches these last few months, but as we seek to accommodate the current crisis, it’s important we not undermine who and what we are as the people of God, as the Church. So that’s it.  I don’t have a neat gospel application this morning, but I think it’s important that I address some of what’s been going on these past months and what we’re doing as we move forward, at least in terms of the Lord’s Supper.  When the times comes to receive the bread and wine I’ll give some more instructions as to how we’ll do that with these individual glass, but for now, let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the meal you have given us.  It teaches us what you’ve done for us in your death and resurrection.  It teaches us what you have made us as your people.  It marks us out from the rest of the world.  And it gives us hope for the day when you will finish what you have started.  I pray that you would give us a greater appreciation for your Supper and wisdom and understanding to get it right as we participate in it in these difficult days.  Amen. [1] The Lost Supper (Lanham, MD: Lexington/Fortress, 2019).

I believe that in these days, God is stirring the pot. God is refining His Church. God is calling His people back to Him from the misdirected steps we have taken. God is giving us an opportunity to embrace an opportunity to encounter Him in a way that some have been longing for years to see. What do I mean by this? Well, it is not anything new. We read how God did this over and over again through the Old Testament with the Nation of Israel. And in the New Testament, Jesus brought this opportunity to Jew and Gentile alike. The Kingdom of God had come and an invitation to become a new creation was given to all. The Church was born and a revival of spirit and life as God designed and desired began to grow. It is nothing new. We see it throughout Church History. Great moves of God developed through the years as God stirred and called His people to back to deeper and a more intimate relationship him. Beginning with their repentance.Monastic life of the 4th Century developed from such an experience.The Social Justice movement of St. Francis in the 12th Century called the church back from many wild abuses Things like the reformation took place. The rediscovery of the Word of God in the language of the people brought about an Evangelical Movement in the 16th Century much like the days of Josiah 900 years before.The Charismatic Movement not only of Pentecost but again in the 17th Century with the Quakers and people like George Fox and of course through the 20th Century of Azusa St. and what many of our mainline churches experienced through the 70’s and 80’s. Called people to a life in the Spirit that would impact everything around them.Great moves of God like Holiness Movement of the 18th Century where John Wesley encountered the living God after years of serving as a Priest in the Anglican Church. A movement where people were called to discipleship in ways that had largely been ignored or long forgotten but renewed a lifeless and clearly sin filled church.The Sacramental or Incarnational Movements of Moravians in the 18th and the Oxford Movement of the 19th Century calling people encounter the grace of God in outward realities of life and worship. These are not the only ways in which God has called his Church to repent and return to Him but these are definite places through Church History that we see people repent and the Holy Spirit breath life into the people of God when what was evolving was more and more wandering in the wilderness we might say. In the texts we have been reading the past two weeks, Jesus is describing how God sees the world. How God has scattered seed. How God intends to bring about a harvest. How even though the enemy, Satan will try to destroy or disrupt the harvest God is planting. Yet, God will not be stopped. The fruit of the harvest will come in. And so the question comes back to us once again. If God is producing a harvest, if evil exist and yet God has a purpose and a plan that will expose the evil and guard the holy, do we want God has for us and if so how do we discern God’s wisdom and truth from the folly that the enemy disguises so well.Support the show (http://www.easytithe.com/stbdeland)

In this episode I talk with Professor Brent Sirota about church history in the long 18th century. People have portrayed religion in the long 18th century as a little boring and staid. In the 17th century you had a civil war over religion in Britain. In the 19th century you had evangelicals, Darwin, and the Oxford Movement. But in the 18th century you have almost a cease fire. Professor Sirota's work looks at the process of how that ceasefire came about, and how it was less about religious toleration and more about a political process. In talking about this we end up talking a bit about the end of the world, and why a lot of people in America now think its coming soon. Check out our website at historian.live for book lists, and a link to our Patreon!

Dr. Timothy George and Dr. Timothy Larsen discuss Pentecostalism, the Oxford Movement, George MacDonald, doubt, and Marilynne Robinson this week on the podcast.

Dr. Timothy George and Dr. Timothy Larsen discuss Pentecostalism, the Oxford Movement, George MacDonald, doubt, and Marilynne Robinson this week on the podcast.

The Pilgrim Queen, was written in 1849 as a hymn for the Virgin Mary by Blessed John Henry Newman, after he had established the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England. Newman's earlier poetry, before he converted to Catholicism, was written during the Oxford Movement, and is often complex and can be difficult to understand at first reading. The early poetry was written for a different purpose than his later poetry; these later poems he wrote expressly to be sung as hymns, with the intent that they be easy to understand, especially by children. These hymn poems are straightforward and exceedingly charming in their lyrical language. The Pilgrim Queen is a perfect example of Newman’s hymn poetry; the verses’ meanings need little explanation. The Pilgrim Queen can be sung to many hymn tunes since the syllable count in each line is regular. This Newman hymn is appropriate for the week in which we have just celebrated the Queenship of Mary.In the poem, we find Mary waiting, when Jesus is discovered missing from the tomb. Notice the striking imagery used throughout. For example, Christ’s tomb is both “planted deep” and “raised high.” This tomb is called a “palace of ice” for when Christ was gone for the hours until His resurrection, much like on Good Friday when the tabernacles are empty, and His palace (either the tomb or tabernacles) is without Him, who is all Light. When summer came (that is, His resurrection) the ice “melted” away. The Pilgrim Queen (A Song.)THERE sat a Lady              all on the ground,Rays of the morning              circled her round,Save thee, and hail to thee,              Gracious and Fair,In the chill twilight              what wouldst thou there? "Here I sit desolate,"              sweetly said she,"Though I'm a queen,              and my name is Marie:Robbers have rifled              my garden and store,Foes they have stolen              my heir from my bower.  "They said they could keep Him              far better tha

Kevin and Gavin discuss Trump, John Keble and the latest Christian persucutions in England.

You're Doing It Wrong Adventists, American Lutherans, the Black Hawk War, the Oxford Movement, Andrew Jackson's Enemies Presentation Online Giving

Summary of today's show: In January 2012, Pope Benedict XVI created an ordinariate for North America as a way to welcome former Anglicans, their priests, and their parishes into communion with the Catholic Church. On the North Shore of Massachusetts, a group of former Episcopalians is preparing to do just that with their priest, Fr. Jurgen Liias. Scot Landry talks with Fr. Liias and Fr. David Barnes, pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly, about Fr. Liias' spiritual journey and what the new ordinariate means for resolving the rift in Christianity caused by the Protestant Reformation and Henry VIII. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry Today's guest(s): Fr. Jurgen Liias and Fr. David Barnes Links from today's show: Today's topics: Fr. Jurgen Liias and the Anglican Ordinariate 1st segment: Scot said in the future the year 2012 will be remembered as the creation of an ordinariate for Anglicans becoming Catholic. Fr. David Barnes, pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly joins us to discuss this news. Also joining us is Fr. Jurgen Liias, currently an Episcopalian priest seeking to become a Catholic priest in the ordinariate. Scot said Fr. Jurgen was born in Europe and moved with his family to the US. He said he was born in Germany. His mother was a refugee from East Germany and his father was a refugee from Estonia. He was born in 1948 and they later came to the United States as displaced persons. They originally lived in a displaced persons camp in Baldwinville, Massachusetts. He was four years old and his brother was two. His father found a place for them to live in an Episcopalian church rectory in Charlestown at St. John's in Monument Square. They lived there for most of his childhood. His father became caretaker of the church. Fr. Jurgen said from the time when they moved in he would say he wanted to be a minister like their host who took them in. He never changed his mind from that. He'd been baptized Lutheran, but they became Episcopalian. Fr. Jurgen said the two are very much alike. He said Charlestown in those days was a pretty rough Irish Catholic ghetto and he got beat up regularly for being a Protestant and a “Nazi”. The church was a refuge and the one place they were accepted, a safe haven. He went to Boston Latin school and to Amherst College in Western Mass. He met his wife who was at Smith College. They met the first day as the Amherst men went to Smith to help the young ladies move into their dorms. In college, he was very involved in the peace movement and Students for a Democratic Society. As a Christian he always said he was there because Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. Most of his Christianity in those days was expressed in the social gospel. Scot asked if the Sixties was a turbulent for Episcopalians as it was for Catholics. Fr. Jurgen said it was a shift, but not as much as for Catholics. He said while he was involved in the social gospel, it was all externalized and he hadn't internalized or taken a good look at himself. As the charismatic movement began to rise, he started to have his heart opened to a more person exposure to the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile, his church's pastor wasn't very interested in this spirituality. He became more convinced what he was experiencing was something the Church needed. Out of that came a call within a call to work for the renewal of the Episcopal Church. It had become stale and spiritually tepid. Most of his ministry over the last 30 years has been working to this end. Fr. Jurgen said he began to delve into deeper questions of what is the faith and what is the Church. He found a confessor, which is unusual for a Protestant, in order to confess his sins. His first confessor was an Episcopalian monk, but after 5 years he told him he'd left his order and became a Dominican in the Catholic Church. This was a seed planted in Fr. Jurgen's psyche. Another seed planted for his journey to Rome was the pro-life movement. He found in the pro-life movement in the early 1970s. Most of his Episcopalian friends, other clergy, abandoned him as he took a stand against abortion. Feminism had taken strong root in the Episcopal Church. He started the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life. He saw in the Catholic Church a consistency in standing for the Church and that's where he began thinking about maybe he'd be better off in the Catholic Church. 2nd segment: Scot asked Fr. Jurgen to define Anglican, Episcopalian, and ordinariate. Fr. Jurgen said the Anglican Church encompasses Christianity in England going back to the times of the Holy Roman Empire. It flowered when St. Augustine of Canterbury was sent by Pope St. Gregory in the fourth or fifth century to bring Christianity there. At the time of Henry VIII in the 1500s, the king broke away from the Pope and created the Church of England. During the heyday of the British Empire, the Anglican church went wherever the empire went and created the Anglican Communion, all the branches throughout the world. In the United States, the Anglicans called themselves the Episcopal Church. In the worldwide Christianity, the Catholic Church is the largest, the Orthodox is the second-largest, and the Anglicans are the third-largest. Pope Paul VI started the Anglican-Catholic dialogue during the 1960s. Scot said the Anglican Ordinariate was founded in January 2012. Why now? Fr. Jurgen said Pope Benedict said it was a response to the requests of Anglicans over many, many years. Bl. John Henry Newman was an Anglican priest in the early 1800s who started the Oxford Movement to bring the Anglicans back to Rome, but he eventually concluded that he had to do it himself. In the 1980s, Pope John Paul set up the Anglican provision, which let individual Anglican priests convert to Catholicism and to become Catholic priests. Then there was permission given to certain Catholic parishes to use a different liturgical form, closer to the Anglican form. Now, the ordinariate allows Episcopalian congregations to come into full communion with Rome with their priests, but to continue to hold to their traditions. the ordinariate is the structure under which they serve. Scot said it's kind of parallel to a diocese, except dioceses are territorial, while the ordinariate in the US covers all of North America. Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, a former Anglican bishop, has been put in charge of the ordinariate by Pope Benedict XVI and serves the function of a bishop. Scot said there are a few ordinariate parishes in the US so far. Fr. Jurgen said there are close to 60 or 70 men like him who are seeking Holy Orders through the ordinariate, some of them with significant parishes with them, others who are like Fr. Jurgen have a small group of people looking to come into the Church with him. Scot asked Fr. David Barnes why this is significant, not just in the world, but more locally in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. David said it's part of the New Evangelization. Pope Benedict is open to all the movements in the life of the Church and interested in opening up new ways for people to become Catholic. The Pope has gone around all the problems to open up this new way. Scot said it's his opinion that because Pope Benedict grew up in Germany among Protestants that he views the role of the papacy to further this work. Fr. David said the witness of the Catholic faith of the new converts is a good example. Fr. Jurgen and those like him bear witness to a relationship with Jesus Christ, how we come to faith and it changes our life. Scot asked what it means to him to see an Episcopal priest to share the priesthood with him. Fr. David said it's great to share faith with him, apart from ordination. Through him, he's met other people and occasionally sees another Episcopalian priest coming to Mass at St. Mary's. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr. Jurgen what are the steps to becoming a Catholic priest in his position. Fr. Jurgen said the ordinariate has sped up the process. Under the pastoral provision it took one or two years. Fr. Jurgen started his process in February and hopes to be ordained this fall. He's taken part in theological formation, every Saturday for months, via computer distance learning. He's also had a mentor, a Catholic priest to help him, and Fr. Barnes has filled that role. He's also just came from psychological testing. There's a background check as well. These are all things that a seminarian has to go through. This is all gathered together and sent to Rome for approval by the Vatican. Fr. Jurgen said at a certain pint within the next few weeks, he will be expected to formally renounce his orders in the Anglican church. He will become a layman and await a decision by the Vatican. Scot asked him if he receives other sacraments first. Fr. Jurgen said he will be received at St. Margaret's in Beverly Farms on August 15. He will make his first Catholic confession and his first Communion. He will also receive confirmation at the same Mass. He said he's been going to Mass and it's difficult not receiving Communion so far. Scot asked Fr. David how he will prepare parishioners. Fr. David said people have been very receptive. Msgr. Steenson came to the parish a few months ago to give a substantial lecture on the ordinariate. They had a Mass on which several people were received into the Church. On August 15, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, who also serves as vicar general of the ordinariate, will fly up for the confirmation. If he will be ordained in the Church, Cardinal Seán will do that. Fr. Jurgen said there's also about 15–20 people who have also chosen to make this journey with him. He started almost two years ago with a little group that met on Saturdays in 8am. They discussed the papal document setting up the process for the ordinariates. They also studied many ecumenical documents. Dr. Tom Howard, a former Anglican who became Catholic nd who later taught at St. John's Seminary, helped catechize the group. They were meeting every week and now meet twice per month. They continue to meet regularly and tonight, for example, they will be studying the rosary. Fr. Jurgen said there is a wing of the Anglicans that does all the Catholic devotional life, call the Anglo-Catholics. He said he is more of an Evangelical. There are Anglican traditions that aren't part of Catholic devotional life. He said familiarity with the Bible will be something they can bring. There are some spiritual traditions as well. One is called choral evensong. It's a form of Vespers with Anglican chant. Pope Benedict had just had the Westminster choir in the Vatican to sing evensong. Fr. David said Msgr. Steenson predicts that the Anglican traditions will be saved by the Catholic Church. Fr. Jurgen said the group will be forming a parish of the ordinariate within the Archdiocese of Boston. They intend to have a positive relationship with the local diocese. While they could form a parish without approval of local bishop, Msgr. Steenson said they want a cordial partnership. Fr. David said the priests on the North Shore will love to have Fr. Jurgen's help in the area. He hopes to have faculties to function within the Archdiocese. But in the meantime, he will help found a parish of the Diocese of North America. One of the visions of Pope BEnedict is the beginning of the end of the divisions of the Reformation. They want an organic reunion. Fr. David said he's very hopeful that Fr. Jurgen will be ordained and he's been a very wonderful priest who shown many gifts in his previous parishes. He hears that he's a wonderful preacher and has a great love for the Church already. Fr. Jurgen said he feels like he's falling in love with the Catholic Church and is enormously blessed with the gift of the Church and the riches it will give him. Fr. Jurgen said he published his spiritual autobiography as part of his application and had so many requests for it that he put it on a new bog.

USCCB Media Relations Director Sr. Mary Ann Walsh previews the agenda items on the U.S. Bishops November general meeting; Dr. Rick McCord discusses the bishops' new pastoral letter on marriage; the CNS Spotlight looks at the New York Foundling home; Fact of faith-the Oxford Movement; Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta discusses his experiences at the Vatican Synod on Africa and Deacon Michael Silloway talks about participating in the Synod's Closing Mass; Rome Report reveals Pope Benedict's pick to head Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Movie Review: Cirque du Freak, the Vampire's Assistant.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Oxford Movement in the Church of England in the 19th century. Cardinal John Henry Newman is perhaps the most significant Christian theologian of the nineteenth century. He began as an evangelical, becoming a High Anglican before converting to Roman Catholicism in 1845. His is the story of the diversity of Victorian religious life. But his path also marks the waning of the ideas of Protestant nationhood at the close of the eighteenth century and the reaffirmation of the Catholic tradition at the turn of the twentieth century. For over a decade, between 1833 and 1845, Newman and his fellow travellers, the Oxford Movement, argued that the Church of England was a holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. They sought to assert the Catholic nature of their Church just as secularism, liberalism, non-conformism, and even Roman Catholicism, seemed to threaten her. They published tracts, preached and brought their social mission to some of the poorest urban parishes. Why between 1833 and 1845 was the voice of reaction such a loud one? What was the Oxford Movement and what motivated them? How did they present their ideas to the Anglican clergy at large and what did the clergy make of them? And why did they leave such a powerful legacy for the Church of England, its character and its churches? With Sheridan Gilley, Emeritus Reader in Theology at the University of Durham; Frances Knight, Senior Lecturer in Church History at the University of Wales, Lampeter; Simon Skinner, Fellow and Tutor in History at Balliol College, Oxford.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Oxford Movement in the Church of England in the 19th century. Cardinal John Henry Newman is perhaps the most significant Christian theologian of the nineteenth century. He began as an evangelical, becoming a High Anglican before converting to Roman Catholicism in 1845. His is the story of the diversity of Victorian religious life. But his path also marks the waning of the ideas of Protestant nationhood at the close of the eighteenth century and the reaffirmation of the Catholic tradition at the turn of the twentieth century. For over a decade, between 1833 and 1845, Newman and his fellow travellers, the Oxford Movement, argued that the Church of England was a holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. They sought to assert the Catholic nature of their Church just as secularism, liberalism, non-conformism, and even Roman Catholicism, seemed to threaten her. They published tracts, preached and brought their social mission to some of the poorest urban parishes. Why between 1833 and 1845 was the voice of reaction such a loud one? What was the Oxford Movement and what motivated them? How did they present their ideas to the Anglican clergy at large and what did the clergy make of them? And why did they leave such a powerful legacy for the Church of England, its character and its churches? With Sheridan Gilley, Emeritus Reader in Theology at the University of Durham; Frances Knight, Senior Lecturer in Church History at the University of Wales, Lampeter; Simon Skinner, Fellow and Tutor in History at Balliol College, Oxford.

The title of this episode of CS is Liberal.The term “modern” as it relates to the story of history, has been treated differently by dozens of authors, historians, and sociologists. Generally speaking, Modernization is the process by which agricultural and rural traditions morph into an industrial, technological, and urban milieu that tends to be democratic, pluralistic, socialist, and/or individualistic.In the minds of many, the process of modernization is evidence of the validity of evolution. The idea is that evolution not only applies to the increasing complexity and adaptation of biological life, it also applies sociologically to civilization and human systems. They too are evolving. So, progress is good; a sign of societal evolution.But critics of modernization decry the abuses it often creates. Not all modern innovations are beneficial. The increased emphasis on individual rights can weaken a person's sense of belonging to and identity in a family and community. It weakens loyalty to valuable traditions and customs. Modernization builds new weapons that may encourage their inventors to assume they're superior, then use them to subjugate and dominate those they deem inferior, appropriating their land and resources.Modernization is often linked to a creeping secularization, a turning away from theistic religion. Periodic revivals are viewed as just momentary blips in societal evolution; temporary distractions in progress toward the realization of the Enlightenment dream of a totally secular society.It was during the 19th C that the rationalist ideas of the Enlightenment finally moved out of the halls of academia to settle in as the status quo for European society. Christians found themselves caught up in a world of mind-numbing change. Their cherished beliefs were assailed by hostile critics. Authors like Marx and Nietzsche attacked the Christian Faith from a base in Darwin's popular new theory.In an attempt to accommodate Faith and Reason, Ludwig Feuerbach, author of The Essence of Christianity, published in 1841, reduced the idea of God to that of a man. He said God is really just the projection of specific human qualities raised to the level of perfection.In 1855, Ludwig Büchner suggested that science dispensed with the need for supernaturalism. A materialist, he was one of the first to say that the advent of modern science meant there was no longer a need to explain phenomena by appealing to the miraculous or some ethereal spiritual realm. No such realm existed, except in the minds of those who refused to accept what science proved. He said, “The power of spirits and gods dissolve in the hands of science.”During the last half of the 19th C, Frederic Nietzsche made the case for atheism. Son of a Lutheran pastor, Nietzsche received an education in theology and philology at the Universities of Bonn and Leipzig.An amateur musician, Nietzsche became friends with composer Richard Wagner, who like Nietzsche, admired the atheist Schopenhauer.In Nietzsche's philosophy, we see the fruit of something we looked at in an earlier episode. The rationalist emphasis on reason divorced from faith leads ultimately to irrationality because it claims omniscience. By saying there IS no realm but the material realm, it closes itself off to even the possibility of a non-material realm. Yet the process of reason leads inevitably and inexorably to the conclusion there MUST be a realm of being, a category of existence beyond, apart from the material realm of nature.So Nietzsche embraced what has to be called non-rational ideas as the source for creativity, what he called “true living,” and art. An early indication his mind was fracturing, he identified as a follower of Dionysus, god of sexual debauchery and drunkenness. It's no surprise he indicted Christianity as promoting all that which was weak. He hated its emphasis on humility and its acceptance of the role of guilt in aiming to better people by moving them to repentance and renouncing self. For Nietzsche, the self was the savior. He advocated for people to exalt themselves and unapologetically assert their quest for power. He coined the term Übermensch, the superman whose been utterly liberated from the outdated mores of Biblical Christianity and governed by nothing but truth and reason. This superman decides for himself what's right or wrong.Nietzsche claimed “God is dead,” so no absolutes exist. There were no facts, only interpretations. Many creatives; authors, painters, and researchers were inspired by Nietzsche and used his writings as inspiration.It was at this time that advocates for what was called comparative religions argued Christianity ought to be studied as just one of several religions rather than from a confessional perspective that views it as TRUE. The assumption was that religion, just like everything else, had evolved from a primitive to a more complex state. A comparative study might find the core idea that united all religions, just as paleontologists looked for the common ancestor to man and apes.By the second half of the 19th C, derivations of the word “secular,” along with new words like agnostic, and eugenics, were part of European vocabularies. Secularization was identified with an emerging modernist separation of morality from traditional religion.Thomas Huxley minted the word agnostic to distinguish mere skeptics from hard-boiled atheists. It seems his development of the term may have actually helped many students, academics, and members of the upper classes in Victorian England shed traditional religious faith and embrace Rationalist-styled unbelief. They did so because they could now express their growing discomfort with supernaturalism without having to go all the way and declaim any belief in a Supreme being. It provided some philosophical wiggle room.Francis Galton introduced the word eugenics in 1883 to designate efforts to make the human race better by “improved” breeding. Galton, an evolutionary scientist, believed eugenics would favor the fittest human beings and suppress the birth of the unfit.In light of all this, it's not hard to understand why Christian leaders were suspicious that “modernity” and “secularization” seemed to go hand in hand. Many materialists came right out and said they were the same; to be modern meant to be secular and hostile to religious faith.In 1874 John Draper published the hugely influential History of the Conflict between Science and Religion, in which he said religion is the inveterate enemy of reason and science. European society in particular saw a collapse of the political, religious, and social masters that had steered it for centuries. In their place intellectuals emerged who sought a secular substitute to traditional religion.What made this process seemingly unstoppable was the results of modernization and the fruit of technology rapidly enhancing the quality of life across the continent. Many Christians felt they faced a losing battle defending the faith, “once for all delivered to the saints” against the onslaught of a science delivering such wonderful tools every other week.They began to wonder if they could remain “orthodox” while becoming “modern” Christians.That challenge was complicated by the work of Charles Darwin. What made it an even greater challenge was when believers heard from scientists who said they were Christians, who told them Darwin was right. Humans were descended from the apes, not Adam and Eve.Others, like Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, boldly declared Darwin's ideas incompatible with Scripture. In 1860, Wilberforce published a well-crafted and lengthy response to the Origin of Species. He praised Darwin's research and engaging style and even gave a nod to  Darwin's admission to being a Christian. But Wilberforce was careful to mark out many of Darwin's claims as erroneously conceived.Wilberforce said God is the Author of both the Books of Nature and Scripture. So it's not possible for the two to contradict each other. It's been the object of one branch of Apologetics to justify that ever since.In October 1860, Bishop Wilberforce and Huxley engaged in a famous debate at the British Association in Oxford over Darwin's theories. Huxley shrewdly portrayed the cleric as meddling in scientific matters beyond his competency. Wilberforce used a classic debate rhetorical device that had little to do with the substance of the debate but would prejudice the audience against his opponent. Huxley took the barb, then turned it around and used it to paint Wilberforce as HAVING to use such tactics because of the supposed weakness of his argument. If the Bishop had stuck to the content of his original article in the British Digest, he'd have fared much better.The debate over Darwin's theory took many turns. Some wondered if he was right that evolutionary processes were progressive in the sense that they moved toward a species perfection. Darwin had said, “As natural selection works solely by and for the good of each being, all corporeal and mental endowments will tend to progress towards perfection.” Supporters of Darwinism had a rationale for what came to be known as Social Darwinism with its advocacy for racism and eugenics.Ernst Haeckel introduced Darwinism to Germany. A brilliant zoologist, in 1899, Haeckel published The Riddle of the Universe, in which he argued for a basic unity between organic and inorganic matter. He denied the immortality of the soul, the existence of a personal God, promoted infanticide, suicide, and the elimination of the unfit. Using a hundred lithographs drawn from nature (1904), Haeckel campaigned for the teaching of evolutionary biology in Germany as fact. This was in contrast with the many scientists who viewed Darwinism as an evolving theory.At the dawn of the 20th C, the debate over Darwinism continued. As early as 1910, some claimed the theory of evolution was already dead. As subsequent history has shown, yeah –uh, not quite.Under mounting pressure, Europeans who wanted to be considered “modern, scholarly” yet remain “Christian” often made accommodations in the way they expressed their faith. Early in the century, liberal theologians found new ways to describe and explain the Christian faith. Friedrich Schleiermacher proposed that Truth in Christianity was located in a personal religious experience, not in its historical events or correspondence to reality. He criticized Scholastic Protestant orthodoxy emphasizing assent to propositions about God. He said what was far more important was one's subjective experience of the divine.Later in the century, Catholic modernists said the Roman Catholic Church must accommodate the advances in knowledge made by higher criticism and Darwinism. They also declaimed the lack of democracy in the running of the Church. Pushing back against all this in 1910 Pope Pius X condemned modernism as the “synthesis of all heresies.”Faced with such dramatic changes and challenges, many 19th C Christians felt the need to define and defend their faith in new ways. That wasn't an easy task in light of some of the charges being made against it. Those who wanted to align the Faith with the modern scholarship discovered its rules tended to ensconce naturalist presuppositions that allowed no room for the supernaturalism required in theism.Anglicans and those in the Oxford Movement saw no such need to adjust their beliefs. They simply reaffirmed the authority of their faith communities and emphasized the importance of confessions, creeds, and Scripture. In mid-July, 1833, the Anglican theologian John Keble preached a famous sermon titled, “National Apostasy,” which triggered the beginning of the Oxford Movement. Keble warned about the repercussions of forsaking the Anglican Church.We'll take a closer look at the emergence of Theological Liberalism in our next episode.