Vestigia Dei
Wycliffe College Blog

Vestigia Dei  – is a Latin term meaning “traces of God.” As a theological term it is associated with natural theology – that is, the view that there are vestiges of God within creation. We’ve chosen this term as the title of the Wycliffe College blog because our hope is that through these writings, readers might glimpse evidences for God as our writers interact with the wider world.

The Good Thing: Thoughts on the Confession of St. Peter

Catherine Sider-Hamilton

Let me begin with the story of two Rhodes Scholars. One is named William Jefferson Clinton. He went to Georgetown University on scholarship, Oxford on the Rhodes Scholarship, and Yale Law School. He served as the 40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas and before that was Arkansas’ Attorney General. In 1992, Clinton became President of the United States and in 1996 the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected to a second term.

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On Saying “Thank You.”

Catherine Sider-Hamilton

Outside my office window there is a stunning tree. Burnt-red, tall and thick, deep blue sky behind it, and on either side trees still bright green.

Valentine’s Day

Catherine Sider-Hamilton

When my children were young, Valentine’s Day was hugely exciting. We made cookies with pink icing in heart shapes.

Women in Ministry? Light from Ancient Greek

Catherine Sider-Hamilton

Can a woman preach? Can women lead worship? Does God ordain authority for women in the church? It is a question that matters to me, as a woman and a priest in the Anglican church, now for more than 25 years. Greek points us toward an answer!

Loneliness—it’s now built in

David Kupp

There’s a growing ache at the heart of many of our western societies. Its name is loneliness. And a stream of actors has been calling it out of late: psychologists, pastors, pandemistas, even politicians.

Stuck at home, in Guelph, Ontario

David Kupp

“Stuck at home”

stuck: “mired, glued, compelled, resolutely adhered, halted, saddled disagreeably”

home: “one’s place of residence, domicile, habitat”

 

How very good and pleasant it is

Candlemas

Catherine Sider-Hamilton

Where I grew up, in southern Pennsylvania, Groundhog Day was a big thing. For weeks before February 2, the papers, the broadcasters asked: would the groundhog—who had a name, Punxatawny Phil, from Punxatawny, Penn.—see his shadow?

Spiritual deformation: the faith community’s losing battle with social media?

David Kupp

We’ve all had enough, it seems. And yet we only want more. Shoulders curled forward, phones in our hands, eyes fixed to the screen, our brains wired to thumb endlessly deeper into the digital matrix: this is becoming the posture of humanity.

Abide with Me: Thoughts on Christian Unity

Catherine Sider-Hamilton

What can be said about Christian unity in a month that has seen yet another church propose to split?

Lessons on the World Day of the Poor: Pope Francis and the anonymous Jesus

David Kupp

I found Jesus a seven-minute walk from Wycliffe College. At first, I could not quite recognize him. Lying on a park bench, thickly covered with an old blanket, he was layered with snow. As I sat down on the bench beside him, though, I noticed his feet.