Thinking Anglicans

Opinion – 27 May 2017

Michael Curry Thy Kingdom Come (video)
[released to mark the start of the Thy Kingdom Come global wave of prayer]

Archdruid Eileen Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley Failed Church Advertising Slogans

Charles Clapham pneuma When leadership fails: Holman Hunt and ‘The Hireling Shepherd’

John Turner Patheos John Donne, Redone

Rhonda Waters Anglican Journal Let’s ask the hard questions

Charlotte Bannister-Parker ViaMedia.News Walking Beside Our Neighbour

2 Comments

Opinion – 20 May 2017

Marie Griffith Religion & Politics Healing a House Divided: An Interview with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
The Episcopal Café has published some highlights from the interview.

Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Shifting questions, changing virtues

Archdruid Eileen The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley Fear of Hell Fire

The catholicity and covenant blog responds to the Credible Bishops paper [see here].
Credible bishops or catholic episcopate?
Credible Bishops – a liberal Protestant understanding of episcopacy

To mark Christian Aid Week, the leaders of the three main political parties write exclusively for the Church Times on the importance of international development: A joint commitment to our neighbours overseas

David Pocklington and Frank Cranmer Law & Religion UK Bishops sans frontières
Frank Cranmer Law & Religion UK More on the objection to an episcopal election in the Anglican Church of Canada

12 Comments

Opinion – 17 May 2017

Robert Atwell Church of England God in fragments: how worship can unlock memory

Stephen Bullivant of St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London has published this report: The “No Religion” Population of Britain.
Harriet Sherwood of The Guardian and Olivia Rudgard of The Telegraph have both written about the report.
[direct link to the full report (20 page pdf)]

36 Comments

Opinion – 13 May 2017

Andrew Brown The Guardian This latest Church of England schism has an unexpected source
“The latest challenge to Anglicanism’s stance on homosexuality comes not from a black African ‘missionary bishops’, but from a very different conservative group”

Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Small is beautiful; in praise of the ‘ordinary’ parish

Kirstin Freeman Still Striving For That Elusive Halo A Sorrowful Tale and a Lesson for Today’s Church

Giles Fraser The Guardian The rise of so-called happy funerals is no laughing matter
“There is something deeply emotionally brittle and infantile about the refusal to allow ourselves to be overcome with grief”

Giles Goddard ViaMedia.News ReNew and Reject….

Linda Woodhead Modern Church How to split up the Church of England

11 Comments

Opinion – 10 May 2017

David Emmott Campaign for Fair Rants Writing in the Sand
[For details of the Ken Leech Conference see here.]

David Hoyle Address from Bishop Michael [Perham]’s funeral

Kelvin Holdsworth Thurible The Tim Farron Question and the Archbishop of Canterbury

9 Comments

Opinion – 6 May 2017

Jonathan Mitchican The Living Church Evangelism of the Weird

Richard Peers Quodcumque Welsh Sodality Talk; Mary, Messy Church and Mission

Justin Thacker Church Times Yes, the poor will be with us — so fight on

Archdruid Eileen The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley That Was the Church that Wasn’t

4 Comments

Opinion – 3 May 2017

Kieran Bohan A brave faith An outpouring of the spirit – Searching for a more inclusive church

Jayne Ozanne ViaMedia.News A Question of Christian Identity?

Andrew Lightbown Theore0 GAFCON & the paradox of ‘cultural captivity.’

Michael Sadgrove Woolgathering in North East England Discerning Vocation in the Third Age: more from the retirement front line

10 Comments

Opinion – 29 April 2017

Chad Bird Christianity is not about a personal relationship with Jesus

Simon Butler ViaMedia.News Adjectival Insufficiency

12 Comments

Opinion – 26 April 2017

An interview by Pray Tell Blog with Fr Michael White and Evan Ponton, both of the Church of the Nativity in Timonium, Md, USA Liturgy as Evangelization

Richard Peers Quodcumque Messy is the Mass: my experience of Messy Church

Richard Peers Quodcumque Meeting the risen Jesus at the National Gallery: Michelangelo and Sebastiano

Bosco Peters Liturgy Even Pagans are Losing Their Religion

3 Comments

Opinion – 22 April 2017

David Walker ViaMedia.News Why Should the Devil Have All the Best Tunes (and Words)?

Adrian Harris, the Church of England’s head of digital communications, has been talking to Helen Dunne of CorpComms Magazine: How the Church of England is extending its congregation

Madeleine Davies Church Times Exporting the Brompton Way
“An HTB church-plant is now widely expected when a well-situated urban church’s numbers are low.”

14 Comments

Opinion – 19 April 2017

Joanna Ruck The Guardian Easter Sunday around the world – in pictures

Nick Spencer The Telegraph Our politicians are more devout than ever – so it’s time we started taking their faith seriously

Melanie McDonagh The Spectator If you want to save the CofE, then get stuck in (and go to church)

a few Easter sermons

Archbishop of Dublin [There is a link to the full text at the end.]
Archbishop of Canterbury
Bishop of Chichester
Bishop of Durham
Bishop of Jarrow
Bishop of Leeds
Bishop of Lincoln
Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham

8 Comments

Easter messages from bishops – a selection

Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of York has messages in two newspapers: Yorkshire Post York Press

Bishop of Basingstoke
Bishop of Bath and Wells
Bishops of Blackburn, Burnley and Lancaster
Bishop of Chichester [3½ minute video]
Bishop of Coventry
Bishop of Dorking
Bishop of Dover
Bishop of Dudley
The Bishop of Durham has two different messages written message video message
Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe
Bishop of Leeds
The Bishop of Liverpool has two different messages written message video message
Bishop of Manchester
Bishop of Newcastle
Bishop of Norwich
Bishop of Oxford
Bishop of St Edmundsbury And Ipswich
Bishop of Sherborne
Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham [4 minute video]
Bishop of Warrington
Bishop of Worcester

Archbishops of Armagh
Archbishop of Dublin
Bishop of Down & Dromore

Bishop of Argyll and The Isles

Bishop of Bangor
Bishop of Monmouth
Bishop of St Asaph
Bishop of St Davids
Bishop of Swansea and Brecon

Presiding Bishop of the US-based Episcopal Church

Primate of Canada

Archbishop of Melbourne
Archbishop of Sydney

The Primates of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand & Polynesia

Moderator of the Church of South India

6 Comments

Opinion – 15 April 2017

Two pieces from The Spectator:
Rod Dreher The Benedict option “Believers must find new, more radical ways to practise their faith.”
and in response
Matthew Parris Why I admire the Church of England “Some disapprove of the church’s frequent accommodations with secular society. I do not.”

Paul Bayes ViaMedia.News A Moment in the Tangle

Two pieces from ABC Religion and Ethics:
Stanley Hauerwas Naming God: The Burning Bush, the Cross and the Hiddenness of the Revealed God
Richard B Hays What Is Handed Over: Maundy Thursday, Memory and the Gospel

Peter Ould looks at a recent ComRes poll poll for Psephizo Do Christians really not believe in the Resurrection?

Richard Coles New Statesman Brexiteers and Remainers alike could learn from the life of Jesus

Alison Ray British Library Medieval manuscripts blog A hunt for medieval Easter eggs — including a 15th-century recipe for an imitation egg

Harriet Sherwood The Guardian The modern pilgrims retracing Britain’s ancient routes

4 Comments

Opinion – 12 April 2017

Louie Crew Clay Episcopal Café Sass and the Gospel

Nick Spencer Theos Looking down the well at the resurrection

Philip Jones Ecclesiastical Law The Easter Offering: Duty and Charity

Jenny Sinclair The Tablet Rebuilding the Broken Body

Kelvin Holdsworth Whither the Chrism Mass?

Anglican Memes Top novelist @fictionfox’s husband’s career change prompts Twitter gold

15 Comments

Opinion – 8 April 2017

J Barrett Lee Hopping Hadrian’s Wall Altar Calls: Discussing Liturgical Worship with Evangelicals

Nick Baines Diocese of Leeds Bishop Nick speaks on working with the media

N T Wright ABC Religion and Ethic Palm Sunday: Jesus Rides into the Perfect Storm

Kelvin Holdsworth Thurible Trolleys are for Supermarkets (and not for funerals).

Roger Bolton Church Times The BBC and religion: bad decisions, badly timed
“The Corporation lacks a strategy, and is dangerously out of touch with faith communities.”

Madeleine Davies Church Times Why big churches aren’t led by women
“Care for their families is a key reason hardly any women are incumbents of the Church’s largest churches, a new research paper from Ministry Division has concluded.”
The paper is here: Vocational pathways: Clergy leading large churches.

21 Comments

Opinion – 5 April 2017

Updated Thursday evening, Friday morning

Patrick Cox Public Radio International ‘What a total God shot!’ Understand that? Then you speak Christianese.

The Guardian The Guardian view on funding heritage: save buildings if not beliefs
“The ancient churches and cathedrals of Britain are real national treasures, shared with unbelievers. They must be paid for.”

Nick Baines Diocese of Leeds Bishop Nick speaks on working with the media

Liz Graveling Ministry Development Larger Churches: Who leads them and where are all the women?
[Update: This article has been temporarily removed and will be reposted after Easter.]

5 Comments

Opinion – 1 April 2017

Bosco Peters Liturgy Pope Francis to make Martin Luther a Saint on October 31

ABC Religion and Ethics published this piece by Michael Collett God and the problem of sincere disbelief followed by this reply from Michael Jensen Sincerity is not enough: the problem with the problem of sincere disbelief.

Archbishop Cranmer Women bishops: the desperate and disingenuous distinction in the Five Guiding Principles

Rhian Taylor pcn britain It’s a Man’s Church

Sam Charles Norton Elizaphanian Let my people go

Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Oxford, Sheffield, Llandaff etc

Mark Hart Church Times The C of E’s unsung success story

David Ison ViaMedia.News The Power of Feeling over Thinking

James Jones The Yorkshire Post House of God opens a door to the divine

Colin Coward Unadulterated Love How do we come into the presence of God?
and Prayer and the body

24 Comments

Opinion – 29 March 2017

David Pocklington Law & Religion UK The Independent Reviewer and the Sheffield See “A Review on the Reviewer”

Archbishop Cranmer Bishop of Sheffield: Martyn Percy asked for bread; Sentamu and Welby give a stone

Sam Charles Norton Elizaphanian Do the five guiding principles commit the Church of England to lay presidency?

Paul Bayes The Huffington Post For Carol’s Sake, For Christ’s Sake, We Must Look After The Poor

32 Comments

Opinion – 25 March 2017

Bosco Peters Liturgy How Revealed Is Christianity?

Giles Fraser The Guardian Prayer is not wishful nonsense. It helps us to shut up and think

Jayne Ozanne ViaMedia.News Are We an Institutionally Homophobic Church?

Martin Saunders Christian Today In His Grip: A guide to Christian email sign-offs

Scott Gunn Seven whole days Getting your church building ready for guests

8 Comments

Opinion – 22 March 2017

Linda Woodhead Modern Church The Philip North affair has exposed the theological weakness of ‘traditionalism’

Frances Coleman-Williams Metro Why I don’t tell people I’m Christian even though it’s a big part of my life

Nicky Tyrone Are chocolate companies “destroying Christianity”? I try and get the scoop

Archdruid Eileen The War on Easter

Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Becoming the best church we can be

Richard Coles has been taking to Katie Deighton of The Drum: Reverend Richard Coles: ‘The Church of England is spectacularly bad at handling the world of media and communications’.

22 Comments