by Daniel S. Trout
One of the great abilities God has given human beings is the power of recollection. Recollection (or remembrance) not only gives our lives continuity, but instills in us a wish to preserve—through various tokens—memories of events, things and people that gave significance to the past. All of our homes contain pictures and [...]
Archive for the ‘Ecclesiology’ Category
Beholding the Mystery
Posted in Ecclesiology, Liturgical Arts on February 20, 2008 | 1 Comment »
On Being a Eucharistic People
Posted in Ecclesiology, Liturgical Arts on November 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
It is the apex of Christian worship and our taste of heaven’s glorious future, yet no matter how many times we “do it,” the Church depends on constant reminder of the altar’s significance to keep her memory fresh. I think this is so because it is those most precious things in life: [...]
Being the “People of the Book” w/o Being Only of the Book
Posted in Ecclesiology, Liturgical Arts on September 8, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
Christians, indebted as they are to the ancient Jews of their spiritual ancestry, have rightly been called the “people of the Book,” an observance both internally and externally prompted by their historic reliance on the authority of the Bible. Not only does this description accurately reflect Christianity’s traditional logo-centrism, but it [...]
…a Christian Pacifist? 4: Refocusing Our Eyes
Posted in Ecclesiology, Ethics/Law on April 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
In 2 Cor. chapter 4, St. Paul sums up, not only the overarching theme of his epistle, but the basic ethos of the Christian life in this world: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is [...]
…a Christian Pacifist? 3: The Scripture-formed Community
Posted in Ecclesiology, Ethics/Law on April 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
The essence of genuine theological ethics is that they be unequivocally indebted to the authority of Scripture–its commands, its stories, and its ever-present power to transform the lives of its hearers into a virtuous people, or as some have described it, a “community of character.” The implications of this formation are, [...]
The Catholic Priesthood II: Origins of Episcopacy
Posted in Ecclesiology on February 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
When we consider the historical development of Church polity, we must, as we do with any facet of belief or practice, honor the work of the Holy Spirit within the Church’s unique narrative, but also critically examine our own mythos in light of how history presents itself and in deference to the [...]
The Catholic Priesthood I: Mediators of the Sacred
Posted in Ecclesiology on February 15, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
One point of agreement shared by all Christians–Protestant or Catholic–is that an ordained minister of God performs a variety of roles within the Church, earning with that a collection of names to accompany and identify those particular functions. For example, if he is engaged in the preaching of the Word, he [...]
In His Stead: The Iconic Nature of the Priesthood
Posted in Ecclesiology on January 4, 2007 | 8 Comments »
by Daniel S. Trout
It is indeed an unfortunate circumstance that, all too often, it is those controversies least deserving of the dignity of the cultural battlefield that cause the most needless spilling of blood, the most tiresome waste of ink and energy, and, of course, the most lingering case of bitterness. The dispute concerning [...]
The Church and the Kingdom I
Posted in Ecclesiology on November 30, 2006 | 1 Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
The difficult question of distinguishing the Church from the Kingdom of God might be helped if this important point is considered. I think few theologians in any orthodox camp would debate that the Church is conceptually prior to creation. While trying to guess what actually proceeded in the mind [...]
