Faith and Honor

On this episode, we discuss the point of observing Lent. We live in a time where observing Lent is typically seen as a mere denominational marker, when it is in fact a very ancient, even biblical practice. And yet so many American Christians don't only fail to undertake Lenten disciplines, but any fasting or ascetical practice whatsoever. We not only look at some of the origins and practices of th...

The 1979 revision of the Prayerbook was one of the pivotal moments in the history of the Episcopal Church. The whole prior history of the Anglican liturgical tradition was thrown out, and replaced with an ad hoc, reconstructed, 'archeological' work that came to be known as the 1979 "Prayerbook". All this took place simultaneously with the demolition of other cornerstone elements in the Episcopal C...

Few topics cause division and rancor as the question of women's ordination in the Anglican Church of North America. In this episode we look at an article that discusses the question without sufficient care, both for the unity of the Church and for today's dangerous climate of an aggressive secular culture: http://anglicanpastor.com/ask-an-anglican-pastor-an-interview-with-tish-harrison-warren-pt-2...

What's going on in American culture, how is the church reacting to that, and what are we doing about it? On this episode, Joe, Eric, and Bart discuss trends toward secularism in society, resulting in hostility to the Christian faith and life, as well as how Roman Catholics and evangelicals are responding to these shifts. Oftentimes, this takes some form of accommodation, or else a concerted effort...

Christmas! This is the big episode to start the most important conversation of the season. Do we really know as much about Christmas as everyone likes to think? So much has been lost and obscured about this most important of holy days. When does it start? What does it do within our liturgical calendar? What is the twelfth night? Where does roasted goose fit into this picture? The richness of tradi...

Everyone has a hot take on Evangelicals, and we wanted to bring a guest to have a conversation on who they are, where they're from, and where they're going. The role evangelicals play in English-speaking countries is very prominent, and in America they're perhaps the most influential Christian group. It is interesting to think about what the essence of the Evangelical movement is. Have they been a...

The Enlightenment is one of the most prominent socio-cultural movements to have affected the Church. Today, in the aftermath of the devastated and hollowed-out Christendom, traditionalist Roman Catholics have attributed to the Enlightenment much of the destruction of the faith that was to come, and it is to the non-Catholics that they attribute its origins. In a romantic narrative, as a wave of ne...

In this era of church history, an abiding question revolves around Anglican identity: what are its essential contours, what are its primary markers, and what are its historic examples? We wanted to wait to cover this topic because it is a delicate question in which it is easy to err on one side or the other.  In this, one of the first conversations on this topic, we wanted to bring on Fr. Charles...

The Founding Fathers in America have had a contested history in recent years. Men who have wrought such mighty works and an overwhelming legacy could not be left untouched by the cultural debate taking place right now. Despite the very famous and attested faithful bona fides of most of the Founders such as Patrick Henry, Dr. Witherspoon, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and others, increasing attentio...

On this episode, Eric Parker joins us to talk about Nicholas of Cusa (also known as Nicholas Cusanus), an important leading figure of the Renaissance period. We discuss his significance, both in his own time and afterward as his legacy carried on through western Christianity. The major impact Cusanus' thought had on classical arts and ideal aesthetics was previously discussed in Faith and Honor. I...

We revisit one of our favorite topics: the incredible interest among the youth for all things traditional. In this era of change and doubt, young people seem to gravitate inexorably to that which does not change. And where everyone especially in youth culture tries to put on a facade, there is a sincere hunger for that which is unmixed and authentic. We discuss the traditionalist trends in the Cat...

Everyone is talking about the wedding of Prince Harry Windsor and Meghan Markle, and especially the sermon delivered by Michael Curry, the Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church. Many questions have been raised about the political undercurrents behind Curry's invitation to preach at the wedding. Also of note has been the Church's moral and doctrinal bankruptcy, during the last half-century, t...

Marriage has become a flashpoint of contention in the heart of the Church. Despite the timeless doctrine of marriage taught by our Lord and the Apostles, and protected by the Church for 2,000 years, recent times have seen clever arguments in favor of divorce. And rather than coming from the fringes we see the destruction of marriage being advocated from the highest positions of responsibility and...

he secular narrative describes the Renaissance as an era of latent atheism, rejecting supernatural perspectives and promoting only the immediately visible. Front and center in this narrative are the Perspective and Realism of the classic Renaissance paintings -- which while rightly famous, in a secular narrative indicate a lessened interest in the supernatural. The Christian, then, is put in an im...

What should a pastor do? What are his responsibilities, and what ought to be the focus of his ministry? And how should he live his life? We live in an age where people have wildly different and sometimes contradictory beliefs about what a pastor should be about and what he should be like. Fr. Brian and Fr. Bart seek to offer some answers to these questions by calling on the Rev. George Herbert (15...

What does it mean to be a "friend of God"? Does it mean being chums? Pen-pals? Back-slapping buddies? Or are these more informal manifestations of friendship insufficient to describe what the Bible means when it talks about being a friend of God? Join Fr. Brian and Fr. Bart as they try to discern what friendship of God is and how to get it.

Why does God want ceremony and not just sincerity? Doesn't the Lord just want us to be "authentic" in our worship and to avoid rites that fall into rote, empty worship? Isn't liturgical worship just a form of phariseeism? And shouldn't the funds that go into beautiful church buildings and vestments go to the poor and other pressing needs of ministry instead? In this episode, Fr. Brian Oldfied and...

Some Christians will often talk of "assurance of salvation." Basically, how does the Christian know he is saved--that he will enjoy eternity with Christ? While the Church has a historic method or emphases to handle such concerns, there are newer and possibly more destructive ways of doing so. Dcn. Bart and Fr. Brian talk about what Anglicanism has to say about this important issue.

We live in an era where important doctrines fall on hard times. Baptismal regeneration may be just one of those teachings. Rejected by most Puritans and by a lot of American evangelicals, baptismal regeneration is actually an important cornerstone of historic classical Anglicanism. Join Fr. Brian and Dcn. Bart as they discuss baptism, regeneration, conversion, and justification.

The Anglican liturgy has always received much attention, as one of the major focal points of the Anglican tradition. However in recent decades it has been uniquely attacked by revisionist historians as an entry point into discarding the historic liturgy altogether. And yet despite claims to having scholarship, there has been little comment on one of the most important elements of the Anglican Rite...

What is the epiclesis? And why do some classical prayer books have one (like the 1928 American) while others (like the 1662 English) do not? Fr. Brian and Dcn. Bart discuss the history of the epiclesis in Anglicanism, and what it means for our worship today.

Few topics have brought contention and division in our world today to the extent that the so-called conflict between science and faith had. No one seems to doubt that such a conflict exists, from the pop-science atheists in the media, to the Christians locked away in their bunker. However we seek to get beyond the pop headlines and the manufactured answers. In this episode we unravel the tissue of...

C.S. Lewis once said, "Christianity is either incredibly important or not important at all; one thing it can't be is somewhat important." How do we understand and interpret what Christianity says or teaches? It has been a vexing topic for centuries, and the stakes could not be any higher. New doctrines are multiplying, and new interpretations are now created nearly every day. Are those new doctrin...

Philosophy traditionally has been seen as the study of the highest natural principles, such as logic, ethics, and the structure of reality, which secondary fields like science depend on to form their conclusions. In recent times philosophy has become a contested field with countless competing understandings, schools of thought, constructions, deconstructions, and opinions which mutually contradict...

Jane Austen, the famed author of beloved period novels and romances set in nineteenth century England had an aspect largely unknown today -- she was a devoted and pious Anglican. The themes of religion, clergy, God, and providence frequently appear in Austen's novels, yet scholars in analyzing such themes have not drawn much attention to Austen's own religious beliefs they were informed by. We spe...