Fulcrum Press Release Following the accurate report on the Church of England Newspaper website, Religious Intelligence (20 September 2007), that after many resignations from the Hall staff over recent months, three senior members of the academic staff have now been required to leave Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Fulcrum gives its full backing in support and prayer … Continue Reading
The notes in the text are hyperlinked into the end notes; to return to the text, click on the end note number Dear Fulcrum Friends, ‘Edge’ has several meanings, literal and figurative. These include, ‘sharpened side of blade’, ‘brink of a precipice’, ‘critical position or moment’ and ‘boundary line’. When people are ‘on edge’ they are … Continue Reading
The crises that Anglicanism faces today can usually be traced to the different ways in which different sides approach the task of doing theology. The questions which arise are not new: how do we interpret Scripture? what authority do we give to Scripture? how much respect do we pay to the way in which Scripture … Continue Reading
The movement towards a separated North American Anglican church, aligned perhaps with one part of the Anglican Communion and not another, appears to be gaining steam. The focus of the Anglican Communion Network’s official leadership has shifted perceptibly towards this goal, overtly transferring its energies from its work as a coalition of American traditionalist bishops … Continue Reading
by Graham Kings, vicar of St Mary Islington and Jonathan Clark, rector of St Mary Stoke Newington The stretching which the Holy Spirit evokes in the life of the Church may well be the vocation to an Anglican Covenant. Stretching and the Spirit may seem to be strange at first – perhaps the Spirit is … Continue Reading
The Original Proposal The proposal for a covenant was made by the Lambeth Commission on Communion in The Windsor Report published in October 2004. In paras 113-120 of Section C (‘Our Future Life Together’), the Commission discussed the work of the Anglican Communion Legal Advisers’ Network, especially on the common principles of canon law and … Continue Reading
A Briefing Paper for the Evangelical Group on General Synod by Andrew Goddard What is the proposed Anglican Covenant? The idea of an Anglican Covenant originates in one of the main proposals of The Windsor Report (TWR) as a response to the recent crisis in the Communion. The principles of TWR were supported by General … Continue Reading
republished, with permission, from the Church of England Newspaper, 22 June 2007 ‘Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?’ is the plaintive backing song used in the famous car advert in 1995, and again this year. The sentiment of the song, by Janis Joplin (from her 1971 album, ‘Pearl’), raises key questions about materialism and … Continue Reading
republished, with permission, from The Church of England Newspaper, 15 June 2007 Dear Fulcrum Friends, There is a poignant story of Jesus walking towards a Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, during the apartheid era, and seeing a black man sitting on the steps, crying. He asked, ‘Why are you weeping?’ The reply came, ‘They … Continue Reading
by Colin Craston republished with permission from the Church of England Newspaper, 8 June 2007 The highest point of unity among Evangelicals in the Church of England was 40 years ago at the Keele National Evangelical Anglican Congress. Divisions began to emerge after the second Congress at Nottingham ten years later. The subject of Hermeneutics … Continue Reading