Index & Papers - Anglicanism.org

Is the Iran War actually a religious one?

Is the Iran War actually a religious one?

The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas Henderson (Editor) write in his Lenten Editorial: The Trumpian concept of regime change is more or less evidenced as a reason for the recent and ongoing unleashing of a huge onslaught on Iran. This rapidly expanding confrontation, which has already resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of extra deaths following the recent bloody Iranian suppression of demonstrations against the current regime, seems to be running out of control. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-03-13T13:42:03+00:00By Henderson, The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas|Tags: War & Peace|

A new Archbishop and a new agenda?

A new Archbishop and a new agenda?

In his Editorial for the beginning of Lent, the Editor, The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas Henderson writes: So, thus far the new Archbishop of Canterbury has been through three of the four stages of appointment. ... Sarah Mullaly is therefore already legally Archbishop of Canterbury despite not yet having been enthroned. Thus, there is no longer any hiding of views and/or direction of leadership. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-03-13T13:42:27+00:00By Henderson, The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas|Tags: Sex & Sexuality|

Hate or Love

Hate or Love

The Rt. Rev’d. Dr. Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba, President of the United National Independence Party (UNIP), Zambia in a message to his fellow Zambian writes: Let me introduce you to Václav Havel’s speech, the Anatomy of Hate, delivered in Oslo in 1990 and published in his book, “The Art of the Impossible”, as Zambia finds herself drawn into a downward spiral of hate. ... His insightful speech resonates today with Zambia ... CLICK ON IMAGE TO CONTINUE

2026-02-06T21:54:32+00:00By Mwamba, The Rt Rev'd Trevor|Tags: War & Peace|

THE LOST ROAD A Search for the Soul of the West – Sean McGrath

THE LOST ROAD A Search for the Soul of the West – Sean McGrath

Hugh Valentine reviews Sean McGrath's 'The Lost Road - a Search for the Soul of the West" - he writes: Sean McGrath’s position is that the Christian West has lost familiarity with the mystical and contemplative sinews it once knew. The cost of this is a loss of depth, a depth that bestows resilience in the face of life’s exhausting and dehumanising demands. This loss, he claims, is in major part the cause of the consumerist malady that is now global. He says that it is the Christian West that has inadvertently brought that about. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-01-28T13:03:11+00:00By Valentine The Rev'd Hugh|Tags: Theology|

GADFLY Paul Oestreicher reflects on being a gadfly

GADFLY Paul Oestreicher reflects on being a gadfly

The Rev'd Canon Paul Oestreicher reflects on being a 'gadfly' ... In 1984 my election as Bishop of Wellington in New Zealand made the English newspapers. A day or two later a postcard arrived from Francis House, whom I’d never met. It simply said “Don’t go. You are the gadfly our Church cannot do without.” I was puzzled. Who was this Francis and what is a gadfly? A gadfly, I soon learned, was a troublemaker who, more popularly, puts a cat among the pigeons ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-01-27T22:22:07+00:00By Oestreicher, The Rev'd Canon Paul|Tags: Believable Christianity|

Loving the prophet… or maybe not? Mark Rudall explores how pastoral concern for a congregation may actually silence a prophetic voice

Loving the prophet… or maybe not? Mark Rudall explores how pastoral concern for a congregation may actually silence a prophetic voice

Loving the prophet… or maybe not? The Rev'd Mark Rudall reflects ... The Church of England has received many refugees from other traditions and I became an Anglican at the end of the 20th century when the idea of Christian life as an ongoing journey of discovery, truly a pilgrimage, took ever deeper root. Unable to espouse the ‘saved, and that’s it’ static condition so often portrayed by traditional evangelicalism, there was also an awareness after 23 years in non-conformist ministry of being in a scene that was teetering towards an unappealing and dangerous conservatism. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO VIEW FULL ARTICLE

2026-01-08T17:51:36+00:00By Rudall, The Rev'd Mark|Tags: Culture & Faith|

Editorial: A truth universally acknowledged … too many dictators

Editorial: A truth universally acknowledged … too many dictators

The Editor - The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas Henderson writes in his Advent Editorial - To plagiarise Jane Austen’s opening remark in her Pride & Prejudice: “It is a truth universally acknowledged …”. It is then a fact, reluctantly acknowledged by the Church, that the Christmas Season nowadays starts somewhere around the Feast of the Transfiguration 6th August and is over just after Christmas dinner....However, near universal popular sentiment does not necessarily equate to any outcome that might reflect the views of the people. CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE ...

2025-12-08T18:14:27+00:00By Henderson, The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas|Tags: Politics|

Book review: True Evangelical: the changing face of Anglican Evangelicalism by John Went

Book review: True Evangelical: the changing face of Anglican Evangelicalism by John Went

Reviewer Fr. Keith Mascord writes of John Went's 'True Evangelical': The title of Bishop John Went’s book is, I suspect, deliberately provocative. Is Went saying that he himself is a ‘true evangelical’ in contrast to others? He is certainly comfortable, even proud, to identify as an evangelical, in large part because he believes that evangelicalism has the necessary resources to accommodate a rapidly changing world... I wondered if the title might have become even more provocative, given changes now up-ending Anglicanism in all of its forms? The Gafcon initiated schism had not yet happened when True Evangelical was published ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2025-11-04T21:24:13+00:00By Mascord, The Rev'd Dr. Keith|Tags: Culture & Faith|

The Anglican Communion – A way forward

The Anglican Communion – A way forward

Bishop Keerthisiri Fernando writes in his Letter to the Editor: It is high time for all the members of the world-wide Anglican Communion to realise the true nature of the Anglican fellowship to comprehend the tensions of the 21st century. The fact that the structure of the Anglican communion is in between the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches makes matters complicated in seeking an understanding in the context of differences of opinion in various parts of the world. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2025-11-20T23:34:20+00:00By Fernando, The Rt Rev'd Keerthisiri|

More tea Archbishop? – Editorial a new Archbishop of Canterbury

More tea Archbishop? – Editorial a new Archbishop of Canterbury

The Editor: The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas Henderson writes: The appointment of a woman as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury is to be welcomed. Apart from those in the more conservative wings of the Church, the choice of someone with two copies of the X chromosome is nowadays of little or no consequence. The Rt Rev’d and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally the current Bishop of London fits the bill. ... She has, of course, an impossible job specification. ... “How is it that the Roman Catholics can elect a Pope in two days of conclave, whilst it has taken the Church of England almost a year?” A fair question asked of this author, who was bound to reply “… but the Archbishop of Canterbury isn’t a Pope.” Indeed far from it, the post-Reformation settlement that led eventually to the wider Anglican Communion with the Church of England having the monarch as its Supreme Governor was as a result of Protestants looking carefully at their bibles and being unconvinced of a Petrine succession. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2025-10-05T19:11:44+00:00By Henderson, The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas|Tags: Culture & Faith|