Thinking Anglicans

Opinion – 13 February 2016

Archdruid Eileen Government to Introduce League Tables For Churches

The Archbishop of Canterbury gave this Church of Ireland Theological Lecture on Monday: ‘The Generational Struggle’.

Nick Baines Under an African sky (Tanzania visit)

Church Times is publishing a seven-week series on Theology Now during Lent. This week there are articles on God. Most are behind the paywall, but here are two that are not.
John Inge, Bishop of Worcester In my heart and in my head
Andrew Davison Believing: a respectable approach

Antonia Honeywell The Telegraph I was driven out of my beloved church by homophobia

Mark Hart Living Out the Trinity in the Church of England

Ross Kane The Christian Century Should Episcopalians repent?

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Pluralist
8 years ago

Andrew Davison Believing: a respectable approach. Well, it might be respectable but it is not equivalent. When theology is as subject to revision as science, then the two will be equivalent. There is no natural theology, only experience, or dogma. We don’t either slave to a theology or have an experience to give it up, but change the belief according to experiences. Christianity is both a culture and a dogma, but the dogma can be seriously revised whilst seeing the cultural inheritances. My view has settled at somewhere between religions humanism, Western Buddhism and very liberal Christianity, because Christianity makes… Read more »

Pam
Pam
8 years ago

‘Under an African sky’, with no internet access. Sounds like the gospel has a lot of scope to prosper.

Fr William
8 years ago

The archdruid has it. We have an OfGod (aka archdeacon) inspection in June to check up on our MAPs.

Spirit of Vatican II
Spirit of Vatican II
8 years ago

Ms Honeywell must have had a very homophobic pastor if he invited a notorious ex-gay cultist to address his flock. Could she not have found more decent congregations in the C of E? Perhaps geography was the obstacle, or perhaps homophobia is in fact widespread among Anglicans, which I would be sorry to think.

JCF
JCF
8 years ago

[From the Mark Hart blog] “So, being male and female, being sexual, is how we are like God, because God is fundamentally different persons in fundamental unity. Similarly, women and men are fundamentally different, yet fundamentally the same.” (Kindle Locations 126-128)… “But in the Trinity, and in Genesis, difference does not hinder union, but enables it. It is precisely the difference between Father and Son which makes their relationship one of perfect fatherhood and sonship. And it is precisely the difference between women and men, including the physical genital difference, that enables them to be truly physically united into ‘one… Read more »

Father Ron Smith
8 years ago

Best quote of the day, from Bishop John Inge: “WHEN preaching about God, one of the things we have to do is to banish ideas — which remain very common — of a bearded old man or, worse still, a fierce policeman or headmaster in the sky, wanting to catch us out at every opportunity. Our God is not at all like that…” How often do sermons begin with a stern note of judgement? The only incentive to Love God, and one another, is to know God’s love for us: “God loved the world so much…” The Lenten Season must… Read more »

Father Ron Smith
8 years ago

Dear Pluralist, it seems that the type of religion you are advocating here is absent the faith that is a gift of the God who chooses to reveal it to the earnest seeker. From faith comes hope and love, and we all know the paucity of this latter virtue – even, sometimes, in the Church.

Interested Observer
Interested Observer
8 years ago

“Could she not have found more decent congregations in the C of E?”

Perhaps she assumed they were all decent.

Nathaniel Brown
Nathaniel Brown
8 years ago

“Could she not have found more decent congregations in the C of E?”

Possibly, even probably. But as a gay man who was humiliated out of my church of 35 years, may I suggest that if you haven’t experienced it, you can have little idea how damaging this sort of thing is. It took me years to come back to (a different) church, and 30-odd years later it still haunts and infuriates me. I can forgive – they didn’t know what they were doing – but I can’t forget.

Erika Baker
Erika Baker
8 years ago

“Could she not have found more decent congregations in the C of E?” That’s a really important question. Yes, it is possible to find truly welcoming congregations. But it actually isn’t as easy as you might think. There are churches on the IC register, and Changing Attitude has a register too. With any other church, you can’t be 100% sure. You might have to go by recommendation – if you know people to ask. Or you might have to email the vicar in advance – as I know many lgbt people do. Most people end up joining a church and… Read more »

Stuart, Devon
Stuart, Devon
8 years ago

“This week there are articles on God. Most are behind the paywall”

MarkBrunson
8 years ago

The Kane article shows why white guilt is as big a sin as any other, and a huge problem in TEC. “We’ll happily throw this group under the bus because they are *here* and primarily white, rather than over *there* and a different race!”

Out of the Anglican Communion is the only path to right action.

Cynthia
Cynthia
8 years ago

I find some of the Kane article offensive, though interesting. In saying that TEC should be willing to bear the cost of doing what’s right, he is buying into the idea that there is a central Anglican authority that is empowered to impose sanctions/consequences. So I reject that we are displaying “typical white liberal presumption… [that is] naive—and inadvertently neocolonial.” If there was a legitimate central authority, I would agree that accepting the cost is part of the prophetic witness. I would also note that TEC is not exclusively white, we engage many voices, Native, Latino/a, Black, Asian, LGBTQ of… Read more »

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