Tradition

Welby: there is no need to ‘save the parish’; there is no threat to it

September 28, 2021
Archbishop Cranmer
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The Archbishop of Canterbury recently made a very subtle intervention in the process of elections to the General Synod. Indeed, so subtle was it that absolutely nobody noticed. Just as ballot papers and personal statements were landing in the inboxes…

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BBC ‘Songs of Praise’ producer compares ‘Rule, Britannia!’ to the Holocaust

August 26, 2020
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There has been much stuff and nonsense written about the 'Last Night of the Proms' and the BBC's decision to offer only orchestrated versions of 'Rule, Britannia!' and 'Land of…

Sheffield Cathedral sacks choir – because God told them to

July 26, 2020
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The Dean and Chapter if Sheffield Cathedral have sacked their choir, and this has caused a bit of a stir in the media and consternation on Twitter. They explain: For…

When did traditional morality become ‘fundamentalist’?

July 10, 2019
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It was a question posed by Professor John Milbank on Twitter a few days ago. Or, rather, it wasn't posed as a question, such as the 'when' inquiry into conceptual…

Bercow, Brexit, conspiracy and coup: the inescapable feeling of betrayal

January 13, 2019
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The most difficult controversies are those in which both sides have a point. Two well known historic examples come to mind. The English Civil War was contended on multiple controversies,…

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…

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

November 27, 2017
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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…

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…

Speaker Bercow’s Trump ban is political, but his wig abolition is a greater contempt

February 7, 2017
344 Comments

You don't have to be fan of Donald Trump not to feel a certain disquiet at the summary proclamation of Speaker Bercow that the President of the United States will…

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…

Ashers Bakery ‘gay cake’ appeal judgment: 11% of Evangelical Christians haven’t got a clue about religious liberty

October 24, 2016
660 Comments

It was very tempting to go with the affirmatory '89% of Evangelical Christians support freedom of religion', which would have been the wholesome, encouraging, Christian thing to do, right? But…

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…

May we no longer say Jehovah's Witnesses are not real Christians?

April 18, 2016
610 Comments

Dr Shiraz Maher is a lecturer at King's College London and a Senior Fellow of The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR). His list…

Anglican Primates pronounce, but the Holy Spirit prevails

January 16, 2016
739 Comments

The media bulletins are full of 'Episcopal Church suspended from the Anglican Communion', with a list of prohibitions and fulminations about 'second class Anglicans', with Giles Fraser reminding us…

Divorce and remarriage: Catholic crisis, chaos, conspiracy, or just contextual theology?

October 25, 2015
403 Comments

The fallout from the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church (aka 'Synod on the Family') has been considerable. Whatever the reported…

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…

"I'm not sure I believe in God, but I'll take Pope Francis over Richard Dawkins any day"

September 28, 2015
178 Comments

Chris Deerin was a "devout Catholic, altar boy.. (who) wanted to be a priest". That's nice. Sadly (or fortunately, whichever side you're on), he is devout no more. He…

Evangelism threatened by counter-extremism measures

August 28, 2015
107 Comments

The Evangelical Alliance has been surveying Evangelicals. 1,730 of them, to be precise. And it transpires that four out of five of them think government policies to tackle extremism…