gentile inclusion

By saying this prayer, those of us who are Gentiles become like the Syrophoenician woman. We admit we are dogs, unworthy as Gentiles and those who chronically forget God’s promises to the Jews to sit at God’s table, and yet we go on to ask for God’s food all the same, trusting that our host is merciful.

In Acts 15, St. James and the Jerusalem Council take for granted that Gentile Christians will do just this: follow the commands of God.

When Peter met Cornelius, he entered into what God has been up to since he called Abraham.

In this post, I want to offer a few further observations that could prove helpful, if the biblical-historical situation of Gentile inclusion in Acts 15 and other places is to provide clues for a way forward in a mixed-economy Anglicanism.

Covenant has recently been taking a look at the conversion of Cornelius. I want to propose that the story is more radical than people have imagined.

The struggle over Gentile inclusion has become a totem in Church conflicts for anyone wishing to claim historical precedent for their side of the argument.

Acts 10:1-16 speaks of Cornelius, a Gentile centurion drawn to worship the one God, yet fearful to commit. The question for us now is — who is Cornelius today?

The second of three meditations I have written for the Center for Biblical Studies