The Beautiful Story – Reflections and Response

As part of its series responding to Living in Love and Faith, Fulcrum is inviting various writers to express their thoughts as a way of nurturing respectful dialogue. Here, Andrew Goddard responds to Jonathan Chaplin’s recent article on the Church of England Evangelical Council’s video ‘The Beautiful Story’. It is hard to believe that it … Continue Reading

The Beautiful Story

The recently released Living in Love and Faith (LLF) resources seek to set out “the Church’s inherited teaching on Christian living in love and faith, especially with regard to marriage and singleness, and of emergent views and the Christian reasoning behind them”.  They, and the principle of listening to each other across the whole church … Continue Reading

Excerpt: Mapping the Terrain for Engagement on Human Sexuality

This is an excerpt from an article by Oliver O’Donovan on livingchurch.org. The rest of the article can be read here.  In the mid-twentieth century the Church of England used to attract admiration for its treatment of challenging contemporary moral issues. The form it used was the working-party Report: a small group of members with … 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

Bill Love, TEC and same-sex marriage: implications

This article first appeared on Psephizo. Following my previous post which explored the Hearing Panel ruling on Bishop Bill Love and the background to it, this article seeks to begin exploring some of its implications and possible consequences. Bishop Love has already written to his diocese and initially appears unlikely to appeal despite noting the significance of the judgment’s … 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

Wittgenstein, Newspapers and Theology: different types of truth

A paper based on Stephen Godsell’s transcript, delivered at the 33rd “Beer and Theology” session in November 2019. Introduction What is truth (as Pilate famously asked of Jesus when he appeared before him)? What do we mean when we say that something is true; and how do we test or measure a claim that something … Continue Reading