Ancient Anglican

In the City of God, Augustine says that there is a great fellowship between men and angels and that they are our fellow citizens in heaven. This week we will explore the nature of our fellow citizens – what they are, when they were created, and their function at worship.

Scripture is full of angels: the guarding Cherub at the Garden of Eden, the helper who saves Hagar and Ismael in the desert, the burning Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision, the announcer of births from Isaac to Sampson to Jesus, and the great army that fights in Revelation.

Beginning with his discussion of wonderment in the “Ethics of Elfland” through last week’s discussion on the “Romance of Orthodoxy,” Chesterton rebels against the doctrine of the rationalist-materialist that miracles do not happen, and therefore, God too is bound by the laws of nature.

Chesterton introduces the theme of this chapter by observing that modern intellectuals prefer to use long words and convoluted sentence structures because they are lazy and wish to avoid real thought.

As you read through this chapter, think about the contradictory criticisms of the Church today, and think about the seemingly contradictory positions to which the Church holds fast (such as God’s justice and mercy).

Please remember that tonight we will be gathering to discuss Chapter 5 of Orthodoxy, “The Flag of the World” and what it means to love the world – neither optimistically nor pessimistically but truly.

He writes that we must change our perspective from one of laws and necessity to an attitude based upon wonder and gratitude.

For Chesterton, Christianity is a “romance” – not like Nicholas Sparks but King Arthur – a tale of marvelous adventures, heroic knights, and grand battles.

“The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.”

This book is a defense of basic Christianity both against modern rationalism which holds that only logic and reason are the means of discovering truth and against a post-modern denial of truth itself.

Accordingly, to begin with, Isaac, when led by his father as a victim, and himself bearing his own wood, was even at that early period pointing to Christ’s death; conceded, as He was, as a victim by the Father; carrying, as He did, the wood of His own passion. – Tertullian “An Answer to the Jews”

There are few passages in the Old Testament that speak more directly or predictively about the Passion than does Genesis 22.