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| Pastor Mathias | | Ms. Brunell - Executive Director | | Mr. Gaffney - Managing Director | | Ms. Helmers - Managing Director | | | |
| Mr. Flynn - Senior Director | | Mr. Bolton - Director | | Ms. Irwin - Director | | Mr. James - Director | | Mr. Levine - Director | | Ms. Radewicz - Director | | Mr. Rodgers - Director | | Mr. Shea - Director | | Mr. Widmyer - Director | | | |
| Ms. Avery | | Ms. Baird | | Ms. Baker | | Ms. Bray | | Ms. Burns | | Ms. Coffey | | Ms. Crane | | Mr. David | | Ms. Drew | | | |
| Mr. Dunlap | | Mr. Ewing | | Mr. Farley | | Ms. Finley | | Mr. Friedman | | Ms. Gay | | Ms. Hahn | | Ms. Hobbs | | Ms. Holder | | | |
| Mr. Horton | | Ms. Lee | | Mr. Maddox | | Ms. Perez | | Ms. Rollins | | Ms. Smith | | Ms. Smith | | Ms. Weslin | | Mr. Wilkerson | | | | | | M.R. Mathias - Ambassador |
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| |  | | | Nanzan University | Nanzan is named after the forested mountains near Goken'ya-cho (?????), known as Minamiyama (???), which literally means "southern mountain". The on reading for "??" is Nanzan. Also, in Chinese poetry "??" refers to Mount Lushan until the Tang Dynasty and Mount Zhong Nan thereafter. Notably, the word appears in the classical poetry collection Shi Jing and the works of famous poet Li Bai. Thus, the choice of name is a celebration of longevity, perseverance, and prosperity for both the school and its alumni.[3]
Divine Word Missionary Josef Reiners founded Nanzan Junior High School in 1932. Nanzan Foreign Language School was added to the Nanzan system in 1946 and eventually renamed Nanzan University in 1949. In 1995, Nagoya Seirei Junior College was subsumed by Nanzan when the two schools' organizations merged.[4] In 2008, Nanzan plans to open an elementary school, officially named Nanzan University Affiliated Elementary School. [More] | |  |
| |  | | | Society of the Divine Word | The Society was founded in Steyl in the Netherlands in 1875 by Arnold Janssen, a diocesan priest, and drawn mostly from German priests and religious exiles in the Netherlands during the church-state conflict called the Kulturkampf, which had resulted in many religious groups being expelled and seminaries being closed in Germany. In 1882, the Society started sending missionaries into China’s Shandong Province, where their aggressive methods were part of the chain of events that led to the Boxer Uprising in the late 1890s.[3] In 1892, missionaries were sent to Togo a small country in west Africa. The Togo mission was particularly fruitful for by 15 years later the Holy See had appointed an Apostolic prefect. The Society’s third mission was to German New Guinea (the northern half of present-day Papua New Guinea). In 1898 a fourth mission to be opened was in Argentina, an historically Catholic country where the Society quickly assumed responsibility for several parishes, schools and also seminaries in four dioceses: Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, La Plata and Paraná all of which are now archdioceses.[4]
In the 20th century the Society further expanded, opening communities in Australia, Botswana (Gaborone, Gumare and Ghanzi); Brazil; Canada (Quebec and Ontario); South Africa (Phalaborwa, Polokwane and Pretoria); the United States of America (Appalachia and Illinois) and Zambia (Kabwe, Livingstone and Lusaka). [More] | | |
| |  | | | International Christian University | | International Christian University (??????? Kokusai Kirisutokyo Daigaku?) is a non-denominational private university located in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan. Commonly known as ICU (in Japan and abroad), the university was founded in 1949. ICU offers 32 majors in undergraduate program as the liberal arts college in Japan. It is one of the most selective universities in Japan. | | |
| |  | | | SPCK | Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge | In Search of Japan’s Hidden Christians
John Dougill
The story of Japan's hidden Christians is the subject of a major new film directed by Martin Scorsese (due for release late 2016), based on Shusaku Endo's famous novel, Silence.
In Search of Japan’s Hidden Christians is a remarkable story of suppression, secrecy and survival in the face of human cruelty and God’s apparent silence. Part history, part travelogue, it explores and seeks to explain a clash of civilizations—of East and West—that resonates to this day.
For seven generations, Japan’s ‘Hidden Christians’ preserved a faith that was forbidden on pain of death. Just as remarkably, descendants of the Hidden Christians continue to practise their beliefs today, refusing to rejoin the Catholic Church. Why? And what is it about Japanese culture that makes it so resistant to Western Christianity?
SPCK is proud to publish a special film tie-in edition of Silence with Marylebone House. [More] | | |
| | | | | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge | | The greatest and most important society within the Church of England. It was founded 8 March, 1698, when four laymen, Lord Guildford, Sir H. Mackworth, Justice Hook, and Colonel Colchester, and one clergyman, Dr. Thomas Bray, met on the initiative of the last-named and agreed among themselves "as often as we can conveniently to consult, under the conduct of the Divine providence and assistance, to promote Christian Knowledge". Dr. Bray had been the Bishop of London's Commissary in Maryland, and was a man of wide experience, energetic zeal, and ability for organization. The society soon received the countenance of several Anglican bishops, including Gilbert Burnet of Salisbury. Other well known men also took a speedy interest in the work, such as Strype the antiquary, Gilbert White of Selborne, John Evelyn, and the Rev. Samuel Wesley, father of John and Charles Wesley. The first aim of the society was the education of poor children. Within two years they had founded six schools in London, and by 1704 there were 54 schools with over 2000 scholars. Eight years later the schools numbered 117, the scholars 5000. The movement spread, and by 1741 the charity-schools of the S.P.C.K. reached the number of nearly 2000. This educational work at length became so great that a new society, "The National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church", was formed to undertake it. Since 1870 this work has been done by the State, and the society has turned its educational efforts to the training of teachers. It entirely maintains St. Katharine's College, Tottenham, supports the various diocesan training-colleges, and contributes towards the foundation of Sunday-school buildings and mission-rooms. The educational branch of the society's work has not been confined to England, but in India it has founded scholarships for native Christians, both in the boys' colleges and in the schools provided for the higher education of women. It also provides technical training for the native Christians by means of industrial schools. The same work is being developed in Australia, Japan, Africa, Burma, and among the American Indians of the North- West. Besides providing for children, the society has done much for "unlettered adults". From almost the beginning of its existence it has established evening schools and provided for the instruction of prisoners in penitentiaries or prisons. For a time the society paid chaplains to help prisoners, in an age when the government often neglected this duty. [More] | | |
| |  | | | Knights of Malta | New Advent | The most important of all the military orders, both for the extent of its area and for its duration. It is said to have existed before the Crusades and is not extinct at the present time. During this long career it has not always borne the same name. Known as Hospitallers of Jerusalem until 1309, the members were called Knights of Rhodes from 1309 till 1522, and have been called Knights of Malta since 1530.
The origins of the order have given rise to learned discussions, to fictitious legends and hazardous conjectures. The unquestionable founder was one Gerald or Gerard, whose birthplace and family name it has been vainly sought to ascertain. On the other hand, his title as founder is attested by a contemporary official document, the Bull of Paschal II, dated 1113, addressed to "Geraudo institutori ac praeposito Hirosolimitani Xenodochii". This was certainly not the first establishment of the kind at Jerusalem. Even before the crusades, hostelries were indispensable to shelter the pilgrims who flocked to the Holy Places, and in the beginning the hospitia or xenodochia were nothing more. They belonged to different nations; a Frankish hospice is spoken of in the time of Charlemagne; the Hungarian hospice is said to date from King St. Stephen (year 1000). But the most famous was an Italian hospice about the year 1050 by the merchants of Amalfi, who at that time had commercial relations with the Holy Land. Attempts have been made to trace the origin of the Hospitallers of St. John to this foundation, but it is obvious to remark that the Hospitallers had St. John the Baptist for their patron, while the Italian hospice was dedicated to St. John of Alexandria. Moreover, the former adopted the Rule of St. Augustine, while the latter followed that of the Benedictines. Like most similar houses at that time, the hospice of Amalfi was in fact merely a dependency of a monastery, while Gerard's was autonomous from the beginning. Before the Crusades, the Italian hospital languished, sustained solely by alms gathered in Italy; but Gerard profited by the presence of the crusaders, and by the gratitude felt for his hospitality, to acquire territory and revenues not only in the new Kingdom of Jerusalem, but in Europe — in Sicily, Italy, and Provence. In the acts of donation which remain to us, there is no mention of the sick, but only of the poor and strangers. In this respect the hospice of Gerard did not differ from others, and his epitaph defines his work:
Pauperibus servus, pius hospitibus . . . .
Undique collegit pasceret unde sous.
Thanks to the resources accumulated by Gerard, his successor, Raymond of Provence (1120-60), caused the erection of more spacious buildings near the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and henceforth the hospice became an infirmary served by a community of hospitallers in the modern sense of the word.
Strictly speaking, therefore, the Hospitallers of Jerusalem only began with Raymond of Provence, to whom they owe their rule. This rule deals only with their conduct as religious and infirmarians, there being no mention of knights. It especially sets forth that the hospital shall permanently maintain at its expense five physicians and three surgeons. The brothers were to fulfil the duties of infirmarians. A pilgrim, about the year 1150, places the number of sick persons cared for at 2000, a figure evidently exaggerated, unless we make it include all the persons harboured in a whole year. Raymond continued to receive donations, and this permitted him to complete his foundation by a second innovation. To accompany and defend at need, the arriving and departing pilgrims, he defrayed the cost of an armed escort, which in time became a veritable army, comprising knights recruited from among the crusaders of Europe, and serving as a heavy cavalry (see CHIVALRY), and Turcopoles recruited from among the natives of mixed blood, and serving as light cavalry armed in the Turkish fashion. With this innovation originated the most ancient military dignities in the order: the marshal, to command the knights, the turcopolier, for the Turcopoles. Later the grand masters themselves went into battle. Gosbert (c. 1177), the fifth successor of Raymond, distinguished himself, and Roger de Moulins perished gloriously on the field of battle (1187). Thus the Order of St. John imperceptibly became military without losing its eleemosynary character. The statutes of Roger de Moulins (1187) deal only with the service of the sick; the first mention of military service is in the statutes of the ninth grand master, Alfonso of Portugal (about 1200). In the latter a marked distinction is made between secular knights, externs to the order, who served only for a time, and the professed knights, attached to the order by a perpetual vow, and who alone enjoyed the same spiritual privileges as the other religious. Henceforth the order numbered two distinct classes of members: the military brothers [More] | | |
| | | | | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge | The greatest and most important society within the Church of England. It was founded 8 March, 1698, when four laymen, Lord Guildford, Sir H. Mackworth, Justice Hook, and Colonel Colchester, and one clergyman, Dr. Thomas Bray, met on the initiative of the last-named and agreed among themselves "as often as we can conveniently to consult, under the conduct of the Divine providence and assistance, to promote Christian Knowledge". Dr. Bray had been the Bishop of London's Commissary in Maryland, and was a man of wide experience, energetic zeal, and ability for organization. The society soon received the countenance of several Anglican bishops, including Gilbert Burnet of Salisbury. Other well known men also took a speedy interest in the work, such as Strype the antiquary, Gilbert White of Selborne, John Evelyn, and the Rev. Samuel Wesley, father of John and Charles Wesley. The first aim of the society was the education of poor children. Within two years they had founded six schools in London, and by 1704 there were 54 schools with over 2000 scholars. Eight years later the schools numbered 117, the scholars 5000. The movement spread, and by 1741 the charity-schools of the S.P.C.K. reached the number of nearly 2000. This educational work at length became so great that a new society, "The National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church", was formed to undertake it. Since 1870 this work has been done by the State, and the society has turned its educational efforts to the training of teachers. It entirely maintains St. Katharine's College, Tottenham, supports the various diocesan training-colleges, and contributes towards the foundation of Sunday-school buildings and mission-rooms. The educational branch of the society's work has not been confined to England, but in India it has founded scholarships for native Christians, both in the boys' colleges and in the schools provided for the higher education of women. It also provides technical training for the native Christians by means of industrial schools. The same work is being developed in Australia, Japan, Africa, Burma, and among the American Indians of the North- West. Besides providing for children, the society has done much for "unlettered adults". From almost the beginning of its existence it has established evening schools and provided for the instruction of prisoners in penitentiaries or prisons. For a time the society paid chaplains to help prisoners, in an age when the government often neglected this duty.
Another branch of the society's activity is the hospital work. The members visit the sick and dying, and supply the hospitals with Bibles, prayer books and other religious work. Important under this head are the medical missions, which aim at winning the soul of the heathen by caring for his body. These medical missions have been founded in Sierra Leone, Madagascar, South Africa, India, Palestine, China, Japan, Korea, and British Columbia. Students, male and female, are specially trained for this work, and hospitals are built and furnished.
Perhaps more widely known than any is the work of the S.P.C.K. as "the great publishing house" of the Church of England. Simultaneously with the foundation of it first schools it began to print and circulate cheap and good books. One of its first subscriptions was begun "for promoting Christian knowledge by raising Lending Libraries in the several Market towns of the kingdom and by distributing good books". The first publication was an edition of 600 copies of Dr. Bray's "Discourse concerning Baptismal and Spiritual Regeneration" which appeared in 1699. The society, while maintaining its position as the great Bible and Prayer Book society of the Church of England, has not confined itself to purely religious works. Its catalogue includes volumes of popular science, travel, biography, and fiction, as well as the special class devoted to theology and history. Even translations of Catholic books are not excluded, and though Catholics, objecting to publications such as Dr. Littledale's "Plain Reasons", in which mis- representation becomes a fine art, cannot approve of much that is issued in the society's volumes, they can acknowledge the general good taste of the society's publications even when directed against themselves. They may also be excused for regarding as objectionable the versions of English church history which are popularized throughout the country, not only attractively produced manuals, but also by popular lantern lectures. Besides the books published, popular tracts, pictures, and illuminated texts are issued in great numbers. The latest figures available show that, exclusive of Bibles, prayer books, and tracts, the circulation of the society's publications in 1905 amounted to 11,078,135.
An important development of recent growth is the organizing of lay help. In 1889 the society opened a Training [More] | | |
| |  | | | First Buds of the Church | Praying for Christian Unity
Reformational Preaching
Reversed Thunder: A Tribute to Thomas C. Oden (1931-2016)
Bonhoeffer at Ettal: Advent 1940
Samicles
The Priesthood of All Believers
Packer at Ninety
The Eternity of God
Lund and the Quest for Christian Unity
Hans Friedrich Grohs: From Bereavement to Benediction
James Earl Massey: Steward of the Story
The Reformation, a Tragic Necessity
Bystanders to Genocide
The Bible Cause at 200
The One Really Interesting Story
Puritans on the Potomac
Reading the Psalms with the Reformers
In Honor of an Uppity Nun
Erasmus Before the Storm
Social Sins in Lent
Justice Scalia on Funeral Sermons
Mary at Baptism?
The God Who Names Himself
In Honor of David Steinmetz
After Dinner, a Beheading
Bonhoeffer's Last Advent
ECT at Twenty
Thin Places
America's First Baptist President
The Mystery of Eternal Love
Theology Worth Smuggling
God and Donald Trump
A Franciscan Moment
My Own Pilgrim's Progress
Ghosts of Walnut Street Bridge
Mournful Broken Hearts
Gimmicks and God
The Neglected God
A Thicker Kind of Mere
Doctrix Teresa: A Churchly Theologian
The Sweet Torture of Sunday Morning
The Fierce Christ of Easter Faith
George Herbert in Lent
Reading Luke with the Reformers
When Africa Bleeds
Engaging John Together
Jesus on Safari
God of Fire, Man of Prayer
Bonhoeffer in Advent
Ecumenism After 50 Years
Same-Self Marriage
Into All the World
Mary on the Prairie
Faithful Unto Death
Silence and Solidarity
Between Sweetness and Nausea
Let Religious Freedom Ring
Troubled Waters
Religious Freedom & Christian Faith
Jesus Came Preaching
The Devil on the Charles
Reading Acts with the Reformers
John Donne in Lent
Let's Not Get the Hell Out of Here
Not Just for Catholics
A Holy Calling: To Keep Truth Alive
The Vicar of Baghdad
Get Thee to a Nunnery
Sitting Down at Jesus' Feet: A Tribute to William E. Hull
First Buds of the Church
Dying We Live: A Tribute to A. Earl Potts
Bringing Mary in from the Cold
A Thirty-Day Friendship Fit for Eternity
Giving Thanks in Hitler's Reich
Strange Friendly Fire
The Gospel of Ghoul
The Awesome Disclosure of God
Benedict XVI, The Great Augustinian
A Tale of Two Demons
From Crystal to Christ
While the World Watched
No Squishy Love (Part II)
Is Jesus A Baptist?
No Squishy Love
Avery's Ten Rules
Will D. Campbell, Bootleg Baptist
American Stasi?
Coffee Shop Conversations
Our Francis, Too
Catholics and Baptists Together
The Man Who Birthed Evangelicalism
Sacrilege is Real
Against the Stream
A Christian Partnership Bears Fruit
Churchless Jesus
Uniters, Not Dividers
The Reformation Was a Tragic Necessity
Flaming Truth
Reading Scripture with the Reformers
Education Is in Our DNA
The "Big Love" Strategy
Real Happiness
Civility Under Fire
A Tale of Two Declarations
Bend It Like Beckwith?
Reading the Bible with the Reformers
How Old Are the Baptists?
John Calvin: Comeback Kid
What the Baptists Can Learn from Calvin
The Word Became Flesh
We Travel Together Still
Lincoln's Faith and America's Future
Rick 'n Jesus
Is Jesus a Baptist?
The Jerry I Remember
Love in the Ruins: St. Augustine on 9/11
Southern Baptists after the Revolution
Delighted by Doctrine
Francis: A Springtime Saint
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Articles by Timothy George
First Buds of the Church
First Buds of the Church
By Timothy George
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are over now, but the melodies linger on—not only for those who observe the full twelve days of Christmastide, but also for others for whom the season has been mostly about lots of good food, good cheer, and the feel-good sentimentality of “God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world.”
But then the calendar of the Christian church does something downright rude. It reminds us of something we thought we had tinseled out of our consciousness at least until 2014, namely the violence, mayhem, and chaos that are part of what it means to be a human being in this kind of world. It does this by placing the feast day of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, on December 26, the day just after Christmas, and the feast day of the Holy Innocents, just two days later, on December 28.
Gail Grimshaw captures the jarring juxtaposition of these liturgical events with the season’s typical merriment when she observes that, for many of our contemporaries, Christmas has become a kind of winter solstice jamboree, a neo-pagan exultation of the rhythms of the ea [More] | | |
| | | | | How Old Are the Baptists? | Successionism
This is the view that Baptists have come from a long line of true churches stretching back across the centuries to the New Testament itself. Baptists are successors, it is claimed, to various dissenting groups that have thrived on the margins of official Christianity. A popular version of this theory was published by J. M. Carroll in a pamphlet called “The Trail of Blood.” It portrays Baptists as successors not only to Bible-loving Lollards and Waldensians but also to many other dissenting and heretical groups across the centuries: the Cathari, the Paulicians, the Acephali, the Petrobrusiani and on and on.
More nuanced historians of this school claim that such groups at least exhibited Baptist principles, such as believers’ baptism by immersion, while a stricter version of this story posits an unbroken chain of true Baptist churches going all the way back to the Judean Hills and the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized, mind you, by John the “Baptist,” not by John the Presbyterian or John the Methodist, much less John the Episcopalian. [More] | | |
| | | | | | About Us : The Federalist Society | Law schools and the legal profession are currently strongly dominated by a form of orthodox liberal ideology which advocates a centralized and uniform society. While some members of the academic community have dissented from these views, by and large they are taught simultaneously with (and indeed as if they were) the law.
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is a group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order. It is founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be. The Society seeks both to promote an awareness of these principles and to further their application through its activities.
This entails reordering priorities within the legal system to place a premium on individual liberty, traditional values, and the rule of law. It also requires restoring the recognition of the importance of these norms among lawyers, judges, law students and professors. In working to achieve these goals, the Society has created a conservative and libertarian intellectual network that extends to all levels of the legal community. [More] | | |
| |  | | | Dagsboro, Delaware - Wikipedia | Built in 1755 and named for Prince George (later King George III), Prince George's Chapel is one of the oldest churches in the United States as well as one of the oldest buildings in Dagsboro. It became part of the Church of England's Worcester Parish on June 30, 1757 when the area was still part of Maryland. General Dagworthy, who died in 1829, is buried in the chapel's cemetery. Major renovations came in 1967 with the property's purchase by the State of Delaware. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.[10]
Clayton Theatre opened in Dagsboro on February 2, 1949 with One Touch of Venus, a film featuring Ava Gardner, on its single screen. The theater was named for John M. Clayton, a former United States senator and Secretary of State. In the 1950s, a soda fountain operated as Clayton Cut Rate Luncheonette in a storefront adjoining the theater. Although the Clayton now uses digital projection equipment, it continues doing business as Delaware's last single-screen theater. [More] | | |
| |  | | | Natt och Dag - Wikipedia | The oldest established ancestor is the knight, Lawspeaker of Värend, and Privy Councillor Nils Sigridsson (1299 at the earliest), known since 11 May 1280. From his grandson's grandson's son, the knight, Lawspeaker of Närke and Privy Councillor Magnus Bengtsson (between 1473 and 1477) stems the currently known family. His grandson's grandson was introduced at the House of Nobility in Sweden in the year 1625.
The family members first started to use the name Natt och Dag in the 18th century, why many members names are written with the family name within parentheses, i.e. (Natt och Dag). The name alludes to the contrast difference between the blue and the golden field the family's coat of arms. In the early 16th century, the Swedish coin was mint-marked with the Natt och Dag coat of arms, due to members of the family being regents of Sweden.
Gabriel Anrep, a Swedish genealogist of the 19th century, wrote:
That this family stems from Sigtrygg, a rich man, who, according to Sturlesson, in the year 1030 lived in Nerike and, during the winter, housed the Norwegian King Olof Haralsson the Holy, and that Sigtrygg's son Ivar thereafter became a distinguished man, may be true but lacks evidence
As of 31 December 2007, 56 persons carried the name Natt och Dag in Sweden. Branches residing in the United States are named DeRemee and Dagg. [More] | | |
| |  | | | Donald Trump Reveals The Struggles That Kept His Faith In Jesus Strong | | “When God was kicked out of our schools, truth also packed its bags and children were left to find meaning in cheap diplomas and certificates of participation. But the real world does not function on the measure of one’s sincerity no matter how hard one works – if the hard work one produces is still below average. And it cares even less about one’s self-esteem.” | | |
| |  | | | Chris Pratt Was Hopeless And Depressed, Until A Stranger At The Grocery Store Said 'Jesus Told Me To Talk To You' | Most people got to know Chris Pratt as “Andy Dwyer” on NBC’s hit show, Parks and Recreation. Since then, he’s become one of Hollywood’s most infamous actors, leading major box-office hits like Zero Dark Thirty, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Jurassic World.
But behind the flashing lights, multi-million dollar movies, and a luxurious life, lives a man much different than the one portrayed on the big screen.
Earlier this week, Chris Pratt sat down with Vanity Fair for an exclusive interview. And with all eyes on him, Pratt turned the spotlight on someone else. [More] | | |
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M.R. Mathias 
