Paul Valleley asks Is Christian unity anything more than a pious aspiration?
This is the uncut version of an article in The Independent.
Jonathan Clatworthy writes on the Modern Church Blog about Spreading the Word – a liberal response.
Eric Hatfield writes about Sermons – not how we learn best?
Gillan Scott blogs Without a moral compass British values lose their way and now we’re seeing the consequences.
Sam Norton blogs Remorseless logic and a Bishop’s rest.
Benjamin J Dueholm explains Why I kiss my stole.
Giles Fraser writes in The Guardian that Using schools to boost the military ethos could be making a comeback.
The Paul Vallely article does not really live up to its title. From the title I was expecting not a breaking-news-on-the-ecumenism-front report, which is what Vallely provides. I was expect more of a think piece on what unity with Rome might mean, and whether achieving it really matters. Oh, well. I’ll go back to not worrying about whether we rapproche with Rome. Some people seem to think that the fact that the church is not one organisation around the world is a scandal. I think it’s human. It’s only to be expected. And it’s very New Testament, as our Orthodox… Read more »
The Roman Empire morphed into Europe and has morphed into The West. The Church has been a department of Empire since Constantine. The whole thing may now be expiring at last.
There’s another way in which the Vallely article failed to live up to its headline – it considered solely Anglican – RC ecumenism, a bit of a slap in the face for non-conformists. Probably not as much of a slap in the face, though, as the recent letters and articles in Church Times, which largely seemed to say that Episcopacy in the Apostolic Succession as interpreted by catholics is non-negotiable, so the sooner those pesky Methodists just accept that and agree to become Anglicans, the sooner we can have unity (the Anglican version of unity, that is).
Does anyone have any concept of what a unified church would either look like or have as a creed? Also, what level of unification (which churches or denominations would have to be included) would it take for the “church” to largely be called ‘unified’.
Wait! maybe the better question would be “What churches are now not part of the Bride of Christ?”
Does it matter that Peter Forster is illiterate? I think it does, because, in someone of his background and status, it means that he can’t think.