about me

I am an Episcopal Priest, married to one wife for thirty-four years, with four adult children. My studies have been not only at Anglican, but also Eastern Orthodox and Southern Baptist seminaries.By nature I am conservative, by which I mean that I have a deep respect for tradition and the wisdom that can be gained from those who came before us. With that respect for tradition comes a corresponding caution regarding change. A caution that arises from an observation that, historically, radical change, though sometimes good and necessary, has often brought about problems worse than what previously existed.

I believe that right and wrong are matters of fact, not matters of feeling. I believe that without God there can be no good. I believe that enforced equality is a poor substitute for real justice. I believe that just because something is new does not necessarily mean it is superior, and that just because something is old does not mean the it is inferior. I also believe that relativism, secularism, and pragmatism are the enemies of truth and goodness.

I profess the Christian Faith. That mysterious relationship that exists, by the gracious act of God, between God and humanity. God became man in the person of Jesus Christ not to institute a new philosophy or even a code of conduct, but primarily to restore us to new life in the fellowship of the Holy Trinity. Because of the limitations to the human mind there must always be an element of mystery in how we approach speaking of God. It must be acknowledged that the realities that are manifested in the life of the Church can not be fully be defined by the language, formulas, or definitions of the Faith. The Faith does not belong to us; we belong to it, we subscribe to it, we submit ourselves to it, because it is from God. We are not free to change it or to alter it; it is we who must changed or transformed.

I am convicted that the tendency among even well intention-ed Christian people in the West to stray from the Apostolic Faith is a result, in part, of the little regard for, and general lack of familiarity with, the Early Church Fathers and their interpretation of Holy Scripture. What often passes as teaching in many churches today is little more than naive Biblicism, self-help psychology, and this-worldly-social-idealism. The teaching in these kinds of churches has become so insipid because it has been displaced from the more vigorous river of the Church’s Tradition, and no longer draws on the clear, deep, theological wellsprings of the Fathers. The Church Fathers are witnesses to the living Tradition of the Church from the Apostolic times, and because of that their commentaries on Scripture can be looked to and relied upon as a trustworthy guide to the interpretation of Scripture.

I believe that God creates people in his image as either male or female, and that this creation is a fixed matter of human biology, not individual choice. I believe marriage is instituted by God, not government, is between one man and one woman, and is the only context for sexual desire and expression.

I believe that each human being exists as a result of the creative act of God. Each has never been before and will never be repeated. Each one who is, or will be conceived is unique and irreplaceable. Each was created in the image and likeness of God. This means that there is a dignity which is due to each human person. There are many human needs which find no place in the free market. The image and likeness of God that is marked on each human person makes it unthinkable that we should, through selfishness, idleness or apathy, allow fundamental human needs to remain unmet, or to allow those burdened by such needs to perish. We are our brother’s keeper.