Dr Timothy Shah, senior advisor and director of the Religious Freedom Institute's South and Southeast Asia Action Team and research professor of government at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, challenged the notion that religious liberty required the evangelism of western liberalism in a public lecture for the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life on November 17.
Read moreAt present, I can say that I am thankful for my health and relative well-being, yet in the midst of a pandemic it almost seems as though just by stating this I am tempting fate. Indeed, so much for which we might consider giving thanks, such as jobs, homes, health, etc., are remarkably transient, especially in the current situation. Increasingly, much for which I give thanks seems to belong to the realm of memory.
Read moreMarinade the meat thoroughly in a mix of desiccating pejoratives . Take care to rub it in that most normal people over-estimate the richness of what is on offer .
Then set to one side for as long as possible.
In the meantime, mix a complex and intoxicating soup of "agape/eros/phileo/storge"- (it doesn't matter- any "love" will do) , sex and guilt . Do not worry too much about weighing or balancing what goes in .
Read moreThe Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer comprise the basic theological doctrines of the Anglican Communion. The Catechism or official doctrines are remarkably orthodox and could be enthusiastically embraced by Catholics, evangelicals, charismatics, and even Messianic Jews.
Read moreThe ritualistic exhibition of destructive behaviors in city after city is without precedent in America. Neither the civil rights demonstrations nor the protests against the war in Vietnam looked remotely like this. The differences demand explanation. Blame what you will on the usual bête noirs: ¬Donald Trump, cancel culture, police brutality, political tribalism, the coronavirus pandemic, far-right militias, BLM, antifa.
Read more4. What is needed is a journey of "love and faith", in which those who share the same faith in Christ but with a wide variety of views on sex and marriage walk together in learning and exploration, not confronting, but learning and exploring together in an attitude of mutual caring, being "open to the Holy Spirit who may provide surprises" (this phrase was used by a member of the LLF team in a recent Q&A session).
Now we have the initial response of the Anglican evangelical 'leadership' to the long awaited 'Living in Love and Faith' in terms of the press release from the Church of England Evangelical Council and a letter by poacher turned game keeper Bishop Rod Thomas - which confirm all the above.
Read moreFreedom, liberty and the brotherhood of all men, precious not only in France but throughout the western world, flow from Christianity. It's Christianity's insistence on a personal relationship with God and an internalizing of his moral demand on us that led to the primacy of the person and of conscience in western thought -- this is Larry Siedentop's insight in his Inventing the Individual.
Read moreOver the years I have observed numerous groups that call themselves "Christian" that simply aren't. Part of my "job," as it were, as a Christian theologian, is to examine groups and individuals who call themselves "Christian" to see if they deserve that (to me) honorable label.
(What I say here is, of course, only my own (hopefully informed) opinion.)
Read moreThe ACNA College of Bishops issued such a call five years ago in the Obergefell case concerning God's will for marriage. So far they have said nothing about Bostock.
I appeal them to do so again regarding the Bostock decision, which claims to redefine male and female in God's image.
Here is some proposed language, which of course they are free to amend.
Read more