Thinking Anglicans

Opinion – 10 January 2026

Helen King sharedconversations What colour should it be? ‘Furthering’ Living in Love and Faith

Mark Clavier Well-Tempered 10 Lessons from 30 Years of Being a Priest

David Runcorn Inclusive Evangelicals Male and female he made them – celebrating one humanity, equal and different

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Music in the Worship of the Church. Cause of Unity or Division?

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Martin Hughes
Martin Hughes
17 hours ago

Subordinationism is massively present in the New Testament and not ruled out in the fourth and fifth century creeds. However, Father and Son are not male and female, so they provide no model for subordination or even complementarity between the two (or more than two, say some) sexes

Charles Read
Charles Read
Reply to  Martin Hughes
10 hours ago

No it isn’t – what NT are you reading? And the Council of Nicea rejected Arianism which used subordinationism as a key plank in its arguments against the divinity of Christ.

George Simm
George Simm
17 hours ago

I think some of Mark Clavier’s advice is very good. One issue, though “Priests are sheep temporarily deputised to help shepherd other sheep”. This is false; you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek who should “never cease your labour, your care and diligence, until you have done all that lieth in you.” (BCP Ordinal)

Mark Clavier
Reply to  George Simm
12 hours ago

Fair enough. Had I not been writing on a train, I would probably have caught and deleted ‘temporarily’. For what it’s worth, it refers to being deputised on this side of the grave. Or at least that’s what I had in mind.

George Simm
George Simm
Reply to  Mark Clavier
11 hours ago

That does provide clarity thankyou!

Andrew Kleissner
Andrew Kleissner
Reply to  Mark Clavier
10 hours ago

I’m a Baptist minister, and our concept of ordination is much more functional than what has been stated above. We believe that we’ve been “set apart” for ministry, for however long that may be; we don’t believe that an ontological change takes place at our ordination.

Tim Chesterton
Reply to  George Simm
12 hours ago

Hopefully you’re still one of Jesus’ sheep, George.

Personally, like most low church Anglicans, I’ve never thought that verse was about me. In Hebrews it’s about Jesus, and the writer never applies it to Christian pastors and teachers.

George Simm
George Simm
Reply to  Tim Chesterton
11 hours ago

Jesus creates a new priesthood in the order of Melchizedek as priest, prophet and sacrifice, a priesthood he ordains his apostles (at the last supper) to whom they themselves ordained successors to act in the person of Christ to the Church in administering the sacraments of the new covenant. Of course, priests remain a part of the baptised collective, but they are ordained with a permanent Charism to serve the Church as priests of the new covenent. Fortunately, canon law is very clear: “No person who has been admitted to the order of bishop, priest, or deacon can ever be… Read more »

Tim Chesterton
15 hours ago

There have been some good posts on Inclusive Evangelicals lately. Many thanks to Rachel Humphrey, David Runcorn, Paul Roberts, and David Newman for the most recent four.

Mark Clavier ’10 Lessons from 30 Years of Being a Priest’ – excellent!

Dr John Wallace
Dr John Wallace
Reply to  Tim Chesterton
10 hours ago

Mark’s post is really good

Tim Chesterton
9 hours ago

Re. Stephen Parsons’ blog post: The older generations (of which I am a part) were raised in cultures in which community singing was still a thing, whether in school assemblies, church services, community choirs or other settings. I went to school in the 1960s and 70s and there was all kinds of community singing on a regular basis. Most young people today rarely encounter community singing. When they do, it happens at a rock concert, where a singer is singing a track everyone has heard multiple times on Spotify and iTunes. They know all the little nuances, because they’ve heard… Read more »

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