C.S. Lewis: Doctrine leads to Doxology

"For my own part I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I believe that many who find that 'nothing happens' when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand."

C.S. Lewis, from his introduction to Athanasius’ On the Incarnation.

That the study of doctrine ought to lead to doxology, or the praise of God, is a truth that has been too readily forgotten by Christians. That there is nothing like the disciplined study of Christian dogmatics to expand the mind and lead on to praise of the the Holy Trinity is one of the first and greatest truths I discovered when I returned to the Christian faith. To take what our friend Richard wrote in the last post regarding the Gospel and apply it also to this subject, it could be said that without the firm backbone of doctrine, Christianity becomes a flabby, spineless, emotion-based pietism, which is just the type of Christianity I encountered and rejected during my youth.

Well, having said that, I can only add that I was naturally delighted to stumble across this quote from C.S.Lewis saying the same thing!

An Anglican Discovers the Gospel

"While the World is a beautiful place, I have seen enough of it to believe there is something very very wrong. As I grow older and better understand myself, I also realized that I am no better than the World around me.

In a world of radical evil in every direction, the only thing that can expunge that evil is blood atonement provided by an innocent.

We are fortunate in that God has chosen to expunge that evil by his own blood, in a horrible humiliating death upon the Cross.

Without the centrality of this Gospel, all Christianity is pietistic, and the pietist can pick his poison. The pietist can:

-buy an indulgence, attend a Latin daily Mass, and shop for every trinket Mother Angelica sells

-sell your car, cut off the electric, and grow a beard

-move to the desert, learn the Jesus prayer, and fast on raw vegetables

-Stop drinking and smoking, quit dancing, comb your hair like a helmet, and litter the countryside with Bible tracts thrown from your car window

-Focus on earthly justice for any of the oppressed nations or classes du jour

None of these practices are bad things, dependent upon ones individual circumstance (Except perhaps the littering). While I personally did not try them all, I always looked for something to do. However, none of these things will ever save us. Before my thick head finally got the Gospel, my experience with Christianity was a seesaw from enthusiasm/Pharisaic to depression/despair. Perhaps ironically, I first heard the Gospel in a way I could understand it from Lutherans; not Anglicans (Thank you Todd Wilken and Issues, etc. You changed my life forever)"

Read the whole reflection over at 'The River Thames Beach Party' by clicking on the post title. Have a look around while you're there, there is much of value for Lutherans in the classical Anglican tradition. Meantime, I have a widget linking to 'Issues Etc.', the Lutheran radio program from the US that was instrumental in the conversion of the author of the above words, in the right-hand column.

PS Thanks to the author, Richard, for kindly allowing me to post this excerpt from his longer reflection here at the old manse.

Sasse on the 'Lex Orandi...'

"Confession and liturgy belong inseparably together if the church is to be healthy. Liturgy is prayed dogma; dogma is the doctrinal content of the liturgy. The placement of liturgy above dogma, for which one hears calls in the liturgical movements of all confessions with the well-known saying "lex orandi lex credendi"..., has been opposed in the Roman Church by the present Pope [Pius XII] in his encyclical "Mediator Dei", in which he points out that one can also turn this saying around and that in all circumstances dogma should be the norm for the liturgy. If that is already known in Rome, how much more should it be known in the church that makes...the right understanding of the Gospel also the criterion for the liturgy."

Hermann Sasse, The Lutheran Understanding of the Consecration, in We Confess the Sacraments, trans N. Nagel, Concordia, 1985.

See 'What Sasse Said' (link under 'My Other Blogs' in the column to the right) for more Sasse quotes.

Juxtaposition: Orthodoxy and the Two Anglicanisms

Here's an interesting juxtaposition:

The primate of the Orthodox Church in America, a multi-ethnic, Americanised but originally Russian church body with its roots in Uniatism, was, in June of last year, to be found in Texas announcing the end of ecumenical dialogue with the local American representatives of the worldwide Anglican communion, The Episcopal Church, and courting Anglican traditionalists who have - for valid reasons, let it be acknowledged - separated from this communion in order to pursue their own vision of Anglicanism (the Orthodox generally, in my experience, proselytise shamelessly among other Christians in the name of "mission").

Here's a pic of the Metropolitan chatting with the soon-to-be consecrated Bishop of the Anglican traditionalists, Robert Duncan:
Then, on January 30th this year, Metropolitan Jonah was in New York at St Vladimir's Seminary in his role as president of said august institution (a seminary, let it be known, of the Orthodox Church in America, of which he is primate), presiding over the award of an honorary doctorate to none other than the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, head of the world-wide Anglican communion whose local representatives Jonah "dissed" in Texas. Williams (whose doctorate was a study of Russian theologian Vladimir Lossky) was invited to address the seminary on aspects of Orthdodox theology in the annual Schmemann Memorial Lecture, held to honour the memory of theologian Alexander Schmemann, who has on occasion been quoted in the pages of this blog.

Here's a pic of Jonah with Rowan:
As the Americans say, "Go figure!"

Some would say Jonah was being diplomatic, others might say he was being equivocal.

Whatever the case may be, I suspect there are more than a few ex-Anglican (not to mention ex- Lutheran) Orthodox converts expressing their consternation at this turn of events.

The Decline of Microsoft: A Geek Tragedy?

Does the advent of Apple's iPad tablet computer signal the end of Microsoft? Maybe. Former Microsoft vice president Dick Brass certainly thinks Microsoft's failure to keep pace across the field of personal computing with competitors like Apple and other innovators like Google reflects an anti-innovation culture that has taken root in the corporate giant - click on the post title to read his op-ed piece in the New York Times.

If Microsoft is terminal, as Brass suggests, I, like, I suspect, most non-geeky personal computer users, will view the prospect of their demise with mixed feelings. Microsoft made personal computing accessible and affordable for ordinary folk like me, but its very success in that endeavour made it too big, too arrogant, and apparently too slow to respond to innovation from other companies and even from within the ranks of its own technical departments. The story has all the elements of a Greek tragedy, or, should that be a "Geek tragedy"?.

But then, perhaps Microsoft's decline is not the result of a fatal flaw, but a just punishment from the computer gods for inflicting Vista on millions of unsuspecting users?

New French Lutheran Hymnal

Something of a publishing milestone has gone relatively unnoticed in the Anglophone world to date, namely the production of a new French Lutheran hymnal, Liturgies et cantiques lutheriens , published by the Lutheran Church-Canada, a sister church of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and a church with whom the Lutheran Church of Australia has close, fraternal relations.

As one descended from Huguenot ancestors (French Protestants persecuted by Louis XIV in the late 1600s and later exiled to Holland, England, North America, South Africa and elsewhere), I take a particular interest in this event. The hymnal is apparently the largest French hymnal ever produced, either by Protestants or Roman Catholics, and promises to be of great service not only to French Canadian Lutherans but also in other Francophone Lutheran settings, for example in Africa, not to mention France itself.

Now, one must ask, if a relatively small church like the LCC - which is roughly the same size as the Lutheran Church of Australia - can successfully engage in such a venture in order to srve only a portion of its membership, why cannot the LCA take heart from their success and resolve to produce a new English-language hymnal for Australian Lutherans which will preserve the best of our hymnody from the past while introducing Australian Lutherans to some of the excellent modern Lutheran hymnody? Such a hymnal is sorely overdue in our church (our last LCA hymnal was published c. 1971 and s supplement to it in c.1986).

Here is an illustration of the new hymnal, which also contains approved liturgies, and a report made available by the Lutheran Church-Canada:
The French-language hymnal Liturgies et cantiques luthériens went to press the week of last year’s Reformation Day. This Lutheran Church-Canada project has spread excitement around the French-speaking Lutheran churches worldwide. The most recent hymnal was printed in 1975 and is no longer available and any existing copies are well-worn.
No other French-language hymnal has been so comprehensive and reflective of Lutheran practice and doctrine. Liturgies et cantiques luthériens has 864 pages and includes 434 hymns, three settings of the Divine Service, Matins, Vespers, and Compline, Holy Baptism, Marriage, and Funeral services among many other liturgical resources.

“In real and important ways this volume restores and edifies and strengthens and establishes evangelical Lutheran practice and teaching in francophone churches as never
before,” says Rev. David Somers, who along with Rev. David Saar have created this new resource. “Never before has such a complete service book and hymnal been available in French for members of any church body, Protestant or Roman Catholic'".

Ruskin on the Five Intellectual Professions

"Five great intellectual professions, relating to daily
necessities of life, have hitherto existed -- three exist
necessarily, in every civilised nation:
The Soldier's profession is to defend it.
The Pastor's to teach it.
The Physician's to keep it in health.
The Lawyer's to enforce justice in it.
The Merchant's to provide for it.
And the duty of all these men is, on due occasion, to die for it.
"On due occasion," namely: -
The Soldier, rather than leave his post in battle.
The Physician, rather than leave his post in plague.
The Pastor, rather than teach Falsehood.
The Lawyer, rather than countenance Injustice.
The Merchant-what is his "due occasion" of death?
For, truly, the man who does not know when to die, does not know how to live."
John Ruskin, Unto This Last, 1860.

A couple of thoughts - or glosses -in response:

a) No-one writes like this anymore - more's the pity!

b) How many lawyers today would die rather than countenance injustice? Certainly, we have seen Pakistani lawyers bravely risking their lives to protest against a dictatorship in recent years, but the very sight of lawyers taking to the barricades in support of liberty appeared fantastic to Western eyes.

c) How many pastors would die rather than teach falsehood? Certainly, Luther lived most of his adult life with a death sentence hanging over his head, and the Lutheran Church of Australia was founded by two pastors who did risk imprisonment, their livelihoods and their lives, rather than teach falsehood, but how many today value the true Gospel enough to risk their all for it? More than a few, we hope!