The Huffington Post has two articles for Advent.
Matthew L Skinner: Mark 13:24-37: Advent — One of Those Dangerous Religious Ideas
Cindi Love: Advent: Slippery Slope of Christendom
Adam Stadtmiller writes for Church Marketing Sucks about The Epic-Fail of Church Announcements.
Savitri Hensman writes for The Guardian about Worshipping money – the new faith sweeping England today.
10 CommentsBishop Pete Broadbent has written about what he means by Open Evangelicalism.
Giles Fraser writes for the Church Times that Holiness is steeped in the messy reality of life.
The Archbishop of Canterbury preached this sermon earlier this week: Archbishop’s sermon at Westminster Abbey – 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.
Mark Vernon writes for The Guardian that To be truly compassionate you need to be kind to yourself.
In the summer of 2011, a survey was conducted by 3D Coaching inviting clergy of all denominations to give feedback on their experience of being interviewed for a role as a minister during the last 3 years. The results are available for download: How to Make Great Appointments Survey Results. In an article now available to non-subscribers the Church Times reports this as Parish profiles do not match up to the job, say clerics.
1 CommentThe Guardian republishes this article: From the archive, 11 November 1871: St Paul’s under scrutiny.
Giles Fraser writes in The Church Times about Peace, but not as the world gives.
Christopher Howse writes in The Telegraph about Calling upon God by his name. “The name of God means more than choosing the right four Hebrew letters.”
George Pitcher writes for the New Statesman that Bishop Chartres arrived at St Paul’s like Churchill at the Admiralty.
Frank Griswold writes for Faith and Leadership that Maybe this is the desert time.
Simon Jenkins (the one who used to be editor of The Times) writes for The Guardian: The ethical fluff of St Paul’s and Rowan Williams is a liberal cop-out.
This article has prompted letters galore: Simple sermon on ethics won’t do.
Keith Ward writes in The Guardian that Religion answers the factual questions science neglects.
Also in The Guardian Theo Hobson writes An uncertain calling and asks “Should I dismiss my many doubts about ordination, or just keep shouting from the sidelines?”
Pierre Whalon writes for The Huffington Post about The Halloween Horror: One Year Since Baghdad Cathedral Attack.
Deirdre Good writes for the Daily Episcopalian about Jesus and Abba.
12 CommentsTim Stevens, the Bishop of Leicester, writes for the Church Times about bishops in the House of Lords: Bishops are lining up to keep Coalition in check.
Sayeeda Warsi writes for The Telegraph that Britain must be a country where people can be proud of their religion.
Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio asks in The Guardian Would you accept a robot as your priest or vicar?
Also in The Guardian Steven Hepburn asks Why pray for the souls in purgatory?
Christopher Howse writes in The Telegraph about The reason why Leo was Great.
1 CommentIn an article for the Church Times, now available to non-subscribers, George Pitcher offers Ten media tips for the Church.
Derek Olsen writes for the Episcopal Café about Communicating your parish ethos.
Christian Piatt asks in The Huffington Post Did Jesus Really Die for Our Sins?
1 CommentJonathan Jones writes in The Guardian that Our churches are filled with hidden beauty.
“Despite the ravages of the Reformation, Britain’s churches are still full of glorious medieval art. What are the best examples in your area?”
David Lose asks in The Huffington Post What Does the Bible Really Say About Homosexuality?
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that, Unlike iPads, we are not disposable.
4 CommentsLaura Brosnan asks in The Guardian How can it be fair to say I can’t be saved by God if I’m gay?
“Christian friends rejected me when I came out to them, citing Leviticus. But my faith comes from the love of God, not the Bible.”
Riazat Butt writes in The Guardian about UK chaplains in Afghanistan: ordinary priests with an extraordinary flock.
“With their camouflage Bibles and combat crosses, the forces’ 278 chaplains are outsiders in the church and the military.”
Martin L Smith writes for the Daily Episcopalian about Money, might and the name of God.
23 CommentsAt Michaelmas Scott Gunn writes about Angels: setting the record straight.
Andrew Brown writes for The Guardian: Creationism explained.
“You can believe in a Creator without being a ‘scientific creationist’. The distinction is important and needs preserving.”
Alom Shaha writes for The Guardian that Faster than light story highlights the difference between science and religion.
“‘Belief’ means something different to scientists and the faithful … we’re open to the idea Einstein may have been wrong.”
Giles Fraser writes in The Church Times that we should Examine the inequalities of a feral society.
Jaweed Kaleem reports in The Huffington Post on a survey: [American] Readers Prefer Literal Bible Translations Over Common English, New Survey Shows.
9 CommentsJonathan Jones writes for The Guardian No faith in flesh: art exposes Christianity’s original sin.
“For centuries, defenders of the nude in art have faced a battle against Christian fear of the naked human form.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury and the comedian, writer and broadcaster Frank Skinner recently “sat down for an in-depth exchange of views on the state of Christianity today”.
Archbishop Rowan and Frank Skinner in conversation
Sarah Ditum argues in The Guardian that it is Time for burial to die a death.
“We should stop treating cemeteries like a cupboard under the stairs and embrace new ways of disposing of the dead.”
John Dominic Crossan writes for The Huffington Post about The Search for the Historical Paul: How to Read The Letters of Paul [with particular reference to Philemon].
Savitri Hensman writes for The Guardian that Direct, compassionate intervention on earth is not God’s remit but ours.
“God offers no instant fix in adversity. He respects our free will and asks us to use it well.”
Lucy Chumbley writes for the Daily Episcopalian that Isaac and Ishmael were brothers.
Michael Potemra writes for the National Review about a sermon given by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori last Sunday: Serendipity at St. John the Divine.
Robert W Prichard writes for The Living Church about The Anglican Communion: A Brief History Lesson.
Simon Jenkins (the editor of Ship of Fools) writes The resurrection goes to court.
The Tablet has this editorial: Dr Williams’ dilemma.
Gary Gutting writes for The New York Times: Beyond ‘New Atheism’.
2 CommentsAndrew Brown writes for The Guardian about Nadine Dorries’s abortion bill has exposed our squishy utilitarianism.
“Abortion is defended on the basis it diminishes suffering, but the greatest good is served by adopting unwanted babies.”
Dick Gross writes in The Sydney Morning Herald about Apostates for Evensong.
Paul Handley writes for The Guardian that The miracle at Cana’s wedding feast shows the real value of friendship.
“A happy, successful wedding can be a true test of reliance on friends – and God.”
Victor Udoewa writes for The Huffington Post about Doubt: A Scientific And Religious Perspective.
17 CommentsRiazat Butt continues her reports on travelling through Afghanistan with army chaplains for The Guardian.
Gurkhas’ Hindu temple in Lashkar Gah is only one of its kind
Khan’s kitchen: the difficult life of an Afghan interpreter for the British military
At shura, elders of Chah-e-Mirza deal with concrete and divine
Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio writes for The Guardian Don’t rely on governments, we all have a responsibility towards the less well-off.
“The more we earn, the greater our duty of care to our poorer neighbours.”
Christopher Howse writes for The Telegraph about A man stoned for gathering sticks.
0 CommentsHywel Williams writes for The Guardian about Putting our faith in fragments.
“Be it medieval bones or rubble from the Twin Towers, relics affirm our belief in human endurance.”
Tom Wright writes for The Spectator about “How the Church of England can – and will – endure”: Keep the faith.
Riazat Butt of The Guardian is travelling through Afghanistan with army chaplains: Religion on the frontline. Here are her reports so far.
Religion in Camp Bastion: ‘What people are asked to do here can lead to big questions’
Baptism at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan
Life as a humanist with the armed forces in Afghanistan
Matthew Adams writes for The Guardian about Christianity and capital punishment: thou shalt not kill?
“A petition urging the reintroduction of the death penalty in the UK poses some pertinent questions for Christianity.”
Brandon Peach in Relevant Magazine asks Will the Internet Kill Christianity?
Richard Beck at Experimental Theology summarises the article and adds some comments of his own.
Nick Jowett asks in The Guardian Was Jesus judgmental?
“Perhaps Christ was a more normal human being than people have been willing to believe.”
Lesley Crawley writes for The Guardian’s Cif belief that Sexism runs deep in the Church of England.
“I’ve experienced prejudice working as an engineer and as a priest – only difference is, in the church it’s institutionalised.”
Anna Tims writes about the Bishop of London for The Guardian: A working life: the bishop.
“From dawn till dusk, the diocese of London fills Richard Chartres’ exhausting schedule. He’s got an Oyster card, but finds his hybrid car a convenient compromise.”
Judith Maltby writes for Cif belief about The Church of England’s shameful record on capital punishment.
“If parliament debates the death penalty, the church should speak against it with all the authority of a reformed sinner.”
British Religion in Numbers has data on this week’s A-level results in Religious Studies: Religious Studies A Levels, 2011.
Bruce Chilton in The Huffington Post asks (and answers) the question What Does The Bible Say About The Mother Of Jesus?
Also in The Huffington Post Maria Mayo writes about 5 Myths About Forgiveness in the Bible.
78 CommentsHelen Berry writes for the OUPblog about Why history says gay people can’t marry…nor can anyone else* (*unless they have kids of their own).
Bishop Pierre Whalon writes for The Huffington Post Why I Am Not An Atheist.
At Cif belief Thomas Prosser argues that Christian teen camps are wicked, innit, whilst Steve Clifford responds that Christian camps are not about indoctrination.
John Dominic Crossan writes for The Huffington Post about The Search for the Historical Paul: What Paul Thought About Women.
Martin Saunders writes for Cif belief that After the riots, my faith-based youth work gives me hope in this generation.
“Faith-based youth work has something special to offer young people, because it offers something distinctive: transformation.”
Pierre Whalon at Anglicans Online asks (and answers) What is Anglicanism?
Giles Fraser writes for the Church Times about Probing the virtues of economic growth.
Mr CatOLick asks Why does Christianity hurt the young?
Bill Carroll writes for the Episcopal Café: Wounded by God.
4 CommentsJune Osborne, the Dean of Salisbury, preached at the ordination of the new bishops of Salisbury and of Stepney. The full text and a video of her sermon are available.
George Cassidy, the retired Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, was recently interviewed by the Church of Ireland Gazette about reform of the House of Lords. The printed version of the interview is not available online, but there is a link to an audio recording of the complete interview here.
Read the Spirit has published this interview with Marcus Borg about his new book Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost Their Meaning and Power—And How They Can Be Restored.
You can also read the interview here.
Giles Fraser writes for the Church Times that If there must be fences, let there be gates.
Adrian Beney writes in The Tablet about The price of a gift: Ethical fund-raising.
Carl Medearis asks in The Huffington Post Why Are We So Angry About Hell?
Matthew Engel writes in the Financial Times, in a series on British Institutions, about The Church of England.
11 CommentsTwo articles about bishops in the House of Lords
Lord Tyler at Lords of the Blog: Episcopal Eviction?
David Morris at The Commentator: This isn’t the 16th Century: it’s time to kick the Bishops out of the House of Lords
Graham Kings writes for Fulcrum about South Sudan, the promised land (also published in The Guardian).
Lauren R Stanley preached this sermon last Sunday: Step away from the lawn mower …
David L Rattigan writes for Cif belief about How Liverpool’s Frontline church ‘struggles’ with homosexuality.
“While commending the Christian ministry’s work in helping the vulnerable, we cannot ignore its troubling attitude to gay people.”
Bart D Ehrman writes for The Huffington Post about What Didn’t Make It Into The Bible?
5 CommentsChristopher Middleton writes in The Telegraph about the Faith in World essay competition winners and says “The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Faith in the World essay competition showcases fresh thinking about life’s biggest issues.”
Nick Baines writes in Cif belief about Parallel lives? Not in Church of England schools.
“As the experience of Bradford shows, church schools serve all faiths – and are therefore a lesson in diversity, not division.”
Christopher Howse writes a Sacred Mysteries column in The Telegraph about A link to heaven held in the palm. He is “is bowled over by a British Museum exhibition that is something else than art”.
In one of my reports on General Synod I linked to an article on parochial fees by David Green. He has had these further thoughts on the matter: Synod, wedding fees and the other side of the story.
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