Hierarchy

Emotional abuse in the Church: Bishops need psychological help

March 8, 2019
Martin Sewell
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There is a Jewish proverb that a good name is worth more than precious stones. In this reflective and penitential season of Lent, members of the Church of England House of Bishops probably have the grace to acknowledge that their…

John Smyth dies – just as the CPS gives police go-ahead for his extradition and prosecution

August 12, 2018
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John Smyth, who was accused of the sadistic beatings of young men under the guise of Christian discipleship, has died at his home in Cape Town. This brings to an…

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…

Abuse victim: “The cruel and inhuman treatment I have received from the National Safeguarding Team in Church House, and others in the Church of England hierarchy, makes what Peter Ball did to me pale into insignificance”

March 8, 2018
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It has not been a good week for the Church of England. We were warned as much by our Lead Bishop for Safeguarding, Peter Hancock, when he led the safeguarding…

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…

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).…

Chartres' Lambeth Lecture: the Church must be "vision-led and not problem-led"

October 5, 2015
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While the Archbishop of Canterbury pored over the Blogosphere on his iPad (to which he is apparently rather attached), the Bishop of London psyched himself up for the latest…

A National Register of Faith Leaders? Government plans to vet all ministers of religion

September 16, 2015
229 Comments

There was an odd article in the Telegraph last week. Odd because the headline, photograph and content didn't quite cohere. Andrew Gilligan has apparently got hold of a leaked…

Peter Mandelson plots to subvert democracy: the arrogance of the political elite

August 17, 2015
64 Comments

When the Italian social scientist Vilfredo Pareto observed the political revolutions and machinations by which presidents are overthrown and regimes fall and rise, he coined a phrase which has…

Homophobia, Islamophobia and the triumph of ideological 'Truth'

March 22, 2015
258 Comments

Christianophobia has never really caught on. Perhaps it is a clumsy etymological construction: three syllables before '-ophobia' is at least one phonetic unit too many, and it isn't at…

Announcing @HolyVote – it's time to reclaim our religious liberty

March 3, 2015
234 Comments

Apparently, the 2010 General election was the first internet election. And if not that one, it is this one. And if not this one, then it is still to…

This is what a feminist theology looks like

October 30, 2014
356 Comments

Is this really what a feminist looks like? A feminist politician, perhaps. The men in particular feel compelled to humour this particular cause of equality, and so they don…