Friday, April 17, 2009

Bastion of anglo-catholicism?

A dear friend graduates from Nashotah House this spring. I received his announcement in the mail today. The commencement speaker this year is J.I. Packer. Nashotah is also granting him an honorary doctorate. My how the times have changed! This historic bastion of anglo-catholicism is granting a degree to a rabid Calvinist who once wrote book explaining "Why we need the Puritans" (A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life). These are, incidentally, the same Puritans who sought to continually abolish the Prayer Book; who left the Church after the Restoration; and who later became Unitarians. Dr. Packer has said that the ordination of women is a "second tier" issue. In his book "Knowing God" he expressly condemns the use of images in worship. His Calvinist soteriology is completely at odds with the Book of Common Prayer and even the Articles of Religion! Yes indeed - the times have changed. I am told that Nashotah has been all but taken over by happy-clappy evangelicals from Trinity School for Ministry and other places. I guess this confirms it.