The Modern Churchpeople's Union
The Covenant pages
We think the proposed Anglican Covenant is a bad idea.
This collection of linked pages explains the issues and background, and why it will not create open, forward-looking, twenty-first century churches.
About us
Modern Church is a membership organisation open to anyone who shares its ethos.
We hold an annual conference, produce a quarterly academic journal and members' magazine, publish books and pamphlets, maintain this website, and encourage local groups.
If this sounds like you, why not join us?
Resources
We have a growing collection of articles, poems, talks and worship resources and an updated list of links to other sites.
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Email this pageIt got solved by reasonable definitions and logical inferences based on common experience. That's what one can expect metaphysics to deliver, and it is far from a trivial result. For more, you'll need faith in revelation.
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Ship of Fools
Women bishops
and valid sacraments
Jonathan Clatworthy
The Church of England's current proposal to permit women bishops raises once again the question of theological objections. When the ordination of women to the priesthood was discussed in the 1970s and 1980s, theological claims were made on both sides. This time there has been more emphasis on seeking a system which satisfies as many as possible; it is as though nobody any longer expects resolution of the theological disagreements. Opponents of women priests continue to believe their objections have not been met; supporters still find it difficult to understand them.
This article focuses on a central concern of opponents, the conditions for the validity of the sacraments, expressed for example in Simon Killwick's article in the Church Times in July 2010. My aim is to undermine this concern by describing the historical origins and theological weaknesses of the idea...
Events for this month and next
St Deiniol's - If you meet George Herbert on the Road, Kill Him
St Deiniol's - The Gladstone Festival
PCN Britain - Being Christian in the 21st Century
SMITF - Being Biblical? Slavery, Sexuality and the Inclusive Community - Richard Burridge
Modern Church NW - The Gospel Infancy Narratives: Fact of Folklore?
SMITF - Being Biblical, Being Gay - Clare Herbert and Arnold Browne
Shifting Paradigms: Theology & Economics in the 21st Century
Edmund Newell, Catherine Cowley, Peter Oppenheimer and Tarek El Diwany take questions
during an interfaith discussion at
this year's annual conference. Listen to the
discussion and other contributions online now.
From our quarterly publications
In the July editions:
Modern Believing
- Edinburgh 1910 to 2010: a Century of Being Changed
Alan Race introduces articles by Paul H. Cho, J. Leslie Houlden, Paul Avis, S. Wesley Ariarajah, John T. Pawlikowski, OSM and Helene Egnell. - Books reviewed
by Adrian Hough, Alister McGrath, Brock Bingaman, Claire Foster, Adrian Thatcher and James Woodward.
Signs of the Times
- Editorial: To Thine Own Self Be True, or, Things New And Old
Anthony Woollard on Rowan Williams, Shakespeare, and MCU's forthcoming AGM. - General Synod matters
Jonathan Clatworthy considers the significance of this year's events. - The doctrine of the Trinity and interfaith dialogue
Jeyan Anketell has never been able to understand the doctrine of the Trinity. - Priests, sacrifices and modern economics
Jonathan Clatworthy compares two contrasting accounts of reality.
Featured books
The bookshop pages have details and purchase links for books from conference reading lists, that Modern Church people have written or contributed to, or that otherwise reflect liberal church interests.
