Uncharitable readers might call this piece a rant rather than a polemic. I would reply that there is much to rant about. But I chose the word ‘polemic’ deliberately. What I really want to do is to set a hare running and would be delighted to see this issue widely discussed in the Fulcrum forums: … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard "Goddard 2 Goddard" contents page 13th December 2007 Dear Giles, Thanks for yours on 2nd December – let’s see if we can start to “perform” even if it means moving to Neptune to do so. I want to pick up your renewed invitation – in the light of the third of my four … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard 12th Nov 2007 Dear Giles, Thanks for your letter and sorry my decision to focus on the pressing Communion issues in mid-Sept was ‘perplexing’ and left you ‘not absolutely sure how it fits into our correspondence’. It is interesting that discussing these political issues seems so fruitless. If I’m totally honest I have … Continue Reading
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
In recent years I have found myself going back again and again to the saying of Martin Luther, Crux probat omnia; everything else in Christian gospel authenticates itself in terms of the saving act which is at the heart of the gospel, the cross of Jesus. That rule applies to the ministry of healing as … Continue Reading
Probation Centenary Service of Celebration and Thanksgiving Address by John Scott Saturday 30th June 2007 Prayer – includes an extract from a private devotional prayer, written by William Wilberforce: Dear Lord, As we reflect upon your Word and the work of the probation service over the past century, ‘may we indeed bear about us the … Continue Reading
If the healing ministry of the Church is to be integrated with the whole gospel of the Church, it has to be rooted in what is central and normative for everything else that claims the name of Christian, namely the incarnation of the eternal Son of God in Jesus of Nazareth. Of course the incarnation … Continue Reading
Christian healing is a messy mystery. All who have practised it and thought seriously about what they were doing will have found that it raises agonising questions to which there are no final answers and yields results that are very hard to categorise or explain. The longer we go on with it, the more the … Continue Reading
‘Perichoretic Parenting’ by The Revd Dr Tom Smail, former lecturer in doctrine at St John’s College, Nottingham and former editor of Theological Renewal My title is at first sight an unlikely verbal combination: the adjective belongs to the highly technical language of Trinitarian theology and the noun to the world of contemporary pastoral concern. I … Continue Reading
Introduction What are fathers for? What is fatherhood for? These are questions of serious concern in our society of which many people have said “There is a crisis in family life.” What does a Church which worships God as Father have to contribute? The questions about fathers are part of a wider questioning about … Continue Reading