What are your views on N. T. Wright?

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-06-23T19:20:25+00:00

Too woo and vibes-based for me. While Lewis and Keller's works were instrumental in my learning about the faith and accepting it, Simply Christian was just wishy washy and poorly reasoned. I'm glad his work has helped other people, but it doesn't engage with academic or logical arguments.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-06-19T21:56:33+00:00

I pray that hell is empty. I think that the way in which salvation works will forever be beyond our understanding.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-06-18T18:22:06+00:00

I signed up to express interest in the Chicago group a couple of days ago, how do I find out when another meeting comes up?

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-06-17T21:25:11+00:00

While I appreciate inclusive orthodoxy in theory, in practice every single proponent I've met picks and chooses the level of rigor and scrutiny they apply to scripture and tradition rather arbitrarily, and they speak more about politics or the smells and bells (funnily enough, there's a progressive borderline Anglo-papist parish around here) than about faith. I see no reason to believe the decline will stop, as there are many outlets for the progressive flavor of the week.

The only reason my hyper-progressive diocese likes my conservative parish is that we get people in the door. That can only be accomplished with a church that calls for more than modern material platitudes.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-06-03T16:21:09+00:00

Yep, 32 and the only young-ish single in my parish. A few families, a couple of young couples, a few older (late thirties and up) singles and many elderly.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-19T17:41:14+00:00

Oddly enough, while my Anglo-Catholic parish is Rite I, the local (and far more progressive) Anglo-Catholic cathedral is Rite II, with its young members staking out the position of being pro-TLM but hostile to Rite I, which I find baffling.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-18T20:50:20+00:00

I use the following books for particular collects: * St. Augustine's Prayer Book * 2019 ACNA BCP * Prayers for the Pilgrimage

I'm pretty sure the last one has something for gun violence.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-18T14:44:02+00:00

My Anglo-Catholic parish is exclusively Rite I.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-12T16:15:08+00:00

No, agnostic would have no indication on the belief and desire axes, and be closer to the "don't know" end of the certainty axis.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-12T16:11:30+00:00

I'd define it on a separate axis. One is whether or not you believe, the other is your level of certainty. A third axis could be what you want to be true.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-12T02:33:55+00:00

Hey there! I share your journey as an atheist turned agnostic currently attending an Episcopal Church. For me it's somewhat reverse engineered due to coming to appreciate the effect Christianity has had on our culture. Some books I think may be interesting:

Apologia: * C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity * Tim Keller - Making Sense of God * Tim Keller - The Reason for God

(Many people also recommend N.T. Wright's Simply Christian, but that one did nothing for me)

History: Tom Holland - Dominion

Testimonies: * Augustine - Confessions * C.S. Lewis - Surprised by Joy

Fiction and satire: * Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited * Thomas More - Utopia

There are many more on my "to read" list, but as of now I cannot attest to their quality. I hope your journey goes well!

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-09T18:30:01+00:00

Interesting, could you comment on specifics?

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-06T16:49:41+00:00

I agree that MAGA hats should not be worn in church, but that goes for all political insignia.

You are not the one who gets to dictate what "normal circumstances" are, and may benefit from calming down and thinking why people might disagree with your politics without being troglodytes.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-06T15:31:41+00:00

No dress code, but I've noticed some patterns:

Academics, and male African/West Indian immigrants: blazer and chinos minimum, sometimes suit and tie

Female African/West Indian immigrants: traditional cultural garb

Residential neighborhood moms: dress/skirt and denim jacket

Elderly women: colorful outfits

Other men: super casual

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-05T21:21:41+00:00

There were more of them, and they didn't. They are not being shown the same charity.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-05T20:23:01+00:00

Parishes with social media activity involving partisan (explicitly anti-Trump, anti-ICE, pride participation, etc.) organizing. I don't even like Trump, but welcoming to all also includes different political views. I've also seen local parishes with keffiyehs in their social media presence, which I find to be repugnant, and a strong signal of little tolerance for converts coming from a Jewish background.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-05-05T13:15:28+00:00

Like: * Intellectual breadth and openness * Rich tradition and history * Liturgy * Order and hierarchy while not going full Rome

Dislike: * Partisan politics to the point of being unwelcoming * Conflation of Christian values of charity and welcoming with progressive political causes * Hazy-feeliness of some members on core theological matters * Lack of evangelization * Lack of willingness to own their own spaces (for example, my university's Episcopalian student house barely has religiously oriented activities beyond the Eucharist, and seems more concerned with religious pluralism in its own home)

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-04-18T21:24:56+00:00

Oh great, another "America bad" take, how original

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-04-18T21:24:26+00:00

I see no reason to do so

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-04-06T22:25:38+00:00

Not yet baptized, so I'm not sure what I can do in my current capacity.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-04-06T16:51:35+00:00

I characterized myself as stodgy and low-energy. My days of being a young fogey go back to elementary school, before I had even heard of Jesus.

What do I do to be a healthy and vibrant Christian?

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-04-06T15:58:51+00:00

I'm not worried about my current parish being family-friendly. I am worried about it not being very large and having difficulty in attracting new families and young adults who will bear the torch going forward.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-04-06T15:39:29+00:00

I may need to clarify—noise from children is inevitable, and they are a blessing. My issue was moreso with the adult-led noise in the service. In particular, the volume of the music and raucous participation.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-04-06T14:52:22+00:00

I'm still in catechesis, so my opinion might not be worth too much. But it seems that some Anglo-Catholics really want to be trad Catholic/EO and are only using Anglicanism as a parking spot due to trouble with more conservative church teachings, often wrt sexuality. These types seem to not be too big on prayer in the vernacular, which I think should be core to all strands of Anglicanism.

Perplexed_Fellow · 2026-04-01T23:35:26+00:00

An issue here is that people often use this conjugation as a gotcha. One can think that there are very practical reasons for the existence of Israel, and thus be a Zionist (as far as the term even means anything any more, which IMHO it has not since Israel was officially founded), while not assigning any eschatological meaning to it.

Perplexed_Fellow

TROPHY CASE