Spirituality

jonathan aitken times credo pray for parliament

Rev’d Jonathan Aitken calls the nation to pray for Parliament

December 9, 2018
Archbishop Cranmer
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From The Times' 'Credo' column yesterday, by the Rev'd Jonathan Aitken, reproduced here with permission: After a seismic week of political and constitutional upheavals at Westminster, might this be a good moment to revive the historic tradition of praying for…

Scrupulous for Christ: saving the Church from the doctrine of the infallibles

November 1, 2018
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Ever since Jesus cried 'Woe' to the scribes and Pharisees, his disciples have been calling out the two-faced hypocrites and judiciously discerning whitewashed tombs – those who look all meek…

Tim Peake spaceship Peterborough Cathedral

Does installing Tim Peake’s spaceship in a cathedral glorify God and lead people to salvation?

September 19, 2018
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If you install a junk spaceship or other space detritus in a sacred space and then pat yourself on the back for increasing your visitor numbers by 600% to 58,000,…

Uncovering the world of mediums, clairvoyants, empaths, shamans, psychics, and ghost hunters

July 30, 2018
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The organisers wanted me to come with an open mind, but of course that was impossible. In the first place, I have never been convinced that the idea of an…

Church of England votes to ban Religious Conversion

July 9, 2017
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The Church of England's General Synod has backed a motion calling for a ban on the practice of Religious Conversion, aimed at altering a person's religious orientation. Members of the…

Safespacing the Church: revising doctrine to suit mental health

March 7, 2017
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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…

If Philip North can’t be Bishop of Sheffield, the Church of England ceases to be catholic

February 25, 2017
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The Dean of Christ Church, Professor Martyn Percy, has issued an ultimatum circumspectly entitled 'Questions of Ambiguity and Integrity'. It's quite long, but essentially it boils down to a choice:…

“Is Justin Welby not showing the world Jesus?”

November 10, 2016
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Here follows Adrian Hilton's response to Martyn Percy's first letter: Dear Martyn, Thank you for your letter. I appreciated the account of your conversation with the “senior commentator on religious…

Martyn Percy on Justin Welby: “there is a marked absence of salient and resonant ‘God-talk’, or any persuasive public theology”

November 7, 2016
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Here follows the first of a six-letter exchange between the Very Rev'd Professor Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and Dr Adrian Hilton, Editor of this blog, on the…

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

September 10, 2016
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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'.…

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

August 23, 2016
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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…

Political spin and media din: the importance of silence

April 1, 2016
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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…

The Woolf Institute is wrong: Christianity is needed in public life now more than ever

December 15, 2015
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This is a guest post by Will Jones who holds a PhD in Political Philosophy from the University of Reading and a diploma in Biblical Studies from Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He currently works…

Woolf Institute: Butler-Slush and the demand for more multifaith mish-mash

December 8, 2015
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So, the Woolf Institute, whose declared mission is concerned with "combining theology with the social sciences and the humanities", in pursuit of "interfaith" "social solidarity" and "common purpose", convenes…

Pope's preacher lauds the "great theological and spiritual enrichment" of the Reformation

November 26, 2015
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When Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, Preacher to the Papal Household, was invited to speak in Westminster Abbey at the inauguration of the 10th General Synod of the Church of England,…

"God told me to.."

August 5, 2015
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Have you ever had a Christian say to you: "God told me to..", followed by a directive or (more usually) a subtly coercive exhortation to do something (usually) for…

Laudato Si – Pope Francis gives a timely gift to humanity

June 19, 2015
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Two momentous events happened yesterday: the Vatican finally discovered PowerPoint and the Pope (or at least the person in charge of his Twitter account) proved that he had mastered…

This is how the 'Christian vote' now looks

June 16, 2015
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During the run up to May’s General Election, we had a few polls that attempted to gauge what the Christian vote would look like. Carrying out such an exercise…

Church of England to spend £2m on "new approach" to leadership

December 15, 2014
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Politicians are out of touch. We know that, because we constantly hear about the 'Westminster bubble' or the 'Westminster Village', and Nadine Dorries once told us that neither David…

Charles – Defender of the persecuted Faith

December 10, 2014
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"God brings him here," said Maijida Nissan, 64, speaking about the visit of the Prince of Wales to the Chaldean Church in England gathered in Acton yesterday, many of…