In The Times the Archbishop of York John Sentamu writes the Credo column: Like children, we will be surprised and overwhelmed. Also, the Bishop of Colombo Duleep de Chickera looks back at the tsunami, Wave of division that defies God’s timeless love. The Times leader is headed O come, all ye faithful.
In the Guardian the leader is titled In praise of … Bethlehem. The Face to Faith column by Pete Tobias is about Hanukah falling this year on Christmas Day. Another leader is on Living and giving after the tsunami.
The Telegraph leader is titled Christmas and the end of history. Christopher Howse writes about What the bells told Toby Veck.
1 CommentThe Times has an interesting feature article about women’s ordination, titled The sisterhood. Interviews with three Anglicans are included: Joanne Grenfell, Lucy Winkett and Jessica Swift.
Elsewhere in The Times Roderick Strange writes about Christmas and Ruth Gledhill writes about St Nicholas.
Michael Burleigh’s piece in the Times titled Peer into today’s Aladdin’s cave and try to detect a spiritual life contrasts with Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor writing in the Observer about an Outbreak of faith.
The Guardian’s Face to Faith column is by David Self and is about civil partnerships.
In the Telegraph on Saturday, Christopher Howse wrote about The Christmas law of gravity. But much more interesting is the article by John Sentamu in the Sunday edition, This year, Christmas should last a lifetime.
1 CommentThe Guardian has had several items of a religious nature this week:
St Andrews researcher questions belief in hell
Oliver Cromwell and the Jews: a correction
and today’s Face to Faith column by Malachi O’Doherty
But even more interesting was this from the Readers Editor, Ian Mayes:
Open door
The readers’ editor on … a charge that the paper is no longer secular.
Christopher Howse writes today in the Telegraph about Fashions in sexuality and Charles Moore writes about Rowan Williams’ visit to Pakistan in But, Archbishop, this is the bleak mid-winter for many Christians.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times about Different freedoms, or why religion and politics should never mix. Michael Binyon writes on Bridge between the mosque and the synagogue.
2 CommentsIn The Times Geoffrey Rowell writes about Advent: Advent reminds us to stay watchful as we await the kingdom of God.
Also, Valerie Grove interviews Timothy Radcliffe ‘Christians should puzzle and intrigue people’.
Steve Parish raises questions about the link between church and state in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Christopher Howse writes about C. S. Lewis: The saint and the dinosaur in the Telegraph. There was also an interesting article earlier in the week about Anglicans in Baghdad: Reflections of a ‘cheap warmaker’ by Danny Kruger.
2 CommentsFrom the Independent today, Sarah Meyrick interviews John Sentamu
John Sentamu: Pilgrim’s progress
Judith Maltby writes in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column about Advent.
Also in the Guardian Martin Kettle reports on a New York City exhibition on Darwin’s life and work, America is caught in a conflict between science and God.
From the Telegraph The Chinese Marco Polo by Christopher Howse
The Times has material from two Orthodox bishops: Teaching the world to sing in perfect symphonia is a report of a visit to London by the Patriarch of Constantinople. And Bishop Basil of Sergievo writes the Credo column: Our tainted lives are a worthy gift to God, thanks to the Fiat of Mary.
2 CommentsFrom the Telegraph:
Simon Heffer comments on the visit of The Queen to the General Synod, More mediaevalism wouldn’t go amiss
Christopher Howse remembers Peter Anson, A failure, though sharply observant
From the Guardian:
Nicholas Buxton writes on secularism in Face to Faith
From The Times:
Roderick Strange Bleak November is the month to consider, and apportion, our talents
Ruth Gledhill interviewed Gene Robinson, ‘In the end, there is no one God does not love’
From the Church Times
Paul Vallely on Priest Idol, Give the priest a proper chance
Robin Gill The patient doesn’t always know best
Mark Vernon Partnerships could save marriage
1 CommentFirst, the Face to Faith column in the Guardian is by Martyn Percy. It’s about Remembrance.
In the Telegraph Christopher Howse writes about a well-known hymn in Hashish-drunk hymn lyrics.
The Times has Jonathan Sacks commenting on the French riots in We are in danger of forgetting that waiting comes before wanting.
Also in The Times Ruth Gledhill reports on what Rowan Williams said when asked about his journey of faith, in Archbishop reveals his unorthodox way to God.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times that we should Beware the Bible traffic Wardens.
3 CommentsSeveral this weekend are about the 400th anniversary of the gunpowder plot. In the Guardian Catherine Pepinster (who is editor of The Tablet) wrote about this and in The Times Geoffrey Rowell wrote Remember, remember the legacy of suspicion, intolerance and hostility.
Christopher Howse however, wrote about The vision of Magnus Martyr.
In The Tablet *Michael Barnes continues the gunpowder theme with Terror, treason and plot and there are also book reviews. related to this.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times asks Is Sandy Millar a Trojan horse?
The gunpowder theme even extends to Peter Steinfels in the New York Times with A Day to Think About a Case of Faith-Based Terrorism. (hat tip KH)
18 CommentsAlister McGrath writes in The Times about atheism: The Enlightenment is over, and atheism has lost its moral cutting edge.
Paul Oestreicher writes in the Guardian about the rebuilding of Dresden’s cathedral.
Christopher Howse summarises what Rowan Williams said to Mary Midgley about Gaia in a dialogue at St Paul’s Cathedral in Living on the skin of Gaia (you can read more about the book here).
Those who found Rowan Williams’ remarks about Islam in the context of Richard Hooker interesting may also find this critique by Colin Chapman of last summer’s Spectator article on Islam of interest: An Open Letter to Patrick Sookhdeo, while Madeleine Bunting has an interview today in the Guardian with Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Speaking of Williams and Hooker, Graham Kings’ review of Anglican Identities has been republished:‘Passionate Patience’.
0 CommentsThe Guardian has now published on its website the Face to Faith column by Giles Fraser that was in the Saturday paper with the strapline:
Secularists who dismiss Christianity as the choice of the stupid should turn their critical gaze a little closer to home…
Here’s a part of it:
While the ordinary atheist remains indifferent to religion and all its ways, the born-again atheist has adopted the worst arrogance of Christian fundamentalists – just in negative.
Part of the problem is that many born-again atheists remain trapped in a 19th-century time warp, reheating the standard refutations of religious belief based on a form of rationalism that harks back to an era of fob-watches and long sideburns. One Oxford don has called the website of the National Secular Society a “museum of modernity, untroubled by the awkward rise of postmodernity”. Ignoring the fact that at least three generations of thought have challenged an uncritical faith in rationality, the society continues to build its temples to reason, deaf to claims that it is building on sand.
This commitment to Victorian philosophy turns to farce when campaigning secularists describe themselves as freethinkers. In truth, atheism is about as alternative as Rod Stewart. The joke is that many who were converted at university via Richard Dawkin’s The Selfish Gene think of themselves as agents of some subversive counterculturalism. This is ridiculous to Da Vinci Code proportions. Contemporary atheism is mainstream stuff. As John Updike put it: “Among the repulsions of atheism for me has been its drastic uninterestingness as an intellectual position.”
(More about the “Secularist of the Year” award mentioned can be found here)
24 CommentsFirst, two journals have reviewed the same book today: Earthly Powers: religion and politics in Europe from the French Revolution to the Great War by Michael Burleigh.
Diarmaid MacCulloch reviews it in the Guardian Holy and profane
Owen Chadwick reviews it in the Tablet The idolatry of nationhood
Second, in the godslots, we have
Christopher Howse in the Telegraph writing about Cherie’s love of Chesterton
Bernard Crick in the Guardian saying that This age of fanaticism is no time for non-believers to make enemies
and Roderick Strange in The Times By loving our enemies we come as close as we can to God’s perfection.
The October Fulcrum newsletter is by Francis Bridger and is entitled The Anglican Communion and the Evangelical Centre. This reflects on the recent Eames lectures.
And here is the speech that Rowan Williams delivered earlier this month at the confirmation of the election of John Sentamu as Archbishop of York.
1 CommentSex seems to be on several people’s minds.
Ruth Gledhill reports in The Times that Enjoy good sex on a Sunday, Church course recommends which may raise an eyebrow here and there.
The Guardian godslot has Colin Sedgwick saying that “sexual lust will never banish our yearning for love”.
To balance this, The Times also has Jonathan Sacks considering the earthquake in After even the worst disasters, we will hear the still voice of hope and in the Telegraph Christopher Howse considers Human sacrifice in London.
The Times further reports on a nightclub in Maidstone [sic] with a Church Army chaplain, see Who’s in the house? Enter a new kind of spirit.
Of course, there is plenty of critical comment on religion in the newspapers as well. Yesterday in the Guardian, Polly Toynbee wrote this diatribe against the bishops who spoke in the euthanasia debate: The bishops have no right to restrict our right to die.
More gently, Robert Winston trailed his new TV series and book in Why do we believe in God?
And earlier in the week, Magnus Linklater had written in The Times about Church, old, bankrupt, empty, seeks saviour to which George Carey responded with this letter today: Church progress.
(The original report of his lecture was by Jonathan Petre in the Telegraph Churches near last rites, says Carey.)
Before the Sentamu confirmation event, Stephen Bates wrote this piece for the Guardian: A pivotal moment which asks whether the Church of England’s first black archbishop can bring new impetus to a communion on the brink of schism…
After the service, Geoffrey Rowell wrote A new knot in the net that links communities in fellowship
for the Credo slot in The Times.
Ruth Gledhill reviews two books about Opus Dei in A wholesome reality shines beyond the dark conspiracy.
Earlier in the week Simon Jenkins had written in the Guardian that: London should keep its hands off the treasures of the north which deals mainly, but not exclusively, with the Zurbaran pictures at Auckland Castle. He says:
I am sure the Church of England would never think of selling its London treasures to meet its property losses. It would never part with the Westminster Abbey reredos, the Litlyngton Missal or the Charter of Offa. In St Paul’s Cathedral, works by Grinling Gibbons, Jean Tijou and Henry Moore are, we can assume, secure for the time being.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about A burglary in the Abbey but this turns out to have been in an earlier period.
1 CommentIn The Times Alan Webster writes about Coram and Barnardo’s in A vision that inspires hard work and high ideals for the next generation.
Christopher Howse in the Telegraph writes about the Spiritual side of Trafalgar. Over at the Tablet, he reviews the latest book on Opus Dei by John Allen, Out of the shadows.
The Guardian godslot is written by Alex Wright:
We need a more nuanced debate about religion, and must stop seeing it in terms of being either a fantasy or a destructive force…
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about the Silly season of political conference and Synod.
Church Times readers of this week’s Press column may find the full version of the article in the New Yorker (which is quoted by Andrew Brown) here at INTELLIGENT DESIGN by Paul Rudnick.
Returning to the Tablet Robert Mickens reports on the meeting between the Pope and Hans Kung in New-found harmony?
0 CommentsIn The Guardian
Mark Rudall Face to faith
Highly motivated prison chaplains and dedicated visitors are helping to bring faith to those behind bars.
In the Church Times
Giles Fraser Nature, red in tooth and claw
In the Telegraph
Melanie McDonagh There is more to religion than sexuality
Christopher Howse, in his Sacred mysteries column, writes about the new Pope’s coat of arms.
In the Times
Mark Vernon Friendship provides a foretaste of the everlasting love of heaven
Jack Shamash A modern, greener way of death takes root
First, the world’s largest inter-religious gathering took place in Lyons. This is organised annually by the Community of Sant’Egidio. Complete programme here. The website also includes various audio and video recordings of the sessions.
Rowan Williams made three contributions, which can be found on his website, here and also here and again here.
While there, he was interviewed by John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter
The same event is reported by Paul Handley in the Church Times who also had an editorial comment.
And Ekklesia also reported this event including what Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said.
Not entirely unrelated, Graham Kings has published a Fulcrum newsletter that deals with Jesus Christ, Salvation and People of Other Faiths.
From the Guardian two items:
Roy Hattersley on Faith does breed charity and Tim Radford on Can God know the future?
Two items in The Times
Roderick Strange Jesus is not a choice between Galileo and the Inquisition
Catharine Morris We still have belief, but where is the poetry
And finally, Christopher Howse in the Telegraph recalls the bizarre story of Cornelia and Pierce Connelly in Strange twist in the nun’s tale (Well, they were Americans.)
0 CommentsIn The Times Jonathan Sacks has Tragedy unites us but blame divides, in the aftermath of disaster.
Ian Bradley writes in the Guardian Let’s hear it for the union (this is about Britishness) and Karen Armstrong writes about Old world order.
The Tablet has a very interesting report on an aspect of New Orleans not reported elsewhere in After the deluge by Nicole Pepinster Greene and and also an article about Christians, Muslims and Jews in London studying scriptures together, in Three in one by William Taylor.
Giles Fraser discusses The benefits of Babel in the Church Times.
0 CommentsIn The Times Geoffrey Rowell writes about Orthodoxy and Buddhism in being Aboard the Trans-Siberian Railway to a world of religious renaissance.
Both the Telegraph and the Guardian have columns about Islam.
Christopher Howse writes about an article on “The Remembrance of God” by a learned Shi’a Muslim, Ayatollah Muhsin Araki in The anatomy of God’s presence.
David Self writes that Christians and Muslims share a journey.
In the Church Times Giles Fraser asks Where is God at the wedding?
The CEN has a piece by Rowan Williams THE RECORD: Urbanisation, the Christian Church and the Human Project
1 CommentThe BBC Today programme had a segment this morning on the theories of Clare Asquith, listen here (Real Audio, 5.5 minutes) to her and to Professor Stanley Wells who is unconvinced.
On Sunday, the Observer had this story Shakespeare was a political rebel who wrote in code, claims author
This earlier article The Catholic Bard in Commonweal gives more detail of her views.
The Washington Post published this review: Papist Plots
3 Comments(This is a bank holiday weekend in England.)
Christopher Howse writes his Telegraph column about the Pope in Cologne, The revolution of the Magi.
For another view of the TV documentary mentioned by Howse, see Simon Barrow REFLECTING ON ‘GOD’S ROTTWEILER?’
The Guardian godslot is by Fred Sedgwick and is about the Book of Common Prayer, Prayers for today while Natasha Walter questions “evangelical” schools in Divine and rule.
Stephen Plant writes in The Times about the recent British school exam results, The tide is turning in favour of theology and the study of religion while Jonathan Romain writes about Jewish/Muslim relations, Making friends in Abraham’s family.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times has another view on the school exam results in Why schools need to look for their lost sheep.
The Spectator has an article provocatively entitled America: not a Christian country (easier to read printer-friendly version here).
EXTRA
As it is also Greenbelt this weekend, I offer two thoughtful posts from Paul Roberts who recently visited South Barrington:
A Brit in South Barrington 1
A Brit in South Barrington 2
where as Maggi Dawn says: Paul has been joining in with a Willow Creek conference, and is asking intelligent questions… like what can we learn from this phenomenon, even if it’s not our cup of tea?