Archbishop Cranmer

Palm Sunday – Christians cry ‘Hosanna!’, but the world seeks another messiah

April 9, 2017
225 Comments

Christians find their voice today: 'Hosanna!' they cry; Zion's king is coming. 'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he…

As Gavin Ashenden leaves the Church of England, the Ordinariate circles like a vulture

March 18, 2017
687 Comments

"I thought you'd already gone through the exit door a long time ago. Unless you actually want to stay and fight?" tweeted the Rt Rev'd Pete Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden,…

Safespacing the Church: revising doctrine to suit mental health

March 7, 2017
238 Comments

Mental health matters, right? Yes, of course it does. And the Church of England is right to focus on this often-neglected area of human flourishing and wellbeing, with speeches in…

As Theresa May preaches freedom to proclaim faith in Christ, street preachers are convicted of a public order offence

March 1, 2017
464 Comments

"How refreshing to hear a Prime Minister talk about their Christian faith, and sound like they mean it," writes Tim Stanley in the Telegraph. He continues: At a Downing Street…

Shared conversations: some came to seek truth; others to conquer. Why can’t we just be kind?

February 5, 2017
584 Comments

Commenting on the Bishops' statement Marriage and Same Sex Relationships after the Shared Conversations ("a gamma minus piece of drafting if ever there was one"), Canon Professor Mark Chapman prophesies…

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…

Archbishops call on Queen to repent of being Supreme Governor of the Church of England

January 18, 2017
500 Comments

In this 500th anniversary year of an obscure monk called Martin Luther banging his 95 Theses onto the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg, the event which history marks as…

Qur’an in the Eucharist? The Provost of Glasgow Cathedral subverts Christian revelation

January 12, 2017
722 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, Chaplain to the Queen. __________________________ I have just returned from Paris where I was invited to be part of…

Church of England funerals plummet 30% in a decade

November 2, 2016
99 Comments

Are people living longer? Are fewer dying? In the decade 2005-2015, the general population increased from 60,210,000 to 64,716,000, so why has the number of Church of England funerals plummeted…

Is our worship really “diminished” by the lack of Christian unity?

September 27, 2016
459 Comments

"I was dismayed, but not surprised, to hear so many calls for 'unity' after Jeremy Corbyn’s re-election," writes political historian Dr Robert Crowcroft of Edinburgh University. He expounds: ..."unity" is…

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…

Do we really need a faith minister for “fairies, goblins and imaginary friends”?

September 15, 2016
132 Comments

We live in an age of ever-increasing secularity, in which religious practice must be half-hidden and religious conviction often-denied. You have to excavate quite deep to discover the moral sources…

Thy Kingdom Come: “prayer must always be the first action of evangelism and witness”

September 14, 2016
142 Comments

When the archbishops of Canterbury and York inaugurated a week of prayer last year under the banner 'Thy Kingdom Come', they could have had no idea that the Holy Spirit…

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…

Spiritual influence: bullying voters with threats of hell is no different from threats of physical violence

August 23, 2016
233 Comments

Following the 2015 Tower Hamlets election court judgment which saw the disqualification of the elected mayor Lutfur Rahman for a number of corrupt and illegal practices, Sir Eric Pickles…

Forget the Holy Spirit: the key to Church revival is Pokemon Go

August 2, 2016
230 Comments

According to the Daily Mail (please don't stop reading at that), something called Pokemon Go (or Pokémon GO for the accentually pedantic and orthographically precise) is set to bring…

Mark Rylands mocked by fellow clergy for coming out as a Brexit Bishop

July 5, 2016
532 Comments

"It was beginning to seem like there would never be a Brexit bishop," began the blog post on 1st April this year, a date which was lost on the…

Welby: witness gently for Jesus, and wait until you're asked (most of the time)

May 22, 2016
116 Comments

There's always a danger when you pick up a comment piece from a newspaper that you glance at a headline and form an opinion from a crass summary of…

Thy Kingdom Come: a week of prayer for confidence to make Jesus known

May 8, 2016
139 Comments

"Jesus Christ calls every person to follow him. As Christians it’s our duty and joy to share that invitation. That’s why the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are inviting…