Photo: cropped from Auntie P Creative Commons
A flurry of self examination from the C of E this week. Maybe it’s taken a while to digest Linda Woodhead’s Religion & Society research (& to wake up to the popularity of her Westminster Faith Debates) or maybe the new Archbishop’s honeymoon period is coming to an end.
Much of it centres on the (needless) disconnection between the church and ordinary people, and between mainstream church thinking and the rather more interesting ideas in the academy and on the fringes of church life. None of this is new; extra-curricular activities have, for the most part, and for most of my adult life, been where the energy is.
I’d go with Diamaid McCulloch’s “.. the future of a faith that is currently experiencing one of its most interesting and fruitful phases of transformation” and leave “it’s not all gloom and doom” (Peter Brierley in the Church Times) to those who think a tweak here and there will do the trick.
Thanks Catriona. Helpful thoughts towards my two minute presentation ! J
It’ll be fascinating to hear stories from around the world on this – will there be a report or film or something? Glad you’re included. Good luck!
I could also have added Larry Siedentop’s interesting piece in the February issue of Prospect Magazine: Europe’s Civil War – the separation of church and state itself has Christian roots. http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/the-separation-of-church-and-state-itself-has-christian-roots/#.Uu0n0fv4BCo