Life & Ministry

Choosing Bishops: A Failure to Discern?

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Andrew Goddard writes: This article, building on my earlier account, explores issues surrounding this week’s public meeting of the House of Bishops to consider the Crown Nominations Commission’s (CNC) discernment process for diocesan bishops. Although that meeting was welcomingly transparent, the discernment processes leading to the proposals supported by it were much less so. Four areas … Continue Reading

Reading Eric Kaufmann’s ‘Taboo’ in the Church of England

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John Root writes: Eric Kaufmann’s Taboo (reviewed last week here) is centrally about the damaging slippage in Anglophone culture from ‘cultural liberalism’ (such as equality of opportunity) to ‘cultural socialism’ (such as equality of outcome); a process that requires cancelling the expression of resistant ideas, inflated concern about the dangers of ‘harm’, and an increased … Continue Reading

Should Christians take offence?

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What a dramatic spectacle it was, as it unfolded! I am not referring to the Olympic opening ceremony, which was spectacular in parts, but also rather long and drawn out, full of slightly obscure allusions to French cultural ideas (was ours better in 2012? Yes, I think it was less obscure), and at times seemed … Continue Reading

The Church of England’s Historic Links to the Transatlantic Slave Trade

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Robert Tombs and Lawrence Goldman write: The Church Commissioners have pledged £100 million over nine years in reparation for what are claimed to be their eighteenth-century predecessors’ involvement in and large financial gains from slavery and the slave trade. They argue that the Church, through Queen Anne’s Bounty (a corporation created by statute in 1703-4 for ‘the … Continue Reading

Michael Mosley and Christian faith

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When I first heard the news of Michael Mosley’s disappearance on the island of Symi, I had a sense of foreboding which was confirmed four days later when his body was found. But more than that—I was taken by surprise at my sense of personal loss. Of course, there is always a rather unreal sense … Continue Reading