D. J. Taylor, a leading scholar on Orwell, has written a book that can be used as an introduction, as he gives us all the basic facts of Orwell’s life; but it will be more useful to people who already know something about him. Using Orwell’s life, and his writings and novels of the time, on which he is an expert, Taylor explores certain themes in depth. One of these is religion.

Although Orwell is known as an agnostic, he went, as Taylor points out, through a serious phase of Anglican Christianity. This is reflected particularly in the novel The Clergyman’s Daughter. It is a book that reveals a detailed knowledge of a particular kind of high but not Anglo-Catholic church, including a pious member who is always writing polemical letters to the Church Times. What is particularly interesting is the exploration of how the clergy daughter, once so pious, loses her faith.

I suspect that this reflected Orwell’s own experience; but he never lost his sense that there was in British life what he called a common decency, and he thought that this was due to the Christian faith. Orwell loved England and wrote movingly in praise of it. In The Road to Wigan Pier, he wrote that, in working-class homes where the man had a good job, “you breathe a warm, decent, deeply human atmosphere which it is not easy to find elsewhere.”

Read it all.

George Orwell was born on this day in 1903. If you were ever interested in his life and work, this new 2023 updated bio “Orwell: The New Life” by DJ Taylor has everything you’d ever need to know. Very detailed and utilizes new resources. Award winning biographer. #booktwitter pic.twitter.com/jgSZG2NuOr

— A Home Library | Book Reviews 📖❤️ (@ahomelibrary) June 25, 2024

And all clergy have taken public vows at ordination that they believe the doctrine of the Church of England, that they will uphold it, and that they will teach and expound it.

Do you believe the doctrine of the Christian faith as the Church of England has received it, and in your ministry will you expound and teach it?

Ordinands   I believe it and will so do.

This includes the teaching of Jesus on marriage which is expressed in Canon B30 and explained in the marriage liturgy.

How, then, can we be ‘undecided’? How can some believe one thing, and others another? It can only be that we have, amongst our bishops and other clergy, people who simply do not understand the doctrine of their own Church or, understanding it, think it is wrong. That is the problem we have. What is the solution to this?

Martyn’s solution is—as he says openly in his article—‘a spirit of generosity and pragmatism.’ In other words, to preserve institutional unity, we must pragmatically give up on the idea that we actually share common beliefs, that we expect clergy to be faithful to their ordination vows, and that we expect our bishops to believe and teach the doctrine of the Church they lead. But what kind of institution will that be? A husk, a hollow shell of a ‘church’, retaining its outward, institutional, form, but having lost its heart.

Read it all.

Unity matters in our debates about sexuality—and so does truth | Psephizo https://t.co/Q1Dwp6xsw1 via @psephizo

— Simon Sarmiento (@simonsarmiento) June 24, 2024

The head of the United Nations children’s agency, Unicef, says Sudan is one of the worst places in the world for children.

Catherine Russell says it now has the largest displacement of children anywhere, with millions facing malnutrition and most not in school

She is travelling to the country torn apart by more than a year of brutal civil war as warnings of famine grow louder.

The pillars of Sudan’s food economy have collapsed, and both warring parties – the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – are restricting the delivery of desperately needed aid.

Children were at the sharp end of this hunger crisis, Ms Russell told the BBC while en route in Nairobi: nine million don’t get enough to eat regularly, and nearly four million face acute malnutrition.

Read it all.

Millions of children going hungry in Sudan – Unicef https://t.co/eT49aHTHzz

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) June 24, 2024

The number of Islamic jihadist terrorists in Africa has increased tenfold, the head of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has told Fox News Digital. U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley, commander of AFRICOM, sat down on Sunday for an exclusive virtual interview with Fox News Digital ahead of this week’s African Chiefs of Defense Conference in Gaborone, Botswana.  

Langley covered, in a wide-ranging interview, the threats from China, Russia, and Iran, and gave insight into an apparent shift in U.S. military policy, particularly in West Africa, following Niger’s order that 1,000 U.S. personnel must leave.

On Islamic terror, the general said, “we’ve been monitoring and identifying indications and warnings for a number of years. Just for statistics, back in 2008 Islamic jihadists on the global scene, only 4% was on the African continent. Now that number is up to 40%. So, in executing AFRICOM’s mission of being able to provide indications and warnings, monitor and respond, is all for protection of the homeland.”

Read it all.

Top US general says Islamic jihadist terrorism in Africa has soared tenfold over 26 years: "back in 2008 Islamic jihadists on the global scene, only 4% was on the African continent. Now that number is up to 40%"https://t.co/ZDBMgsnsCC

— Andrew Bostom, MD, MS (@andrewbostom) June 24, 2024

Eternal God, we give thanks for the gifts that thou didst bestow upon thy servant James Weldon Johnson: a heart and voice to praise thy Name in verse. As he gave us powerful words to glorify you, may we also speak with joy and boldness to banish hatred from thy creation, in the Name of Jesus Christ; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
thou who hast brought us thus far on the way,
thou who hast by thy might
led us into the light,
keep us forever in the path, we pray.

-James Weldon Johnson pic.twitter.com/HWrKPVGfP2

— Jennifer Erin Valent (@JenniferEValent) June 21, 2024

O God, who hast taught us that in thy mysterious providence suffering is the prelude to glory, and hast made much tribulation the entrance to thy heavenly kingdom: May we learn from this thy will, and also from creation around us, to wait for our deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of thy children; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

St. Mary's Church, Ashwell,Herts #thetuesdaychurch #thephotohour #nikon pic.twitter.com/GVztLJMOlE

— Vantageimages (@Vantageima13554) June 25, 2024

What then shall we say about Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. So also David pronounces a blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin.”

Is this blessing pronounced only upon the circumcised, or also upon the uncircumcised? We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received circumcision as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but also follow the example of the faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

–Romans 4:1-12

"… in the Summertime"#HistoricBandOPondPark #AlmostHeaven #WestVirginia #Highlands #ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/p65xYDvGlb

— Thomas R Fletcher (@ThomasRFletcher) June 25, 2024