Articles

Articles by Br. Jacob Theunisz, BTh, BSc, licensed minister Church of England.Views and opinions expressed are purely my own.

The liturgical year explained

Years of celebration and reflection Western Christian tradition The following table contains various Christian "High Days and Holy Days". They form an annual cycle, the so called liturgical year. It always starts with Advent, the expectation of the coming of Christ. Not all festive days are necessarily kept by each local Church. The order of [...]

By |2021-07-12T10:48:05+02:00April 3rd, 2019|Articles|0 Comments

The revolution according to Hebrews

The letter to the Hebrews is essential for our understanding of the concept of priesthood in the New Testament, as it focusses on the priesthood of Christ himself and the accompanying changes under the new covenant. The first three chapters provide a necessary introduction, explaining that Jesus, although fully human, is higher than the prophets, [...]

By |2018-11-23T19:35:39+01:00September 18th, 2018|Articles|2 Comments

Church of England to the rescue

On the 7th of September 2018, following a meeting with the Chief Rabbi, several media reported on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s appeal to the Church of England to formally adopt “the full IHRA definition” of antisemitism. Within 4 days the bishops of the Church of England rallied behind him. By praising the Labour MP’s who [...]

By |2020-05-20T10:56:29+02:00September 14th, 2018|Articles|1 Comment

Not our ways

You probably know the saying "Gods ways are not our ways", which is sometimes used when we have no explanations or do not even want to think about them. It is taken from Isaiah 55 verse 8. The following verse even states that Gods ways and ours differ like heaven an earth. Now, in what [...]

By |2018-06-19T12:29:24+02:00May 13th, 2018|Articles|0 Comments

And then think some more

The following article is a response to “Thinking about ordination?”, a blog from 2016 by Father Marcus (in 2019 removed from his own site). This blog, which started with a picture of a giant dog collar, was posted on at least three different websites and has crossed my path several times. Father Marcus describes the [...]

By |2022-09-03T12:42:35+02:00March 30th, 2018|Articles|0 Comments

Adam and Eve as priests

The first three chapters of the book of Genesis seem an unlikely place to start our reflections about the priesthood, for priests and priesthood are not mentioned in them. However, sometimes things which are not spelt out are almost as important as the ones that are. The natural state of Adam and Eve before they [...]

By |2018-03-09T22:13:59+01:00February 4th, 2018|Articles|2 Comments

The untenable pedestal

In a way, I am glad I have not (or not yet) been ordained . Otherwise, I might be tempted not to address a persistent abuse and its feeble justifications. In his blog[1] an ex-Anglican priest argues why in the Roman Catholic Church only the “ordained clergy” (a pleonasm!) may preach at Mass. The subject [...]

By |2018-02-05T19:56:31+01:00August 6th, 2017|Articles|0 Comments
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