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Some items from (mostly) liberal-minded blogs, focused on Anglican affairs.
For up to date news about the Anglican communion see Thinking Anglicans and Anglicans Online. More news links here.
MCU News
as at Thursday, May 8, 2008
Jonathan Clatworthy's new book
Liberal Faith in a Divided Church
O Books, publication date 27 June 2008, £14.99
You can order Liberal Faith in a Divided Church directly from the author. Make your cheque payable to Jonathan Clatworthy and send it to MCU Office, 9 Westward View, Liverpool L17 7EE, UK.
In UK: £14.99
Outside UK but within EU: £15.99.
Outside EU: £17.99.
The battle lines are drawn in what some believe will be the final showdown between liberals and conservatives in the Anglican Church. If the two sides can't agree, the cracks which began to show over the ordination of women may well become an unbridgeable chasm and the church will split. The catalyst is the row over the consecration of a gay bishop in America, but Jonathan Clatworthy argues that it goes deeper than that, to the very roots of Anglicanism itself.
Different theories developed at different stages to produce the mix of ideas we have today. The Reformation, the Enlightenment, the nineteenth century revivals and fundamentalism all produced their own ideas about the authority of the Bible, reason, the Church and individual experience.
Clatworthy believes that classical Anglican theology is by definition liberal. It affirms tradition but is open to new insights and humble enough to accept that our knowledge can never be complete or certain. The Church should be inclusive, welcoming, and open to debate, allowing differences of opinion to continue until consensus is reached. Conservative Christians see it differently; this book explains why the two views may well be irreconcilable.
Full details from www.clatworthy.org.
Only Connect:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead (1901 - 1978)
A sermon by Jonathan Clatworthy: Authority in the balance of Scripture, reason and tradition
Official Response by the Church of England to the Draft Anglican Covenant
Details and MCU response are here
The MCU response to the Listening Process by Jonathan Clatworthy is here.
The MCU Response to The Draft Anglican Covenant by Jonathan Clatworthy, Paul Bagshaw and John Saxbee, Bishop of Lincoln, has been circulated to members, to many members of General Synod, and to other liberal-minded church groups.
The Response and summaries are available here.