Good interview of @frutledge.bsky.social by @benjamindcrosby.bsky.social Few people have made a bigger impact on my theology of the cross and my preaching of the Word of God than Rev. Rutledge. Her insistence on God as the subject; as the Actor on the human stage is just so indispensably true.

"Examine and do not even listen if they speak of the glorified Jesus, unless you have first heard of the crucified Jesus." @benjamindcrosby.bsky.social quoting Martin Luther in this new and insightful article: www.plough.com/en/topics/fa...

Let's say non-political and non-theological opinion

Good thread here, which echoes some of my own complaints about CPE — less the training itself, and more how it functions in how we think about pastoral care.

The latest longform episode of All Things Necessary is out. Join me and @benjamindcrosby.bsky.social as we talk about the 39 Articles and some of Ben's writings on "reconfessionalization." ⚓ youtu.be/2YLwY113gns

Had a great time talking about the Articles of Religion today with @dljohnston.bsky.social for All Things Necessary! ⚓

Some thoughts from me on scriptural interpretation and the need to take it seriously. I owe @benjamindcrosby.bsky.social praise for his recent writing on this topic which got me thinking more about this question - if you don't read his substack, you should! ⚓

A Substack from me, asking what it might mean to approach the Scriptures with a posture of 'teachability' ⚓

A new Substack from me: what does it mean for Christian life that we exist in a context in which the richest and most powerful companies in the world are constantly competing to ever-more-effectively seize our attention? ⚓

Looking back, I think I’ve learned since ordination that the church qua institution is significantly worse than even my most cynical take — and God’s grace given to us in Jesus much richer and stronger than I had understood. ⚓️

Four years in holy orders today! ⚓️

Did you know that Jane Austen wrote one of the prayers included in the appendix of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer: International Edition?

Excellent reflection on presiding at Holy Communion from the north side of the table. It is my preferred way to preside. ⚓

Finishing today the church history serious I've been doing with my parish since last September. 'A Great Cloud of Witnesses': every week, we read and discuss a bit by a significant theologian or otherwise important Christian figure. This is the list we've gone through. ⚓

A new Substack from me, thinking about what older models of the use of Scripture in pastoral care might have to teach us today. ⚓

it's gotta be Germany

That’s why I say we’re irenic, sacramental reformed Protestants.

It’s gotta be having faith continually worked in my heart by the Holy Spirit using word and sacrament, tbh.

Local organization shocked that the pope is, in fact, Catholic.

A new Substack from me! If you have ever wondered "so what does a church history PhD student actually DO all day?", here's an example of a recent finding I made and how I made it.

A new piece of mine in the Anglican Way that might be of interest: on the Elizabethan Church of England's doctrine of ministry, and what might be worth retrieving about its focus on the pastoral role as fundamentally about preaching and teaching. ⚓

I mean…

This is reminding me of Luther’s complaint that Henry VIII didn’t want to get rid of the pope but rather be his own pope

If you were wondering how things are going in the Diocese of Montreal, commenting was just turned off on a post about the upcoming episcopal election, because people were asking about misconduct allegations concerning several candidates about which the diocese has refused to comment. ⚓

My wife Sarah has written a really excellent piece for Plough on what Christians owe strangers in need, drawing upon her own experience working with refugees and upon the history of Christian thought. Alas — a very timely piece right now. ⚓️

These are, to my mind at least, the various ideal types. Yellow = traditionalist Anglo-Catholicism Orange = modern/liberal Catholicism Red = modern broad church Purple = liberationist (see next post for the rest) ⚓

Here's where I am, incidentally. Mostly second from bottom, with a little Leuenberger Konkordie fudge on the eucharist. ⚓

Amused myself by modifying the chart that's been making the rounds in an attempt to make it better reflect contemporary mainline Anglicanism, at least in Europe and North America. ⚓

I see that we're doing this (sorry for not doing the colors correctly; I confess that I'm too lazy to go back and re-do it). ⚓

Hi friends! Back from my Easter break with a Substack to share, about the misconduct policies in the Anglican Diocesan of Montreal. There have been questions lately about their suitability...and I have found that they are deeply, profoundly broken.

I'm not super active here anyway, but just a heads-up that I will be off for Lent. If you're interested in keeping in touch, best way to follow my work is my Substack, bencrosby.substack.com. Feel free to DM for other contact info.

A new Substack from me, looking at a 17th c. moment of cross-confessional generosity and what it might say to us today. ⚓

This is an excellent point by @benjamindcrosby.bsky.social. A weakened, diluted doctrinal heritage puts an unsustainable weight on Communion structures of institutional membership as a means of defining 'Anglican'. livingchurch.org/covenant/wha...

A new Substack from me today, in which I suggest that a prominent TEC bishop's publicly stated approach to church discipline displays a worrying misunderstanding of the canons, of episcopal power, and the relationship between 'pastoral' and 'judicial' approaches to clergy discipline. ⚓

Behold, possibly the most @benjamindcrosby.bsky.social statement ever made:

A new Substack from me: thinking about keeping the Lord's Day with Lewis Bayly, Jeremy Taylor, and King James.

Great stuff from @benjamindcrosby.bsky.social: "I am increasingly convinced of the value of using real, good bread – not just ‘to take away the supersticion’, as the rubric says, but also to give the signs their full representational force". anglicanway.org/the-bread-wh...

A new Substack from me -- a bit of a long one -- reflecting on how Christian teaching might offer a corrective to our post-Christian moral common sense in thinking about desire. ⚓

Made my preaching debut in the CofE yesterday at St Chad's, where the Revd Hannah Richardson is priest-in-charge. The sermon big idea: Jesus is baptized because he takes on our sin to give us his righteousness. great exchange ✔️ imputed righteousness ✔️ justification by faith ✔️

A new Substack from me, on a fascinating church decoration scheme I discovered at a church in the north of England:

As I was digging through my old Twitter account, I came across this excellent thread by @benjamindcrosby.bsky.social and felt the need to archive it for those who missed it.

I really enjoyed this (and Part 1, which Ben links to at the beginning of this piece) from @blueberrymill.bsky.social on the underappreciated beauty of the Athanasian Creed, and how one might use it in daily prayer.

A new Substack from me, responding to an important objection to my writing on church decline: am I neglecting broad drivers of decline and secularization and thus blaming the church for things that aren't really its fault? ⚓

It's time.

Mr. Casaubon from Middlemarch is really a perfect cautionary tale for the PhD student for why you just need to write the dang dissertation.

Want to use the Book of Common Prayer? Here's a how-to guide-- www.amazon.com/How-Use-Book...

For an end-of-the-year post, I went back through my Substack archives to see my most popular pieces from 2024. I wanted to share the most popular one again. It's about ecclesiastical gaslighting: the disconnect between what we say we confess & what in practice we often actually do. ⚓

Brilliantly said ⚓ @benjamindcrosby.bsky.social

Happy St John’s Day! ⚓️