The debate triggered by certain decisions in the Episcopal Church is not just about a single matter of sexual ethics. It is about decision making in the Church and it is about the interpretation and authority of Scripture. It has raised, first of all, the painfully difficult question of how far Anglican provinces should feel bound to make decisions in a wholly consultative and corporate way. In other words, it has forced us to ask what we mean by speaking and thinking about ourselves as a global communion. When ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ fail, what should we do about it? Now there is a case for drawing back from doing anything much, for accepting that we are no more than a cluster of historically linked local or national bodies. But to accept this case – and especially to accept it because the alternatives look too difficult – would be to unravel quite a lot of what both internal theological reflection and ecumenical agreement have assumed and worked with for most of the last century. For those of us who still believe that the Communion is a Catholic body, not just an agglomeration of national ones, a body attempting to live in more than one cultural and intellectual setting and committed to addressing major problems in a global way, the case for ‘drawing back’ is not attractive. But my real point is that we have never really had this discussion properly. It surfaced a bit in our debates over women’s ordination, but for a variety of reasons tended to slip out of focus. But we were bound to have to think it through sooner or later.

And it has arisen now in connection with same-sex relationships largely because this has been seen as a test-case for fidelity to Scripture, and so for our Reformed integrity. Rather more than with some other contentious matters (usury, pacifism, divorce), there was and is a prima facie challenge in a scriptural witness that appears to be universally negative about physical same-sex relations.

Now in the last ten years particularly, there have been numerous very substantial studies of the scriptural and traditional material which make it difficult to say that there is simply no debate to be had. Even a solidly conservative New Testament scholar like Richard Hays, to take one example out of many, would admit that work is needed to fill out and defend the traditional position, and to understand more deeply where the challenges to this position come from.

But it is easier to go for one or the other of the less labour-intensive options. There is a virtual fundamentalism which simply declines to reflect at all about principles of interpretation and implicitly denies that every reader of Scripture unconsciously or consciously uses principles of some kind. And there is a chronological or cultural snobbery content to say that we have outgrown biblical categories. These positions do not admit real theological debate. Neither is compatible with the position of a Church that both seeks to be biblically obedient and to read its Scriptures in the light of the best spiritual and intellectual perspectives available in the fellowship of believers. And the possibility of real theological exchange is made still more remote by one group forging ahead with change in discipline and practice and other insistently treating the question as the sole definitive marker of orthodoxy.

Whatever happened, we might ask, to persuasion? To the frustrating business of conducting recognisable arguments in a shared language? It is frustrating because people are so aware of the cost of a long argumentative process. It is intolerable that injustice and bigotry are tolerated by the Church; it is intolerable that souls are put in peril by doubtful teaching and dishonest practice. Yet one of the distinctive things about the Christian Church as biblically defined is surely the presumption (Acts 15) that the default position when faced with conflict is reasoning in council and the search for a shared discernment – so that the truth does not appear as just the imposed settlement of the winners in a battle.

Archbishop's Address to General Synod

Why is it that we moderns are so confused about the sources of our identity? We cannot decide whether we are essentially bodies, and must obey the dictates of our biology, or whether our bodies are simply vehicles which we can use or abuse, as though nothing our body does really touched us.

The modern self is a solitary and solipsistic being. It regards itself as the only real thing, and is determined not to be interrupted and inconvenienced by anything or anyone not itself. The Christian tradition calls this attitude ‘gnosticism’. This is the belief that I am solely my mind, and that I am trapped in my body, and in this world. It asserts that my mind can know the world, and other people, entirely without their aid and begin to extract itself from the limits they represent. Gnosticism is a panicked attempt to escape my past, my present situatedness, and all the plurality and ambiguity of life. It views embodiedness as entanglement and misfortune. It is a permanent temptation to believe that we are to remove ourselves from what it regards as the entangling, disgusting materiality and complications of this world and set ourselves above them.

Modernity is not simply a new phenomenon. It is also a timeless temptation. But it is only properly identified as this by the Church disciplined by the full gospel. The whole Christian tradition is our very own corporate memory. From this bank of resources constituted of all previous Christian experience, we may select parallels to our present experience. From these parallels we can see the range of options open to us for dealing with the challenges of our situation. If we have less memory, we have fewer resources by which to understand our circumstances and fewer options for dealing with them. The grace of God provides us with these resources for the very purpose that we grow through them and are empowered by them. The Christian life and teaching is the grace of God mediated through the experience of previous generations of Christians. It allows to us grow and become a holy people, able to hold out to our society what it cannot receive from any other source.

The whole surrounding culture of modernity is a flight from embodiedness and situatedness. Without the Christian gospel mediated through the Christian life and teaching, our culture is obliged to construct for itself what it refuses to accept from God. It is under a harsh law, entirely self-imposed. Unable to receive its shaping with gratitude, it is then only able to perceive others as a threat. This appears in its belief that all previous experience is rendered redundant by time, and its insistence that we abandon our experience and we flee whatever we identify as ‘the past’.

No Lack of Love - the Fulcrum sermons of Oliver O'Donovan

Sunday is, so to speak, a fragment of time imbued with eternity, for its dawn saw the Crucified and Risen Christ enter victorious into eternal life.

With the event of the Resurrection, creation and redemption reach their fulfillment. On the "first day after Saturday", the women and then the Disciples, meeting the Risen One, understood that this was "the day which the Lord has made" (Ps 118[117]:24), "his" day, the "Dies Domini." In fact, this is what the liturgy sings: "O first and last day, radiant and shining with Christ's triumph".

From the very outset, this has been a stable element in the perception of the mystery of Sunday: "The Word", Origen affirms, "has moved the feast of the Sabbath to the day on which the light was produced and has given us as an image of true repose, Sunday, the day of salvation, the first day of the light in which the Savior of the world, after completing all his work with men and after conquering death, crossed the threshold of Heaven, surpassing the creation of the six days and receiving the blessed Sabbath and rest in God" (Comment on Psalm 91).

Inspired by knowledge of this, St Ignatius of Antioch asserted: "We are no longer keeping the Sabbath, but the Lord's Day" (Ad Magn. 9, 1).

For the first Christians, participation in the Sunday celebrations was the natural expression of their belonging to Christ, of communion with his Mystical Body, in the joyful expectation of his glorious return.

This belonging was expressed heroically in what happened to the martyrs of Abitene, who faced death exclaiming, "Sine dominico non possumus": without gathering together on Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist, we cannot live.

How much more necessary it is today to reaffirm the sacredness of the Lord's Day and the need to take part in Sunday Mass!

The cultural context in which we live, often marked by religious indifference and secularism that blot out the horizon of the transcendent, must not let us forget that the People of God, born from "Christ's Passover, Sunday", should return to it as to an inexhaustible source, in order to understand better and better the features of their own identity and the reasons for their existence.

The Second Vatican Council, after pointing out the origin of Sunday, continued: "On this day Christ's faithful are bound to come together into one place. They should listen to the Word of God and take part in the Eucharist, thus calling to mind the Passion, Resurrection and Glory of the Lord Jesus and giving thanks to God who "has begotten them again, through the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, unto a living hope'" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium," n. 106).

Sunday was not chosen by the Christian community but by the Apostles, and indeed by Christ himself, who on that day, "the first day of the week", rose and appeared to the disciples (cf. Mt 28:1; Mk 16: 9; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1,19; Acts 20:7; I Cor 16: 2), and appeared to them again "eight days later" (Jn 20:26).

Sunday is the day on which the Risen Lord makes himself present among his followers, invites them to his banquet and shares himself with them so that they too, united and configured to him, may worship God properly.

Papal Letter to Cardinal Arinze on the Anniverary of "Sacrosanctum Concilium"

Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology of Oxford The Queen has been pleased to approve that The Reverend Professor Nigel Biggar MA PhD be appointed a Canon of Christ Church and Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology in the University of Oxford from 1 October 2007,in succession to the Reverend Professor Oliver O'Donovan MA DPhil FBA.

The Reverend Professor Nigel Biggar, aged 51, is currently Professor of Theology in the School of Religions and Theology at Trinity College of the University of Dublin, and he is also a Fellow of that college.

Professor Biggar was ordained to the priesthood in 1991, having studied history at Worcester College, Oxford, and theology at Regent College, Vancouver and the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. From 1985 to 1991 he was Research Fellow and Librarian of Latimer House, Oxford; and from 1987 to 1994 he was a part-time Lecturer in Christian Ethics at Wycliffe Hall. He was made Chaplain of Oriel College, Oxford in 1990, and then Fellow in 1993. In 1999 he was appointed Professor of Theology in the University of Leeds. He took up his current post in 2004. From 1999 to 2004 he was Lecturer at the Leeds Parish Church, and since 2004 he has been a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

Professor Biggar's many publications include (as editor) Cities of Gods: Faith, Politics and Pluralism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam; a monograph on the ethics of the twentieth century theologian Karl Barth; Good Life: Reflections on What We Value Today; (as editor and contributor) Burying the Past: Making Peace and Doing Justice after Civil Conflict; and most recently, Aiming to Kill, a book on the ethics of suicide and euthanasia.

His current research interests include the doctrine of justified war, the politics of forgiveness, the ethics of (separatist) nationalism and empire, the contribution of religion to public deliberation in a liberal society, the public responsibility of the media, and the bearing of theology on ethics.

This is very good news. My prognostications of last year turn out to have been unjustified. Hooray!

68. We are agreed that no local church is self-sufficient. Various structures and practices are needed to maintain and manifest the communion of the local churches and sustain them in fidelity to the Gospel. These include local, provincial, world-wide and ecumenical synods and councils. Anglicans and Roman Catholics agree that from New Testament times (cf. Acts 15.6-29), the Church has sought through collegial and conciliar gatherings to be obedient to Christ in fidelity to its vocation.

69. Anglicans and Roman Catholics agree that councils can be recognised as authoritative when they express the common faith and mind of the Church, consonant with Scripture and the apostolic Tradition. Those councils up to modern times which the Catholic Church describes as â??ecumenicalâ?? are understood as having a binding character, and are for Roman Catholics an authoritative expression of the living tradition. Anglicans historically have only recognised the binding authority of the first four ecumenical councils. While they affirm some of the content of successive councils, they believe that only those decisions which can be demonstrated from Scripture are binding on the faithful.

70. The communion of the Church requires a ministry of primacy at every level of the Churchâ??s life as a visible link and focus of its communion. From early times an ordering developed among the bishops, whereby the bishops of prominent sees exercised a distinctive ministry of unity, as the first among the bishops of their regions. They acted not in isolation from but in collegial association with other bishops. Primacy and collegiality are complementary dimensions of episcope, exercised within the life of the whole Church. (Anglicans recognise the ministry of the Archbishop of Canterbury in precisely this way.)

71. The office of a universal primate is a special and particular case of that care for universal communion proper to the episcopal office itself. â??The only see which makes any claim to universal primacy and which has exercised and still exercises such episcope is the see of Rome, the city where Peter and Paul diedâ??. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the ministry of the Bishop of Rome as universal primate is in accordance with Christâ??s will for the Church and an essential element for maintaining it in unity and truth. Anglicans rejected the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome as universal primate in the sixteenth century. Today, however, some Anglicans are beginning to see the potential value of a ministry of universal primacy, which would be exercised by the Bishop of Rome, as a sign and focus of unity within a re-united Church.

Growing Together in Unity and Mission An Agreed Statement by the International Anglicanâ??Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission

Here is a selection of events from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster - events page

Commission for Justice and Social Responsibility - Inaugural Conference Catholic Social Teaching and its impact on the wider community Saturday 24th February 2007 Brentwood, London

Journey to Freedom - with the Augustinians of the Assumption Assumption Priory, Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green, London E2

15 March 2007â?? â??Hope against all hope!â?? with His Grace Bishop Basil of Amphipolis, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in Great Britain

25 April 2007â?? â??Love and do what you will!â?? with His Eminence Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the Archbishop of Brussels (to be delivered in French)

9 May 2007â?? â??The Church, Catholicity and Unityâ?? with Fr. John McDade, Principal of Heythrop College, University of London (SJ)

â??When the Truth is Silenced â?? Freedom of Religion and the Christian Response to 21st Century Rights Discourses.â?? Seminar 5 March 2007 Herbert Smith, Exchange House, Primrose Street London EC2

The Eucharist & Catechesis This course will focus on the core teaching about the Eucharist and how it challenges us on a personal level and as a diocese. These sessions will offer the opportunity to consider:

â?¢ the Eucharist as the source and summit of Christian life â?¢ the Eucharist and real presence â?¢ the Eucharist and sacrifice â?¢ Eucharistic spirituality â?¢ the Eucharist making Church

The sessions are being offered in locations throughout the Diocese so that all catechists can attend the core session plus the one relating to their area of catechetics.

Celebrate Love - at Ealing Abbey, Ealing, London

Celebrate Love promotes a healthy, celebratory attitude to sexuality and shows the link between sexuality and the spirituality of the sacrament of matrimony. The presentations give couples the insight to identify and change attitudes and behaviours that detract from the magnificent vision that God calls couples to live and the Church desires to sustain. Insights are drawn from some of the most experienced international relationship educators and the vision of marriage espoused in John Paul IIâ??s Love and Responsibility, and Theology of the Body for an effective renewal experience.

MAN AND WOMAN HE CREATED THEM - reflections on a theology of the body. 28 April 2007 - Westminster Cathedral Hall, Ambrosden Avenue, London SW1

A major event welcoming the renowned scholar Professor Michael Waldstein (International Theological Institute, Gaming) and author of MAN AND WOMAN HE CREATED THEM - a theology of the body (published in USA, copies will be on sale). To include visiting speakers on the subject and practical ideas for exploring further this vision for relating and building up community in family, home, workplace and Church.

So, some little signs of life then.

Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practised righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgements, they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’ Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

Isaiah 58

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right* spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Psalm 51

Report of the Anglican Covenant Design Group

6 Unity of the Communion (Nehemiah 2.17,18, Mt. 18.15-18, 1 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 4.1-18, 13.5-10, Galatians 6.1-10)

Each Church commits itself:

* in essential matters of common concern, to have regard to the common good of the Communion in the exercise of its autonomy, and to support the work of the Instruments of Communion with the spiritual and material resources available to it.

* to spend time with openness and patience in matters of theological debate and discernment to listen and to study with one another in order to comprehend the will of God. Such study and debate is an essential feature of the life of the Church as its seeks to be led by the Spirit into all truth and to proclaim the Gospel afresh in each generation. Some issues, which are perceived as controversial or new when they arise, may well evoke a deeper understanding of the implications of God's revelation to us; others may prove to be distractions or even obstacles to the faith: all therefore need to be tested by shared discernment in the life of the Church.

* to seek with other members, through the Church's shared councils, a common mind about matters of essential concern, consistent with the Scriptures, common standards of faith, and the canon law of our churches.

* to heed the counsel of our Instruments of Communion in matters which threaten the unity of the Communion and the effectiveness of our mission. While the Instruments of Communion have no juridical or executive authority in our Provinces, we recognise them as those bodies by which our common life in Christ is articulated and sustained, and which therefore carry a moral authority which commands our respect.

* to seek the guidance of the Instruments of Communion, where there are matters in serious dispute among churches that cannot be resolved by mutual admonition and counsel:

* by submitting the matter to the Primates Meeting * if the Primates believe that the matter is not one for which a common mind has been articulated, they will seek it with the other instruments and their councils * finally, on this basis, the Primates will offer guidance and direction.

* We acknowledge that in the most extreme circumstances, where member churches choose not to fulfil the substance of the covenant as understood by the Councils of the Instruments of Communion, we will consider that such churches will have relinquished for themselves the force and meaning of the covenant's purpose, and a process of restoration and renewal will be required to re-establish their covenant relationship with other member churches.

Report of the Anglican Covenant Design Group

The 1996 Oxford Liturgy Conference was 'a watershed for English Catholicism', apparently. Here is its Declaration on the Liturgy (I have added some italics):

1. Reflecting on the history of liturgical renewal and reform since the Second Vatican Council, the Liturgy Forum agreed that there have been many positive results. Among these might be mentioned the introduction of the vernacular, the opening up of the treasury of the Sacred Scriptures, increased participation in the liturgy and the enrichment of the process of Christian initiation. However, the Forum concluded that the preconciliar liturgical movement as well as the manifest intentions of Sacrosanctum Concilium have in large part been frustrated by powerful contrary forces, which could be described as bureaucratic, philistine and secularist.

2. The effect has been to deprive the Catholic people of much of their liturgical heritage. Certainly, many ancient traditions of sacred music, art and architecture have been all but destroyed. Sacrosanctum Concilium gave pride of place to Gregorian chant (n. 116), yet in many places this "sung theology" of the Roman liturgy has disappeared without trace. Our liturgical heritage is not a superficial embellishment of worship but should properly be regarded as intrinsic to it, as it is also to the process of transmitting the Catholic faith in education and evangelization. Liturgy cannot be separated from culture; it is the living font of a Christian civilization and hence has profound ecumenical significance.

3. The impoverishment of our liturgy after the Council is a fact not yet sufficiently admitted or understood, to which the necessary response must be a revival of the liturgical movement and the initiation of a new cycle of reflection and reform. The liturgical movement which we represent is concerned with the enrichment, correction and resacralization of Catholic liturgical practice. It is concerned with a renewal of liturgical eschatology, cosmology and aesthetics, and with a recovery of the sense of the sacred - mindful that the law of worship is the law of belief. This renewal will be aided by a closer and deeper acquaintance with the liturgical, theological and iconographic traditions of the Christian East.

4. The revived liturgical movement calls for the promotion of the Liturgy of the Hours, celebrated in song as an action of the Church in cathedrals, parishes, monasteries and families, and of Eucharistic Adoration, already spreading in many parishes. In this way, the Divine Word and the Presence of Christ's reality in the Mass may resonate throughout the day, making human culture into a dwelling place for God. At the heart of the Church in the world we must be able to find that loving contemplation, that adoring silence, which is the essential complement to the spoken word of Revelation, and the key to active participation in the holy mysteries of faith (Orientale Lumen, n. 1 ).

5. We call for a greater pluralism of Catholic rites and uses, so that all these elements of our tradition may flourish and be more widely known during the period of reflection and ressourcement that lies ahead. If the liturgical movement is to prosper, it must seek to rise above differences of opinion and taste to that unity which is the Holy Spirit's gift to the Body of Christ. Those who love the Catholic tradition in its fullness should strive to work together in charity, bearing each other's burdens in the light of the Holy Spirit, and persevering in prayer with Mary the Mother of Jesus.

6. We hope that any future liturgical reform would not be imposed on the faithful but would proceed, with the utmost caution and sensitivity to the sensus fidelium, from a thorough understanding of the organic nature of the liturgical traditions of the Church (Cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 23). Our work should be sustained by prayer, education and study. This cannot be undertaken in haste, or in anything other than a serene spirit. No matter what difficulties lie ahead, the glory of the Paschal Mystery - Christ's love, his cosmic sacrifice and his childlike trust in the Father - shines through every Catholic liturgy for those who have eyes to see, and in this undeserved grace we await the return of spring.

Oxford Liturgy Conference Declaration on the Liturgy 1996

For some discussion of the context and developments since, see Stratford Caldecott Liturgy and Trinity: Towards an Anthropology of the Liturgy in the 'Mystagogy' section of Second Spring and the (UK) Society of St Catherine of Siena

The person of Christ The Twelfth Edinburgh Conference in Christian Dogmatics

Monday 27th to Thursday 30 August 2007

Speakers include:

John Webster Richard Bauckham Henri Blocher Bruce McCormack Stephen Holmes - all the greats

Rutherford House holds these conferences every other year. They are small, which means there is a good chance of some real discussion, and they are Scottish, which is nice.

But we need a nationwide forum for some real Christian dogmatics in the UK. So Rutherford House might think of widening participation and making this an annual conference. I wonder whether there should be a national organisation, perhaps with the words 'evangelical' and 'theology' in its title. On second thoughts, let's stick with the word 'Dogmatics' - it is better than 'evangelical'.

65. The Gospel is only fully understood in the Church. Godâ??s revelation has been entrusted to a community, which means that the whole people of God has the responsibility for discerning and communicating Godâ??s Word. Within the â??symphonyâ?? of the whole people of God, everyone has a part to play - those with the ministry of oversight, the theologians and all the people of God.

66. Bishops have a vital role in the process of discernment, bearing a special responsibility for promoting truth and discerning error and for preserving and promoting communion; but this is never exercised apart from the whole body of the faithful. The interaction of bishop and people in this exercise of discernment and teaching is a safeguard of Christian life and fidelity. Discernment involves both heeding and sifting in order to assist the people of God in understanding, articulating and applying their faith. The bishopâ??s authority necessarily includes responsibility for making and implementing the decisions that are required for the sake of koinonia.

67. At ordination, bishops receive not only responsibility for their local church but also a share in collegial responsibility for the wider community. â??Bishops meet together collegially, not as individuals but as those who have authority within and for the synodal life of the local churches ... When bishops take counsel together they seek both to discern and to articulate the sensus fidelium as it is present in the local church and in the wider communion of churches.â?? â??The duty of maintaining the Church in truth is one of the essential functions of the episcopal college â?¦ The exercise of this teaching authority requires that what it teaches be faithful to Holy Scripture and consistent with apostolic Tradition.â?? â??The challenge and responsibility for those with authority within the Church is so to exercise their ministry that they promote the unity of the whole Church in faith and life in a way that enriches rather than diminishes the legitimate diversity of local churches.â??

Growing Together in Unity and Mission An Agreed Statement by the International Anglicanâ??Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission

COMMON DECLARATION OF POPE BENEDICT XVI AND THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY HIS GRACE ROWAN WILLIAMS

Forty years ago, our predecessors, Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey, met together in this city sanctified by the ministry and the blood of the Apostles Peter and Paul. They began a new journey of reconciliation based on the Gospels and the ancient common traditions. Centuries of estrangement between Anglicans and Catholics were replaced by a new desire for partnership and co-operation, as the real but incomplete communion we share was rediscovered and affirmed. Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Ramsey undertook at that time to establish a dialogue in which matters which had been divisive in the past might be addressed from a fresh perspective with truth and love.

Since that meeting, the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion have entered into a process of fruitful dialogue, which has been marked by the discovery of significant elements of shared faith and a desire to give expression, through joint prayer, witness and service, to that which we hold in common. Over thirty-five years, the Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) has produced a number of important documents which seek to articulate the faith we share. In the ten years since the most recent Common Declaration was signed by the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, the second phase of ARCIC has completed its mandate, with the publication of the documents The Gift of Authority (1999) and Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ (2005). We are grateful to the theologians who have prayed and worked together in the preparation of these texts, which await further study and reflection.

True ecumenism goes beyond theological dialogue; it touches our spiritual lives and our common witness. As our dialogue has developed, many Catholics and Anglicans have found in each other a love for Christ which invites us into practical co-operation and service. This fellowship in the service of Christ, experienced by many of our communities around the world, adds a further impetus to our relationship. The International Anglican - Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) has been engaged in an exploration of the appropriate ways in which our shared mission to proclaim new life in Christ to the world can be advanced and nurtured. Their report, which sets out both a summary of the central conclusions of ARCIC and makes proposals for growing together in mission and witness, has recently been completed and submitted for review to the Anglican Communion Office and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and we express our gratitude for their work.

Common Declaration of Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury His Grace Rowan Williams

All Christians have their own circle of those who have requested them to intercede on their behalf, or people for whom for various reasons they know they have been called upon to pray. First of all, this circle will include those with whom they must live every day. With this we have advanced to the point at which we hear the heartbeat of all Christian life together. A Christian community either lives by the intercessory prayers of its members for one another or the community will be destroyed. I can no longer condemn or hate other Christians for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble they cause me. In intercessory prayer the face that may have been strange and intolerable to me is transformed into the face of one for whom Christ died, the face of a pardoned sinner. That is a blessed discovery for the Christian who is beginning to offer intercessory prayer for others. As far as we are concerned, there in no dislike, no personal tension, no disunity or strife, that cannot be overcome by intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the community must enter every day.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together 89

The first symptom is Europe's refusal to mention its Judeo-Christian roots in the Preamble to the European Constitutional Treaty, which, following the French and Dutch referendums, has now failed. The title itself is revealing of an ambiguity. A Treaty is not a Constitution and a Constitution cannot be a Treaty. The European Constitutional Treaty is something in between, a document hanging in lim­bo with no precise form, despite its more than 400 pages, running from major principles to the most analytic norms.

Regarding Europe's cultural and spiritual origins, the Treaty adopts two slightly different formulations which were accepted after a long debate and many quarrels. One states that "the peoples of Europe...[are] conscious of its spiritual and moral heritage." The other refers to the "cultural, religious and humanistic heritage of Europe." It is patent that both statements are extremely poor and reticent, because neither of them defines exactly what heritage and what religion Europe stems from. The question then is: Can Europe unify economically, socially, and politically if it lacks the strength even to mention that Judeo-Christian religion without which it would not even exist? My answer is: No, it cannot.

The second symptom of the European crisis is the antecedent of the first. What role is played by religion in European society? After the wars of religion, Europe slowly attained the separation be­tween State and Church. This separation—which actually stems from the Gospels—is a civil achieve­ment of which we should be proud but about which we should not be confused. It refers to polit­ical institutions and their mutual relations, not to personal dimensions and their autonomy of expres­sion. In other words, the separation between State and Church, sets limits to the legislation of them both, in the sense that one is forbidden to pass norms over the domain of the other, but it does not imply that religion must be expelled from social life, or that it should be considered only a private affair. In still other words, the secularity of the state, which is a juridical regime, does not imply the sec­ularism of the society, which is an ideological phi­losophy. It is one thing to separate State and Church; it is quite a different thing to separate reli­gion from the lives of the people.

This is however what is happening in Europe. Today, religion is not allowed to express itself in public. As a consequence, religion cannot nourish our civil customs, provide a spiritual ground for our societies, or act in support of our public rules and behavior. And, of course, once the links with the religious tradition are severed, the allegiance to the very same values which are the core of our living together starts losing its strength and gets weaker and weaker.

Marcello Pera Europe, America and the Continental Drift

We can still, I think, register disquiet that so little is done by collaboration among Catholics themselves in settings where there is taken for granted a Catholic liturgical and spiritual ambience, and a general consensus about the elements which should enter into a Catholic systematics - a suitable philosophical preamble, linked in some way to the ontological concerns that are central for Catholic thought; the Scriptures regarded as an inspired body of literature; the monuments of Tradition that Catholic theologians have customarily consulted in their scanning of Scripture; the rôle of the magisterium in the making of doctrine and the refraction of its teaching in the lives of the faithful.

There should be in England a Catholic faculty for theology and its ancillary and related disciplines, a faculty serving the mission of the entire Church (not least of the episcopate), contextualised in a setting of liturgical and spiritual effort (it would be ideal to have a contemplative monastery, whether of women or of men, using the paradigm Latin liturgy of the Western Church, at its heart), and articulating a theological doctrine which the Church herself would not disown.

Karl Rahner asked that the theology of the next century be at once missionary and mystagogical. To render what Catholic theologians and scholars have already achieved since the Second Vatican Council even more fruitful for the Church in England in the next century some setting more conducive to such mission and mystagogy-in a word, some more ecclesial setting should be provided. This will not of course guarantee that people will write great theology; but it will provide, insofar as human ingenuity under grace can, the conditions in which a more comprehensive Catholic theology could optimally be produced.

Aidan Nichols OP Catholic Theology in Britain: the Scene since Vatican II part I & part II

If Anglican evangelicals take the path forged by so many Dissenters before them, not least among them John and Charles Wesley, it will eventually result only in the endless multiplication of denominational factions, just like the Baptists, Congregationalists, and Methodists—not to mention the Plymouth Brethren and the Independents—of centuries past. The Reformation logic of faction leads only to more faction, and as the dismal present status of various denominational entities attests, it does not even necessarily lead to orthodox Christianity. An evangelical exodus would also almost assuredly tip the numerical balance among those who remain with Canterbury to theological liberalism, thus dooming those Christians for whom catholic church order is essential to a sorry fate.

The present hope is that Anglican evangelicals will realize that not only is the gospel necessary for the sake of the Church, but also that the Church is necessary for the sake of the gospel. Historically, evangelicals have not troubled themselves very much with ecclesiology, assuming that the teaching of Scripture is plain, and that the Church is essentially a group of like-minded Christians who band together in fellowship to share the gospel. Unfortunately, the problem with this has always been that people think that Scripture plainly supports all kinds of things, thus leading to a never-ending plethora of denominations. Christ’s body on earth is therefore increasingly fractured and broken, Christian witness is damaged, and our Lord’s prayer that we all may be one recedes ever further into the past.

It is here where the wisdom of the third Anglican group, the catholics, absolutely must be heard this week in Tanzania. These Anglicans, represented best by Rowan Williams and the American theologian Ephraim Radner, believe just as strongly as the evangelicals in the bedrock truths of Christianity, but also think that the Church itself is an essential part of God’s plan for us to discern truth. Being Reformation Christians, Anglican catholics know that sometimes the Church can be wrong, thus needing always to test herself by the standard of Scripture. But they point out that while Scripture itself may be clear, we Christians are sinful and perverse, so that we stand in need of the whole body of Christ to discover God’s will for his Church.

The hope of Anglican catholics, then, for today’s meeting is that Anglicans of all stripes will commit to live in unity under the authority of Scripture, prayerfully seeking the mind of Christ together as the body of Christ. While firmly supporting disciplinary action against the Episcopal Church, Anglican catholics hope to do so within the proper bounds of life together in ecclesial communion. One may hope that Anglican evangelicals will realize that the Gospel is served best in no other way.

Jordan Hylden Anglican Storm Clouds

The vocation to the Theologian to reflect, to study, to teach, and to write is placed within the mission of the Church, as one of service to it. Examining the British context for theological work, the document discusses Government policy in higher education in relation to the often vulnerable and difficult entrustment of the theologian to truth.

The vocation of the theologian is brought more sharply into focus through a reflection on the situation of the universities in England and Wales. Catholic involvement in Higher Education institutions and Universities is discussed in the context of their participation in the secular system. Both as institutions and individual theologians, we must engage with whatever understanding of education underlies Government policy; and in our own context the proliferation of university places, the diversity of the types of courses and institutions associated with university work, and the tendency to emphasise the role of universities in terms of building economic strength, are forces with which we have to reckon. The paper addresses philosophical and theological concerns about the role and purpose of the university in human social life. Central to this is the question of what truth has become in a postmodern context, and what the Church’s response can unfold.

We consider the Catholic theological voice as it emerges in our context. In particular, the place of the lay theologian, and to the most commonly ecumenical, ‘lay’, or secular contexts in which Catholic theologians of all states of life are working. The setting of the secular university is challenging and rigorous, often isolating when Christian theologians seek to respond as part of the Church’s missio ad Gentes. Spiritual formation, and the fostering of communion is imperative, in cooperation with the Church’s pastors and those called to form and teach the people of God. We therefore discuss the character of pedagogy and its disciplines in relation to secular and Christian practice.

Summary of Proposals 1. The calling of a colloquium to debate the discussion proposed in this document, under the direction of the Committee for Theology of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

2. As part of this colloquium, the setting out of specific proposals to strengthen the collaboration between the Bishops and theologians at national and local level. These should concentrate, not on activism – the setting up of committees and so forth – but on the means by which loving and fruitful bonds, rooted in the life of the Church and its prayer, should be founded and nurtured between those called to teach and study and those whose task it is to ensure the proper education and formation of the People of God.

3. A discussion of the means by which lay theologians in particular may be formed, and nourished in their formation.

4. That there be initiated a continuing dialogue between the Bishops, the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain and other interested groups around the issues of the Church’s missio ad gentes as it takes place in the universities and other institutes of higher education.

5. The bonds between those who teach theology in our seminaries and Catholic theologians who teach in universities should be strengthened.

6. A discussion of the concrete means by which the Church may contribute to the discussion of the meaning of education in national life, through publications, and contributions to national forums.

The Vocation and Formation of Theologians and the Teaching Office of the Bishop in the British Context – A Discussion Sponsored by the Society of St. Catherine of Siena (large PDF)

Just seen the bibliography of Oswald Bayer at Wiki.de and remembered what a colossus Bayer is.

He is Professor Emeritus at Tübingen, a Lutheran, but more than that, he is a Luther - really shocking evangelical power, wielded with very great intellectual sophistication and gentleness. His line is that the Reformation is much more modern than 'modernity' will ever be. He has lots in common with Jüngel, but more spiritual authority (ludicrous, to say so, but...). I'll translate some of his titles:

• Promise: Luther's Reformation Turn

• Creation as Address: Towards a Hermeneutic of creation

• Living Word: Reformation and Modernity in Conflict

• Freedom as Response: Theological Ethics

• Contemporaries in Confrontation: Johann Georg Hamann as Radical Enlightener

• God as Author: Theological Poetics

• Reason is Speech (or discourse/conversation): Hamann's demolition of Kant 'critique')

Hamann is one of Germany's least explored Christian theologians. He was a contemporary, friend yet crushing opponent of Kant, with much in common with Kierkegaard and Coleridge.

Oswald Bayer would be the perfect subject for a PhD on Christian theological hermeneutics.

WHICH AMBITIOUS PUBLISHER IS GOING TO BE THE FIRST TO TRANSLATE BAYER'S WORK?

Dear Ealing students

Here are some links to Cardinal Ratzinger – Pope Benedict – on faith and reason, secularity and the public square

On Europe's Crisis of Culture

At Regensburg Faith, Reason and the University (Three Stages in the Program of De-Hellenization) and responses

We’ll be covering some of the issues set out in chapters 4 and 6 of Fides et Ratio

And see also George Weigel On Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures

Sandro Magister Habemus Papam

and see the articles at Ignatius Insight

On Christian worship see

The Theology of the Liturgy

How should we worship? To the priests of Albano Diocese

You can see my summary of our very own Archbishop of Canterbury on faith and the public square

See also Secularism, Faith and Freedom at the pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Rome

and see the other Rowan Williams links on this blog

If churches do not really need each other or owe each other anything, the Church is a voluntary association, and each congregation just a club of individuals. But this is not how it is. The Church is created by God – baptism is the act of God – and the baptism of each Christian is a gift of God to all of us. Similarly, through the eucharist each church participates in the whole Church. By this baptism into eucharistic participation in the whole Body of Christ, the communion of the church is renewed. This communion is an entity of love, and as such it is a union and a unity. It is love made visible, for the world to see. The faithfulness and mutual subordination of all Christians, and of each congregation to every other, is Christ’s act, sustained so the world can wonder at it.

Each church (and each Christian) participates in the whole Body of Christ by receiving from, and giving to, each other part of the Body of Christ. Each part owes every other part no less than everything. The whole Church, and each part of it, owes all others all the gifts it receives from Christ, whether gifts of instruction, formation and discipline.

If this is so the whole Anglican communion has to ask the innovating churches to help us to show us how to receive what they have proposed. They have to help us see how their act is an act of love. They need to give us the instruction and discipline (and receive from us the instruction and discipline) that makes us one communion.

We can all offer the Church new ways of being Christian, of course. But we have to argue for them and persuade others of their rightness. This involves showing that they are not utterly new, but that they stem from the existing corpus of Christian self-understanding in some way. They are not so much innovations as re-interpretations. The church that is proposing a new interpretation has to argue that it is the proper evangelical interpretation of Christian teaching for the particular circumstances in the particular part of the world to which this particular part of the Church is called to be a witness.

It must be the very basic presumption of all Christians that, because we belong to Christ, we belong to one another and must desire to travel together and stay in step with one another. The Communion must communicate. We owe an account of our action to every part of the Church. We must always explain what we are doing and seek to persuade others of its rightness. But for a part of the Anglican church – the part we may call liberal – this no longer seems obvious. Now this is a problem.

No Lack of Love - the Fulcrum sermons of Oliver O'Donovan

The Thomas International is the first stage in the establishment of a new Christian/Catholic university. It is offering conferences, courses, teaching material, links - inspiration and aspiration aplenty.

So far it has set up the Ralph McInerny Center for Thomistic Studies

The purpose of the Ralph McInerny Center for Thomistic Studies is to foster a renewal of Thomistic studies in the contemporary world. Today, in a culture that has lost unity of knowledge and faces new challenges of relativism and nihilism, on the one hand, and of globalization, on the other, Thomas Aquinasâ??s life and thought set the right direction for a revival of truth in ethics and metaphysics. The Ralph McInerny Center aims at promoting a strong and accurate rereading of Aquinasâ?? philosophy and theology but, at the same time, it aims at making Aquinasâ?? thought fruitfully converse with contemporary culture, especially in the areas of bioethics, legal theory, economics, political theory, literature, science, and sociology.

Why Aquinas?

Aquinas is the cornerstone of Catholic thought, not just for his doctrine, but for his fidelity and prayer; for his constant and humble attitude of inclusion instead of exclusionâ??always open both to the truths coming from the faith and to those coming from every other thinker and tradition. He did not create a philosophical or theological systemâ??from which eventually some truth, either natural or supernatural, would have been ruled out; rather, he was always ready to welcome new philosophical insights, and to see the constant need for finding harmony between them and the depositum fidei. Thomism is not just one out of many Christian traditions of thought; it is the only safe home where every sincere Christian intellectual can find comfortable refuge and establish the constructive dialogue with other thinkers which leads to the truth.

Aquinas is the model of Catholic thinkers also because he was an authentic citizen of his time: the Medieval Renaissance. He traveled all around the XIII-century world [Europe] more than most of his contemporaries. He gave refined and remarkable answers to the most difficult political, legal and ethical issues debated in his culture. Due to his exceptional problem-solving capacity, he was asked to accomplish (or give advise for) difficult political missions and legal tasks; he was even executor of a will. Indeed, his knowledge of law and politics matched his knowledge of theology and philosophy. Today, in a culture that has lost unity of knowledge and is far from being universal; in a society that has to face the new challenges of relativism and nihilism, on the one hand, and of globalization, on the other, Aquinasâ??s life and thought set the right direction for a revival of truth in ethics and metaphysics.

After Aquinas, his spirit has lived over the centuries through other exceptional people who not only studied what he wrote, but incarnated his same love for God and for â??the world and its values;â?? people with the same â??courage of the truth,â?? â??freedom of spirit in confronting new problems,â?? and â??the intellectual honesty of those who allow Christianity to be contaminated neither by secular philosophy nor by a prejudiced rejection of it;â?? people who pass as well â??into the history of Christian thoughtâ?? as pioneers of the new paths of â??philosophy and universal cultureâ?? (Fides et Ratio, 43) and who keep Aquinas alive for the generations to come. These people connect the past to the future by leaving behind them, not just their priceless writings, but also many good students and young scholars trained in fidelity to the Church, intellectual freedom, open mindedness, and respect for diversity: â??by their fruits you will know themâ?? (Matthew 7:20). In our recent history, we can think of Cornelio Fabro, Etienne Gilson, Jacques Maritain, and Ralph McInerny. These â??Thomistsâ?? have always had greater love for the tradition than for themselves: they have looked to each other, respected each other, worked with each other. Thomistic tradition cannot do without these authentic Thomists, and should stick to them if it wants to go on steadily through the centuries.

McInerny Center for Thomistic Studies

Thomas International makes a substantial contribution to the list of institutions in this blog's 'Theology and the university' category. Now if we could reproduce just a fraction of this effort in London, even just a little colony of TI, CUA, Notre Dame... Anybody?

I have just had a look around the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family in Melbourne

Here is the curriculum for the Masters in Sacred Theology

The Human Person Being, Knowing and Choosing Philosophical Foundations of Bioethics St Thomas for the 21st Century Nature and Method of Theology Biblical Theology of Marriage and the Family Marriage in the Catholic Tradition Theology of the Family as the Domestic Church Theology of the Body Theological Anthropology Vatican II, John Paul II and Recent Catholic Thought New Evangelization in Post-Modern Culture Themes in Systematic Theology Foundations of Christian Moral Life Virtues, Norms and Happiness Theology and Practice of Natural Family Planning Social Science of Marriage and the Family Psychology and Pastoral Care of the Family Politics of Marriage, Family and Life Educating in Sexuality, Marriage, Family and Life Authority and Freedom

Being, Knowing, Choosing? Authority and Freedom? Redemption of Sexuality? Happiness?

Wow. I’m off to Oz to get my education started at last.

The Church isnâ??t arguing that gay parents shouldnâ??t be allowed to adopt, or even that the state shouldnâ??t place children with gay couples. As Notre Dame law professor Richard Garnett points out, the Church is merely asking for an exemptionâ??an exemption allowing it the freedom to continue to place children; an exemption that wouldnâ??t force it into the dilemma of either violating its own conscience or having to close its adoption programs.

In this case, the religious believers are clearly on the side of conscience and freedom, while secular liberals are promoting a state-imposed moralism that coerces everyone, at least everyone who desires to cooperate with the state for the common good. Thus, the Anglican archbishops of Canterbury and York, in solidarity with their Catholic brethren, wrote to Blair: â??The rights of conscience cannot be made subject to legislation, however well meaning.â??...

From the Churchâ??s perspective, it would not be unjust for the state to prohibit the adoption of children by gay parentsâ??a child has a natural right to a mom and a dad. Itâ??s simply that in this case the governmentâ??s view is on the other side of the issue. And so the best the Church can hope for is a compromise of live and let live.

But this compromise will not be madeâ??for those on the side of gay rights, convinced of the truth of their argument, will not settle for it. Nor should they. The law doesnâ??t really imagine that Catholic adoption agencies are somehow preventing gay and lesbian couples from adopting elsewhere. The proposed law is, instead, a device to rebuke the Church, to tell the Church that its teachings about homosexuality and marriage are false, a way for gay-rights activists to attack Christianity under the mantel of nondiscrimination...

The stance that the government takes toward same-sex marriage will have implications not only for state marriage law but much elseâ??including religious liberty. Legal moralists on the left wonâ??t have it any other way.

Ryan T. Anderson Moralism and the UK Adoption Laws

And then read Maggie Gallagher on the coming conflict between same-sex marriage and religious liberty

Just how serious are the coming conflicts over religious liberty stemming from gay marriage?

"The impact will be severe and pervasive," Picarello says flatly. "This is going to affect every aspect of church-state relations." Recent years, he predicts, will be looked back on as a time of relative peace between church and state, one where people had the luxury of litigating cases about things like the Ten Commandments in courthouses. In times of relative peace, says Picarello, people don't even notice that "the church is surrounded on all sides by the state; that church and state butt up against each other. The boundaries are usually peaceful, so it's easy sometimes to forget they are there. But because marriage affects just about every area of the law, gay marriage is going to create a point of conflict at every point around the perimeter.

How much of the coming threat to religious liberty actually stems from same-sex marriage? These experts' comments make clear that it is not only gay marriage, but also the set of ideas that leads to gay marriage--the insistence on one specific vision of gay rights--that has placed church and state on a collision course. Once sexual orientation is conceptualized as a protected status on a par with race, traditional religions that condemn homosexual conduct will face increasing legal pressures regardless of what courts and Congress do about marriage itself.

Nevertheless, marriage is a particularly potent legal "bright line." Support for marriage is firmly established in our legal tradition and in our public policy. After it became apparent that no religious exemption would be available for Catholic Charities in Massachusetts, the church looked hard for legal avenues to continue helping kids without violating Catholic principles. If the stumbling block had been Catholic Charities' unwillingness to place children with single people--or with gay singles--marriage might have provided a legal "safe harbor": Catholic Charities might have been able to specialize in placing children with married couples and thus avoid collision with state laws banning orientation discrimination. After Goodridge, however, "marriage" includes gay marriage, so no such haven would have been available in Massachusetts.

Precisely because support for marriage is public policy, once marriage includes gay couples, groups who oppose gay marriage are likely to be judged in violation of public policy, triggering a host of negative consequences, including the loss of tax-exempt status. Because marriage is not a private act, but a protected public status, the legalization of gay marriage sends a strong signal that orientation is now on a par with race in the nondiscrimination game.

Maggie Gallagher Banned in Boston: The coming conflict between same-sex marriage and religious liberty and see Marriage Debate for Marriage and the Law: A Statement of Principles

What if marriage really is an essential core institution of American society, a close kin in importance to private property, free speech and free enterprise, public education, equal protection of the law, and a democratic form of government? How then should law and society treat marriage?

Doctrinal clarity is lost when Catholics call Protestant hereticsâ?¦ First of all, I wish to stress that I am not trying to ban the word heresy by Catholics when speaking of Protestants out of some wishy-washy ecumenical latitudinarianism, as if dogmas are merely matters of opinion without objective truth value of their own. Nor I am denying that there are genuine doctrinal disputes that have become church-dividing. I have no doubt that the prospect of eventual ecclesial unity can only be achieved when, among other milestones, consensus is reached about the dogmas that separate Christians.

When the Western Church fissiparated in the sixteen century, the Reformers took a portion of the essential patrimony of the Church with them, and they thereby left both the Roman Church and themselves the poorer for it. I wish I could come up with a term that Catholics could use when they want to speak of the church-dividing doctrines of classical Protestantism without having to be either insulting or falling to the trap of â??anything goesâ?? latitudinarianism. But I canâ??t. Canon law unfortunately only recognizes schism and heresy, the former being a refusal to recognize duly constituted church authority without any attendant doctrinal deviation (like the Donatists in Augustineâ??s time), while the latter term is applied to those who explicitly deny key doctrines of the faith, however conceived, and whether theyâ??ve abjured their membership in the Church or not.

All I can say is this: We live in strange times when I find greater doctrinal fellowship among many Protestants than I do among far too many Catholic theologians!

Edward T. Oakes, S.J. Are Protestants Heretics?, in which Oakes takes apart Roger Haight (whose 'Jesus: Symbol of God' was the doctrine textbook at one London Anglican ordination course). Oakes followed this by:

I meant my reflections merely to serve as a trial balloon in my search for a better word than heresy to describe the doctrinal differences that are still outstanding between Catholics and Protestants; and given my own confusion on the matter I am neither surprised nor dismayed that reaction was heated. At the very least, the controversy will give me a chance to try to get my own mind clear on the exact meaning of such terms as heresy, dissent, schism, ecumenical dialogue, and so forthâ?¦.

I fear that unless we get clear about what heresy is and is not, then either doctrinal rigor will be lost or the prospect of ecumenical progress will be scuppered by a too-sweeping and too-univocal application of the word heresy.

Edward T. Oakes, S.J. On Heresy: A Final Word

Recent months have seen renewed interest by the British Government in developing a long-term policy for Universities, especially in England and Wales. The proposed changes to the structures of the universities, although recognising the need for diversity of provision and for a striving for excellence in academic achievement at all levels, nevertheless do not open the question of the role of the universities in the shaping of national life, in the formation and understanding of what it is to be human, and in the preservation and study of what is most precious in our history. If there is a strong emphasis on what it means to strive to extend the frontiers and boundaries of knowledge, nowhere to be found is the asking of the questions â?? what is knowledge, what is wisdom, what is truth, and how are we to live in truth?

In 1997 the Bishops of England and Wales reminded us that â??the basic understanding of education [is] human development . . . at the heart of it is a human being within whom as far as human willfulness allows, the creator will perfect the image of his divine Sonâ??

* * *

The Bishops have already noted that the radical dissolution of a sense of the human person as standing at the centre of the practices of formation in pedagogy is co-extensive with the â??development of postmodernist thoughtâ??. The intellectual tendencies named by this term all in different but related ways represent, as the Bishops acknowledge, a dissolution of an understanding of the truth, and by this very fact, indicate (albeit negatively) the fundamental relation between an understanding of truth and the enquiry into the human person. In bringing to light the very shape of the human person not only in his or her capacity for economic and technical success but also to live a moral life, concerned with and for what it means to dwell with and seek the good of others, the question of the origin and final end of this person who emerges as the holder of human wisdom is posed. Here it is that theology engages with all the turmoil and questioning of human life and enquiry, and here even more that theology is shown to have a place â?? a central one at that â?? in the home of the sciences, the university itself.

The Society of St. Catherine of Siena - The Vocation and Formation of Theologians and the Teaching Office of the Bishop in the British Context

Many months ago I promised you a series on Oliver O'Donovan. At last, here it is. This piece discusses O'Donovan's Fulcrum sermons and offers a little theological context. It starts below, and is linked to the rest of the paper on 'Resources for Christian theology', with links to the sermons themselves. Next is a piece on O'Donovan's 'The Ways of Judgment'.

* * *

Oliver O'Donovan is one of the most exciting theologians in the UK. He writes on current issues, like bioethics, just war, sexuality and the church. But his great strength, and the source of his evangelical authority, is his ability to show us how Christians in different periods of history have dealt with the very same problems that face us now. He is able to summarise the hard-won experience of Christians of different centuries, so we can see the intellectual resources available to us. He has just published a series of seven ‘Sermons on the issues of the day’ on Fulcrum. They are master-classes in Christian discernment. Sexuality and the unity of the church are the issues of the day, and the whole package of Christian wisdom will enable us to tackle these issues together and grow in truth and love as we do so.

O'Donovan tells us that it is an extraordinary privilege to be a Christian disciple, and so to be witnesses of God for the world. All of us are learning what this discipleship means. Discipleship is never likely to be easy, so we will get no glib answers here. What O'Donovan wants us to know is that Christians have met such tough issues many times before, and have developed good practices for thinking them through. To do so we have to explore the whole back catalogue of Christian discipleship. We will have to listen to alternative views, and this demands patience, but confidence in the Christian tradition will give us the patience we need. O'Donovan himself listens very seriously to what the other side is saying. He is a strong advocate of the traditions of the public square which allow a real exchange of views to take place.

Momentous issues of Christian truth and church unity have merged around the single issue of sexuality. In these sermons O'Donovan shows us from the history of ideas of nature on one hand, and of creation and redemption on the other, why this has happened. But these are not the sermons of a heterosexual telling homosexuals what to think: we are not being told that homosexuals are wrong – or right. O'Donovan is inviting us all, regardless of what side of the issue we believe ourselves to be on, to ask what is the distinctive thing about Christians who are also homosexual. What is the particular contribution to the Christian life, and witness to the world, of the struggle of the homosexual Christian? We all have something to learn about being Christian here.

One other thing before we begin. O'Donovan is an evangelical theologian. He says that we have to offer the whole gospel to our contemporaries through preaching and teaching Jesus Christ. Life with Christ and in the communion of his church is better than life without. So Christians do not need to construct their identity from scratch, so there is no reason why they should sound desperate. Christian emphasis on talking straight, in truth and love, is also good for society, because it makes for an open, we could even say, a more reasonable, society. This short-term and medium-term offering of the gospel in word and act results in a healthier society and increased opportunity to discover the huge definition of human being that the gospel sets out. Christian reasoning is evangelical. Disciplined by the gospel, the Church takes responsibility for the society to which it is sent. This witness is not always welcome, of course, but when society seems determined to close down on itself, it is the graciousness of God to a whole society.

No lack of love – the Fulcrum sermons of Oliver O'Donovan

Professor Paul Bradshaw has very kindly offered to host a new series of three Deep Church ecclesiology seminars. These will continue to explore the resources of the whole Christian tradition for contemporary church worship and life

Friday 16 February, Friday 30 March, and Friday 11 May, 3-5pm at Notre Dame’s London Centre

16 February Alan Brown – ‘Orthodox and Evangelical?’ Alan is on the management team of the Cambridge Orthodox Institute. He is author of ‘The Intellectual Debate between Pagans and Christians in the Fourth to Seventh Centuries’ (Cambridge Histories) and is presently writing on the relationship between Christian theology and Christian spirituality.

30 March Bernd Wannenwetsch – ‘Worship as public and political act’ Bernd is lecturer in Christian ethics at Harris Manchester College Oxford, and is author of ‘Political Worship: Ethics for Christian Citizens’ and ‘Liturgy as Politics – Politics as Liturgy’.

11 May David Hilborn – ‘Why should evangelicals be Anglican?’ David is Director of Studies and acting Principal of the North Thames Ministerial Training Course. Previously he was the Evangelical Alliance’s Theologian, convenor of the Alliance Commission on Unity and Truth among Evangelicals, and editor of ‘Evangelicalism and the Orthodox Church’.

These seminars are open to anyone in Christian ministry or theological study in London. If you would like to come to any one of these please email using the address in 'About Us'

The Book of the Series – We hope to launch ‘Remembering our Future: Explorations in Deep Church’, edited by Luke Bretherton and Andrew Walker, the collected papers from the last Deep Church series, at one of these seminars.

Fulcrum Conference Islington London Friday 27 April 2007, 2:00pm to 9:00pm

Being Disciples

Conference Speakers:

Dr Rowan Williams Archbishop of Canterbury

Dr Elaine Storkey Senior Research Fellow, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, Chair of Fulcrum and President of Tearfund

I wonder who gave them that title? Disciples and discipleship is just what is required when attempting a little Christian theology in London

There is still a fair flow of publications from those who studied under Colin Gunton at Kings College London. I have been meaning to introduce each of these to you properly, but the months slip by, so here is a short list.

Justyn Terry's The Justifying Judgement of God: A Reassessment of the Place of Judgement in the Saving Work of Christ, in which Karl Barth plays a fair role, has just appeared from Paternoster.

Peter S. Oh's Karl Barth's Trinitarian Theology: A Study in Karl Barth's Analogical Use of the Trinitarian Relation examines Barth on analogy, and suggests that another look at Kierkegaard, from whom Barth learned his antipathy to analogy, would show that analogy is intrinsic to a theology of persons, and then goes on to develop this insight into a whole ecclesiology. It has an introduction by Christoph Schwöbel. Tough conceptual stuff, but the theological gain is real enough.

Then coming from T&T Clark in May 2007 is Iain Taylor's Pannenberg on the Triune God.

Colin Gunton's own The Barth Lectures edited by Paul Brazier, and also introduced by Christoph Schwöbel, is out from T&TClark in July, as is Alan Spence's Incarnation and Inspiration: John Owen and the Coherence of Christology.

(Have you Gunton readers seen Hans Schaeffer Createdness and Ethics: The Doctrine of Creation and Theological Ethics in the Theology of Colin E. Gunton and Oswald Bayer ?)

Then two very important books from two friends of mine who studied Christian Ethics under Michael Banner

Brian Brock's Singing the Ethos of God: On the Place of Scripture in Christian Ethics is now out from Eerdmanns. Christian Scripture and the Christian community are in some kind of constitutive relationship (yes, apparently this is still news for the ethics crowd) then comes a good review of the best of recent theological-hermeneutical literature (Webster, Watson...), then finally Augustine, Luther and Brian Brock himself guide us the psalms, and in the hands of these masters our education really begins. Theology comes from worship and serves worship.

Very soon we will see Christopher Roberts' Creation & Covenant: The Significance of Sexual Difference in and for the Moral Theology of Marriage. I used to wonder why Chris was so concerned to show that marriage unites two people of different gender. Well I now I see why. In the last week in the UK I have heard just one or two Roman Catholic spokesmen quietly inform the British government and people that marriage - this man-woman covenant thing - is not a creation of the state, and may not be be re-defined on the whim of a government. Marriage - the union of two people of different gender is not only the foundation of all human society (and therefore of the state) but is the very premise of human being as such.

Brock and Roberts. I have been pilfering ideas from these two for years. For instance, I had no idea about the totus Christus until Brian pointed it out to me in Augustine. Nothing has been the same since.

And Michael Banner himself (now Dean of Chapel at Trinity, Cambridge) is one of the best kept secrets of British theological ethics. His Brief History of Ethics, unlikely to be brief, and might just be major, is out from Blackwells in the autumn.

In the last century especially, Anglicans have become more and more aware of the theological and spiritual resources of their brothers and sisters in the East; it is not too much to say that both the thinking and the piety of Anglicans would have been unrecognizably different without this growing and thankful awareness; and many of the ways in which we as Anglicans now seek a way forward for the unity and coherence of our own Communion have been shaped by the inspiration of the Christian East.

But in the last seventeen years, this instinct of common emphasis and purpose has been probed and tested at a new depth in the work of our International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue. The Commission has not sought to negotiate an agreed position between rival views; it has begun from first principles, reflecting at length on the foundations of the Church in the triune life of God and the interpenetration of divine and human nature in the incarnate Son, and has advanced from there to offer a fresh perspective on the challenges that we face today - within the Church itself and in relation to the world that is hungry for words of life from us. It is a document that seeks unashamedly to lay out the foundation for proclaiming good news to our world: a bold and inviting vision of God’s will for his Church that is more than just the record of an ecumenical encounter.

It reflects many dimensions of our indebtedness to the Orthodox theological perspective; and you, Your All-Holiness, have yourself been a powerful spokesman in East and West for many of the themes that come into focus here. You have taught us, as no other global church leader has, the imperative significance of a moral and spiritual understanding of our material environment as the natural outworking of our faith and participation in the communion of the divine persons. You have witnessed to the difficult task of holding diverse Christian communities together in charity and right doctrine without the sanctions of centralised control. And in this connection we are all sharply aware of how your leadership and witness is exercised in local circumstances of real difficulty and constraint. We wish to assure you of our strong support for you and your fellow - Christians in Istanbul and our continuing gratitude for your courage and clarity as a voice in the Orthodox world and in the Christian world in general.

Archbishop Rowan Williams Address at Evensong 30 January in the presence of the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, and the International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox for Theological Dialogue

The reason for all this ecumenical malarcky?

The Church, although one, exists as Churches (in the plural), and these Churches exist as One Church in and through constantly receiving one another as sister Churches John Zizioulas The Theological Problem of Reception