God unites his people for his purpose

Or: “In rebuilding the wall, Nehemiah prefigures Godly unity in the church”. Steve Hays is amazing. Sometimes I think he is not cognizant of what it means to be a mere mortal. The other day, he posted a link to “The wit and wisdom of Evan May” (Evan is a co-blogger at Triablogue). In doing …

The Real Body of Christ

In my ongoing look at Ratzinger’s “Called to Communion,” I’m going to get a bit ahead of myself, thanks to some comments at James Swan’s blog. There, one commenter, Ben, has tried to suggest that “the Church IS Christ” (and given Rome’s self-infatuation, when you see the word “Church” with a capital “C”, you should …

Not Called to Communion: Preliminary Thoughts

A writer who identifies himself as Protestant, who has come under the influence of those folks at the Called to Communion website said this to me: Why should I listen to you? [Whatever you say on a given theological subject], that is your opinion. If you say I should listen to scripture, that is saying “listen …

Paul and the proper place of unity

At the end of a recent posting, I noted that Irenaeus wrote that “the church at Rome was ‘founded and set up by the two most glorious apostles Peter and Paul.’ (Against Heresies, 3.3.2).” It is clear from 1 Corinthians that Peter and Paul crossed paths from time to time, and they did so, among …