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’ is the motto of the 2022 Lambeth Conference. How can we in the Anglican Communion be resourced and inspired to be the sort of Church … Continue Reading

Job’s Silent Friends

If you’ve ever heard a sermon on the book of Job, it’s likely that the preacher will have criticised the protagonist’s friends. In the opening chapters, Job’s life is decimated. His children die, all of his property (and therefore security) is taken away and he is afflicted with physical illness. His friends arrive and almost … Continue Reading

Redemptive Justice: a Gospel framework for the Church of England’s on-going conversation with survivors of church-related abuse.

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

LLF for Dummies: 10 FAQs about the Church of England’s new teaching and learning resources on identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage

Note from the author: For over three years I’ve had the privilege of being a consultant on the Co-Ordinating Group of Living in Love and Faith (LLF) which released its work on 9th November. It’s been a fascinating, often challenging, but overall positive experience. I’ve been asked by Fulcrum to respond to some questions about … Continue Reading

Providence and Purpose in Pandemic

Before this pandemic I would imagine that most Christians knew very little about how the Church has responded to pandemics and plagues in the past. In recent months however I have seen an increasing number of articles highlighting how Christians have always had to deal with what they would have called plagues. Moreover, the way … Continue Reading

Obituary: J.I. Packer

With the death of J. I. (‘Jim’) Packer, Anglican evangelicalism has lost one of its most significant theological voices, as well as a guiding figure of the National Evangelical Anglican Congress at the University of Keele in 1967, which many consider to have inaugurated a new phase in the history of evangelicalism within the Church … Continue Reading

Hope Under Judgement: A reflection on theology and race after the killing of George Floyd

I feel a distinct uneasiness as I attempt to write some reflections on the brutal killing of George Floyd and the subsequent events. It’s an uneasiness borne of the tension in accepting that sheer silence represents a failure to reckon with what is and has been happening, yet knowing ahead of time that words will … Continue Reading

International Development and Lifestyle Choices

In her recent presentation at Beer and Theology, Hannah Swithinbank explores how Christianity and Christian discipleship intersect with international development and looks at ways that our own lifestyle choices – in relation to food, travel, home and “stuff” – connect with successful, sustainable development.