Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

By Canon David Winter One of those surveys which some newspapers love to publish claimed recently that a large number of British people believe in angels – almost as many, in fact, as claimed to believe in God. They didn’t tell us what people meant by ‘angels’. I suspect quite a few were thinking of...

** Bifocals A preacher went into the pulpit one Sunday morning wearing a pair of new bifocals.  The reading portion of the glasses improved his vision considerably, but the top portion of the glasses didn’t work so well. In fact, he was experiencing dizziness every time he looked through them. Finally, he apologised to the...

Thirty years ago, on 22nd September 1991, photographs and transcripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls were made available to scholars generally for the first time. The Scrolls – ancient, mostly Hebrew or Aramaic manuscripts of leather, papyrus, and copper – were first found in 1947 near the shore of the Dead Sea. They come from...

What will keep us safer in the office as we return to work? Better ventilation. And in many cases that is best achieved by more open windows, all winter. And that could mean wearing something warmer to work – such as a woolly jumper or hoodie. Such is the conclusion of a report from the...

Ten people, including an infant, were recently killed overnight as armed Fulani militants continued their attacks on Atyap communities in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Christian-majority southern Kaduna State, Nigeria. Around 84% of the Atyap people are Christians. Two men, aged 70 and 62, died in Magamiya village when gunmen attacked at around 11 pm....

Alister McGrath is well-known as a theologian, but he started out as a scientist. After becoming a Christian as a student, he wanted to learn about his new faith so he studied theology at the same time as completing his PhD in molecular biophysics. He has not lost touch with science, but has continued to...

Almost two thirds of UK churches plan to carry on streaming online, even after restrictions lift. According to a recent survey by the insurance group Ecclesiastical and The Bible Society, 93 per cent of churches have used new ways to keep in touch with their congregation and over two in five churches (43 per cent)...

The world is changing. It’s on an accelerated path towards some worrying possibilities. Ten years ago, our focus was primarily on combatting extremist terrorists. But for many in defence and foreign policy circles, our assumption was that the world was becoming more peaceful, conflicts less deadly, arms control more effective, and a major war between...

I’m involved in a project rooted in the Church of England’s St Albans diocese, north of London. We bring together people from a range of backgrounds and faiths to address the question ‘Where is Truth now?’ A vital issue for us from recent months has been ‘How has truth fared during the pandemic? Here are...

The Rectory St James the Least of All My dear Nephew Darren As with many of your ideas, your intentions are admirable; it is just that they don’t work. So it was with the recent wedding in your church, where you allowed the happy but quite mad young couple to try and imitate the marriage...

There is a story that someone asked a Father of the early church, Tertullian, to prove the existence of God. He replied by showing the person a rose. But Tertullian took a risk, for while many appreciate the beauty and wonder of a rose, it is not everyone who sees that beauty pointing to God...

Dante Alighieri, the Italian ‘supreme poet’, died 700 years ago, on 13th September 1321. Regarded as the most important poet of the Middle Ages, he is best known for his Divine Comedy, widely considered the greatest literary work in Italian and an influence on such English writers as Chaucer, Milton and Tennyson. Born in Florence...