Secondly, unless something almost miraculous happens, there will remain deep divisions over where those boundaries of legitimacy are to be drawn and over the implications for church teaching and discipline of drawing them in different places. Related to this are the questions noted above concerning our disagreement about the level of disagreement that we are having to navigate. Here the recent FAOC work must not be forgotten and in particular the implications need to be considered of its strong and clear statement (GS Misc 1406, paper 1, para 139), that 

it is a failure of Christian love for one side to declare what kind of disagreement is being experienced by the other. It must surely be the case that those who disagree with a given decision are themselves determinative of what kind of disagreement is in view, not the content majority. Those who dissent from the majority view or decision get to define the nature of their disagreement: if it is widely held that such-and-such a belief or practice calls into question apostolic communion or ecclesial communion, then the disagreement simply is a first- or second-order disagreement, regardless of whether the majority think it merely strains communion (third order).

This is the deeper problem with the approach of the amendment: it appears that those who conscientiously have come to a position which represents a rejection or expansion or development of traditional teaching seem to be demanding that those who are not convinced by their arguments should nevertheless accept that their view is now within a “legitimate range of theological perspectives” and/or that if a majority can be shown to hold this view as to what is legitimate then church practice needs to adapt to embrace the full range of perspectives. There is an attempt to jump from acknowledgment of an indisputable pluralism in reality (a range of views clearly exists) to a pluralism that recognises that range of views as acceptable, indeed, legitimate.

Thirdly, as noted in the first proposed amendment, part of the remit of the new group set up by the bishops is “pastoral reassurance”. This points to the fact that our disagreements over the previous two areas are such that some form of ecclesial reconfiguration will most likely prove to be necessary if any way is to be found, within the Church of England, for opposing views to be able to be officially approved and for the opposing sides in votes such as that this week in Synod, to be able to co-exist well, even flourish. This might be understood as institutionally enabling some recognised form of principled pluralism that comes to terms with both the pluralist reality and the impossibility of sufficiently widespread acceptance of that pluralism being formally accepted as legitimate within the current episcopal and synodical structures. 

It was the refusal of the bishops to seriously address these matters of “pastoral reassurance” or “good differentiation” that in large part contributed to the winding up of the LLF/PLF process. We could continue with a “head in the sand” refusal to grapple with the ecclesiological implications of our deep disagreements about discipleship and about the legitimate range of discipleship options the Church of England can recognise and bless. The experience of this last, short debate in this recent Synod is, however, a further pointer to the fact that if we do not face this question head-on and with honesty and theological rigour early in the new Synod then, barring a sea-change one way or the other in the election results, and perhaps also now in the House of Bishops, we are simply preparing for continued unresolvable conflict and pain in the next five years.

Read it all.

Andrew Goddard on the Helen King motion discussion at CofE General @synod 'This is the deeper problem with the approach of the amendment: it appears that those who conscientiously have come to a position which represents a rejection or expansion or development of traditional… pic.twitter.com/U3ZkfLUbBN

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) July 20, 2026

The United Kingdom on Monday installed Andy Burnham as its 59th prime minister, the seventh person to hold that position in a little more than a decade.

Burnham, a stalwart of the progressive Labour Party, is expected to bring his center-left perspective as a champion of the working class to address crises of social welfare spending, housing affordability and a sluggish economy. His election marks a major win against the rising tide of Reform UK – a right-wing populist party that has been compared to the MAGA movement in the U.S.

In remarks Monday, he said he was “acutely conscious” of the instability at the top of the British government in recent years and he pledged to provide an alternative.

“I know people at home are fed up with politics,” he said. “I hear you and I want to be honest with you: We have not been good enough and we need to be better.”

Read it all.

The Times
New Prime Minister Andy Burnham purges Starmer loyalists from cabinet on his first day, naming John Healey as chancellor and promising a fully funded package to cut energy bills.
Tuesday 21 July 2026
A look at #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Xqo6H9CKBa

— Andrew Clifford (@newcastlejourno) July 20, 2026

Patristics, theology, and right sense in public discourse lost a giant. On June 6 of this year, Robert Louis Wilken passed from this life at the age of eighty-nine. He leaves behind his beloved wife of sixty-six years, Carol, their family and loved ones, and many admirers who know him through his books. 

Before he was a prolific author, Robert was an avid reader. He loved books. In an act of great generosity, he emailed me on April 29, 2022: “The time has come to dispose of my library. Is it possible that the Dominican House of Studies would be interested?” My Pontifical Faculty at the House of Studies in Washington, DC was very glad to receive well over 1,500 books and other library materials from him. I told the librarians that if they saw underlining and marginalia inscribed in the books, they should realize that the books were made even more valuable. Those scribbles were the marks of Robert Wilken! 

Robert’s life traces a fascinating intellectual and spiritual journey. Raised in a devout Lutheran family, he wanted at a young age to go into ministry. After attending a Lutheran prep school in Texas, Robert went to Concordia Seminary in St. Louis where he studied under his early mentor, Arthur Carl Piepkorn. Piepkorn himself had done doctoral studies at the University of Chicago, and Robert followed his example. Robert became not only a Lutheran pastor, but also a well-trained professor specializing in the Fathers of the Church. In 1994, in the little St. Thomas Chapel of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., Robert entered into full communion with the Catholic Church. By doing so, he became one of the Catholic Church in America’s leading scholars. 

Robert held a unique place in the academy. No other person served as president of these three societies: the North American Patristics Society (1985-86), the American Academy of Religion (1989), and the Academy of Catholic Theology (2012-13). 

Read it all.

Robert Louis Wilken, who died yesterday, was a giant of church history. His work on early Christian thought is incisive & so well-written that it’s a joy to read. I assigned his books in my classes & met him on numerous occasions. A true scholar & a faithful disciple of Christ. pic.twitter.com/fvaAb5GDAA

— Ryan N. Danker (@RyanNDanker) June 8, 2026

Total civilizational collapse is unusual. In the West, ­continuity exists between the Roman past and our contemporary states, despite the invasions of “barbarian” groups. The Franks, that ancient people who settled Roman Gaul, were shaped by Roman culture into the people we now know as the French. But what about instances in which there is no continuity—in which a civilization vanishes, and all that is left is a layer of ash? This is what happened to Roman North Africa, a high civilization, distinctive but immersed in the broader Roman world. The heartbeat of this civilization, the African Church, has no living ­descendant.

The African Church was among the most intellectually formidable of early Christianity. Carthage is said to have had Christians in its streets during the Apostolic age. And no wonder: Carthage was a hub of the Western empire, perhaps second only to Rome in its cosmopolitanism. The early Church found it fertile soil. Carthage gave us Tertullian and St. Cyprian, intellectual giants who helped define the orthodoxy of the emerging Church.

Unlike much of the Latin-­speaking Roman empire, North Africa blended conflicting cultural influences. The dominant Roman culture was always present, but so was the older Punic civilization ­upon which Rome had built some centuries before St. Augustine of Hippo exemplified this cultural split, with his Roman father, Patricius, and his Punic mother, St. Monica.

Read it all.

The Sudden Death of the African Church – First Things https://t.co/aMx4pi30SB

— Allen Mendenhall (@allenmendenhall) July 20, 2026

The United States hosted the World Cup final on Sunday with the world watching — though perhaps nowhere more intensely than in Spain and Argentina, whose teams faced off at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Emotions ran high from Rosario, Argentina — the hometown of the superstar Lionel Messi — to Madrid, where white knuckles turned to fist pumps as the game wound down and Spain prevailed, dethroning the 2022 champions, 1-0, in extra time.

Read it all.

In the 2026 World Cup final, Spain stood for Europe, and Argentina represented the rest of the world. The Argentinean team, which won in Qatar, in 2022, is a great but flawed side, well into its autumn, inspired by providential causes. The Spanish team, by contrast, is obdurate… pic.twitter.com/w6udv7CWWZ

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) July 20, 2026

Almighty God, who in thy Son Jesus Christ hast called us in from the bondage of sin to be servants of righteousness: Give us grace to yield our lives wholly to thine obedience; that, being made free from sin, we may have our fruit unto holiness, and hereafter may be made partakers of the life everlasting; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things; for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things; and the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-a′ven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua, and said to him, “Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai; do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are but few.” So about three thousand went up there from the people; and they fled before the men of Ai, and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six men of them, and chased them before the gate as far as Sheb′arim, and slew them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

Then Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why hast thou brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth; and what wilt thou do for thy great name?”

The Lord said to Joshua, “Arise, why have you thus fallen upon your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant which I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, and lied, and put them among their own stuff. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become a thing for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in the midst of you, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies, until you take away the devoted things from among you.”

–Joshua 7:1-13