theology

God talk – the Church of England in crisis

God talk – the Church of England in crisis

I think the Church of England is in crisis. I think the contemporary ideas held by the Church, the “theologies”, the ideas about and metaphors for and images of and awareness of the God it claims corporately to worship have become grossly inadequate and dangerously flawed. The result of this systemic incompetence are the gross failures of safeguarding and the deep malaise of abuse and the inability of the Church of England to recognise and face up to the abuse that is now a dominant narrative in the Church.

Sounds like bog-standard Anglicanism to me

Sounds like bog-standard Anglicanism to me

My faith is of the variety Tim Chesterton identifies as bog-standard Anglicanism in a recent Thinking Anglicans comment. This blog is offered to all “progressive” Church of England people and groups. It is in this bog-standard openness that my personal deep truths and values, inspired by Jesus, the Bible, God and the Holy Spirit, are somehow embedded and expressed, in a Church that was once fluid, open, permissive, generous, adventurous, and broad. But this model is being actively displaced and superseded by a model imposed by the institution and local congregations by the desperate need for survival. They are required to achieve by growth by any means, fuelled by financial resources not available to those pursuing bog-standard Anglicanism – because bog-standard Anglicanism is too radical and scares the horses.

Doing some theology – a sermon about the boy Jesus in the temple

Doing some theology – a sermon about the boy Jesus in the temple

Last week an idea came to me. I should do some theology on the Unadulterated Love blog. One morning when I was meditating, the story in Luke’s gospel came to mind, of the boy Jesus in the temple, aged twelve, gone missing. Luke’s Gospel points out the necessity of the hidden years of Jesus’ childhood and adolescence, that he might grow strong in the full experience of a human nature; thus he might be able to bring the Spirit of God into immediate contact with every human area. From the age of twelve, Jesus grew in all ways – physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually – for the work that lay ahead of him – he advanced in wisdom.

The Zone of Interest – ways of thinking about God

The Zone of Interest – ways of thinking about God

Conservatives claim that declining numbers in progressive congregations are the result of progressive, non-Biblical, non-orthodox, non-traditional, non-creedal formulations of Christianity. I claim that declining numbers are due to people abandoning the Church because people think traditional theologies are no longer believable.

Life in all its fullness

Life in all its fullness

Changing Attitude England works in the context of an always evolving faith in God, ‘True God’ and in the essence of Jesus’ life and teaching. we will continue to pursue its vision of a God of unconditional, infinite, intimate love and of Jesus who says “I have come that you may have life, life in all its fullness” (John 10.10); of  the Archbishops’ commitment to “a radical new Christian inclusion”. The Church of England’s focus must be turned towards nurturing the essence of God’s unconditional, cosmic love in the hearts, bodies, minds and souls of all human beings. This is Jesus’ message, the truth of creation revealed in the Gospels, embodying a God of compassion, empathy, and unconditional Christian, universal love.

Freeing the Church of England from Mental Slavery

Freeing the Church of England from Mental Slavery

The Church of England is having the greatest difficulty catching up with attitudes to the role of women and the place of LGBTQIA+ and black and brown people in Christianity, and to attitudes to belief in God, to a transformation from belief in God as a person or being, an entity, to an equally ancient spiritual tradition of God as Mystery, as the essence of life and energy, of primary human values and experience that lay the foundations of love, truth, goodness, health, wisdom and justice.

The tunic was seamless, woven in one piece throughout

The tunic was seamless, woven in one piece throughout

My latest blog dwells of John narrative of the crucifixion. It is John alone who adds the detail of the seamless tunic (or undergarment) woven in one piece to his narrative. It is the symbol of what God is revealing and doing. Jesus, in John’s understanding, is saying, “In the new order there shall be no schism, but you shall be one and you shall love one another and be woven together from above.

Healthy contemporary evolutionary Christian vision, theology and practice

Healthy contemporary evolutionary Christian vision, theology and practice

What are the elements of a Christian community, cell, gathering or congregation needed to create a seamless, healthy, spiritual, deeply relational, visionary, Christ-like movement? What does life in all its fullness look like and how do we assemble a model of Christian life and theology based on this, working to achieve this?

Abusive unhealthy traditional Christianity, theology and practice

Abusive unhealthy traditional Christianity, theology and practice

Foundational Anglican Christian theology with its reliance on scripture, tradition and reason is responsible for creating and justifying a core theology, an edifice on which and within which abuse has been built. The edifice supports conservative Christian homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, racism, prejudice against other religions and cultures and particular categories of people.gy and culture that underpins abuse in the Church. Abuse has become systemic.