The Pope, same-sex unions, and the blessing of fornicating boxers

‘Pope says Roman Catholic priests can bless same-sex couples’ declared the BBC News website. It was not alone in this. Anglo-American newspapers, news outlets, and websites emblazoned across their banners this seemingly huge shift in the ethics and polity of the Roman Catholic Church. Liberal Roman Catholics such as James Martin SJ rejoiced; conservative Catholics were outraged. It … Continue Reading

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 Response raises’ and to ‘enhance the theological integrity and intellectual honesty’ of the Response. It seems not to have won sufficient support for publication. We … Continue Reading

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 vehement reactions that spread further when it was followed the next day by a press release giving more details officially. It was not until Friday … Continue Reading

Florence Allshorn (1887-1950) and St Julian’s

An important collection of papers of the St Julian’s Community, Coolham (West Sussex), including material about the life of the founder, Florence Allshorn (1887-1950), is held in the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide (CCCW) Archive. Work has been done on Florence Allshorn and the Community, the most comprehensive being by J.H. Oldham, Florence Allshorn and the … Continue Reading

Christian Ethics and Climate Change

Ahead of COP26, and in light of the current and ongoing climate emergency, Fulcrum will be posting a series of articles exploring climate change, theology and our ethical response during September and October. This is the first in this series: a lecture given at Christ Church Oxford Summer School 2018.   Do you recall the … Continue Reading

Reflections on the Public Purpose of Marriage

My intention in writing this article is to explore long-standing legal principles of marriage and their scriptural endorsement as a means of delineating the over-arching public reason for marriage. I will also provide examples that demonstrate how this public reason is being undermined by the re-definition of marriage. The repeated and inevitable result is that … 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