As I recall””my memory is anything but faultless, but I’m relatively confident about this””the primary conclusion that I drew from this statement was that, as a member of the Church of England, Lewis was neither Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, nor Anglican. Which even now seems to me a reasonable conclusion, given the information I had and did not have at the time. How was I to know that “Anglican” was somehow related to “Church of England”? And if you had told me that Episcopalians””of whose existence I believe I had some nebulous awareness””were also Anglicans, I would have had no idea what that could possibly mean.

In any case, as a new inquirer into Christianity, I thought that the book seemed worth reading, and bought it, along with another one chosen with even less knowledge: a paperback commentary on Paul’s letter to the Romans by one F. F. Bruce. And on the choice of those two books hangs quite a tale, as far as the course of my own life is concerned.

I do not want to be careless in generalizing from my own experience in gauging Lewis’s religious position, but if, as I suspect, it is indeed relatively common, I want to suggest that one significant reason for Lewis’s widespread positive reception in the U.S. involves simple ignorance on the part of American audiences of what it means to be a layman of the Church of England. That is, Lewis did not fit into the known landscape of American religious life: the ordinary American Christian had to evaluate his work on the basis of what information was available””primarily that he was a scholar at a prestigious university and a bestselling author””and on the ideas themselves. And it may be that such readers were better positioned to hear what Lewis had to say than people, like Hugh Trevor-Roper and the readers of Sheed & Ward advertising and J. R. R. Tolkien, who for very different reasons believed that they had knowledge external to the writings that helped them to place and fix Lewis in a field of possibilities already known to them. This is what I mean by my title: “the uses of ignorance.”

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A certain group of Catholic readers””let’s call them “Chesterton’s warrior children”””cannot imagine someone like Lewis writing the things he did and not converting to Catholicism at some point. And since they cannot grant the possibility that one can write like Lewis and be Protestant, they are forced to conjure up fanciful theories to explain Lewis’s Protestantism. The best example of this is the “Ulsterior motive” theory, which claims that Lewis never got over the deep-seated anti-Catholic sentiments of his youth. (These critics conveniently fail to note that his family never seemed to possess any strong anti-Catholic sentiments to begin with, given that their servants were Catholic and Lewis’s parents were not terribly committed to the more radical brands of Irish protestantism.) The warrior children manage to say this with a straight face, which is somewhat remarkable given that many of Lewis’s closest friends were, of course, Catholic.

Meanwhile, American evangelical readers tend to see Lewis as a proto-evangelical, a man utterly committed to classic creedal orthodoxy and utterly uninterested in delving any deeper than that. He is the mere Christian par excellance in their minds and represents a tacit endorsement of the evangelical tendency to avoid the thornier theological questions that usually prompt one to seek out a confessional identity of some sort.

Both readings, of course, miss the most basic fact of all about Lewis the Christian: CS Lewis was a conservative Anglican churchman. It’s perhaps fitting that amongst all the tributes, it the was the Anglican Alan Jacobs who made this point about Lewis’s identity while also drawing attention to its neglect amongst many of his readers.

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The House also discussed the next steps in the process for conversations around Human Sexuality. In its discussion the House noted that the process of shared conversations needed to demonstrate primarily how the Church of England could model living together with issues of tension, where members took opposing views whilst remaining committed to one another as disciples of Jesus Christ – members of one church in both unity and diversity. The House agreed to a proposed process and timescale for the conversations with regional discussions taking place over the next two years. The House also authorised its Standing Committee to sign off the final arrangements and materials.

The House concluded its meeting with a discussion of the place of the Church of England and its Bishops in public debate. The House heard presentations which emphasised the need for the Church develop its confidence arising from its well-developed and sustained levels of service to communities across the country. The House also heard of the importance of sustaining the place of Bishops and faith based organisations in the public square at a time when confidence in the wider political process was being eroded and the place of faith based values was being challenged. The House heard how the work of Bishops and the wider church in its provision of foodbanks, partnerships with civic society, chairing economic and policy reviews, living wage and credit union work demonstrated the role of the Church of England at both a delivery and strategic level in areas of civic engagement, community cohesion and social justice.

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Great Creator, source of mercy, we offer thanks for the imagination and conviction of thine evangelist, John Eliot, who brought both literacy and the Bible to the Algonquin people, and reshaped their communities into fellowships of Christ to serve thee and give thee praise; and we pray that we may so desire to share thy Good News with others that we labor for mutual understanding and trust; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

If you had been anywhere near the southern end of London Bridge… [recently], you might well have seen an unusual crowd of people emerging from one of the city’s oldest places of worship, Southwark (pronounced Suthark) Cathedral. Not just robed clerics from the Anglican and other churches and representatives of other faiths: there were also medical students of many ethnic and religious backgrounds and some of their teachers, plus a larger group of Londoners who were moved by the proceedings even if they did not very often frequent cathedrals.

What took place today was an annual service of thanksgiving, established in recent years to commemorate people who donate their bodies for medical teaching and research. For the families of some donors, it may be the first opportunity they have to acknowledge and celebrate their loved ones in a public setting. The service was in some ways quite conventional, with cosy old Anglican hymns such as “For all the saints, who from their labours rest…” But it also had some original features; medical students walked forward with flowers as a choir sang a “Funeral Ikos” or an anthem by the late Sir John Tavener, a religious composer who converted to Orthodox Christianity and was also interested in Sufism.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury tucked into a school dinner with pupils from St Luke’s School during his visit to Stratford and Canning Town.

He said that his trip, which was organised to show off the regeneneration in the borough, showed that the area faced both “huge opportunity and huge challenge”.

“I think it’s enormously exciting,” Justin Welby said. “I think there are huge challenges because you’ve got all this new building coming in, which is brilliant, you’ve got this extraordinary Olympic legacy and that gives a massive challenge of creating community and the community developing rather than becoming fractured as numbers grow and new people move in.”

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I am grateful to 24-7 Prayer who are again setting up and hosting a prayer space inside the Cathedral during the day time. 24-7 Prayer are also providing online booking facilities for one-hour sessions either in the Cathedral during the day time or for local prayer across the Diocese during the evening and night to ensure that we cover every hour of the week.

I ask you all to join with others across this Diocese and beyond in this great wave of prayer, for I am convinced that there is nothing that is impossible for a Church that is confident, compassionate and creative in the power of the Spirit and in union with Jesus Christ our Lord.

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The rise of the Internet means that lies and misunderstanding now spread around the world faster than the truth, Lord Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has warned.

An increasing reliance on instant communications, effectively means that people should expect their words to be routinely misinterpreted, he said.

It has also changed the way people communicate, making it less and less common for people to be able to see those they are talking to, he said.

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My final comment in the interview on Radio Nottingham was that cases like Jeremy Pemberton’s are forcing the collapse of the two realities at a pace no-one is ready for””so I think all sides would prefer that such cases do not arise. But the immediate question for the House of Bishops now is: do their statements actually mean anything? I hope they do, for many reasons, and I cannot see that it is in anyone’s interests for the bishops to be told (possibly by lawyers) that they are powerless to enforce Canon Law.

Prayer needed for all sides”¦

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Nigerians must take their destinies in their hands and reject candidates without credible pedigrees at the 2015 general polls, the Bishop of Lagos West Diocese of the Anglican Communion, the Rt. Rev. James Odedeji, said yesterday.

He asked Nigerians to “shine their eyes” and make quality decisions that will deliver the dividends of democracy to them.

Odedeji spoke while delivering his state of the nation address at the official opening of the 3rd session of the 5th Synod at Archbishop Vinning Memorial Church Cathedral in Ikeja.

The synod attracted delegates from the diocese, including Bishops and lay members.

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The proposed law allowing women to be made bishops has received a boost with a vote in favour by the Church of England’s London diocese.

In the key House of Laity the diocesan synod backed the law by 43 votes to 17.

The vote does not directly affect the final decision on the proposal by the Church’s general synod in July.

Read it all and you can read a diocese of London article here as well.

The decline of religion in sometime Protestant Britain is a matter of serious historical interest not because Britain is still a world power, but because it was the first country to enter modernity through the furnaces of the first industrial revolution and now lies with sometime Protestant Holland close to the epicenter of northwest European secularity. Interestingly the British pattern is reflected in Australasia, above all in New Zealand, which is England and Scotland geographically “upside down.” The other two closely affiliated societies, the U.S. and Canada, are sufficiently different in their religious patterns to continue to intrigue historians and sociologists working on comparative trajectories of secularization.

Nearly half a century has passed since I first raised questions about secularization as a universal trend and almost as long since I proposed a delimited theory of secularization pointing to sharply varied historical patterns even in its Western European epicenter. Since then the debate has shifted back and forth, with contributions in Britain by scholars like Grace Davie stressing mutation and the exceptional character of “secular Europe,” or Steve Bruce (like Simon Green in his new book, following Bryan Wilson) stressing irreversible and potentially universal decline and religious privatization, or analyses of contemporary spirituality by scholars like Linda Woodhead and Paul Heelas. Something depends on how broadly you define religion, and much depends on how wide you cast your net back in time and across cultures globally. However you look at it, Britain offers a major instance, either of the universal fate awaiting religion as a significant social force everywhere, or else of peculiar features shared with much of northwestern Europe. The debate could hardly be more fundamental.

Simon Green is a historian writing about the institutional death of Protestantism, particularly in its Puritan form as the most characteristic expression of English religion during the period between 1920 and 1960.

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Following the sentencing to death of a pregnant Sudanese woman for refusing to abandon her Christian faith, the Anglican Archbishops of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia are calling on all people of good-will to raise their voices in protest.

Archbishops Brown Turei, Philip Richardson, and Winston Halapua, say it is hard to find words to describe the plight of the woman. The Archbishops believe people across all faiths, who seek charity, love, and justice, will find the court’s decision hateful and heartless

Meriam Ibrahim and her Christian husband were married in 2011. They have an 18-month-old son. A court, in the Sudan capital of Khartoum, has sentenced Meriam to flogging for marrying a non-Muslim and to death for abandoning the Muslim faith for Christianity.

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The church in South Sudan is ‘leading the struggle against violence’ says Archbishop Justin Welby in this interview with Episcopal News Service

Read and watch it all.

What does “recognise” mean?

Listen to it all (about 4 1/2 minutes). You may read more Philip Richardson there.

The Anglican Church has agreed to look at ways same-sex relationships can be part of church life, but will not marry gay couples.

The church’s General Synod, held at Waitangi this week, has decided to uphold the “traditional doctrine of marriage” but work towards ways to recognise committed same sex relationships.

In a statement, the church said the Synod recognised the pain to the LGTB community, and apologised unreservedly for the times the church had contributed to that pain.

A working party will now be appointed to look at options for same gender blessings, while mindful gay marriage is still unlawful in some Pacific countries.

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The current-day church sits on the same patch of land as the original cathedral when it was built in 1848.

“Unfortunately in this area, there’s a river bed right down low and the old cathedral didn’t have good enough foundations,” says the co-ordinator of the cathedral’s guides, Lalage Gabb.

“In 1895 they decided to put heating in and they put in a furnace below ground, which dried-out the clay and caused the old cathedral to crack.

“In 1911, the Bishop wanted to replace the cathedral. If the present occupational health and safety laws had been in, the cathedral would’ve been closed because it was dropping bits off it,” she says.

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1. This General Synod/Te Hīnota Whānui resolves to appoint a working group to bring and recommend to the 62nd General Synod/Te Hīnota Whānui:

(a) A process and structure by which those who believe the blessing of same-gender relationships is contrary to scripture, doctrine, tikanga or civil law, will not be required to perform any liturgy for the blessing of same-gender relationships, will continue to have integrity within the Church, and will remain compliant with the parliamentary legislation within any relevant jurisdiction;

(b) A process and structure by which those who believe the blessing of same-gender relationships is consonant with scripture, doctrine, tikanga and civil law may perform a yet to be developed liturgy for blessing same-gender relationships in a manner which maintains their integrity within the Church, is compliant with the parliamentary legislation within any relevant jurisdiction, and can remain in communion under scripture, doctrine and law; including

(i) A proposal for a new liturgy to bless right ordered same-gender relationships;

(ii) A process and legislation (whether church or parliamentary) by which a new liturgy to bless right ordered same-gender relationships may be adopted…

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General Synod today passed a resolution that will create a pathway towards the blessing of same-gender relationships ”“ while upholding the traditional doctrine of marriage.

It will appoint a working group to report to the 2016 General Synod on “a process and structure” that would allow those clergy who wish to bless same-gender relationships ”“ using a yet-to-be developed liturgy ”“ to do so.

The working group will also be charged to develop “a process and structure” to ensure that clergy who believe that same sex blessings are contrary to “scripture, doctrine, tikanga or civil law” to remain fully free to dissent.

The “process and structure” in their case would mean these clergy would not only be exempt from performing these same-sex blessings ”“ but that their “integrity within the church” would be assured, and they would have full protection for their dissent in any relevant human rights legislation.

Synod has therefore upheld the traditional doctrine of marriage ”“ but also moved to find ways to respond to committed relationships between two people, regardless of gender.

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Nicholas, with wife Heather and children Samuel (aged 10) and Jessica (8), is planning to make the move this summer after 13 years leading St Luke’s, St Augustine’s and launching the Norwich Christian Meditation Centre in the city.

Nicholas will take up the role as an Episcopal Chaplain and be licensed by the Episcopal Bishop of Colorado to the multi-faith Aspen Chapel, 7,000ft up in the mountainous area of Colorado well know for its skiing and outdoor pursuits. The Episcopal Church in the US branch of the Anglican Church.

The Aspen area is also the home of centering prayer author Cynthia Bourgeault’s Wisdom School, whom Nicholas has previously brought to Norwich, and the contemplative Fr Tom Keating at the Benedictine Snowmass Monastery.

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The Primate of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, has advised the Federal Government not to yield to the demands of Boko Haram for the release of the abducted schoolgirls.

Boko Haram is reportedly demanding the release of some of its captured members in exchange for the abducted schoolgirls.

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The move for Canon Derek Waller, vicar of St Peter’s Church in Rushden, and wife Jane follows an invitation from long-standing South Sudanese friend Bishop Anthony Poggo to re-visit the country where they both worked in the 1980s.

Derek said: “Bishop Anthony invited us and our adult children to visit our old friends in South Sudan last year. It was a joyful time, as we renewed friendships and worshipped with local Christians.

“As we became aware of the many needs there, we felt a renewed call from God to serve the people and the church. There’s tremendous openness, joy and faith there.

“We realised how much it would mean to them if we returned.”

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The plan, going into this General Synod, was that half of Monday would be devoted to consideration of the Ma Whea? report ”“ and that by afternoon tea time, a course of action would have emerged.

Instead, synod wrestled until its dinner break with the questions of same-sex blessing and ordination ”“ and then asked its order paper committee to find a slot in today’s schedule to resume the debate.

Until that process has concluded, there’s not a lot more that can be said. Because after yesterday’s first session, in which the Ma Whea? Commission itself described its work ”“ all subsequent sessions have been in committee.

They’ve deliberated by diocese and hui amorangi, then by house ”“ and after afternoon tea, by synod as a whole. Each session in committee, with no observers present.

This much is evident, though: the synod is being urged not to ”˜kick the can further down the road’.

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Paul Barnett, a leading historian of early Christianity, investigates the period sometimes labelled the “unknown years” of Paul’s ministry (i.e. the 14 years between his Damascus Road experience and first missionary journey), in order to provide a foundation for interpreting Galatians. He convincingly accounts for Paul’s activities during that span, and offers a compelling interpretation of sections of Galatians based on his reconstruction.

Barnett refutes the assumption that Paul spent those years in Antioch and was formed by his experiences there. Where many assert that Paul’s view of the Christ was shaped by his interaction with pagans in Antioch (and so distorts a simpler, early Jewish faith), Barnett argues that Paul worked for eight of the 14 years in Tarsus, with hardly more than 12 months in Antioch. And during his extended time in Tarsus and Cilicia, preceding both Antioch and the first missionary journey, Paul was already preaching to Gentiles.

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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby warned on Sunday of the difficulties of negotiating with an “utterly merciless” group like Boko Haram, but called for active contact with the Nigerian Islamists over their abduction of scores of schoolgirls.

Welby has experience of negotiating with violent groups in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, and with a predecessor to Boko Haram around Maiduguri, the capital of northeastern Borno state where the group started out.

In an interview with BBC radio about the fate of more than 200 schoolgirls seized by the Islamist group last month, the archbishop said the girls faced a “colossal” risk.

“They’re in the hands of a very disparate group which is extremely irrational and difficult to deal with and utterly merciless in the example it’s shown in the past, and it must be a huge concern,” he said.

Read it all. The [London] Times also has Archbishop calls for talks with Boko Haram for those who have subscriber access.

Concern is growing for the future of Yorkshire’s oldest church buildings as traditional worship is adapted to cater for Christianity in the 21st-century and mounting maintenance costs force congregations to worship elsewhere.

Regional leaders of the Church of England have warned that they are increasingly being called upon to make ”˜weighty’ decisions on houses of worship across the region.

Recent years have witnessed a rise in parishes using schools, village halls and even the homes of vicars to host services as a cheaper alternative to the upkeep costs of crumbling historic buildings.

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Watch it all carefully and note especially the section beginning at 2:25 when he is asked about the American Government. “They’re not interested…”

Read it all and take up the challenge (w/thanks to Locusts and Wild Honey).

David (55) has been vicar of Cromer, Norfolk, for the past 11 years, is Rural Dean of Repps and is an honorary Canon of Norwich Cathedral.

Born in Norwich, he attended the local comprehensive school near his home on the Heartsease estate in the city. He studied electro-chemistry at the University of Southampton, conducting research into the structure and medicinal opportunities of sugar, achieving a PhD. While at university, he was introduced to the Church, and soon made a commitment to a life as a Christian. He became a chemistry and physics teacher at a rural comprehensive school in Oundle, Northamptonshire.

It was while teaching in Northamptonshire, and living in Peterborough, that he wascalled to the ministry though his parish church, and at the age of 29, began studying at Oak Hill Theological College in London.

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The Archbishop of York, Dr Sentamu, is being urged by charities and trade unions to endorse the idea of making the Living Wage compulsory.

Dr Sentamu chairs the Living Wage Commission, which was established last year to examine the impact of the wage since it was introduced in 2001, and the future of the scheme.

In an open letter before the Commission’s final meeting last week, the charity War on Want and the general secretaries of nine trade unions asked Dr Sentamu to ensure that the Commission recommends that the Living Wage becomes mandatory. It is currently set at £7.65, or £8.80 for those living in London.Read it all.