Index & Papers
This Index provides access to a library of papers related to the general theme of ‘Anglicanism’. Covering a wide range of subjects associated with an understanding of Anglicanism, the papers are available gratis for research purposes.
Standard academic practice quotation of small sections may be used freely with acknowledgement of the author, title and website www.anglicanism.org Permission must be sought from authors, through the Editor of this site, for full reproduction of papers.
Prospective new papers may also be submitted (in Word format and with JPG pictures as necessary) to the Editor for review and approval prior to publication. Papers are published gratis and remain copyright of authors.
Recent Additions:
“From Pakistan to the UK: A Christian Woman’s Journey of Faith, Perseverance, and Renewal”
Sabeeta Mushtaq writes of her faith journey: ... I was born and raised in Pakistan, a Muslim country, into a Catholic Christian family. Growing up as a religious minority in a society where Islam is the dominant faith was a unique experience that came with its own set of challenges and blessings. Despite facing discrimination and social barriers, my faith and upbringing instilled in me a keen sense of purpose and determination that propelled me forward. My early education was in Pakistan, where I worked hard to excel in my studies despite the obstacles. As a Christian in a Muslim-majority country, I encountered moments of marginalization, but I refused to let those experiences define or limit me. Instead, they fuelled my resolve to not only succeed but to advocate for others in similar situations. ...
Review: The Holiness of Ordinary People – by Madeleine Delbrêl
Kathryn Rose writes: Madeleine Delbrêl's *The Holiness of Ordinary People* offers a profound exploration of spirituality in everyday life, providing readers with an insightful reflection on how ordinary people can live out their faith in the world. Delbrêl, a French Catholic social worker, writer, and mystic, draws from her own life experiences working in the streets of Ivry, a working-class suburb of Paris, to share her observations on the holiness found in the mundane. ...
East meets West – a reflective faith journey from China to London
Jenny Clarke writes: I was brought up as an atheist. I remember that at the age of 10, I made a vow to devote my life to communism, and I received a red scarf, which signifies my status as a member of the Young Pioneers of China. In a way, this ceremony is very similar to a standard confirmation service in my church. We had 12 children from the local parish school confirmed on 12th May 2024, but I hardly saw them afterwards in the church on Sundays. This is not a criticism. Turning up to Sunday mass week by week requires sacrifice. Those youngsters will have had to miss football clubs, Sunday TV, weekends away or other fun. Sometimes, I struggle to go to mass, so I shouldn’t offer to take the speck out of others' eyes before taking out the beams of my own. ...
Review: What Christ? Whose Christ? Alan Race & Jonathan Clatworthy (Editors)
Jason Plessas writes: For a book that sets the Nicene Creed among other things in its sights, What Christ? Whose Christ? reads in some ways like a credal rededication to the founding principles of Modern Church, the liberal Christian theological society to which its editors Alan Race and Jonathan Clatworthy belong. The pair’s introduction relays the book’s antecedence in a 1921 conference at Girton College, Cambridge, entitled ‘Christ and the Creeds’, held by a group of Anglican modernists called the Churchman’s Union which across the ‘20s “debated, and largely doubted…the physical resurrection of Jesus, the Virgin Birth, miracles and the realist and ransom doctrines of the Atonement”. Race and Clatworthy enthusiastically adopt the CU’s mantle, as the book “continues this spirit of critical enquiry first highlighted at the turn of the twentieth century and yet often still resisted at the turn of the twenty-first.” Where is this Churchman’s Union then, you might ask, if its work of the last century goes uncompleted in this one? It became ecumenical and now operates under a different name. You guessed it: it’s Modern Church, of course! In its promises of bearing the flame of theological free enquiry, What Christ? Whose Christ? does not disappoint. ...
Roman coins in the Gospels and their significance, or Bringing the Gospels up to date — through coins
Dr. Richard Reece writes: We see inflation everywhere, but because it is a particularly present problem we tend to ignore its effects in published commentaries. This means that early translations of the Gospels have an unfortunate effect on our picture of the time of Jesus. In the earliest translations it was reasonable, if a little 'antiquarian', to equate the Roman denarius often mentioned in the Gospels with the silver penny. But that has stuck so that the sermon or homily can seriously suggest that the value of the coin remains 1p. Brave commentators realise that things need to be brought up to date ...
A new way of reading John
The Rev'd Andy Rowland writes: By disregarding the Bible’s divisions into chapters, we can recapture some of the impact that John in particular made on his first audiences. The shorter letters at the end of the New Testament may give a clue as to the natural length of a piece of writing in the early church, and how that might be used to re-read John. ...