Three articles by Giles Fraser this weekend.
In the Guardian he writes in Intimations of mortality that we have lost the art of plain speaking when it comes to death – and that is not healthy for children.
Also in the Guardian he previews the BBC’s Passion (to be broadcast in Holy Week) in Thou shalt not offend anyone: BBC’s Jesus is nice but dull.
And in the Church Times he asks Is Fairtrade the same as fair?.
In the Guardian’s Face to faith column David Bryant writes that the perspective shift urged by the philosopher Martin Buber has the power to heal our world.
In The Times Jonathan Sacks writes Lose faith in God we will lose faith in humanity.
Also in The Times Libby Purves asks whether Oxford scholars should be forced to say grace in Oxford scholars’ grace protest: principled or petulant?
4 CommentsIn the Guardian’s Face to Faith column, Alex Klaushofer says that Lebanon’s pluralism could teach the west much about religious tolerance.
In The Times Roderick Strange writes that Water can bring us death or a new life in Christ.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Rock of Ages and the rebel pilgrims.
Stephen Brown writes at Ekklesia that Church and media need new understanding, says Lutheran bishop (German readers can learn more here).
Paul Vallely writes in the Church Times that Religion can be a solution in Kosovo.
Also, Giles Fraser explains Why I worry about moral foreign policies.
7 CommentsTerry Philpot writes about Catholic care homes in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Usama Hasan writes in The Times about What is Sharia?
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that the Democrats now do God.
Christopher Howse following the archbishop’s lead tells more Ronald Knox jokes in When Islam and the C of E unite.
Craig Brown tries to be amusing in Dr Rowan Williams’ ‘Cat Sat On The Mat’.
And for a real contrast to that, try the sermon given by Rowan Williams at the memorial service for Charlie Moule last weekend.
6 CommentsSharia-free zone
Giles Fraser wrote in the G2 section of the Guardian about his recent American travels, God moves to the left.
And he also wrote in the Church Times about Lambeth: a conference of shame.
Christopher Howse wrote in the Daily Telegraph about Dog-collars on the footplate. (Note to American readers: “footplate” is explained here.)
John Wilkins writes in The Times that Divine justice is perfect and tempered with mercy.
Alec Gilmore writes in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column about the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
18 CommentsEvangelicals, beginning to voice concern for God’s earth, are critical to the US elections, says James Jones in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times that Love can teach us to listen to our enduring melodies.
Christopher Howse in the Daily Telegraph has An addiction to behaving badly.
Giles Fraser, in the Church Times says that Too much religion is bad for your faith.
Rowan Williams gave an interview to Martha Linden of the Press Association which you can read in full at his site. It’s more wide-ranging than the headline, Archbishop criticises 24 hour drinking.
Simon Barrow wrote about Challenging the neo-liberal paradigm for Ekklesia.
2 CommentsGeoffrey Rowell writes that Paul shows how faith could turn all our lives around in The Times.
Alan Wilson also writes about Saint Paul, in The Power of Love.
Stephen Smith writes about the Holocaust in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about a Coincidence in a Bath bookshop.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Technology: does it dispel the wonder?
And the Church Times carried a leader about Christian unity: Two ways to hold the body together.
25 CommentsEkklesia brings us a piece by Martin Marty titled Catholic but not necessarily Roman.
And also, Kersten Storch writes about Praying for unity across a century of division.
Peter Steinfels writes in the New York Times about Praying for Christian Unity, When Diversity Has Been the Answer.
Roderick Strange writes in the Tablet about Newman, in Saintly, but very human.
The Guardian has Theo Hobson writing Face to Faith, and he argues that The Church of England’s gay crisis makes clear that that liberal Anglicanism is finished.
In the Church Times Giles Fraser writes that I cannot eat at your table, Plato.
20 CommentsIn the Guardian’s column Face to Faith John Coutts argues that “Mainstream Islam stands where the churches stood in 1650 in terms of religious freedom”.
The Times has Baptism allows us to share fully in the life of Jesus by Roderick Strange.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times that Theologians promoted atheism.
Ekklesia has a piece by Simon Barrow titled Rethinking religion in an open society.
Two weeks ago, the Observer had this article by Richard Harries It is possible to be moral without God.
2 CommentsThe Church Times leader this week is Wisdom from the East?
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about why Christianity needs to ditch Plato.
Christopher Howse tells us in the Daily Telegraph What Hrabanus Maurus says about doves.
As Christians celebrate the Epiphany, it’s the people not the presents that matter, argues Chris Chivers in the Guardian’s Face to Faith.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times that you should Count your blessings and begin to change your life.
And from before Christmas, there is this interesting article in The Times by Alan Franks in which Terry Eagleton explains why a Marxist critic has written about Jesus Christ and the Gospels.
9 CommentsGiles Fraser wrote in the Guardian about A very lefty festival.
The tradition of carols as an anarchic and populist form of devotion is alive and well, says Ian Bradley in Face to Faith.
Jonathan Romain wrote in The Times that All the true miracles happen in the human heart.
Vicki Woods wrote in the Daily Telegraph about Going to church when you have no faith.
At Ekklesia Simon Barrow wrote that Christ is an unwanted gift for the religious.
Jonathan Bartley wrote about The real offensiveness of Christmas.
3 CommentsGeoffrey Rowell writes in The Times that The Christmas story allows us to behold God’s glory.
Ruth Gledhill reports: Make every Sunday a Christmas Day, churches told.
Earlier, The Times also had Top ten Carols and things you didn’t know about them.
Despite the seasonal humbug, Christmas has not become ‘content-free’ just yet, writes Judith Maltby in the Guardian.
And also in the Guardian Mark Lawson writes about Victorian intolerance.
The Associated Press reports on what an astrophysicist thinks about “the star in the East”.
In the Telegraph Christopher Howse writes about The shepherds’ dog and the angel.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times about Learning to spot a fading pleasure.
And the Church Times had this leader: Prepare to meet thy maker.
53 CommentsThis week’s Tablet has an article by the Archbishop of Canterbury which looks forward to next month’s centenary Week of Christian Unity.
His article is titled No common language yet. It starts this way:
5 CommentsA hundred years on from the establishing of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, how much further forward are we? And what exactly are we praying for during this week of prayer? On the whole, it’s become a fixture for most “mainstream” denominations, a few days when the more enthusiastic or more biddable members of the congregation turn up to someone else’s church for a well-mannered but often rather lukewarm joint service or two, or perhaps for a talk by a prominent local leader.
The aspiration that we end up relating better with each other, or even that we end up more willing to engage in witness and work together is entirely worthy, and is probably widely fulfilled. But are we praying for anything more than this?
For some people, the answer is clearly “no”. To look beyond this fostering of local goodwill, they would say, is always in danger of slipping towards the yearning for some universal institution with clear central control – at worst, a Pullmanesque Magisterium, some people’s nightmare of Roman Catholicism…
Anglicans need deep learning not cheap victory is the title of an article published by Ekklesia and written by Savi Hensman.
83 CommentsSome church leaders caught up in the sexuality row not only refuse to consider scholarship which does not conform to their own perspective but also demand the right to prohibit others from acting on the fruits of study. Anglicans need to be learners not warriors.
The Archbishop of York writes in the Observer I ripped up my dog collar to help topple this brutal tyrant.
Mark Vernon at Comment is free asks “Is philosophy just tinkering around the edges of science, or can a meeting of the disciplines give us deeper insghts into the universe?” in God and the multiverse.
Shelina Zahra Janmohamed argues in the Guardian’s Face to faith column that Spiritual journeys like the hajj must challenge body and soul.
Christopher Howse in the Telegraph writes on Judging when you must fight a war
Also in the Telegraph Sarah Todd hears how one Christmas congregation found room at the inn in Fathers, sons and holy spirits.
Joanna Moorhead in the Times writes that in deepest Surrey, families are flocking to watch a cast of real people in a most extraordinary nativity play O little town of Wintershall.
Also in the Times Ruth Gledhill writes about a study that argues Plagues of Egypt ‘caused by nature, not God’.
In the Church Times Giles Fraser writes about US suburbs: the home of segregation.
12 CommentsIn the Guardian Zaki Cooper says Some of the staunchest supporters of Christmas come from other religions.
Also, Pankaj Mishra argues that a public conversation about Islam should not be avoided, in A paranoid, abhorrent obsession.
The Times has Jonathan Sacks writing that The battle to teach moral values is won at school.
In the Daily Telegraph Christopher Howse writes about Trevor Beeson’s new book, Round the Church in Fifty Years, in an article titled Bringing life back into the parishes.
Giles Fraser asks Which party really wants a divorce? in the Church Times.
Andrew Brown argues at Comment is free that Civilisation is safe.
36 CommentsRoderick Strange writes in The Times about Advent: Nativity narratives are a gift from the gospel’s heart.
Martyn Percy writes in the Guardian that: Advent is a time of serious preparation, but it’s about far more than Christmas.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about a new papal encyclical: Spe Salvi, says Pope Benedict.
The same paper also has a piece by Sam Leith titled Loving William Blake for being bonkers.
Giles Fraser who has returned from his US trip, writes in the Church Times about How the US conscience has become diseased.
In the Los Angeles Times there is an essay by Laura Miller on the Religious furor over ‘The Golden Compass’.
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And here’s a bonus column: Andrew Brown writes about Kitschmas: Funnier than thou.
Riazat Butt who is the Religious Affairs correspondent at the Guardian wrote a column for the Church of England Newspaper which has now appeared on Religious Intelligence.
See Time for closure in Anglican crisis?
40 Comments…Talking is something that Anglicans are good at. But I kind of wish they’d do something else. For at least four years the threat of a schism has been hanging over the communion and people write about walking apart and falling off fences but the key word here is threat. Unless I’m deaf I’ve not heard the crack of a rupture so it leaves me thinking that this much-hyped schism, which by all accounts should have happened months ago, is the longest and slowest break-up in history…
Giles Fraser writes from Pittsburgh for the Church Times that I believe the new puritans will fail.
Paul Woolley writes for The Times about how Religion holds its own in the forum of public debate.
Christopher Howse explains in the Daily Telegraph Why Gladstone had God up his sleeve.
Christopher Rowland writes in the Guardian about Blake’s creative engagement with the Bible.
11 CommentsAndrew Linzey had an article in The Times yesterday about electing bishops. In England. See Listen to the voice of the people.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times yesterday about life in California. See California: where the giving is cheerful.
Julia Neuberger writes in the Guardian today about multifaith charity work. Read Face to Faith.
Christopher Howse writes in today’s Daily Telegraph about The strange rites of Coronation.
Ekklesia has an article by Colin Morris titled Violence, the media and redemption.
18 CommentsStephen Bates has written an article with this title for New Humanist.
After seven years on the faith front lines, Guardian religious affairs correspondent Stephen Bates is glad to be back on civvy street.
Here’s a sample:
…The presenting issue, of course, for what has become a struggle for power and control not only of the Church of England but throughout the worldwide Anglican communion, is homosexuality and the church’s attitude towards gays. Outsiders may have accepted civil partnerships, but the established church is tearing itself apart on the issue with quite extraordinary bitterness and rancour. Only a week or so ago, a US blogger was remarking charitably that it wasn’t worth expending a bullet on the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, who is the first woman to lead a major Christian denomination. The blogger, incidentally, was herself a woman…
Read the whole article.
35 Comments