LATEST. The Archbishop of Canterbury announced at the Lambeth Conference on Sunday afternoon that using electronic devices to record bishops’ response to the Lambeth “Calls” was being discontinued for the rest of the conference
— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 31, 2022
Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your grace that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
May your weekend be as beautiful and magical as this scene from @BLMNational's Lemhi Pass in Idaho.
Photo by Bob Wick pic.twitter.com/qSV0QRednq
— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) July 30, 2022
Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Jo′ash the Abiez′rite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Mid′ianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Pray, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this befallen us? And where are all his wonderful deeds which our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Mid′ian.” And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Mid′ian; do not I send you?” And he said to him, “Pray, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manas′seh, and I am the least in my family.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall smite the Mid′ianites as one man.” And he said to him, “If now I have found favor with thee, then show me a sign that it is thou who speakest with me. Do not depart from here, I pray thee, until I come to thee, and bring out my present, and set it before thee.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them. And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and there sprang up fire from the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord is peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiez′rites.
–Judges 6:11-24
Serene morning on Cape Cod
🏖 #sunrise 🛶 pic.twitter.com/yzrWw3BktX— Darius Aniunas (@dariusaniunas) July 31, 2022
Archbishop Badi clearly stated: “The Communion is not well, and it needs surgery.” Their request to present their own resolution, along with the refusal to take Communion with unrepentant and false teachers, is the beginning of surgery, finally necessary for such a time as this. It is a last attempt to call the Church to repentance from teachings and practices contrary to the Bible, its clarity, and its authority. The Global South bishops share an understanding that the most important issue today is the need to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a whole Gospel for a whole person. This whole Gospel mission rests on the clarity and authority of the Bible for all Anglicans everywhere. The significance of reaffirming Lambeth 1.10 (1998) is nothing less than the reaffirmation of the authority of Scripture as the basis for everything in the Communion: faith, order, and mission.
The Lambeth Calls confusion, the elephant in the room of missing bishops, the broken Communion: these are the symptoms of a house divided, of two faces of Anglicanism, two Communions. In one Communion is loyalty to the idea of a messy family complete with infighting and divisions that must be expected, tolerated, and even welcomed. In the other is a vision for a family that strives to “be of one mind,” while doing the hard work of truly disagreeing, discussing, and above all praying for repentance and transformation. This family is a communion of churches held together on the basis of faithfulness to the one Father in Heaven, His Word, and all that He reveals about creation, humanity, and the freedom found in Jesus Christ alone.
“For too long the Anglican Communion has been driven by the views of the West. We often feel that our voice is not listened to or respected." Archbishop Justin Badi in GSFA’s announcement today: https://t.co/9qDXlJ2RPX #Lambethconference #LambethConference2022 pic.twitter.com/ZEkcMYv5BB
— Lambeth '22 Resource Group (@LCResourceGroup) July 29, 2022
It was in 1787 that he first decided to put down a motion in the House of Commons about the slave trade. This nefarious traffic had been going on for three centuries, and the West Indian slave-owners were determined to oppose abolition to the end. Besides, Wilberforce was not a very prepossessing man. He was little and somewhat ugly, with poor eyesight and an upturned nose. When Boswell heard him speak, he pronounced him ‘a perfect shrimp’, but then had to concede that ‘presently the shrimp swelled into a whale.’ In 1789 Wilberforce said of the slave trade: “So enormous so dreadful, so irremediable did its wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for the abolition…. let the consequences be what they would, I from this time determined that I would never rest till I had effected its abolition.
So abolition bills (which related to the trade) and Foreign Trade Bills (which would prohibit the involvement of British ships in it) were debated in the commons in 1789, 1791, 1792,194, 1796 (by which time Abolition had become ‘the grand object of my parliamentary existence’), 1798 and 1799. Yet they all failed. The Foreign Slave Bill was not passed until 1806 and the Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill until 1807. This part of the campaign had taken eighteen years.
Next, soon after the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars, Wilberforce began to direct his energies to the abolition of slavery itself and the emancipation of the slaves. In 1823 the Anti-Slavery Society was formed. Twice that year and twice the following year, Wilberforce pleaded the slaves’ cause in the House of Commons. But in 1825 ill-health compelled him to resign as a member of parliament and to continue his campaign from outside. In 1831 he sent a message to the Anti-Slavery Society, in which he said, “Our motto must continue to be PERSEVERANCE. And ultimately I trust the Almighty will crown our efforts with success.” He did. In July 1833 the Abolition of Slavery Bill was passed in both Houses of Parliament, even though it included the undertaking to pay 20 million pounds in compensation to the slave-owners. ‘Thank God,’ wrote Wilberforce, that I have lived to witness a day in which England is willing to give 20 million pounds for the abolition of slavery.’ Three days later he died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, in national recognition of his FORTY-FIVE YEARS of persevering struggle on behalf of African slaves.
— John R W Stott, Issues facing Christians Today (Basingstoke: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1984), p. 334
Died #onthisday 1833, knowing that the Slavery Abolition Act for which he had long campaigned was shortly to become law, William Wilberforce, MP for his native Hull 1780-4, and for Yorkshire 1784-1812 & Bramber 1812-25. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. https://t.co/kgE25wRliE pic.twitter.com/l0VcPMafEQ
— TheVictorianCommons (@TheVictCommons) July 29, 2022
Let thy continual mercy, O Lord, enkindle in thy Church the never-failing gift of love, that, following the example of thy servant William Wilberforce, we may have grace to defend the poor, and maintain the cause of those who have no helper; for the sake of him who gave his life for us, thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Today the Church remembers William Wilberforce (1759-1833), politician, social reformer & leading English abolitionist. His campaigning was instrumental in passing the 1807 Act abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire & the Act abolishing slavery in 1833. [MT1163.W5] pic.twitter.com/6kuhcdEhAU
— LambethPalaceLibrary (@lampallib) July 30, 2022
Grant us, O Lord, to pass this day in gladness and peace, without stumbling and without stain, that reaching the day’s end victorious over all temptation, we may again praise you, the eternal God, blessed over all things now and for ever. Amen.
"Let the beauty of sunrise keep your heart warm." #sunrise #sunrisephotography @ThePhotoHour @StormHour pic.twitter.com/EybasqqM5l
— Mystic Mel (@Melshenny1) July 30, 2022
For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up; but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another…
–Psalm 75:6-7
"Cloudy Sunrise at the Lake"#SummersvilleLake #AlmostHeaven #WestVirginia #StormHour #ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/DGETZrxV6R
— Thomas R Fletcher (@ThomasRFletcher) July 30, 2022
Archbishop Badi, spoke for them all when he said, “Today in Canterbury, we may be gathered together, but we most certainly cannot ‘walk together’ until provinces which have gone against Scripture – and the will and consensus of the bishops – repent and return to orthodoxy. The Communion is not in a healthy condition at present and only major surgery will put that right.”
Global South bishops say, 'We most certainly cannot walk together' https://t.co/8wAp7q0bB7
— Christian Today (@ChristianToday) July 29, 2022
The podcast argued that sexuality is the popular news hook for the Anglican wars, but that the doctrinal issues at stake run much deeper. Thus, I would like to place the unfolding Lambeth 2022 drama in the context of what your GetReligionistas have long called “Anglican timeline disease.”
With that in mind, let’s flash back to 1992 — that’s three decades, for those keeping score. Here is the top of the 1999 “On Religion” column I wrote about this behind-the-scenes event: “The time for broken communion?” This is long, but essential:
It’s been seven years since Bishop C. FitzSimons Allison faced the fact that some of his fellow bishops worship a different god than he does.
The symbolic moment came during an Episcopal House of Bishops meeting in Kanuga, N.C., as members met in small groups to discuss graceful ways to settle their differences on the Bible, worship and sex. The question for the day was: “Why are we dysfunctional?”
“I said the answer was simple — apostasy,” said Allison, a dignified South Carolinian who has a doctorate in Anglican history from Oxford University. “Some of the other bishops looked at me and said, ‘What are you talking about?'”
Many Episcopalians, he explained at the time, have embraced the work of theologians such as Carter Heyward, a lesbian priest, seminary professor and author of books such as “Touching Our Strength: The Erotic as Power and the Love of God.” Allison asked the bishops how they would deal with those who say they serve a god that is “older and greater” than the God of the Bible.
Some of the bishops said they either shared this belief or could not condemn it.
When the time came to celebrate the Eucharist, Allison knew what he had to do in this particular circle of bishops. He declined to share the bread and the wine, but didn’t publicize his act of conscience.
This brings me to news from Lambeth that is only a few hours old and, thus, hasn’t broken into headlines produced by major newsrooms. The headline at the Episcopal News Service proclaims: “Conservative bishops to refuse to take Communion with LGBTQ+ bishops, demand ‘sanctions’ for churches that allow for same-sex marriage.”
Here we go again: Growing Global South v. Western establishment at another tense Lambeth. Broken Communion is on the table. Is this news? https://t.co/2pM1zDsD79
— Terry Mattingly (@tweetmattingly) July 29, 2022
Speaking at their opening Press Conference of the Lambeth Conference, leaders of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) said they had taken the move after extensive requests to the Archbishop of Canterbury for a stand-alone resolution and, following the inserted reference to Lambeth 1.10 was withdrawn, on Tuesday, from the ‘Human Dignity ‘Call’. GSFA leaders claim that the Conference organisers have failed to recognise the foundations of ‘Lambeth 1.10’ which, they say, “is not just about sex and marriage, but fundamentally about the authority of the Bible which Anglicans believe to be central to faith and order”.
The GSFA will now table their Resolution and invite primates and their bishops to ‘sign up’. On Monday, senior GSFA representatives will seek to address the issue in the Plenary session on the Anglican Communion, making available the text of their resolution to all bishops, and providing secure means by which bishops can affirm their support. The GSFA is confident that leaders representing the majority of Anglicans across the globe will sign up. They will then present a signed copy by GSFA Primates, and others, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, inviting him to add his signature.
Lambeth 1.10 [1] was formally passed at the Lambeth Conference in1998, at which the majority of bishops agreed that marriage is between one man and a woman for life, and that sexual abstinence outside marriage is the Bible’s clear teaching.
Orthodox bishops at the Lambeth Conference – representing 75% of the Anglican Communion – announced today (29JUL) that they will be tabling their own ‘Lambeth Resolution (Call)’.
Read the full GSFA Statement here: https://t.co/9qDXlJ2RPX#LambethConference #LambethCalls pic.twitter.com/Ll0PZV1wVN
— Lambeth '22 Resource Group (@LCResourceGroup) July 29, 2022
My first real engagement with the Anglican Communion began 20 years ago this month when Wycliffe Hall, where I was a relatively new tutor in ethics, held a conference on the Future of Anglicanism. Following a call there from the then Primate of the West Indies, Drexel Gomez, I subsequently co-authored with Peter Walker, and the assistance of many readers, a contribution which we entitled True Union in the Body?. It sought to explore questions about sexuality (defending Lambeth I.10) and how to handle our differences over this (proposing as Windsor later did a moratorium and warning, sadly accurately, of the dangers if this was not implemented).
That title was purposefully a play on the language of “the body”. To an extent I had not then fully realised, it was the start of a conviction that these two question of the nature of true union in our created physical bodies (sexuality) and the nature of true union in the body of Christ (ecclesiology) are, in the travails of the Anglican Communion, themselves united to each other. When they gathered in 2008, the bishops of the Communion had a framework to help them seek to find a way forward but the details of that failed to be accepted. In 2016, the Primates of the Communion charted an alternative way forward, consistent with that framework. Now, in 2022, the bishops gathering at Lambeth have not been asked to work with that framework and the current calls appear to direct the Communion in totally the opposite direction.
There is the real risk that the tear in the fabric of the Communion which the Primates in 2003 rightly warned would happen, may now become even greater and finally rip the Communion into two separate, distinct ecclesial communions. We can only hope and pray that, as the bishops gather and pray and study Scripture and discuss, mindful that over 200 of their fellow bishops of the Communion (whose convictions on these matters are well known and so can be factored into the Lambeth deliberations) are already significantly separated, they will address honestly and theologically their differences over both sexuality and ecclesiology and be willing to be led by the Spirit rather than to continue to grieve the Spirit.
O God, heavenly Father, whose Son Jesus Christ enjoyed rest and refreshment in the home of Mary and Martha of Bethany: Give us the will to love thee, open our hearts to hear thee, and strengthen our hands to serve thee in others for his sake; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Sts. Mary, Martha & Lazarus lived in Bethany, outside of Jerusalem. Mary and Martha called on Jesus when Lazarus died & Jesus raised him from the dead. They are the patron saints of siblings.
(Image/Andrewrabbot/Wikimedia Commons: https://t.co/MXBLhli3MN) pic.twitter.com/pbO7MnFVAD— Diocese of Richmond (@RichmondDiocese) July 29, 2021
O heavenly Father, you have filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
‘Bora da’ 😄🏴🐑
‘Good morning’ 😄🏴🐑
Llun i godi calon ar fora cymylog!
Cheer up photo on a cloudy morning!@carolvorders @AledHall @hooson21 @Ruth_ITV @ItsYourWales @bootlegger1974 @StormHour @ThePhotoHour @1GarethWynJones @hawley_caroline @RealShanCothi pic.twitter.com/e04lF5vuZL— Llelo Gruffudd (@Llelo2801) July 29, 2022
Now after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Mag”²dalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. Lo, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Hail!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
–Matthew 28:1-10
Friday Morning Vibes at Minot Beach. @Met_CindyFitz @StormHour @365SouthShore @minotlight143 #ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/rQcUjmY1NK
— Brad Roberts (@DroptopGXP) July 29, 2022
Ronald J. Sider, organizer of the evangelical left and author of ‘Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger,’ died on Wednesday at 82. His son told followers that Sider had suffered from a sudden cardiac arrest.
For nearly 50 years, Sider called evangelicals to care about the poor and see poverty as a moral issue. He argued for an expanded understanding of sin to include social structures that perpetuate inequality and injustice, and urged Christians to see how their salvation should compel them to care for their neighbors.
“Salvation is a lot more than just a new right relationship with God through forgiveness of sins. It’s a new, transformed lifestyle that you can see visible in the body of believers,” he said. “Sin is a biblical category. Given a careful reading of the world and the Bible and our giving patterns, how can we come to any other conclusion than to say that we are flatly disobeying what the God of the Bible says about the way he wants his people to care for the poor?”
Ron Sider has died.
He was known for his advocacy for the poor and was called the “burr in the ethical saddle” of the white evangelical horse. https://t.co/AMJQ5lWLqi
— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) July 28, 2022
Kenya’s Wildlife and Tourism ministry says that climate change is now a bigger threat to elephant conservation than poaching.
Climate change killing elephants, says Kenya https://t.co/ncUhsuRzxb
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 28, 2022
According to Ian Paul, a member of the Church of England Evangelical Council, the process for drafting the Lambeth calls has complicated an already sensitive and divisive issue. He said the document with the calls came out last-minute and a member of the group drafting them said the wording had been changed without their knowledge.
“There are issues around the content, but I think there are really big issues around the process here,” Paul told PremierNews. “If you’re going to deal with something controversial amongst people who have different views, here’s the golden rule: No surprises. Put everything out in the open. Give people plenty of time. I think the real problem here is that everything’s come very, very late … that’s a guarantee to create misunderstanding and I think to create a lack of trust.”
The Lambeth Conference is convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury typically once a decade, but this is the first gathering since 2008 after the 2018 conference was postponed due to tensions over […Scripture, marriage and anthropology] and the 2020 event couldn’t be held due to COVID-19. It’s also the first to be led by Welby, who succeeded Rowan Williams in 2012.
Anglicans Drop Proposal to Reaffirm Traditional Marriage Stance https://t.co/4nExbtqcLC via @CTmagazine Anglicans have reaffirmed their departure from the gospel and the authority of Scripture.
— Stephen Davis (@DrStephenDavis) July 28, 2022
Revell Called as Rector of Christ the King Grace Church
The Rev. Roger L. Revell has joyfully accepted a call to serve as the next Rector of Christ the King Grace Church, Pawleys Island. With this appointment, Roger will be returning to his home state of South Carolina, having been born and raised in Rock Hill. Roger is married to Cindy, who is French, and they have two children: Audrey (age 4) and Hugo (age 2). Cindy has worked in the international development and relief sector for upwards of 15 years and is a trained Stephens Minister. After several years of work in electoral politics, followed by a stint in international business, Roger discerned a call to ordained ministry, which was confirmed by the church. He took his Holy Orders as an Anglican deacon and then priest in Canada and has served as a congregational pastor, church planter, and chaplain… Roger’s first Sunday as the Rector will be October 2, 2022.
The Latest Edition of the #Anglican Diocese of #SouthCarolina Enewsletter https://t.co/WEg8bjdYaX #parishministry #pawleysisland #clergytransitions pic.twitter.com/a8jY9JgV0K
— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) July 28, 2022
The Federal Reserve continued its campaign of rapid interest rate increases on Wednesday, pushing up borrowing costs at the fastest pace in decades in an effort to wrestle inflation under control.
Fed officials voted unanimously at their July meeting for the second supersized rate increase in a row — a three-quarter-point move — and signaled that another large adjustment could be coming at their next meeting in September, though that remains to be decided. The decision on Wednesday puts the Fed’s policy rate in a range of 2.25 to 2.5 percent.
The central bank’s brisk moves are intended to slow the economy by making it more expensive to borrow money to buy a house or expand a business, weighing on the housing market and economic activity more broadly. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said during a news conference after the meeting that such a cool-down was needed to allow supply to catch up with demand so that inflation could moderate.
ADVE
I've been doing this for ~a decade, and I can't remember another time when such a chorus of strategists/sell-side economists/close central bank watchers so bluntly said: "Nope. The market read the Fed wrong." https://t.co/Jy36gAlIEP
— Jeanna Smialek (@jeannasmialek) July 28, 2022
Almighty God, beautiful in majesty and majestic in holiness, who dost teach us in Holy Scripture to sing thy praises and who gavest thy musicians Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederick Handel and Henry Purcell grace to show forth thy glory in their music: Be with all those who write or make music for thy people, that we on earth may glimpse thy beauty and know the inexhaustible riches of thy new creation in Jesus Christ our Savior; who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer, 1750 https://t.co/zbvaNYoORR
Portrait of Bach by Elias Gottlob Haussmann (1748), in the Bach Archive, Leipzig (https://t.co/2hm7L965t8). Image: Public Domain via Wikimedia pic.twitter.com/eiQm3hKj0p
— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) July 28, 2022
O strong Lord God, Who wilt judge all mankind, grant to the exalted humility, to the desolate thankfulness, to the happy sympathy with sorrow; that so earthly eminence may become a stepping-stone to heavenly heights, and loneliness may introduce to the full communion of saints, and joy blossoming in time may bear eternal fruit. Be we high or low, prosperous or depressed, wheresoever, whatsoever we be, make us and ever more keep us well-pleasing in Thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)
Getting up at 2am wasn’t such a pain after all.
This was sunrise over Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland this morning. @Bamburgh_Castle @itvtynetees pic.twitter.com/iYrH1MK89F— PAUL KINGSTON (@PaulKingstonITV) July 28, 2022
In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty), and said, “Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who was guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in this ministry. (Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Akel′dama, that is, Field of Blood.) For it is written in the book of Psalms,
‘Let his habitation become desolate,
and let there be no one to live in it’;
and
‘His office let another take.’
So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsab′bas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthi′as. And they prayed and said, “Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two thou hast chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthi′as; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.
–Acts 1:15-26
Good morning from Caerlaverock Castle built in the 13th century .. Happy Thursday 🌎💙 from 🏴 #Scotland #goodmorning #photooftheday @StormHour @ThePhotoHour @VisitScotland pic.twitter.com/Oe7TsvVXng
— Dr.P_78Glasgow (@AbhaPaulina) July 28, 2022
The West and China could “miscalculate our way into nuclear war”, the UK’s national security adviser warned on Wednesday night.
Sir Stephen Lovegrove said Britain had “clear concerns” that Beijing was expanding and modernising its nuclear arsenal, adding that China’s “disdain” for arms control agreements was a “daunting prospect”.
In a hardening of the UK position, Sir Stephen warned that the world may no longer have the Cold War safeguards that prevented nuclear war with the USSR and raised the prospect of an “uncontrolled conflict” between China and the West.
He said the world was entering a “dangerous new age of proliferation”, with threats from genetic weapons, space-based systems and lasers.
“We should be honest – strategic stability is at risk,” Sir Stephen said in a speech at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “We need to start thinking about the new security order.”
🔴 The West and China could “miscalculate our way into nuclear war” with China, the UK’s national security adviser warned on Wednesday night https://t.co/wVNlUiPKfD
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 27, 2022
The event was postponed from 2020 because of the Covid 19 pandemic and takes place against a backdrop of global uncertainty – including the climate emergency, war and poverty.
Taking as their theme “God’s Church for God’s World”, the bishops will spend time praying and studying the Bible together (focussing on the book of 1 Peter) as well as discussing major challenges faced by their global communities – ranging from climate change and scientific progress to Christian Unity and inter-faith relations.
In a letter to delegates the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, described the conference as a “historic occasion” and spoke of Jesus’ call for his followers to be united.
He wrote: “Two years ago, we could hardly have believed the course of world events that was about to unfold with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This, along with the ongoing challenges like the climate emergency, war and conflict in many countries and the huge inequalities of our world, continue to have a deep: impact on us all.
IP: I really enjoyed this book—your crisp and clear style, extremely well researched and informed, and with some nice touches of dry humour. But as you say, you are not the first person to make this argument. You make particular note of Colin Buchanan’s Cut the Connection—but I am not sure he persuaded many people. Why will the case you make do better?
JC: Thank you. There’s no knowing whether it will do any better at all (there’s a short summary here). And Buchanan was a bishop whereas I’m a mere lay academic. But you yourself well understand how important it is to keep making arguments you are convinced are true and good for the Church even when you change few minds! Buchanan’s book appeared in 1994 and is still eminently worth reading, but let me note two ways I think mine goes beyond it.
One of my core arguments is also central to Cut the Connection, namely that even the surviving remnants of Establishment amount to distracting curtailments on the spiritual autonomy of the Church. I echo Buchanan’s call for the Church to become more aware of its remaining captivity to improper constitutional ties to the state. But I couple that with a wider argument from political theology for a religiously impartial state, and I derive both from a New Testament theology of ‘church and state’, spelled out in detail in Chapter 2 (‘A Theology of Disestablishment’). Buchanan’s book does not purport to offer any extended theological arguments, so I think mine complements his in this regard. I hope Anglicans can still be persuaded by theological arguments, or at least provoked to try to rebut them theologically and not only pragmatically. There certainly are pro-Establishment theologians who could give these core arguments a good going over, and I hope they will.
The other way in which I think my book goes beyond Buchanan’s is that I devote two chapters (5 and 6) to disputing the three arguments most frequently wheeled out in defence of Establishment. The first is the ‘concession to secularism’ argument (picked up below). The second is the ‘anti-neutrality’ argument: that disestablishment would only usher in some less desirable, privileged public worldview, such as secular liberalism. I argue that one can maintain a religiously impartial state without necessarily allowing any other worldview to rush in to fill the supposed vacuum.
The third is that disestablishment would amount to an abandonment of the Church’s historic ‘national mission’. This comes in two parts. The first warns of a retreat from the Church’s pastoral openness to all comers, and a (further) lapse into ‘congregationalism’ and ‘sectarianism’. I deconstruct these loaded, polemical and frankly partisan terms and show that disestablishment need not feed either of them (or, if it does, it’s no business of state law to prevent that). Disestablishment would not prevent the Church from remaining as pastorally open to all comers as it wished, but only secure elements of its spiritual autonomy that current arrangements compromise.
Cannot recommend reading Jonathan Chaplin enough. He’s like a Tim Keller & NT Wright all wrapped up in one – he teaches at Cambridge- one of the best conversations ever had on God, church & the moment we find ourselves in – his clarity of thought is brilliant pic.twitter.com/FFUyaXCsJo
— Bob Roberts Jr. ن (@bobrobertsjr) July 10, 2022
America’s small businesses can’t catch a break.
After two years of shutdowns and restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they’re straining to keep up with price increases without losing customers to larger competitors. They are struggling to keep positions filled as competition for workers remains at a fever pitch. And just at the moment that many business owners begin to recover and shore up their depleted savings, they’re worried that the Federal Reserve’s medicine for inflation will bring fresh hardship: higher borrowing costs and timid consumers.
Surveys show that small-business sentiment has taken a markedly pessimistic turn in recent months — even more so than that of professional forecasters and of corporate executives.
In June, the National Federation of Independent Business measured its lowest reading ever for economic expectations. The nonprofit Small Business Majority, in a survey in mid-July, found that nearly one in three small businesses couldn’t survive for more than three months without additional capital or a change in business conditions. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Index for the second quarter showed that inflation had skyrocketed to the top of owners’ concerns. Seventy-five percent of participants in Goldman Sachs’s small-business coaching program reported that higher costs had impaired their finances.
New from me: Small businesses got help to weather the pandemic, but keep taking hit after hit — from high prices to rising interest rates — and no more help is on the horizon. https://t.co/i8jxDb4H49
— Lydia DePillis (@lydiadepillis) July 26, 2022
Bishop Tim Thornton, Chair of the…Lambeth Calls Subgroup, said:
“We have listened carefully and prayerfully to what bishops and many others have said in response to the draft Calls, especially that on Human Dignity. Archbishop Justin has invited the bishops of the Anglican Communion to come together as a family to listen, pray and discern – sometimes across deeply-held differences.
It is our prayer that these Calls can offer a basis for those conversations – and that all of our discussions will be marked by the grace and love of Jesus Christ.
Please continue to pray for us that we may continue to listen, walk and witness together.”