All things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose says St Paul (Romans 8:28). Sometimes though it is not easy to see this. I want to make it clear that I am wholly in favour of women bishops. It is a step that is long overdue in my view. Had I been a member of Synod, I would have voted for the measure yesterday. I want to make this clear because ...Read more →

    This is the first of a series of posts on the topic of free speech. In recent weeks this has become a significant global issue with calls for blasphemy laws on the one hand and demands that the absolute right to free speech be upheld on the other. In this first blog, I want to consider the concept of freedom of speech itself and in later blogs explore the ways that speech is limited in all societies. The ...Read more →

It used to be said of the Church of England that is was the Tory party at prayer. Indicating a potential divide between the clergy and the laity, the church has also been described as a Telegraph reading congregation led by Guardian leading clergy. At an institutional level, Margaret Thatcher’s championing of individualism,  ++Robert Runcie’s sermon at the St Paul’s Falklands memorial service  and the report Faith in the City in the 1980s have all contributed to a growing divide ...Read more →

St Paul tells the Corinthians that it is shocking that they are settling their disputes bygoing to the law courts. We live in an increasingly litigious society where people increasingly reach for the law for compensation and redress as a first resort rather than a last resort. Perhaps it is not so surprising then that the bishops find themselves meeting once again to consider the legislative framework for allowing women into the episcopate in the Church of England, after their ...Read more →

The Chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral, Dr Mark Hocknull, writes…Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the end of history in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin wall. He declared that there was no alternative to western liberal capitalism and the free market as a social and political system. The events of the last 23 years say otherwise. History is far from ended. Join us on 3 February to explore why. Deregulation of the financial institutions at the heart of the city was a ...Read more →