Thursday, June 19, 2008

Against gnosticism, for the Church year

Philip Lee has some interesting observations on the benefits of practicing the traditional liturgical calendar in the section "The Degnosticizing of Protestantism" in Against the Protestant Gnostics.

"The observance of the Christian year, which in some form or other has been practiced since ancient times, has always been an irritant to the gnostic spirit. It recognizes gnosticism's ancient foe, time, as having an important role within the Christian faith. ...The Christian year from Advent through Pentecost is a reminder that God has not approached His creatures in a general unidentifiable way, but in the particularity of space and time.

"The Protestant failure in celebrating Easter is closely connected to the Protestant failure to observe the Lenten season. ...Lent would be an admission that Christians, like all their fellow creatures, are not only captives of time, but in need of times and seasons. ...Without a particular remembrance of Golgotha in terms of the present, is there any wonder that Easter Sunday is unfulfilling for so many Protestants?"

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