Thinking Anglicans

Opinion – 31 October 2020

Timothy Goode ViaMedia.News Covid, LLF and the Power of “Lived Experience”

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church The John Smyth affair: further reflections

Modern Church has an insert in yesterday’s Church Times. It includes these two articles from their blog.
Miranda Threlfall-Holmes Communion, Tangible and Virtual
Augustine Tanner-Ihm How Long O Lord?

Peter Crumpler Church Times The pandemic has changed how churches use media
“From YouTube services to the traditional magazine, parishes have been innovating”

Martyn Snow Church Times Dare to think differently about lay ministry
“It is about much more than filling the gaps left by stipendiary clergy, argues Martyn Snow. A whole new vision is needed”

54 Comments

Opinion – 28 October 2020

Charlie Bell ViaMedia.News Collusion, Hypocrisy & the Greasy Pole to Success

Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Living in Love and Faith in a Systemically Abusive Church

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church The work of a Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor. Insights from the Whitsey Report

7 Comments

Opinion – 24 October 2020

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Responding to wounded abuse survivors. Can the post-IICSA Church get this right?

Anne Foreman ViaMedia.News Church of England – Please Mind the Gap!

Jeremy Pemberton From the Choir Stalls Deadly Pressure

Stephen Cottrell, Nick Baines and David Walker Yorkshire Post We must face up to the human heartache in a Britain divided by lockdowns – Archbishop of York

10 Comments

Opinion – 21 October 2020

Andrew Graystone Surviving Church What do we mean by Redress?

Alan Wilson ViaMedia.News World Without End…?

Richard Scorer National Secular Society The Church of England’s culture of entitlement has to end

22 Comments

Opinion – 17 October 2020

Meg Munn Chair of the National Safeguarding Panel First reflections on IICSA’s second report

Helen King ViaMedia.News Why the Church of England Must ‘Connect the Dots’ – IICSA and LLF

Shirley O’Shea The Living Church What Mentally Ill Persons Wish Their Clergy Understood

Anne Atkins Church Times When people won’t believe you
“Victims are often doubted, Anne Atkins finds”

Andrew Graystone Surviving Church Towards a Theology of Redress

6 Comments

Opinion – 14 October 2020

Charlie Bell Anglicanism.org Risk and Prophesy – has the Church got its COVID-19 response right?
“In this paper Charlie Bell challenges assumptions about how we should approach the COVID- 19 crisis not least in church. He argues that church authorities have misunderstood the science and imposed a culture of fear thereby exacerbating the crisis. It is time for a radical reassessment.”

Simon Butler ViaMedia.News Safeguarding, ‘Reabuse’ and LGBT People

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church We are sorry, but please be patient: An Apology after IICSA
Narcissism – A Recipe for Unhappiness in the Church

Ian Black Church Times Comment: how the Church can end its abuse culture
“Policies and procedures are not enough to stop abuse, says Ian Black. Much deeper changes are needed”

15 Comments

Opinion – 10 October 2020

Sam Dennis All Things Lawful And Honest Mass Education
“As many churches are forced by the pandemic to reconsider their Sunday School or Children’s Church, Sam Dennis asks whether the Mass is the best place for teaching the faith.”

Jayne Ozanne ViaMedia.News Resignations, Dysfunctionality and the House of Bishops

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Cultural Change and the Church

We have added several Church Times opinion pieces to our post: More about the IICSA report.

47 Comments

Opinion – 7 October 2020

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Rebuilding Trust after the IICSA Report

Martin Sewell Archbishop Cranmer The Church of England – a safer space for abusers than for the abused

Peter Ormerod The Guardian Think unconscious bias training is a fad? It’s been going for at least 2,000 years
“MPs balking at ‘PC gone mad’ forget that Jesus instructed people to examine their consciences for unacknowledged sin”

Christina Baron ViaMedia.News Living in Love and Faith – Is There Really Hope for Change?

18 Comments

Opinion – 3 October 2020

John Sundara The Living Church A Thicker Constellation of Vocation

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Is the Church of England ready for new moves in Safeguarding?

Meg Munn Chair of the National Safeguarding Panel Time for Review

Rogers Govender ViaMedia.News Walking in Beauty – Contemplation in times of Struggle, Suffering and Exclusion

Paul W Thomas Church Times Deaneries’ moment of truth has at last arrived
“It is time that they replaced parishes as the locus of the Church of England’s mission”

Trevor Thurston-Smith The Pensive Pilgrim Lament, Joy and Hope in a Time of Pandemic

34 Comments

Opinion – 30 September 2020

Ian Paul Psephizo How do we proclaim good news during the pandemic?

Savitri Hensman ViaMedia.News Justice, Bias, Love and Loyalty in the Church of England

Ellie Singer Earth & Altar From Analog Neighborhood To Digital Community

4 Comments

Opinion – 26 September 2020

Giles Fraser UnHerd Why Covid can’t cancel Christmas
“There is much to be gained by the knocking out of all the cheap commercial cheer”

Peter Leonard ViaMedia.News What Schitt’s Creek Can Teach the Church of England

Archdruid Eileen The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley Keeping Everyone Happy at Church

Edward Dowler All Things Lawful And Honest Singing a new song
“Edward Dowler considers the Psalms, Augustine and anthropology, and calls for the safe restoration of congregational singing to our worshiping life.”

47 Comments

Opinion – 23 September 2020

David Ison ViaMedia.News One for All and All for One?

Barry Orford All Things Lawful And Honest Holy Useful
“Barry Orford replies to an earlier article … by Angela Tilby. He shares many of her concerns about theological formation.”
Thomas Plant All Things Lawful And Honest Deschooling Theology
“In a further contribution to debate on the future of theological formation, Tom Plant argues for the maximum possible decentralisation of ministerial education.”

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church The Anger that Challenges Injustice

3 Comments

Opinion – 19 September 2020

Jon Price Earth & Altar The issues are worth working through: Starting ministry during a pandemic

Philip Jones Ecclesiastical Law In Defence of the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003: Measure and Management

Rosie Harper ViaMedia.News Secrecy and an Unaccountable Church of England

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Reflections on the Dynamics of Control among Evangelical Anglicans

Micah Lazarus Earth & Altar The Fountain Of Life: Reclaiming Church And Tradition For Queer Flourishing

31 Comments

Opinion – 16 September 2020

Different views on individual communion cups:
Peter Anthony All Things Lawful And Honest A Shot of Salvation
“Peter Anthony reveals the murky racist past that lies behind the invention of individual communion cups in Nineteenth Century America and argues against their introduction in the Church of England for a number of theological and practical reasons.”
Steven Holmes Shored Fragments On the use of individual communion cups
Hilary Bogert-Winkler Montreal Diocesan Theological College Individual Communion Cups, Community, and Covid-19

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Richard Coekin and Jonathan Fletcher’s circle

Charlie Bell ViaMedia.News Solidarity, Oppression and the Church of England

Gilo Surviving Church Thoughts on the Elliott Review ‘translation’ by Archbishops Council

17 Comments

Opinion – 12 September 2020

Giles Goddard ViaMedia.News Sexuality & Christianity – Does One Size Fit All?

Church Times A case of reverse contagion?
Sheila Bridge reflects on the unexpected power of one of the lesser sacraments

20 Comments

Opinion – 9 September 2020

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Reflections on Church Management and Structure. Time for Change?

Jayne Ozanne ViaMedia.News A Tribute to Colin Blakely, Co-Founder of Via Media

14 Comments

Opinion – 5 September 2020

William Davage All Things Lawful And Honest By Law Established
“In the wake of suggestions that ordinations should take place without a celebration of the Mass, and that the common Eucharistic cup should be replaced with individual glasses, William Davage asks how these canonical irregularities came to be proposed in the first place.”

Stephen Lynas bathwellschap Bring it on home to me
“Today we did a ‘first’: the General Synod clergy held our own Zoom meeting”

Rachel Mann Church Times Honesty will supply a rich legacy

Paul Devonshire Surviving Church CDM. A Kafkaesque Nightmare

35 Comments

Opinion – 2 September 2020

LGBTQ Faith UK Hidden in plain site. Church clarity diocesan style

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church The search for truth in the Smyth/Fletcher enquiries.

23 Comments

Opinion – 29 August 2020

James Hadley All Things Lawful And Honest Irregular & Unlearned
“In the light of attempts to hold irregular ordinations without the Eucharist, the Rev’d Dr James Hadley suggests it may be a sign of the lack of depth in current theological thinking and formation in the Church of England”

Gilo Surviving Church The bigger the mitre the larger the parachute!
“Fear of reputational damage is causing reputational damage”

Mary Harrington UnHerd England will miss our Church when it’s gone
“Without the steadying influence of Anglicanism, our politics could descend again into extremism”

81 Comments

Opinion – 26 August 2020

Charlie Bell Anglicanism.org Defining ecclesiology – alarming developments in the Church of England
Do read the full article, which is here.

Edward Dowler All Things Lawful And Honest Safety First
“It sometimes feels like the Church’s and Government’s response to COVID is governed by thinking that is not much more complex than the axiom ‘Safety First’. Edward Dowler explores what principles might undergird a more theologically robust and pastorally honest response to our present crisis.”

Rowan Williams New Statesman Covid and confronting our own mortality
“The pandemic has forced us to confront the issue of death: how do we think about dying, and what does it mean for how we live?”

Kevin Makins Experimental Theology Church is Gross

12 Comments