Having entered the Christmas season, we ask those who find the work of the Mystagogy Resource Center beneficial to them to help us continue our work with a generous financial gift as you are able. As an incentive, we are offering the following booklet.

In 1909 the German philosopher Arthur Drews wrote a book called "The Myth of Christ", which New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman has called "arguably the most influential mythicist book ever produced," arguing that Jesus Christ never existed and was simply a myth influenced by more ancient myths. The reason this book was so influential was because Vladimir Lenin read it and was convinced that Jesus never existed, thus justifying his actions in promoting atheism and suppressing the Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union. Moreover, the ideologues of the Third Reich would go on to implement the views of Drews to create a new "Aryan religion," viewing Jesus as an Aryan figure fighting against Jewish materialism. 

Due to the tremendous influence of this book in his time, George Florovsky viewed the arguments presented therein as very weak and easily refutable, which led him to write a refutation of this text which was published in Russian by the YMCA Press in Paris in 1929. This apologetic brochure titled "Did Christ Live? Historical Evidence of Christ" was one of the first texts of his published to promote his Neopatristic Synthesis, bringing the patristic heritage to modern historical and cultural conditions. With the revival of these views among some in our time, this text is as relevant today as it was when it was written. 

Never before published in English, it is now available for anyone who donates at least $20 to the Mystagogy Resource Center upon request (please specify in your donation that you want the book). Thank you.



April 1, 2009

Anglicans Opening Up To The Use Of Icons

There are interesting discussions going on in the Anglican Church regarding the use of icons as a means of experiencing the grace of God and entering into the communion of Saints. Below are posted two articles with different perspectives that deal with this issue in a positive manner.

The first comes from a lecture delivered by Archbishop Rowan Williams at the Royal Academy of Arts Byzantium Lecture delivered on January 16, 2009 titled "Icons and the Practice of Prayer". In this lecture the Archbishop sees icons in their historical context in the age of the Byzantine Empire, and comes to understand the practical use of icons in meditative prayer. Though he lacks a clear knowledge of Orthodox spirituality, especially regarding the issues of the Hesychastic Controversy, and though he oversimplifies the experience of glorification as merely the result of prayerful contemplation, I still consider this piece in the right direction of trying to understand the significance of icons for Orthodox Christians from an Anglican perspective. This lecture can be read here:

http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2328

The second lecture is by Graham Kings and is titled "Icons: An Evangelical Anglican Perspective". This article deals more with the authors personal journey of how he came to appreciate icons in both public and private worship. Again, I have to commend the author for trying to understand the purpose and function of icons, though he bases his observations more on his own personal experience rather than the historical and patristic foundations of such devotion. What I found interesting about this article is that the author draws parallels between the Orthodox use of icons as visual aids in worship, with the contemporary electronic age in which images play the most significant role. King associates the recent popularity of using icons in worship among non-Orthodox as a product of our reliance on visuals in our culture. This article can be read here:

http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=395





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