Three Poems: Easter 2023
Confluence: Maundy Thursday 2023 Confluence of Word and flesh, in Palestine; Confluence of Spirit and our spirits, in our bodies; Confluence of Body and Blood, in bread and wine. …
LLF: Recent Past, Present & Future – Part Three
This is the third in a three-part series. You can read part one here and part two here or the full article here. Looking ahead – where do we go…
LLF: Recent Past, Present & Future – Part Two
This is the second in a three-part series. You can read part one here and part three here or the full article here. Looking at the issues No change to the…
LLF: Recent Past, Present & Future – Part One
This is the first in a three-part series. You can read part two here and part three here or the full article here. AUTHOR’S NOTE: Shortly before General Synod, in…
Beer and Theology: Future Dates
We have excellent Beer and Theology speakers lined up for the next few months, so here are some dates for your diaries.
What the bishops might also have said
A ‘Draft Explanatory Note’ intended to be attached to the House of Bishops’ Response to LLF has come to light. Its stated purpose is to ‘anticipate some likely questions the…
What are the bishops claiming about marriage?
What have the bishops changed in relation to marriage? Summary: By setting out what the bishops (and their legal advisors) are now saying about marriage in our society, this article…
Last Rites for LLF?
What has happened? It is only two weeks since a leak from the House of Bishops concerning their proposals following the discernment period of the LLF process prompted instant and…
A Tale of Two Privileges: or, the Existential Choice for the Church of England
Best of times and worst of times, eh? With such a Dickensian title, this article needs to make an obligatory (read: clichéd) reference to Charles’ great novel. The worst of…
Pope Benedict XVI: A Reflection by N.T. Wright
When Pope Benedict came to Scotland in late 2010, he spoke again and again with crowds, particularly of young people. His main theme, in one place after another, was Jesus….
A Letter in response to the Bishop of Oxford
Dear +Steven, It’s always difficult to put one’s head above the parapet when confronting the controversial issues of one’s time. It takes courage to do so – and for that…
How the World’s Earliest Astronomical Chart was Discovered under a Biblical Manuscript in Cambridge
West Cambridge – the edge between university city and river pasture – has been growing for many years with institutes armed with ever finer technology for understanding the world around…
Obituary: Ronald J Sider, 1939-2022
Ronald J Sider 1939- 2022 With the death of Ronald Sider we say ‘adieu’ to one of the most significant evangelical Christian voices of the last 60 years. Born in…
The Desire of Jesus, Deep and Daring: What if…?
This piece was originally delivered at one of Westminster Abbey’s pre-Lambeth Conference ecclesiology seminars. A volume of these essays will be published in due course. ‘God’s Church for God’s World’…
Michael Ramsey and the Lambeth Conference
Last year I reviewed a very useful collection of essays on the Lambeth Conference, the ten-yearly gathering of the bishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion. (The next meeting is to take place…
Lambeth Conference: going from ‘resolutions’ to ‘calls’
The question of who will be attending Lambeth which was explored in the first article last week is distinct from, but connected to, the question of where Lambeth is going, what it…
Will this summer’s Lambeth conference unite the Church?
“Rowing, not rowing” was the Economist’s elliptical, intriguing headline (9th Jan 2016), prior to the make-or-break 2016 “Primates’ Meeting” of the Anglican Communion concerning the looming rift over issues of sexuality….