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Andrew Goddard writes: What follows demonstrates a recent statement about PLF by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is significantly misleading in relation to what the bishops have decided, what the church teaches on sexual ethics, who PLF is for, and what PLF offers. This development, contradicting and undermining past theological and legal advice as … Continue Reading
David Ball writes: David Runcorn, one of the convenors of Inclusive Evangelicals and the author of the forthcoming book, Playing in the Dust—a pilgrimage with the creation stories (Canterbury Press), has recently posted a blog on the Inclusive Evangelicals website asking the question ‘Is Genesis chapter 2 a definition of marriage?’ In this article, I seek … Continue Reading
Mike Starkey writes: A friend of mine recently joined a new inclusive Christian network, and wanted to know if I planned to sign up. He used the phrase ‘standing with the LGBTQ+ community’. I hesitated before replying, just as I’d hesitated a decade earlier when asked a similar question at a church in the North … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: As the College of Bishops gathers in Oxford next week for its regular September residential, the Bishops of Penrith and Huntingdon remain Acting Bishops of Carlisle and Ely respectively and will probably be so into the second half of next year. It is also probable that there will be perhaps 5 or … Continue Reading
Andrew Bunt has just written an excellent new Grove booklet in the Ethics series, Three or More: Reflections on Polyamory and Consensual Non-monogamy. I was able to catch up with him and ask him about why he wrote the booklet, and what we need to think about on this issue. IP: Why have you decided to … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: A recent service at York Minster in which the Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF) were used for two men who had entered a civil same-sex marriage has ignited controversy, highlighted several problems, and raised the question as to whether people are playing fast and loose (PFL) with PLF. The initial social … Continue Reading
‘Valuing All God’s Children’ (VAGC) was first published in 2014 in response to research claiming to show homophobic bullying was something which needed particular attention in Church schools. It was revised in 2017 and 2019, but was the cause of controversy for three reasons. First, it was felt to be implying that children and young … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: Reflecting on the recent July Session of the Church of England’s General Synod and considering where we now find ourselves on the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) questions of sexuality, marriage and identity I was struck by the fact that we seem to be engaged in a game of episcopal Jenga. … Continue Reading
I had a busy week on broadcast media last week. On Thursday I took part on a panel discussion hosted by the Religion News Service, which provides information on religious issues for the wider press (who might not fully understand all the issues). You can watch the one hour discussion on YouTube here. On Saturday, … Continue Reading
Christopher Landau writes: In some of the cases of marriage breakdown I have known, a crucial moment came when one party no longer believed the marriage could be saved, and so the only option was to proceed to divorce. I fear the Church of England stands on the precipice of such a moment. I hope … Continue Reading
Not everything was bad at the session of General Synod last weekend. When someone asked me how I was, I replied ‘I feel like the violinist in the orchestra on the Titanic. The music is going very well!’ There was an important discussion about ‘rest periods for office holders’ (C of E language for vicars … 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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