scholarship. serving. ministry.
There has been some fascinating conversation about this subject in a Facebook group I am part of in the last week. One contributor to that has been Zachary Arden, and I asked him about his interest in this subject and why it concerns him. IP: Zachary, where are you from, and what are you doing … Continue Reading
Andrew Atherstone’s new publication, “Draw Near With Faith”: Invitations to Holy Communion, is out now with Grove Books. I asked him why we need the booklet, and what questions it is trying to answer. IP: What gave you the original idea for this booklet? AA: Almost all my writing begins as a personal question, on … Continue Reading
John Root writes: ‘Being Built Together Volume 1: A Reference on Racial Justice in the Church of England’ (hereafter BBT) is a ‘book of readings and testimonies about the work of racial justice and the experiences of people of colour in the Church of England’ according to the Church’s leading administrator, William Nye. It includes … Continue Reading
Attending General Synod is always an intense experience, and I always need a couple of days to recover, despite trying to be wise in the use of my time and energy whilst there. And it is dangerous making early judgements about the significance of a particular meeting, since this often only comes to light with … Continue Reading
General Synod is currently meeting in York (you can watch the proceedings live on the Church of England YouTube channel), and the debates can vary from the sublime to the ridiculous. Everything is improved with a sprinkling of humour, and to that end I asked ChatGPT how Anthony Trollope might describe the opening of Synod. … Continue Reading
Graham Hunter writes: I have spent a good deal of time in recent years reflecting on questions of personality, role and my impact on others in my work as a Vicar in an inner-city east London parish. In my early years in ministry, if anything was going wrong, or was troublesome and challenging, I would … Continue Reading
At this time of year, my social media feeds are full of pictures of people in robes standing outside cathedrals, they or their friends having been ordained. So this is a good time to reflect on what is happening, and to ask: ‘Is this Anglican approach to leadership actually following a biblical pattern?’ Someone might … Continue Reading
This week, good old Grove Books Ltd has published an important title by Andrew Goddard called Right to Die? The ‘Assisted Dying’ Debate. It is very timely, given that the so-called Assisted Dying Bill is coming back for its third reading in the Commons on 20th June. I offer here some samples of the text, showing how … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: On Tuesday 27th May, in the week when the first Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) meeting takes place to begin discerning who should be nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury, the Canterbury Diocese Vacancy-in-See Committee (ViSC) elected its three representatives. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this final stage in the process once again highlights problems with the … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: Sometime this week those tasked with nominating a new Archbishop of Canterbury will be meeting for the first of at least three scheduled meetings (the next are in July and September). It is most likely that the person chosen will be a current (likely diocesan) bishop serving in the Church of England … Continue Reading
Regular readers will know that I have been concerned for many years at the gradual erosion of the clergy stipend, and both the corresponding decline in the clergy pension, together with the major changes made in 2008 and 2011, reducing the pension to 1/2 of the stipend from 2/3, and extending the qualifying period of … Continue Reading
Ian Paul: theologian, author, speaker, academic consultant. Associate Senior Research Fellow, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology; Associate Minister, St Nic's, Nottingham; Managing Editor, Grove Books; member of General Synod and Archbishops' Council. Mac user; chocoholic. Tweets at @psephizo
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Gospel commentary index Lectionary Year A
Andrew Goddard Bible biblical interpretation Biblical literacy biblical theology Christmas Church of England culture discipleship discussion doctrine eschatology evangelism gay General Synod Grove guest Hermeneutics History hope interpretation James Blandford Baker Jesus John's gospel Justin Welby leadership lectionary Luke Luke's gospel Matthew ministry mission New Testament Paul politics preaching Revelation same sex marriage same sex unions sexuality theology video Year A Year B Year C
