Week of
9 September 2007
Africa
Resources
Malawi Partnership.
'The Malawi Partnership has been run by the Diocese of Birmingham for
over 40 years and has assisted our brothers and sisters in Malawi in the
area of mission and ministry.'
Namirembe
Guesthouse. Kampala, Uganda. 'a warm and friendly Christian
establishment governed by the Church Commissioners and managed
by a team of dedicated staff'. A former monastery and retreat
house, this conference centre is now owned and operated by the
Trustees of the Anglican Church of Uganda.
Australia
Parishes
New South Wales: Stroud
District Anglicans [St John, Stroud; St Paul, Stroud Road; St Peter,
Wards River] (Newcastle)
Book Reviews
In
the Church Times, John Goldingay reviews The
Cambridge Companion to the Gospels, edited by Stephen C. Barton. 'On
one hand is the fact that the “historical Jesus” seems to
be a will-o’-the-wisp (which is not to say that there was no real
Jesus, only that the attempt to get behind the Gospels doesn't work
very well). On the other is the fact that the Gospels are really interesting
and illuminating when we read them as they are. We have needed to relearn
the skills to do that. This volume offers useful background and pointers...
This is not a volume that could have been written when I studied the Gospels
as an undergraduate 45 years ago. Even for people who studied them more
recently, it could be a splendidly refreshing read.'
In the Church
Times, Jennie Hogan reviews Mary
Magdalene Understood, by Jane Schabert with Melanie Johnson-Debaufre,
with The
Magdalene Mystique: Living the Spirituality of Mary Today,
by Betty Conrad Adams. In Mary Magdalene Understood 'scraps
of information come from somewhat abstruse sources. Huge assumptions
are made about the reader’s knowledge, as the “Near-gnostics” and
the Gnostic and Apocryphal Mary are discussed. And what is “kyriarchal
ideology”? More confusion comes from the random order: there
is no sense of progression. The book ends with the same disappointment
as the beginning: Mary is misunderstood, illusive, yet popular, and
mysteriously attractive. It does not make for easy or even instructive
reading.' In The Magdalene
Mystique 'imagination seems needed to fill the many gaps surrounding
her. Conrad Adams herself has plenty: “In a flash I imagined
Aphrodite flying in on a chariot, commanding me with a sorting task.” Mary
Magdalene is easily lost in all this creativity.'
In the Church
Times, Martin Wellings reviews Gary Best's Charles
Wesley: A Biography with
John Lawson's A
Thousand Tongues: The Wesley Hymns as a Guide to Scriptural Teaching. 'Charles
Wesley, unlike his brother [John], has not been well served by biographers...
Best writes in a lively, accessible, and colloquial style, sometimes
verging on the racy. He has produced a very readable biography, and
one that fulfils its aim of rescuing Charles Wesley from neglect.
In so doing, Best has opened up for the general reader the personalities
and tensions that make the Evangelical revival so intriguing.' John
Lawson 'takes 53 biblical themes, from “God the Sovereign Creator” to “the
Second Advent”, and illustrates each from one or more hymns...
It may be wondered who will buy this book and how it will be used,
fascinating and learned as it is. Given the steady drift away from
traditional hymnody in modern Methodism, this is almost a period piece:
the contemporary heirs of the Wesleys share neither their founders’ biblical
literacy nor their robust commitment to an Evangelical pilgrimage
from conversion to perfect love.'
Gary Best reviews Charles
Wesley: Life, Literature and Legacy, edited by Ted
A. Campbell and Kenneth Newport. 'From
all the articles, Charles emerges as a figure whose contribution
to Methodist theology has been grossly unrecognised. With
new editions of his sermons, letters, journals, and poetry
emerging, this is likely to change significantly. This is
not a book for beginners, but it is a wonderful collection
of articles for those interested in early Methodism, and in
widening their understanding of Charles and his contribution
to it.'
In The Times
(London), Simon Jenkins reviews Roy
Strong's A Little History of the English Country Church. He takes
issue with Strong on God, Pope Innocent III, and Anglo-Catholics (amongst
other things), but links arms with him when it comes to the survival
of the parish church.
Canada
Parishes
Nova Scotia: Parish of
Lockeport-Barrington [Church of the Ascension, Barrington Passage;
Church of the Resurrection, Churchover; Holy Trinity, Jordan Falls; Holy
Cross, Lockeport; St. Peter's, West Green Harbour] (Nova Scotia and
Prince Edward Island)
Church
History
Alexander
Gregg, First Bishop of Texas, By His Son, the Late Wilson Gregg, Edited
and Extended by the Reverend Arthur Howard Noll (1912). This biography
of Alexander Gregg (1819-1893) chronicles his life and tenure as the first
bishop of Texas, then an undivided diocese.
England
Burnmoor, St Barnabas (Durham)
Spennymoor, St Paul (Durham)
Woottons Church Group [All
Saints, North Wootton; St Mary, South Wootton] (Norwich)
United Benefice of East with West
Harling, Bridgham with Roudham, Larling, Rushford and Brettenham [Brettenham
Church; St Mary the Virgin, Bridgham; St Peter and St Paul, East Harling;
St Ethelbert, Larling; Roudham Church; Rushford Church; All Saints, West
Harling] (Norwich)
Events
United Kingdom: Hoddesden, 8-11 July 2008: Saving
the Soul of Anglicanism: The Nature and Future of the Anglican Communion
The Modern Churchpeople's Union's 2008 conference will feature speeches
by leaders from Botswana, England, Ireland and the United States.
Letters
to Anglicans Online
Have a read.
Write a letter of your own to us for possible publication.
Liturgical
resources
The
Book of Common Prayer in Hebrew. New to Charles Wohlers's large BCP
site is a translation of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer into Hebrew. It
is presented as a single 28MB PDF file for download.
New
Zealand
Parishes
Amuri Cooperating Parish [Culverden;
Rotherham; Waiau] (Christchurch)
Tauranga (Otumoetai), St
John (Waiapu)
News
Centre
Combat worsens in Diocese of Ely. African bishop removed from Dean post.
A tempest in a newspot in Nigeria and Canterbury. UK Single Equality Bill
plans generate controversy. Rwanda joins the 'We have American bishops'
club. Diocese of Sydney to distribute scripture to all. All this, and
more, in the News Centre.
Not
in the Communion
Andrewes Hall Theological College
and Seminary: Phoenix, Arizona. 'founded in 2002 in response to the
shared vision of the Reformed Episcopal Diocese of Mid-America (DMA),
Covenant Renewal Ministries, Inc., and a few pastor-scholars from Phoenix,
Arizona'.
The
International Free Protestant Episcopal Church: Based in Germany,
'TIFPEC brings the Word of God to millions of people, in every
country in the world'.
Odds
and Ends
EpiscoRat.
An unofficial site of the Diocese of Southeast Florida brings levity to
the web in a series of cartoons featuring church mice.
Scotland
Parishes
Lenzie, St Cyprian (Glasgow
and Galloway)
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USA
Parishes
Massachusetts: Chelsea, St Luke (Massachusetts) [English
and Spanish bilingual site]
Massachusetts: Milton, Church
of Our Saviour (Massachusetts)
Massachusetts: New Bedford, St Martin (Massachusetts)
Missouri: Sullivan, St John and
St James (Missouri)
Texas: Vernon, Grace
Church (Northwest Texas)
Wisconsin: Watertown, St
Paul (Milwaukee)
Conference
Centres, Retreat Places
Bundy Hall: Menomonie, Wisconsin.
Camp and conference centre of the Diocese of Eau Claire.
Schools
and education
St Paul's School. Brooklandville,
Maryland. For boys, pre-kindergarten through Grade 12; founded in 1849.
St
Paul's School for Girls. Brooklandville, Maryland. Grades
5-12.
Vacancies
Centre
List a parish or diocesan opening for one month at AO — at no charge.
What a bargain! The more you use our free service, the more useful it
will become for all.
Canada: (Huron) Director
of Human Resources, Synod Office
England: (Oxford) Director
of Communication
For more information on these and
other listings, see our Vacancies Centre. Also scan
vacancy pages on diocesan web sites throughout the communion.
World
Resources
Bishop Cotton Girls' School.
Bangalore, India. Informative website about this educational institution
begun in 1865.
Church
of South India Teacher Training Institute. Amaravila, Kerala.
Affiliated with the Diocese of South Kerala.
Shramdeep.
'a non-profit organization of Nagpur Diocese of the Church of North
India under the banner of Nagpur Diocesan Development Association
in India established in May 1997'.
Worth
Noting
Covenant: This new website
of reflection and commentary shows unusual promise. 'We are evangelical
and catholic Anglicans, and fellow travelers from the wider household
of God, assembled and summoned to a common labor in the ecumenical Church
of Christ, not least through the present struggles and gifts of our communities.'
The
creed that leads from Bunyan to Bridget Jones: 'For 500 years,
Protestantism has defined Britain. It still does, but in vibrant
new forms of worship'. Tristram Hunt makes the case in The Observer.
The
Future Priest: Peter J. Surrey writes in The Living Church
(Milwaukee). 'Who is best equipped to serve with distinction,
the church in troubled times? Given that we are always faced with
changing conditions, what is the best human model to seek as a
candidate for the priesthood? To many, including myself, these
are among the most important questions facing the Anglican Communion.'
Who
Can Expel the Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion?:
A web log called Episcopal Majority asks this question in an article
that has received extensive comment in the last week. |
