Ian Paul

Ian Paul is a theologian, writer and speaker. Associate Minister at St Nic's, Nottingham and Honorary Lecturer at the University of Nottingham. Mac user and chocoholic. Ian Paul on Google+

Westminster Abbey, Gucci, & Exotic Animal Skins

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David Clough, Professor of Theological Ethics, University of Chester, writes: Last week, Westminster Abbey found itself in the midst of an unusual controversy. Controversial enough for the Abbey to be hosting a high fashion show, but then People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury pointing out that Gucci, one … Continue Reading

Did Jesus heal the centurion’s gay lover?

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At the end of May, Jeffrey John, Dean of St Alban’s, preached at Liverpool Cathedral on the healing of the centurion’s servant in Luke 7. You can listen to the sermon on the Cathedral’s Soundcloud stream. John is a consummate orator, and he begins with a story from his teenager years, when his vicar refers to … Continue Reading

The precious value of vocation

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For some time I have been toyed with writing a blog post about what education and medicine need—amateurs. What I mean by that is that in both professions there has been an ‘industrialisation’ of what should be a relational task. So children become products of learning, educational widgets if you like, and through the mechanical … Continue Reading

Does bullying happen in churches?

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As numbers of clergy decline, before the growth in younger ordinands offsets this, there will be some pressure on numbers nationally. But that disguises the uneven distribution and ages of clergy across different dioceses. Some dioceses have more than 40% of their clergy over 60, and so will see a significant drop in clergy numbers … Continue Reading

Do we have enough vicars?

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Today the Ministry Statistics for 2015 are released (soon to be posted on the C of E stats web page) and they tell us the stark reality of decline in clergy numbers. On Radio 4 this morning, Rose Hudson-Wilkins suggested that this wasn’t too worrying, since we can dispense with the model of the ‘white, … Continue Reading

Putting the C of E at risk

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In these days of governing-by-bureaucracy, every organisation is obliged to have a risk register. If you are a trustee of an organisation, reviewing such a risk register will be a regular item on your meeting agendas. The Church of England is no different, and the Archbishops’ Council reviews the risk register regularly at its meetings. … Continue Reading

Is our worship any good?

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Have you ever had the experience of attending a church (visiting another, or even attending your own), and what you need is some sense of encounter with God—but the entire attention is taken up with the words on the screen not appearing on time, or the person leading constantly going ‘Ummmm…’ or the thurifer not … Continue Reading

One in a million

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At some point today, someone reading this will be the one millionth page view on this blog! Mostly since June 2013, I have written 544 posts, comprising around 650,000 words, and had 10,277 comments. My first response to this is gratitude—gratitude to God for his faithfulness as I have responded to his call to write, … Continue Reading

What same-sex marriage brings with it

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Earlier this week, the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland decided to recognise and accept the ministry of clergy in same-sex marriages, as a logical extension to its previous decision to accept those in civil partnerships. (A rather odd article in the Telegraph followed, which suggested this was a ‘model’ for the C of E, as if … Continue Reading

Should Christians be theologians?

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It is always entertaining to read the online theological commentary following Trinity Sunday. One of the most popular memes was ‘Heresy bingo anyone?’ (Do a search if you did not see it.) The most strident comment amongst my Facebook ‘friends’ was this: This morning had to listen to another tediously irrelevant sermon on the lines … Continue Reading