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Articles by Benjamin Guyer
Pelagius' Commentary on Romans
“When an ungodly person converts, God justifies him by faith alone, not for the good works he did not have.” – Pelagius, Commentary on Romans (on Rom. 3:5) The Pelagian controversy is often described as a dispute over grace, in which St. Augustine of Hippo defended orthodoxy against the rigoristic beliefs of Pelagius, a British monk, and his supporters.
‘Decreasing as Christ Increases’
I Felt Called has generated positive press. Are you happy with the album’s reception? Yeah, I’m happy anybody even pays attention to the band after all these years. I feel very grateful to be able to continue to write, record, and release albums. I was surprised to read in a recent interview that you do not consider yourself a lyric writer. And yet the lyrics on I Felt Called often cohere around the unwilling disorientations of middle age.
Our English (Not Scottish) Reformation
Review by Alec Ryrie Church historians have been engaged for some years now in a bout of terminological self-examination. At times this has felt a little wearying, as the language police keep coming for terms we had been using without any malicious intent (I used to think monophysite was a neutral, descriptive word). At times it has seemed self-indulgent, as if we would rather debate labels than do the hard work of actual research. But on the whole, this has been a thoroughly good thing.
Our English (Not Scottish) Reformation
Review by Alec Ryrie Church historians have been engaged for some years now in a bout of terminological self-examination. At times this has felt a little wearying, as the language police keep coming for terms we had been using without any malicious intent (I used to think monophysite was a neutral, descriptive word). At times it has seemed self-indulgent, as if we would rather debate labels than do the hard work of actual research. But on the whole, this has been a thoroughly good thing.
English Reformation Big and Small – - D.G. Hart
James Anthony Froude was an unlikely candidate to defend British Protestantism among his nineteenth-century contemporaries. As a student at Oriel College during the Oxford Movement, and with a brother, Richard Hurrell Froude who was a pronounced Anglo-Catholic polemicist, Froude appeared to be following John Henry Newman into the Roman Catholic Church.
More Christmas Music Worth Your Time
By Benjamin Guyer Long ago, I wrote that a lot of Christmas music is morally problematic and aesthetically painful. At the time — that strange, dreamlike time before COVID — I recommended a handful of musical selections that fused musical artistry with mostly traditional content. It is difficult for Christmas music to not feel cheap, which too easily undermines the more noble aspirations of the season.
Christmas Music Worth Your Time
By Benjamin M. Guyer Much Christmas music is a moral abomination that largely exists to manipulate holiday shoppers into buying still more. The following may not quite enable the musical equivalent of a monastic flight from the forced saccharine madness that blares from too many speakers in public places, but each album will help create spaces of Christian contemplation and reflection during the Christmas season.
David Bentley Hart has Written a Silly Book
That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation By David Bentley Hart. Yale University Press. pp. 232. $26 Review by Benjamin M. Guyer Modern theologians must publish; piety is less often a requirement. David Bentley Hart’s That All Shall Be Saved is a regrettably unflinching reminder that ego, not piety, is the ground of much modern theology. The book addresses two questions.
Jesus Reimagined in Modern South Africa
By Benjamin Guyer Son of Man is a 2006 film that reimagines what the life and ministry of Jesus might have been like if he were born in modern-day South Africa. It has won multiple awards at film festivals in America and Europe. Although based on the life of Jesus, Son of Man is not a retelling of the New Testament. The film begins with the temptation of Jesus in the desert by Satan.
Clergy: Don’t Apologize for Lent
By Benjamin Guyer If you live comfortably in the developed world, you need Lent more than you know. Of all the seasons in the Church’s calendar, none preaches more forcefully against bourgeois complacency. Lent spurns contentment, celebrates self-discipline, and sanctifies self-knowledge. We all need Lent more than we know. Sadly, too many clergy are confused — or worse, lazy. They coddle their parishioners with the false comfort that taking something on for Lent is equivalent to giving something up.
Do not be afraid: An Advent meditation
In the narratives of Jesus’ birth, one of the most striking elements is the angelic imperative “Do not be afraid!” It sounds forth time and again like a musical refrain. When Gabriel approaches the Blessed Virgin (Luke 1:26-28), when an angel visits Joseph in a dream (Matt. 1:20-21), when angels appear before the shepherds (Luke 2:8-15), the message is the same: “do not be afraid!” Of all the details concerning the birth of Jesus, why is this one alone so frequently repeated?
A Sunday in the Anglican Diaspora
By Benjamin Guyer My wife and I recently visited a parish of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). It was delightful. Counting clergy and choir, there must have been at least 100 participants. The sermon was solid and drew upon Scripture and tradition, the liturgy was reverential, and the parish was more racially diverse than many Episcopal churches I have attended. Most remarkably for my wife and me, there were dozens of children.
After Darkness, Light?
Review: Calvinist (2017). Director: Les Lanphere. 87 min. Not Rated (but suitable for all audiences) The March 23, 2009, issue of Time listed “10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now.” Among these was “The New Calvinism.” The 2017 documentary Calvinist tells one version of this story by looking at how young American evangelicals began embracing Calvinism in the late 1990s.
Rewarding, Not Easy, Listening
Review: David (Lee) Bozeman, The Majesty of the Flesh (Velvet Blue Music) and Mother of God (Independent release). Listening to these two Lee Bozeman EPs is like watching the construction of a house: each new addition leaves you wanting more. Short, rewarding, and sometimes demanding, Bozeman is content to leave listeners listening, and listening on repeat if necessary. The Majesty of the Flesh and Mother of God are thematically and musically distinct.
The Alleged Bigotry of Jesus
By Benjamin Guyer Was Jesus a racist? The Gospel reading last Sunday was Mark 7:24-37, and lots of people had lots of things to say about it on Facebook (and, no doubt, on other social media platforms; Ian Paul offered a helpful survey). The narrative begins with a Syrophoenician mother asking Jesus to heal her daughter, but his response appears uncharacteristically harsh: “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (v. 27).
Linguistic Purity Is an Impossible Liturgical Criterion
By Benjamin M. Guyer The Episcopal Church’s 79th General Convention is debating whether to revise the Book of Common Prayer, with the House of Deputies voting largely in favor of revision. Many in the House of Bishops appear hesitant. Deputy News has published at least five articles on point: a general primer on the topic, an article supporting revision now, an article supporting revision after further study, an article opposing revision, and an article calling for better liturgical translations.
Why the Lambeth Conference?
An Interview with Benjamin M. Guyer At the very end of 2017 a new volume on the Lambeth Conference was published. Paul Avis and I edited The Lambeth Conference: Theology, History, Polity and Purpose — The First 150 Years, and the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote the foreword. The book is making the rounds rather rapidly, and early reviews have been positive. I want to explain why I initiated this project and why the Lambeth Conference is important and valuable to international Anglicanism.
U2’s America
U2’s newest album Songs of Experience is worth wrestling with. It is their most musically cohesive work since 2000’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Lyrically, it is less compelling. But as a period piece reflecting global uncertainties, particularly in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, the album’s thematic incoherence may prove its most endearing feature.
+Robinson and an Elizabethan apocryphon
As reported in an article published today by The Living Church, after the recent screening of the film Love Free or Die, bishop Gene Robinson was asked how he views Anglican debates over human sexuality. Robinson’s answer involved an appeal to history — namely, that of the so-called “Elizabethan settlement.” According to the bishop, the queen offered a happy message of harmony which transcended religious differences.
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