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
This is a fool’s endeavour. Over the last seven articles, I have tried out a new anthropological/geographical slant for mapping out the various branches of Evangelical theology in the 21st Century. I have used the terms ‘regions’ and ‘tribes’. Like any typology, it is very reductive. Some of the theologians discussed don’t even remain fixed … Continue Reading
This essay might well begin with, ‘Have you heard the one about the Scottish Episcopalian and the Scottish Presbyterian?’ Last year Richard Holloway, our Scottish Episcopalian, had his book entitled Stories We Tell Ourselves: Making Meaning in a Meaningless Universe published.[i] The book recounts how he came to have doubts about his Christian faith, doubts … Continue Reading
As I write this we are drawing to the end of the season of Advent where those who use the revised common lectionary (the set of readings used by the Church of England and many other liturgical churches) will encounter readings featuring the traditional themes of Advent; heaven, hell, final judgement and the second coming. … Continue Reading
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
Unwelcome sighs and groans escape the veiled and hidden jurisdiction of my heart, like serpent hisses harmonise the nailed ripped feet which stamp upon its head. The start of something new? A rupture with one’s flesh refusing submission to idle hope? Disturbing rebel’s trusted forge with fresh disease? This year’s distress made kingdoms grope for … Continue Reading
The phrase “Electoral College” has been much discussed recently around the election of the new President of the United States of America. An older “Electoral College,” the Papal Conclave of the College of Cardinals, meets in the Sistine Chapel of the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican whenever a new pope is to be elected. In … Continue Reading
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, Martin Kuhrt writes in response to LLF. How can Christians who claim to ground their faith on the Bible as God’s Word come to such radically … Continue Reading
The death of the former Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, has led to an outpouring of grief and affection from within the Jewish community and beyond. Our own Archbishop, Justin Welby, suggested that it was his ‘profound depth, and equally profound commitment to relating with others’ that made him such a great leader. ‘When you … Continue Reading
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