Scripture

Child sexual abuse: the Blackburn Pastoral Letter is game-changer for the Church of England

June 21, 2019
Martin Sewell
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When St Paul began writing his letters I doubt he expected them to become as copied, shared, dissected and analysed as they are today. He wrote to help and support people he knew, sometimes in exasperation, sometimes in inspiration, and…

Home Office Middle East Christians asylum

Home Office refuses asylum to Iranian Christian convert – quoting violence in the Bible as evidence of bogus claim

March 20, 2019
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An Iranian Muslim who converted to Christianity because it is the true religion of peace has had their application for asylum in the UK rejected because the Home Office didn't…

Catholic Herald stokes sectarianism with ‘Heretic of the Week’

January 6, 2019
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The Catholic Herald runs a column called 'Heretic of the Week'. It hasn't been running for many weeks, which is probably why it isn't that widely known, but a recent…

Church of England Evangelical Council warns against redefining marriage

October 16, 2018
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The Church of England Evangelical Council describes itself as "a network of networks, bringing evangelicals in the Church of England together for the sake of the gospel". It was created…

Death penalty: Pope Francis hasn’t changed the teaching; he just ‘developed doctrine’

August 5, 2018
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One of the more curious aspects of Roman Catholic apologetics is its inability to answer certain specific questions to which it should have ready answers: 1. What is the content…

Recognising ‘spiritual abuse’ is a dangerous hostage to fortune

March 12, 2018
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An Abingdon vicar has been banned from ministry for two years after being found guilty of the spiritual abuse of a 15/16-year-old boy. The Bishop's Disciplinary Tribunal for the Diocese…

religion without holy spirit william booth

Is the Church of England doing religion without the Holy Spirit?

November 27, 2017
197 Comments

Much has been written about the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, or the Paraclete; the third person (hypostasis) of the Trinity. In fact, so much has been written over…

Reformation 500: we are all Protestants now

October 31, 2017
380 Comments

‘Reformation’ is an awkward word; so, of course, is ‘Protestant’. Both terms convey a sense of theological unity or ecclesial uniformity wrapped in a righteous evangelical zeal, when, in fact,…

Justin Welby is not a heretic, he’s a very faithful Anglican

May 15, 2017
310 Comments

In the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Westminster there is a list of Archbishops of Canterbury which chronicles the centuries of communion between the popes of Rome and the chief pastors…

The Church of England should not tear itself apart over homosexuality and same-sex marriage

February 14, 2017
896 Comments

The General Synod of the Church of England is due to 'take note' (or not) of the Bishops' report ‘Marriage and Same Sex Relationships after the Shared Conversations.’ In the…

Same-sex marriage: what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?

February 2, 2017
541 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev'd Dr Gavin Ashenden, sometime Chaplain to the Queen. ___________________________ ‘Archbishop Cranmer’ has written a balanced and generous analysis of the House of…

House of Bishops upholds canon law: marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman

January 30, 2017
874 Comments

After a seemingly interminable period of 'shared conversations' on the nature of marriage and the relational experiences of some LGBT Christians, the House of Bishops of the Church of England…

With the gift of a crozier, Pope Francis recognises and affirms the episcopal jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury

October 9, 2016
295 Comments

You can read too much into a symbol, especially if it signifies a deep spiritual longing or portends some prophetic fulfilment. What to one person is just the rain, to…

Don’t bash the Archbishop of Canterbury – pray for him

September 18, 2016
105 Comments

Funny. Defend Nigel Farage against Justin Welby, you're "racist" or a "bigot"; defend Justin Welby against Nigel Farage, you're a "feminist-humanist-pro-Marxist" (amongst other things). There is no apparent via media…

Good Disagreement: report fellow Christians to the police for daring to disagree

September 11, 2016
228 Comments

It isn't entirely clear what happened to 1 Corinthians 6 in the Christian pursuit of Good Disagreement. It appears that if certain liberal/progressive Christians disagree with conservative/traditionalist ones, they think…

Vicky Beeching, vocation, and the church that exists to serve our selfish ends

September 10, 2016
801 Comments

There was a piece in the Guardian (where else) this week by Vicky Beeching, entitled: 'The first openly gay bishop is a huge step forward – but it’s not enough'.…

Same-sex marriage/blessing confronts Church of England with "a structural flaw of fatal proportions"

August 30, 2016
192 Comments

We have reached Chapter 5 in the great Anglican sexuality saga: 'Church of England parishes consider first step to break away over sexuality'. It isn't clear what the dénouement…

Brexit, the Bible and democracy: the judgment of God is the voice of the people

June 27, 2016
198 Comments

As the dust settles... Perhaps that's a premature denouement. As the winds of Brexit crack their cheeks throughout Europe, and the refiner's fire purges the political parties – if…

Political spin and media din: the importance of silence

April 1, 2016
85 Comments

There's an awful lot of noise around at the moment. Perhaps there was always a din in the Agora and a racket in the Forum, but they were concerned…

Does God still raise up prophets?

January 31, 2016
334 Comments

Prophecy is the most frequently-mentioned charism in the whole Pauline corpus: the role of the prophets is preeminent (eg 1Thess 5:20; 1Cor 11:4f; Rom 12:6; Eph 2:20; 1Tim 1:18).…