Thinking Anglicans

Opinion – 20 December 2017

Kelvin Holdsworth Advent and How Religion Works

Josiah Idowu-Fearon Anglican Communion News Service The ties that bind our Anglican Communion family
Phil Ashey American Anglican Who decides membership in the Anglican Communion? Not the Secretary General of the ACC!

Alan Bartlett The Telegraph As a vicar, I know better than anyone why so many clergy are close to the edge

Nancy Rockwell Patheos No More Lying About Mary

Linda Ryan Episcopal Café The Quiet Man

Revd Drayton Parslow The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley Only Purely Biblical Carols

David Baker Christian Today Why it’s time to put ‘We Three Kings’ (and some other carols) in the bin

Nick Cohen The Guardian In losing religion we lose touch with each other

Stephen Cherry The New Bishop of London – and the merits of being ordained later in life

Stephen Parsons Surviving Church The new Bishop of London – some Concerns

45 Comments

Opinion – 16 December 2017

Jonathan Draper Afterthoughts A sermon for Midnight Mass

Tricia Gates Brown Episcopal Café The subversive, confrontational, emboldening stories of Christmas

Ysenda Maxtone Graham The Spectator Mission impossible? The C of E’s attempt to woo new members
“The church-will-see-me-out brigade’s attitude is not going to work for much longer”

Jayne Ozanne ViaMedia.News Spiritual Blindness & the Root of Fear

Martin Sewell Archbishop Cranmer The Church of England is a compromised and compromising church – thank God!

4 Comments

Opinion – 13 December 2017

Martin Sewell Archbishop Cranmer Mandatory reporting of CofE child abuse is complicated, so let’s proceed incrementally

Ekklesia Rowan Williams’ 2017 Christmas Message

Michael Curry Episcopal Café A Christmas message from the Presiding Bishop

Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Communion as social dynamite or depth charge

Andrew Lightbown There0 Speaking of despair; talking of ‘healing.’

4 Comments

Opinion – 9 December 2017

Archdruid Eileen The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley The Seven Deadly Sins of Church Committees

Martin Sewell Archbishop Cranmer Iwerne Trust abuse: leading public school gives victims immediate help, while the Church of England leaves them hanging

Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Liturgy Coming to Life

Madeleine Davies Church Times Shenfield, place of trophy houses and Alpha families
Last week, Madeleine Davies visited Blackpool, the most deprived parish in the country. This week she goes to Shenfield, in Essex, one of the least deprived

Neil Patterson Church Times ‘Our’ God? No, God is everybody’s
Neil Patterson has misgivings about the theology in some popular modern praise songs

David Walker ViaMedia.News Power, Abuse and the Sense of Entitlement

5 Comments

Opinion – 6 December 2017

Linda Woodhead Patheos Divination – A Most Neglected Most Important Element of Religion

Hayley Matthews ViaMedia.News Does “Othering” Exist in Our Church, and Does this Lead to Exclusion?

Mark Oakley gave the 5th Donald Barnes Memorial Lecture recently: The Devil is in the Drivel! Reclaiming the mystery of faith
[Scroll to the bottom for a link to the full text of the lecture]

Richard Peers Psephizo Can Anglo-Catholic churches grow?

Liam Beadle The Guardian Not even vicars have the patience of saints
“A member of the clergy is in trouble for venting on his congregation. There, but for the grace of God, go many of us”

Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Authority and loss

21 Comments

Opinion – 2 December 2017

Jamie Fletcher Christian Today WWJD about ‘Transgender’? A trans Christian responds

Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Speaking of size

George Pitcher New Statesman Don’t let the cosy stable fool you – the Virgin Mary’s story is brutal

Madeleine Davies Church Times Can the tide turn in Blackpool?

Anne-Marie Naylor Church Times Rich parish, poor parish — time to choose

Miranda Threlfall-Holmes Advent is a feminist issue (and so are posh Advent calendars)

13 Comments

Opinion – 29 November 2017

Ian Paul Psephizo What is going wrong with theological education?

Kelvin Holdsworth Inclusive Language and Politeness

Pisky.Scot Independence, Boldness, and Persistence: The Rev Canon Dr Chuck Robertson reflects on the links between TEC and the SEC

21 Comments

Opinion – 25 November 2017

The Archbishop of Canterbury gave this lecture in Moscow this week: Christian hope

Philip Jones Ecclesiastical Law The Crockford Preface 1987: Thirty Years On

Paul Bayes ViaMedia.News Twitter Moments – The General and The Particular

Rachel Mann In Praise of ‘Church’: the Parish as a Place of Glory & Grace

Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Speaking of despots and of kings

Simon Cook Church Times Like it or not, the digital world is the real world
“People should not seek to escape technology … Instead, they need to be taught to use it wisely”

Jonathan Bartley Church Times What should upset Christians
“There are far more important issues than sausage rolls in cribs”

Andrew Hammond, chaplain of King’s College, Cambridge, is interviewed by Anna Menin for Varsity: King’s Chaplain: ‘It’s the quality of the love that matters, not the gender of the lovers’

22 Comments

Opinion – 22 November 2017

Rachel Mann Why Transgender Day of Remembrance Matters

Warren Hartley A brave faith The theology and spirituality of Open Table – A person-centred approach

Martin Sewell Archbishop Cranmer Safeguarding: why is the Church of England’s institutional compassion so constipated?

Colin Coward Unadulterated Love The decadence of the Church of England

18 Comments

Opinion – 18 November 2017

Simon Butler ViaMedia.News My Confusion Regarding Claims of Sexual Harassment

Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Speaking of teaching

Bosco Peters Liturgy Submission on Blessing Same-Sex Couples

Jonathan Draper Afterthoughts Purity Cults: death by a thousand cuts

Jeremy Morris via Media.News How Do Churches Die?

Ian Paul Psephizo Jesus was not born in a stable (honest!)

Martyn Percy Archbishop Cranmer How Bishop George Bell became a victim of Church of England ‘spin’ and a narrative of ‘decisive leadership’

Rachel Mann Celebrating Rainbow Lives: Can the C of E be more like the NHS?

Madeleine Davies “hears how choirs are drawing children, and their families, into the life of the Church of England” Church Times From the choir stalls to the altar

36 Comments

Opinion – 11 November 2017

Jonathan Draper Afterthoughts What is Remembrance For?

Martin Sewell Archbishop Cranmer Church U-turn on sex abuse: from the victim ‘must be believed’ to being ‘taken seriously’

Bosco Peters Liturgy Agreeing on The Holy Spirit

Philip Jones Ecclesiastical Law The Coronation Oath: Right and Rite

Philip Lockley Church Times Laboratories for disagreeing well
Ordination training offers an unparalleled opportunity to learn the meaning of ‘mutual flourishing’

11 Comments

Opinion – 8 November 2017

Lizzie Lowrie Saltwater and Honey A Letter to the Churches

Tim Crane The Times Literary Supplement Join the club – what religion is and isn’t.

Richard Mammana Mockingbird Praying Twice

Colin Coward Unadulterated Love By what authority?

5 Comments

Opinion – 4 November 2017

Kelvin Holdsworth The Episcopal Way of Death

Mark Clavier Covenant ‘Time makes ancient truths uncouth’
“Reflections of a Former Theological Educator”

Lois Lee Church Times Take the beliefs of the non-religious seriously

16 Comments

Opinion – 1 November 2017

Andrew Lightbown Theore0 ‘What is the shape of the community of women and men that you long for?’

Jonathan Clatworthy Château Clâteau Hereford, conservative Christians and the abolition of history

Sam Hailes Premier Christianity How evangelicals took over the Church of England
Archdruid Eileen has this alternative take on the Church of England’s three major groups; The Church of England’s Tribes Redefined

David Walker ViaMedia.News Painting by Numbers…

Robert McCrum has been writing weekly for The Observer about his selection of The 100 best nonfiction books, “key texts in English that have shaped our literary culture and made us who we are”. This week he reaches No 91 – The Book of Common Prayer (1662). For those concerned that McCrum might think that there are 90 better books, the list is in chronological order.

Archdruid Eileen The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley 95 Theses for the Church Today

7 Comments

Opinion – 28 October 2017

Bosco Peters Liturgy Sex Obsessed

Ian Paul Psephizo What did large churches ever do for us?

Tony Clavier The Living Church Protestant or Catholic?

ViaMedia.News It Can Happen to Guys Too!

39 Comments

Opinion – 25 October 2017

Martin Sewell Archbishop Cranmer “I need a friendly bishop,” said the child abuse survivor, as the prelate passed by on the other side

Josh Parry Liverpool Echo Why I won’t be donating a Christmas charity shoebox this year – and you shouldn’t either

ViaMedia.News A Zero Tolerance Approach to the Weinsteins in the Church?

Adrian Alker PCN Britain She’s a woman – get over it!

Mark Harris Preludium AAC, ACNA and GAFCON, wandering astray in the fields of the Lord

Michael Sadgrove Woolgathering in North East England Crumbling Cathedrals?

Mike Higton kaì euthùs Making our minds up

16 Comments

Opinion – 21 October 2017

Ian Paul Psephizo The shame of Britain’s prison system

Jonathan Draper Afterthoughts Obsessed about sex?

David Keen Opinionated Vicar Church of England Attendance Change by Diocese, 2011-16

43 Comments

Opinion – 18 October 2017

Sir Mark Hedley Ecclesiastical Law Society Practical Aspects of the Clergy Discipline Measure
Sir Mark is Deputy Chair and Deputy President of Tribunals.

The Babylon Bee The Bee Explains: Main Differences Between Popular Bible Translations

6 Comments

Opinion – 14 October 2017

Updated to add day 2 to Colin Coward’s blogs

David Ison ViaMedia.News Confronting our Culture, Presenting our Past

Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Speaking of leadership; speaking of reconfiguration.

Benjamin L Corey Patheos To Those Christians Who Say, “God Doesn’t Give Us More Than We Can Handle”

Ben Clements British Religion in Numbers Religion and the British Social Attitudes 2016 Survey
An update of the long-term religious data available from the British Social Attitudes (BSA) surveys

Colin Coward is attending the Intimate Conviction Conference in Jamaica.
Intimate Conviction Conference opens in Jamaica
Intimate Conviction Conference – Day 1
Intimate Convictions Conference – Day 2 and Reflections

Rachel Treweek Gloucestershire Live Letter to my younger self by the Bishop of Gloucester

11 Comments

Opinion – 11 October 2017

Connor Hammond Country Living A celeb in the countryside: Reverend Richard Coles
The vicar of Finedon, broadcaster and musician discusses the importance of community.

Kate Botley Church of England “It might boost my ego, but no one becomes a vicar because they saw it on TV”

Abdul-Azim Ahmed interviews Frank Cranmer, who with David Pocklington, runs the popular Religion and Law blog online.
On Religion Religion and Law: Interview with Frank Cranmer

Rachel Neaum WATCH A response to the use of ‘minority’ in Sir Philip Mawer’s review

Jeremy Morris ViaMedia.News A “Safe Space” for Liberalism?

Chris Burn Yorkshire Post How Yorkshire’s women of spirit paved the way for female priests

54 Comments