Quarrels about words? In my years involved in dialogue and debate relating to sexuality, some of the most depressing moments have been when those who broadly share my views concerning biblical and church teaching speak and act in ways that I find really unhelpful, even damaging, and impossible to support. Reading the Pastoral Statement on … Continue Reading
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 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
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
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
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. Jonathan Chaplin writes in response to the Church of England Evangelical Council’s video ‘The Beautiful Story’. A response to this article, written by Andrew Goddard, is accessible … Continue Reading
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
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