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 in Erie, Ontario, Canada in 1939, he became known for his rejection of any dichotomy between evangelism and social action and his claim that the … Continue Reading
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 do, what outcomes are being sought. The significant recent development here is the announcement that the Archbishop of Canterbury has decided that this Conference … Continue Reading
“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. The subheading was: “The archbishop of Canterbury tries to save the Anglican Communion.” This alluded to Justin Welby’s undergraduate experience as a cox of the first … Continue Reading
The Lambeth Conferences opens on July 26th, just over a month away. In recent days there has been quite a flurry of activity—including two announcements from the Archbishop of Canterbury—which has highlighted some of the challenges that it will face. The first communication was the text of a letter sent on 27th May by Archbishop Justin and Archbishop … Continue Reading
Introduction The first religious experience that I can remember is getting under the nursery table to pray that the dancing mistress might be dead before we got to her dancing class. This is how Gwen Raverat begins her chapter on Religion, in Period Piece: A Cambridge Childhood (p. 210). Thankfully, her prayer was not answered. In this witty, autobiographical … Continue Reading
Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring the bells of Easter Day over land, over sea, over all the earth. Bring the clang of nature’s joy up from earth, to the skies, midst the furthest stars: ‘Christ is Risen from the tomb’ sounds the call of the tow’rs to the rising gulls. ‘He is Risen, death is … Continue Reading
Introduction 2021 is the Silver Jubilee of the official opening of the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide (CCCW) at Westminster College, Cambridge, which took place on January 22, 1996. The Centre was then known as the Henry Martyn Library for mission studies and world Christianity. These 25 years have seen extraordinary growth. The doyen of 20th-century scholars of Christian-Muslim … Continue Reading
Quarrels about words? In my years involved in dialogue and debate relating to sexuality, some of the most depressing moments have been when those who broadly share my views concerning biblical and church teaching speak and act in ways that I find really unhelpful, even damaging, and impossible to support. Reading the Pastoral Statement on … Continue Reading
This is a fool’s endeavour. Over the last seven articles, I have tried out a new anthropological/geographical slant for mapping out the various branches of Evangelical theology in the 21st Century. I have used the terms ‘regions’ and ‘tribes’. Like any typology, it is very reductive. Some of the theologians discussed don’t even remain fixed … Continue Reading
In the November 2020 General Synod debate on the IICSA Report about sexual abuse, there were proper calls for the conversation between survivors of church-related abuse and the Church of England to be marked by – among other things – justice, truth and reconciliation. In a personal contribution to that conversation, David Atkinson (former Bishop … Continue Reading