Expect the unexpected

In his New Year Editorial the Rev'd Dr.Nicholas Henderson writes: Bethlehem closed down for Christmas, Ukraine brings the season forward from 7th January to 25th December and hardly anything left standing in Gaza. Political will to resolve what is becoming a very uncertain New Year appears to be weakening. ...

The Ambiguous Legacy of John Henry Newman

Dr. Graham Kings reflects on the legacy of John Henry Newman in the light of the UK papal visit of 2010 - Beguiling and virulent, holy and vituperative, quicksilver and splenetic, charming and cantankerous: there are many sides to the character of John Henry Newman ...

RELIGION & SECULARISM – a reflection

The Rt Rev'd Dr. Keerthisiri Fernando writes: There is an impression today that in Britain many sociologists studying religion are preoccupied with debates on secularisation, modernism and postmodernism theories, to prove or disprove the significance of religion in modern British society. This has been happening in the context of some conflict between religion and secularisation. ...

Editorial: Call a ceasefire!

The Editor, The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas Henderson writes: The long war in Ukraine has been put quietly to one side by the press, public media and politicians even though a relentless battle continues. That conflict precipitated by a much larger country invading a smaller has become a stalemate war of attrition and gone off the front pages. ...

2024-03-08T18:09:14+00:00By |Tags: |

Thinking Biblically About Climate Change

The Rev'd Prof David P. Gushee writes: I am a Christian ethicist, and a pastor, and wearing both hats I have been asked to address climate change. I understand that this church, and other churches in the region, have committed to the eco-church movement. A great commitment. Today let us think about how scripture can inform such a commitment in the current moment. ...

2024-03-08T18:10:22+00:00By |Tags: |

REVIEW: Anthony Swindell, Going to Extremes in Biblical Rewritings: Radical Literary Retellings of Biblical Tropes

Jonathan Clatworthy writes in his review: This book illustrates the literary reception of the Bible. The ‘extremes’ are the freedom which many writers bring to rewriting biblical stories. Some rewritings are antagonistic to the biblical text, the ‘hypotext’. Some use it as a departure point for a quite different development. Some amplify the hypotext, some condense it. There are prequels and sequels. Some change the tone, making it tragic or comic. Some give greater emphasis to minor biblical characters, or introduce new characters. Sometimes the viewpoint of the narration changes. For example The Dream of the Rood moves the viewpoint of the Crucifixion from that of an onlooker to that of the cross. ...

The frog in the pan – reflections on the ‘culture of church’

Bishop Robert Paterson writes: “Increasingly, the culture of ‘church’, particularly in those churches that are old and hard of hearing, is alien to most people. Most people do not customarily gather on Sunday mornings to sing in chorus with others, handling books (let alone several of them), sitting on wooden benches in cool buildings, ...

In the 75th year anniversary of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights – a perspective on the emergence of BRICS in a changing world

Bishop Trevor Mwamba, President of the United National Independence Party (UNIP) Zambia writes: The German word, Zeitgeist, aptly describes the emergence of BRICS grouping of nations. Zeitgeist encapsulates the spirit or mood of a particular period of history rooted in the ideas and beliefs of the time. ...

2024-03-08T18:16:50+00:00By |

Open Letter on Assisted Dying 27th September 2023

Rabbi Jonathan Romain (Chair - Dignity in Dying) writes an Open Letter: Dear colleagues, If you have not already come across them, I thought you might like to see two news items: ...

2024-03-08T18:18:25+00:00By |

Editorial: The next forty years and the end of mainstream Christianity?

The Editor, the Rev'd Dr. Nicholas Henderson writes: According to an article recently published in the U.K. Church Times an analysis of R-number modelling, as used during the Covid crisis, which calculates the growth or contraction rates of events and institutions, has given the Church of England a “reproduction potential” R number of 0.9. In short this means that at current rate of decline the Church will cease to exist in 2062. ...

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