Thinking Anglicans

opinions before Holy Week

Mordechai Beck writes in Face to Faith for the Guardian about how the real reason for the veiling of religious women may be lost in the sands of time.

Dave Walker on the Church Times blog has all the gen on the BBC Passion.

Giles Fraser in the Church Times wants us to Learn from Anglicans’ secular cousins.

In The Times Jonathan Romain writes about a New prayer book for Britain’s Reform Jews.

Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about The city lost in the sands.

Savi Hensman writes for Ekklesia about Being on the side of the crucified.

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Pat O'Neill
Pat O'Neill
16 years ago

Kudos once again to Giles Fraser. Unfortunately the people who SHOULD get something from his comments won’t, because they reject out of hand the idea that Christianity should be (and is, properly) a faith based in freedom.

poppy tupper
poppy tupper
16 years ago

giles fraser is right in his analysis of the comtemporary situation, but he is wrong in suggesting that it is a new thing. the church has sometimes led public opinion in the right direction, but more often than not has tragically lagged behind it. the church opposed the use of pain relief in childbirth, because it was unscriptural, going against the genesis text which says that women shall give birth in pain. it also lagged behind the secular mind in opposing capital punishment. it is worth looking out for a copy of ‘hanging in judgement’ by harry potter (i promise… Read more »

JCF
JCF
16 years ago

“The documents are similar in form to the proposed Anglican Covenant. Both contain the possibility that members can be thrown out if they do not go along with the core principles. Zimbabwe is a case in point, having been suspended from the Commonwealth for human-rights violations.” This is KEY. In the First Letter of John, the author asks “How can you love God whom you have not seen, if you do not love your brother or sister whom you HAVE seen?” The “Second Commandment” judges the First: love of brother or sister—even (especially) LGBT ones—is the only TRUE test that… Read more »

Cheryl Va.
16 years ago

I agree with you Pat and Poppy. Savi Hensman’s article actually parallels Giles’ paper. Aggressive regimes in South American 1970s and 1980s: were the churches part of the problem or standing up for the solution? I saw a debate only this week where some Christians still pull out Abraham’s hoodwinking where he was nearly tricked into sacrificing Isaac. They use this to justify being prepared to continually sacrifice children today. It is okay to be complacent about the poor and starving in other nations or the underbelly of our own. It is okay to be dismissive of souls who refuse… Read more »

L Roberts
L Roberts
16 years ago

The discussion between Geza Vermes and Tom Wright on this morning’s Today program (radio 4) was very intersting and cordial. Vermes’ new book on the Resurrection sounds like quite a read for holy week and beyond.

rick allen
16 years ago

“No longer will “every man praise God” but “every person”, while we will not worship the God of “our fathers” but of “our ancestors”. The simple change of a word here and there masks a revolution in religious life. This applies also to references to God, who will not be “our king”’ any more, but “our ruler”. Desexualising God may seem pedantic to some, but carries an important theological message that has long been accepted by Jewish teaching but needs to be expressed in daily worship.” I assume, however, that the Hebrew, which the desexualized English translates, remains unchanged. So… Read more »

drdanfee
drdanfee
16 years ago

Many thanks to Rev Giles for this closing bit: Quote: The Covenant is all about control by those who want to remake a new, purified Anglicanism, free from liberals (such as me) and other undesirables. It is a sad carry-on when the secular communion, with its greater differences, gets along a good deal better, and models greater inclusivity, than its Christian counterpart. We could learn from it. Unquote. But do not hold your breathe waiting for Canterbury, or the GAFCON bishops for that matter, to lead in a commonwealth-like direction. Yes the covenant drafters still talk as if they knew… Read more »

Cheryl Va.
16 years ago

Actually It’s not desexualising God, but acknowledging that God has both masculine and feminine traits. Well known in the Jewish oral traditions and evidence exists it the Old Testament. Even Jesus uses feminine imagery – the mother hen wanting to gather her chicks under her wings. What some are upset about is that there is a misconception that masculine is godly and holy, and feminine is earthly and unclean. It is that error that made it okay to rape and plunder the earth with no regard to economic sustainability beyond one profit and loss statement, let alone to generationS of… Read more »

Erika Baker
Erika Baker
16 years ago

Rick “I assume, however, that the Hebrew, which the desexualized English translates, remains unchanged. So what does it mean when the base language, understood only by the learned, the devoted (and, I suppose, the Israeli), is suddenly determined to be at odds with the “important theological message”?” As a translator, I’m confronted with this problem on a daily basis. You have two options: one is to use exactly the same grammatical structures and thinking patterns of the original, or to adapt them to modern day sensitivities. Both are fraught with danger. If you don’t adapt, you give modern day English… Read more »

Jay Vos
16 years ago

TBH, I always love reading TA’s pick of the Saturday columns; I look forward to it every week, but especially the commentaries after the post, by TA regulars! Cheers. Did y’all see this from Friday’s Independent? “The boring list: 20 titans of tedium” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-boring-list-20-titans-of-tedium-795725.html A lovely list of yawners indeed, but for TA readers, there’s this about the Archbishop of Canterbury: ‘A real hoo-hah engulfed the nation last month when the Archbishop appeared to suggest that sharia should be used in the British legal system. Bishops queued to denounce the idea. Politicians from left and right swooned with horror at… Read more »

Cheryl Va.
16 years ago

Thanks Jay

Your link reminded me of the T.S. Eliot poem The Wastelands “This the way the world will end. Not with a bang but a whimper”.

The really sad thing is all those “polite” academics actually speed the world’s end by allowing the obstructionists to divert attention and resources from what really needs to be done.

The apocalyptic Christians don’t care, however, because they won’t recognise Jesus unless he comes down from the sky with eyes blazing, garments dripping in blood and mass-murdering non(suitable)Christians.

Göran Koch-Swahne
16 years ago

Rick Allen wrote: “No longer will “every man praise God” but “every person”, while we will not worship the God of “our fathers” but of “our ancestors”. The simple change of a word here and there masks a revolution in religious life…” Really? Revolution, indeed? You do not realise, do you, that the English language is the problem and the way it mis-treats Grammatical Gender in Hebrew and Greek making them into Physical Gender in English. Not the same thing at all. There is no human differentiating/opposing “male and female” in God. Nor should there be, accoding to Paul, in… Read more »

rick allen
16 years ago

“What would you do?” If it were up to me, I’d forget the whole “inclusive language” project, since I think women have always been perfectly able to understand that sexuality is a quality only of things with bodies, and that the “masculinity” of God is nothing more than the need of gendered languages to default to one or the other when speaking of persons (most, I think, are quite comfortable referring to the incarnate Second Person as masculine because becoming a particular human being required becoming of a particular time, place, lineage, sex, etc.). But it’s not up to me,… Read more »

rick allen
16 years ago

“Rick Allen wrote….”

No, the first part of my first post was quoting the featured article before I responded to it.

I probably need to learn how to do italics on this thing.

Cheryl Va.
16 years ago

I don’t think the issue is what women perfectly understand, but rather what some males and some females misunderstand. Some have completely missed the TA debates about whether God had any masculine traits at all. I think it was Goran or drdanfee who pointed out that Wisdom has always been feminine. And she’s been around – from before humanity – see Proverbs 8:22-31 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began…. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing… Read more »

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