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The Wycliffe Blog - Vestigia Dei
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.
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Six Gifts from St. Benedict’s Rule for living in the time of CovidBy Annette Brownlee I am in the middle of reading St. Benedict’s Rule with my 30 students in the first year MDiv course at Wycliffe called, “Life Together: Living the Christian Faith in Community.” We have come to the fun part of this portion of the class. First, students read the Rule straight through and shared their impressions. Many are skeptical. It’s really old, written for monks and nuns (not evangelical Protestants) and... |
Mon, November 23, 2020 |
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The nations eye each other upBy Mark Elliott The term “the Canadian model” has been thrown around in recent weeks as British Government negotiators seek the best “divorce settlement” deal they can get, in preparation for the UK to leave the European union. The EU has been criticised for not being ready to treat the UK as “just like Canada” with whom the EU has a preferential tariff-light trade arrangement. Are we not closer to Europe than Canada,... |
Mon, November 09, 2020 |
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Address the Sin and be Plenished by the WellBy Axel Kazadi Born in the Congo and raised in Zambia and New Brunswick before moving to Toronto, Axel Kazadi is a ThM graduate of 2018 and current PhD student at Wycliffe College. He works also as Assistant Professor of Bible & Theology at Kingswood University. In addition to his academic pursuits, Axel served as a youth and young adult pastor at Milliken Wesleyan Methodist Church in Markham, Ontario from 2015-2020. The twofold question I have been contemplating is:... |
Mon, November 09, 2020 |
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A New Age of the SpiritBy Ephraim Radner The ventilator may well come to be one of the sorrowful symbols of the time of the Virus. We will associate it, as even now we do, with intense suffering, loss, and even death. The root of “ventilator” is the Latin ventus, which means “wind” or “breath.” When our breath is under threat, we are filled with enormous fear. As a child I suffered from asthma, and on more than... |
Mon, November 02, 2020 |
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The Joy of InterruptionBy Tom Power Many people in ministry and others could sympathize with the declaration of Rev. John Newton (1725-1807), author of the famous hymn, Amazing Grace, that he had: “seldom one hour free from interruption, letters that must he answered, visitants [visitors] that must be received, [and] business that must be attended to. I have a good many sheep and lambs to look after, sick and afflicted souls dear to the... |
Mon, October 26, 2020 |
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Reflection and Encouragement from a First Year Wycliffe StudentBy Yong-Sung Jonathan Kang We invited Jonathan Kang, a first-year Wycliffe College MDiv student, to share his thoughts on what it is like to start seminary during a global pandemic, and to offer a word of encouragement to fellow students. It feels disingenuous, and even presumptuous, to write to a community that I (as yet) only see through a glass, darkly. Literally, through a monitor in my basement. Nevertheless, if that dim perception is... |
Mon, October 26, 2020 |
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Cup of Blessing: On Missing the Chalice at CommunionBy Joseph Mangina One of the sure signs of “Covid-tide” in Anglican churches is the absence of the common cup at Holy Communion. The priest partakes of both the bread and wine, while the congregation receives the bread only. It’s a commonsensical public health measure, regrettable, no doubt, but absolutely necessary under the circumstances. But it raises an interesting question. If you receive only the bread of the Eucharist, are you “getting” only... |
Mon, October 19, 2020 |
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Spiritual deformation: the faith community’s losing battle with social media?By 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. In January 2020, in the early days of COVID-19, 3.6 billion people on earth were using social media. Amidst the lockdowns of the pandemic, that number surged to... |
Tue, October 13, 2020 |
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Society’s Fitting Anger at Evangelical ChristiansBy Ann Jervis Why is it that Christians—particularly evangelical Christians—are increasingly seen as the enemy of the common good? A Google search for “evangelical” in The New York Times quickly locates numerous articles about the evils of Christian evangelicals. Evangelical Christians are blamed for discounting climate change, for distrusting science, for supporting systemic racism, for equating unfair capitalist structures with Christian principles, and so on. Reading mainstream media is often a chastening and... |
Mon, October 05, 2020 |
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How Some Indigenous Students Changed MeBy Alan L. Hayes Students generally expect to learn from their professors, but I can attest that professors also have a great deal to learn from their students. I want to say a bit here about some things I’ve learned from Indigenous students in particular, and how I’ve been changed as a result. Now, a fundamental reason why I’ve had so much to learn from Indigenous students is that, before they came into my... |
Mon, September 28, 2020 |
