Dr Paul Allen

  The Church of England’s bishops descend into utter nonsense After years of study, bishops of the Church of England have announced that they will not allow same-sex marriages within their churches, nor allow their clergy to perform them, but they will allow their priests to “bless” same-sex unions after a civil marriage. In other words, they lack the courage to go ahead with same-sex marriage as a rite of the church, but their backup plan, for now, is to allow clergy to bless the unions they cannot approve. The Church of England was famously born in compromise, but at least it once produced bishops like J. C. Ryle, definite statements of doctrine like the Thirty-Nine Articles, and theological achievements like the Book of Common Prayer. I am an unrepentant Anglophile, though certainly not an Anglican. Nevertheless, a portrait of 16th-century Archbishop Thomas Cranmer hangs in my library. I can only imagine what bishops like Ryle and Cranmer would say to their contemporaries today....

“Blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” “It is certain because it is impossible.” “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” Such tart epigrams are typical of the works of Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus —or Tertullian. A native of Carthage, he had been reared in a cultured pagan household and trained in the literary classics, speech making, and the law. About 196, when he turned his powerful intellect to Christian topics , he changed the face of thinking and literature in the Western church . Up to this point, most Christian writers had used Greek—a flexible, subtle language, perfect for philosophizing and hair splitting. And often the Greek-speaking Christians carried this bent for philosophy into their faith. Though the African Tertullian knew Greek, he preferred writing in Latin, and his works reflect the Latinspeaking Romans’ practical, morals-oriented streak. This influential lawyer drew many other writers to his favorite language. While Greek Christi...