Mystical Communion with the Lord in his Energies
Dear Randall, Thanks for your posting. I was intrigued to learn about your spiritual journey. It made me think of how our Orthodox professor at Oral Roberts University guided us through Robert Webber’s landmark book, Common Roots: A Call to Evangelical Maturity, in 1978, the very year that book was published. Webber’s summons to Evangelicals […]
On History, St. Peter, and Deals with the Devil
Randall Balmer and I share much in the motives of our wanderings toward Anglicanism from a more Evangelical past, including the desire for connectedness to the old, an awe and appreciation for beautiful sacred spaces, and a love for the Book of Common Prayer, which renders the liturgy and the faith in some of the […]
Thinking Through Theological Freedom in the Anglican Tradition
When reading Dr. Balmer’s reflection on following Jesus from the Anglican tradition, I was struck by his point that “doctrine does not lie at the core of the Anglican or Episcopal identity.” On the one hand, I appreciate the opportunities for theological diversity and inquiry such a position provides; if there is no central doctrine […]
Drawn with Balmer and Episcopalianism Toward That Enchanted Universe
Reading Randall Balmer’s post on why he left evangelicalism to become Episcopalian reminded me that way back when, as a young Christian committed to my Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition, I was also experiencing a hunger for spiritual resources I wasn’t fully finding (perhaps partly due to my own blindnesses) in my own communities of faith and worship. […]
Between Geneva and Canterbury
Response to Randall Balmer, Anglican Tradition Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, Reformed Tradition Between Geneva and Canterbury Frank Griswold served as Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1998-2006. During that time, I was General Secretary of the Reformed Church in America. About a dozen of us who held similar positions of leadership in U.S. denominations would gather […]
Between Evangelical and Episcopalian
Because Randall Balmer traces his personal journey from Evangelical to Episcopalian, I must explore the odd position Wesleyan Methodism holds between those two poles. On the one hand, John and Charles Wesley were both priests in the Church of England. They never left but rather often defended their place (and the place of Methodism) in […]
Engaging the Episcopalians
For three months in my last year as a ministry student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, I (and my wife Jeanie) undertook an inquirer’s class at the downtown Episcopal church. It was a fateful crossroads for us. If we had left the Southern Baptists and joined the Episcopalians at that point, my professional life, and […]
Finding Common Ground
For many Pietists, I’m sure that Anglicanism inspires the same sorts of reservations that I noted in earlier responses to other Christian traditions that emphasize sacramental worship within the structure of an episcopate. It’s the rare Pietist, for example, who would see a short homily (or a longer sermon) as “merely a stop on the […]
From the Sawdust Trail to the Canterbury Trail
One of the earliest memories I have of my pre-teen years is being invited by a devout Baptist friend to attend a week-long revival with his family. The meetings throughout the week were held in a large tent, filled with folding chairs, and the ground was covered with sawdust. As I recall, we attended a […]
The Joys of Being Found by Jesus in Liturgy and Heritage: A Lutheran – Episcopal Celebration
Randall Balmer’s compelling story of finding Jesus in the cadences of the historic liturgy and the Presence of Christ in the Church’s Sacramental life was a sweet song in my Lutheran ears. How wonderful to be worshipping the same way Christians have for 1500 or more years, to be worshipping with all the faithful who have […]
Following Jesus along the Canterbury Trail
I have two semi-flippant responses when people ask me how I, reared as an evangelical, became an Episcopalian and, in 2006, an Episcopal priest. My father was a pastor for forty years in the Evangelical Free Church; I honor both his ministry and his memory, and on the whole I’m grateful for my upbringing within […]
Grateful to Respondents for Bringing Bones to Life
Summaries, as I found when delineating five values in “Amid Complexities, Five Things Many Anabaptist-Mennonites Emphasize,” leave unsettling numbers of things unsaid. So I’m grateful for conversation partners’ responses; repeatedly you brought to life precisely the “bones” of those stripped-down values. Let me respond appreciatively in the order in which you each posted. Robert Millet, […]
Mennonites: Resistance as Witness?
When Mennonites, Amish and other Anabaptists are considered in historical perspective, they are classified as radical reformers, a family of dissidents whose relentless criticisms of both church and state shaped an ekklesia that looked nothing like the late medieval Latin church, nor the developing alternatives offered by Lutheran or Reformed Protestants. It was this Anabaptist […]
Promptings towards a Sacramental Worldview
Thank you very much, Dr. King, for your efforts to bring some order of understanding to what seems to be the very complicated and divided landscape of the Anabaptist-Mennonite movement in America. Your providing the link to the 24-point statement of belief given in the 1995 Mennonite Confession of Faith was very helpful. I’m especially […]
Jesus, Love, & Nonviolence in the Black Church Tradition
Dr. King’s reflection on what it means to follow Jesus from an Anabaptist perspective resonated with me as the values he articulated are helpful as I consider the Black Church tradition. More specifically, Value 1 encourages me to think about the centrality of Jesus in Black churches and where these institutions might be falling short […]
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