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Email this page26 October 2007
Page 1
'Delighted' to address MCU conference, proud to be liberal, aware that we're fallible - Gene Robinson.
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Page 2
Who's who in the MCU.
The search for a truth that no-one can own - John Saxbee.
Questions can open our minds - Steven Shakespeare.
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Page 3
Struggle is on for the Anglican soul - the 2008 MCU Conference.
A still, small voice in a global storm - Paul Bagshaw.
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Page 4
Ray Gaston* at All Hallows Church, Leeds; A smart church with a radical message, 'people matter' - Charles Hedley* at St James' Church, Piccadilly - Betsy Grey.
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Page 5
Adrian Alker* at St Mark's Church, Sheffield; 'Through openness, struggle, laughter and prayer we discover the sacred' - Maggie Butcher* at St James' Church, Piccadilly - Betsy Grey.
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Page 6
If religion doesn't want to be seen as part of the problem it must work to be part of the solution - Alan Race.
Yes, there are liberal Christians on campus - Liam Purcell.
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Page 7
Strident atheists are the new fundamentalists - Richard Harries.
Beware of the Bible: it's the key to our understanding of Jesus. But he used scripture intelligently and so should we - Keith Ward.
Back with a vengeance, the curse of creationism - Paul Badham.
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Page 8
MCU Conferences: strong views, good friends, and healthy debate - Rosalind Lund.
The nocturnal prowl of the professor in striped pyjamas - Joan Dorrell reviews a history of theologocal education at Cuddeson by Mark Chapman.
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* Some articles had to be abbreviated for publication. The full accounts are here:
Adrian Alker
As floods of biblical proportions devastated low-lying areas of Sheffield in the summer, parish priest Adrian Alker had every reason to be thankful his house was on a hill. More precisely, on Broomhill, in the area west of the city once famously described by John Betjeman as "the prettiest suburb in England" ...
Maggie Butcher
Maggie Butcher's brief is to preach the sermon at the eucharist on a typical Sunday morning at St James's, taking as her text the church's mission statement. As it happens she's not impressed with mission statements as a concept, associated as they are with image-making and branding in the commercial world. "I'm allergic to them", she admits ...
Ray Gaston
Just before we meet, Ray Gaston reveals in his church newsletter that he has done his theological profile on the web-based Subversive Christianity 'blogspot'. This is how he looks:
Catholic 79%, Neo orthodox 71%, Emergent/Postmodern 54%, Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 50%, Classical Liberal 39%, Charismatic/Pentecostal 29%, Reformed Evangelical 25%, Modern Liberal 18%, Fundamentalist 0%.
Which is interesting, not to mention a bit depressing, because I thought I was going to meet a modern, liberal, Anglican priest ...
Charles Hedley
When it's time for the notices during the Sunday eucharist at St James's Church, Piccadilly, there's the usual list of parish happenings to report. Tickets for a forthcoming concert are now on sale, proceeds to be shared between Christian Aid and the church restoration fund; volunteers and contributions are needed for the summer bazaar; the patronal festival looms, at which there'll be a bring-and-share lunch in the garden "weather permitting".
So far, so very Church of England ...