The fifth annual Inclusive Church lecture was delivered last Thursday at St Paul’s Cathedral London by the Dean of St Paul’s Dr David Ison.
The text of the lecture is available here.
There is also a video which you can watch from this link.
Details of previous lectures are available here.
Next year, the sixth lecture will take place on Wednesday 25th July 2018 at Leicester Cathedral.
The lecturer will be Ruth Hunt, CEO of Stonewall.
Free tickets will be available nearer the date.
An article worthy of a bit of reflection, I think, but the quote from Isaac the Syrian with which he ends is particularly poignant after my encounter with a street preacher in Keswick last Friday, who maintained quite insistently (ably assisted by microphone) that God was not a God of love but a God of Wrath and a God who Judged. Sad to think of an ascetic religious and Father of the Church being such a dangerous, faithless liberal.
This is a profound analysis and it is so helpful to encounter such clear (but not dogmatic) analysis. I shall certainly need to read the lecture again – and again and I hope it is read by many in our Church. I shall particularly ponder two parts of it, one minor, one major. The former concerns the use of the word “inclusive” which in my own experience, I have found is used by some churches that in fact definitely exclude those with conservative views. The latter concerns the description of the 4th century creeds and dogmas as “boundaries around a… Read more »
Br. Bunyan, how are you using the word “unitarian” here? Among critics of the Episcopal Church (mostly) west of the Atlantic, it was used with a capital “U” to suggest that the Episcopal Church has failed in its commitment to Trinitarian faith. On the other hand, it could mean reflecting a social progressivism without a specific theological content; or perhaps those Anglicans who want to see the Communion in some sense “unified.”
(Repeat of my post from first mention of this splendid lecture)
“He drew a circle that shut me out. Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in.” Edwin Markham
(Tuesday, 25 July 2017 at 10:05am BST)
Once again, confusing a religious institution with the wholeness of Church, Christ’s Body. God includes, but even the New Testament calls for discrimination in teachings – what is good for the group and what is not. I have no desire to be “converted” to the conservative gospel, and I cannot see why they would feel the need to be around those who support liberal ideals. God includes them, with or without my – or my church’s – consent to continue to be harangued by them. This is not liberalism, not progressive Christianity, but philosophical hand-wringing and mental masturbation caused by… Read more »
“I have found is used by some churches that in fact definitely exclude those with conservative views” @John Bunyan
All people are included, not all views. That seems right and just to me.
Being a woman, being disabled, being of a racial minority, being LGBT, being poor, old, young, &c are not ‘views’. You can change your views, and conservatives really should.
FrAndrew, I care less that conservatives *change* their views, than that they stop enforcing them via Power-Over.
To wit: it’s none of my business whether an Anglican bishop believes that I, queer person, am (if appropriately partnered) actively sinning—as long as he doesn’t attempt to stop his priests (those who believe otherwise!) from celebrating my marriage.
“FrAndrew, I care less that conservatives *change* their views, than that they stop enforcing them via Power-Over” @JCF
Well yes, I’d settle for that. My point was to flag up the false equivalency that was being pushed between view’ and being. Conservatives can shut up, I cannot not be gay.
I wonder if John Bunyan is referring to St James King Street, a beacon of inclusiveness in a diocese known for its exclusion of homosexuals which I personally experienced many times. I have noted his name listed there historically before the time I finally sought refuge despite having to travel 80km each way to worship. When I first visited, after yet again being shown I was not welcome in a typical evangelical parish, I was overwhelmed by hearing a welcoming sermon by one of the lay preachers. I had heard nothing but hatred from my many years of worshipping elsewhere… Read more »