Joseph Bottum writes for Commonweal Magazine about The Things We Share: A Catholic’s Case for Same-Sex Marriage.
Kelvin Holdsworth blogs about Atonement theory and the Naughty Step.
The Church Times has a comprehensive review of Greenbelt: Greenbelt 2013 – Life begins…
12 CommentsRichard Beck blogs that Blessed are the Tricksters.
John Martin writes for Fulcrum about Ten Things a Vicar Needs To Hear…often.
Peter Harrison writes for ABC Religion and Ethics about Setting the record straight: Christianity and the rise of modern science.
Anthony Woollard writes for Modern Church about The wrath of God.
Christopher Howse of The Telegraph has been to Ely Cathedral: Eight oak trees suspended in air.
1 CommentBenjamin Myers writes for ABC Religion and Ethics about Reflected glory: Imitation, biography and moral formation in early Christianity.
Kenan Malik writes about What do Believers Believe? (not what you might expect).
Matthew Reisz has interviewed Sarah Coakley for Times Higher Education: What’s God got to do with evolution?
Rob Williams writes in The Independent that Religious people are less intelligent than atheists, according to analysis of scores of scientific studies stretching back over decades.
Frank Furedi responds with Atheists are more intelligent than religious people? That’s ‘sciencism’ at its worst.
James Fodor writes for Bible Society Australia: An atheist’s point of view: why Christians aren’t being heard.
7 CommentsGraelyn Brashear writes for C-Ville about The rite stuff: What the Episcopal Church’s position on gay marriage can teach us about the middle ground.
Savi Hensman writes for Ekklesia in response to the article by Andrew Goddard that we linked to last week: Church of England: Is error really better than uncertainty?
Kelvin Holdsworth writes for The Herald: I shall express anger and frustration as I march with Pride.
Tiffany Gee Lewis writes for The Guardian about Where the godless don’t go.
Christopher Howse writes in The Telegraph about Onward, Christian Soldiers: Arthur Sullivan’s greatest hit.
6 CommentsRachel Held Evans writes for CNN about Why millennials are leaving the church.
John Flowers and Karen Vannoy write for Ministry Matters Why Worship Shouldn’t Feel Like Family.
Some of our readers may find this new blog helpful: The Low Churchman’s Guide to the Solemn High Mass.
Stanley Hauerwas asks Does Anglicanism have a future? The priority of the local and the inevitability of conflict at ABC Religion and Ethics.
Benny Hazlehurst writes for the Church of England Newspaper about Demythologising Pride.
Linda Woodhead writes for the OUP blog that Wonga-bashing won’t save the Church of England.
Giles Fraser argues in The Guardian that Far from confining itself to matters spiritual, the church has a duty to get involved in politics.
Andrew Goddard writes for Fulcrum about Sexual Revolution: Responding Reasonably and Faithfully.
15 CommentsNick Baines writes on his blog about Same world, different worlds.
Yesterday I linked to Sam Macrory’s interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury for Total Politics: Archbishop’s Move: Can Welby restore faith in the church?. But it wasn’t just about payday lenders; do read it all.
Ian Ellis of the Church of Ireland Gazette interviewed Bishop Nigel Stock on the subject of Women in the Episcopate legislation, during the July 2013 York meeting of the Church of England General Synod.
Andrew Brown writes in The Guardian about Welby, Wonga and the moral dilemma of financial investments.
Giles Fraser writes in The Guardian: Thank God we have an archbishop who views Wonga’s loans as modern slavery.
5 CommentsSarah Greeks writes for Humane Pursuits: Half-time Huddle: Why I Lack Enthusiasm for the Church. She has 22 reasons.
Frank Brennan (an Australian Jesuit) writes for Eureka Street that It’s time to recognise secular same sex marriage.
Jonathan Clatworthy of Modern Church asks What is Christianity for anyway?
Nelson Jones asks in the New Statesman Does it matter that young people in Britain aren’t religious?
Michael Jensen presents an insider’s view for ABC Religion and Ethics: The church and the world: The politics of Sydney Anglicanism.
8 CommentsCharles Moore writes in The Telegraph Archbishop Justin Welby: ‘I was embarrassed. It was like getting measles’. “Forty years ago, Justin Welby was an unhappy pupil at Eton. Now, a relaxed Archbishop of Canterbury, he relives his unsettling moment of conversion and his wounded past.”
Ben Summerskill is interviewed by the Catholic Herald ‘We don’t think religion is evil or wicked’.
In the Church Times Church interns: a new injustice. “Young volunteers are being exploited by congregations, writes an intern.”
Garry Wills in The New York Review of Books Popes Making Popes Saints
Isabel Harman in The Telegraph The Archbishop of Canterbury must wean the Church off its benefit addiction. “Justin Welby understands that welfare benefits do not fix everything. Now he needs to educate the Church of England.”
Giles Fraser writes for The Guardian that The real power of the church lies not in its prince bishops but its congregations. “Faith groups are ideally placed to drive community organising, but they must be prepared to make trouble.”
John Milbank wrties in The Guardian that The church offers a holistic solution to child poverty. “This dire situation has to be addressed through the social dimension, not through top-down, impersonal tinkering.”
24 CommentsGiles Fraser writes in The Guardian that Not talking about death only makes it more lonely and frightening. “In the absence of faith, death cafes can provide a space for us to talk about what a good ending might be.”
David Walker has addressed the Society of Ordained Scientists. Download his address.
Damian Thompson writes for The Spectator that Here comes the God squad: what the new pope and the new archbishop have in common. “Evangelicals have taken charge in the Vatican and Lambeth Palace.”
4 CommentsTabatha Leggett signs up to “Christianity’s most successful recruitment programme” for the New Statesman: Inside Alpha: An atheist’s foray into Christianity.
Matthew Engelke writes for The Guardian that Christianity and atheism are two sides of the same coin. “Those of us with no faith have a lot to learn about the value of halting the normal rhythms of life and stopping to reflect.”
Giles Fraser writes in The Guardian that Our fear of boredom is simply a fear of coming face to face with ourselves. “The Sunday morning hour, like the therapeutic hour, is a place to contemplate our capacity to deal with the fear of emptiness.”
Andrew Brown writes in The Guardian that Evangelical sex activists are no better than religious moralists.
Steve Hollinghurst writes on his blog about exposing the Church of England plan to recruit Pagans using a Pagan church.
12 CommentsMark Brett writes for ABC Religion and Ethics about Asylum seekers and universal human rights: Does the Bible still matter?
Jonathan Clatworthy for Modern Church looks at the phrase Unable on grounds of theological conviction.
Peter Doll writes for the Church Times about The only defence against unaccountable power. “An Established Church guards against tyranny.”
David McIlroy asks for Theos: Is Secular Law possible?
Diarmaid MacCulloch reviews Our Church by Roger Scruton for The Guardian. “What makes the C of E special? This account of Anglicanism is full of cliches and misrepresentations.”
3 CommentsGeorge Pitcher writes in the New Statesman that For the new Power Christians, God is the new CEO.
Diarmaid MacCulloch writes in The New York Times that Same-Sex Marriage Leaves the Bishops Behind.
William Oddie writes in the Catholic Herald that On Friday, the Pope will meet Archbishop Welby. So, why do we continue talking to the Anglicans after they have so wilfully made unity impossible?
The OUP blog speaks (in six YouTube videos) to Brian Cummings about The origin and text of The Book of Common Prayer.
Jonathan Clatworthy of Modern Church asks Was there an original Revelation?
Giles Fraser writes for The Guardian about From the Golden Calf to Gezi park: religious imagery and modern protest
Theo Hobson writes the second of his two articles on liberal Christianity for The Guardian: What would a new liberal Christianity look like?. The first is here.
29 CommentsAndrew Brown writes in The Guardian that Justin Welby reveals his inner Tory.
Andrew Lilico writes a guest post on Archbishop Cranmer’s blog: Is Anglicanism still the State Religion in England?
Frank Cranmer of Law & Religion UK asks Are human rights “Christian”? – a reflection.
Giles Fraser writes in The Guardian that Greed is good – well, almost. But it must not be the dominant thing.
Christopher Howse writes in his Sacred Mysteries column in The Telegraph about The day Hereford tower fell down.
Jonathan Clatworthy of Modern Church asks What’s an integrity?
6 CommentsTheo Hobson writes the first of two articles for The Guardian: Eureka! My quest for an authentic liberal Christianity.
And Dave Marshall of Modern Church also writes about liberal theology in No need to whisper.
Nick Duerden of The Independent interviews the Rev Richard Coles: ‘I don’t have any concerns that God is cross with me for being gay and eventually the Church won’t either’.
T M Luhrmann writes for The new York Times that Belief Is the Least Part of Faith.
Giles Fraser writes for The Guardian that Wickedness, allied to the ‘truth’ of religious belief, can lead us to evil acts.
3 CommentsMichael Bourdeaux wrote for Fulcrum The Iron Lady and the Dissident.
Andrew Brown wrote at Cif belief Why the Church of England is in decline.
The church has failed to capitalise on its tally of advantages, and people are now cynical about the organisation.
And he has also written Why we’ll never have total religious freedom.
The US State Department report on religious freedom highlights much that is bad, but to dream of tolerant rationality is unrealistic.
Hadley Freeman wrote in the Guardian about From ‘swivel-eyed loons’ to lesbian queens: what fresh hell for the Tories?
And Tom Chivers wrote in the Telegraph A response to Lord Tebbit, on the subject of gay marriage and lesbian queens.
Savi Hensman wrote at Ekklesia Responding rationally to the Woolwich murder.
Simon Barrow wrote there too: Church ‘issues’ are about people, not abstract ideas.
The Economist has an article about the Church of Scotland: A gay Rubicon.
And finally, Archdruid Eileen wrote Contemporary Christianity Exam.
2 CommentsRuth Cartwright explains in the Guardian Why I’m leaving social work to become a vicar.
Martin Vander Weyer of the Spectator has been talking to Richard Chartres: Bishop of London Richard Chartres on bankers, Occupy and Justin Welby.
Nick Baines writes for the Guardian that We need more religious broadcasting, not less. The text is also available on his blog: Religious broadcasting (again).
Mark Vernon asks When did people stop thinking God lives on a cloud? for the BBC News Magazine.
Giles Fraser writes for the Guardian Bean-counters will never understand the transcendent value of art or religion.
0 CommentsClaire Maxim has written Let the Little Children Come and Children in Church – the Rules.
These two articles have inspired Archdruid Eileen to write If We Wrote the Church Welcome Leaflet Like a Child.
Zachary Guiliano writes for The Living Church about Two Anglo-Catholic Moments.
Jody Stowell writes about the Death of a Dean.
1 CommentMiranda Threlfall-Holmes has given a talk entitled “What have Women done for Christianity? Women theologians in Christian history”. You can read it here and listen to it here.
Alan Wilson writes in The Spectator that It’s time for the Church of England to drop the culture wars.
Laura Toepfer writes for the Daily Episcoplian about If we did wedding preparation like confirmation preparation.
Bosco Peters writes the wrath of God was satisfied?
Giles Fraser writes in The Guardian that I want to be a burden on my family as I die, and for them to be a burden on me.
John Bingham in The Telegraph reports: Beware the wrath of the church organist – musical revenge is sweet.
17 CommentsJonathan Chaplin writes for Fulcrum about The Church of England and the Funeral of Baroness Thatcher.
Christopher Howse writes about Thomas Traherne in The music made by grains of sand in his Sacred Mysteries column in The Telegraph.
Jonathan Brown reports for The Independent that single Christians feel unsupported by family-focused churches.
David Cloake (the Vernacular Vicar) blogs about The ‘Hit and Miss’ of Funeral Ministry.
Theo Hobson writes in The Spectator that The Church of England needs a compromise on gay marriage. Here it is.
Premier Radio has interviewed Rowan Wiliams about Love, Liberty and Life after Canterbury.
Scott Stephens for ABC Religion and Ethics asks Can a religious believer be a serious journalist? Richard Dawkins and the unbearable smugness of tweeting.
On the same topic The Heresiarch blogs about Dawkins and the Flying Horse and Andrew Brown writes for The Guardian that Richard Dawkins’ latest anti-Muslim Twitter spat lays bare his hypocrisy.
And here’s one that I missed from a few weeks ago.
Paul Goodman in The Telegraph asks Does religion still have a place in today’s politics?
David Murrow explains Why traditional churches should stick with traditional worship.
The Church Times has this leader: Evidence of evil.
Christopher Howse writes in his Sacred Mysteries column in The Telegraph about The man who rewrote Bunyan.
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