Faith in the historical Jesus

Posted on December 27, 2022 
Filed under Good News, History Comments Off on Faith in the historical Jesus

“One of the great joys of 2022 has been The Rest is History podcast with Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. I don’t think I have missed any of its 288 episodes! It is informative, entertaining, accurate, stimulating, challenging and never dull. It is also remarkably balanced and fair in its treatment of Christianity. Nonetheless I was a little apprehensive when I heard that they were doing a double edition on the historical Jesus.

I need not have feared. As usual it was interesting, informative and fair. There was much I could agree with but there were some things that were a little more challenging.

Tom and Dominic demonstrate the historicity of Jesus and offer some insightful and helpful historical background details. For example, no credible historian thinks that Jesus is a myth. They also acknowledge the enormous impact of Christ on human history. It is interesting to note that the name of Jesus is used every minute of every hour of every day on this planet! …”

– David Robertson writes at about the historicity of Jesus.

Moore College events calendar for 2023

Posted on December 27, 2022 
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Moore College has put online a very handy calendar of their events planned for 2023. (PDF file.)

The Library Showcase on 1st November (“Howard Guinness and the beginnings of university ministry”) sounds particularly interesting.

Archbishop Foley Beach’s 2022 Christmas Message

Posted on December 25, 2022 
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Archbishop Foley Beach – Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council – shares his 2022 Christmas Message.

Freedom, Faith and Forgiveness — Os Guinness

Posted on December 23, 2022 
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In another ‘must see’ interview, John Anderson speaks with Os Guinness.

55 minutes, well worth your time.

Thoughtcrime is now a reality in Britain

Posted on December 23, 2022 
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“Whatever your view on abortion, even if you are strongly pro-choice, this whole episode should worry you immensely. The implications for personal liberty are terrifying. If an arrest for silent prayer is not an instance of Orwellian ‘thoughtcrime’, then I don’t know what is. …”

– Spiked. Further coverage and commentary from Not the Bee.

Was Luke wrong about the census?

Posted on December 23, 2022 
Filed under History, Resources Comments Off on Was Luke wrong about the census?

“One of the best-known elements in the Christmas story is the journey of Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, despite Mary’s advanced pregnancy, to participate in a census associated with a Roman official named Quirinius. At the centre of every nativity play is the resulting crisis, as Mary and Joseph hurry to Bethlehem but – unable to find accommodation – take up residence with the livestock. …

Given Luke’s professed aims, his careful use of external historical markers elsewhere, and his probable access to at least one of Jesus’s family members, the idea that this story is a fiction invites scepticism.”

– A fascinating article by David Armitage, Academic Administrator at Tyndale House in Cambridge. (Maybe don’t put all of this into your Christmas morning sermon…)

Top Centre 22.4

Posted on December 22, 2022 
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The latest issue (22.4) of Top Centre, the magazine of the Diocese of the Northern Territory, is now online.

Download it for your encouragement and to inform your prayers. (PDF file.)

Essendon apologises to Andrew Thorburn

Posted on December 22, 2022 
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“Religious freedom received an early Christmas present this year with Essendon Football Club today issuing an apology to Andrew Thorburn.

The forced resignation of Andrew Thorburn in October, following less than 24 hours in the job as Essendon’s new CEO, was one of the biggest stories in Victoria for 2022. …”

– Murray Campbell has the story.

Bishop of Bathurst’s video message Christmas 2022

Posted on December 22, 2022 
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This video is a companion to Bishop Mark Calder’s text version previously published.

Anti-Conversion Coercion in Tasmania

Posted on December 22, 2022 
Filed under Australia, Culture wars Comments Off on Anti-Conversion Coercion in Tasmania

At AP (The Australian Presbyterian), David Robertson shares his thoughts on what he calls “The Canary in the Coal Mine” –

“The Tasmanian Law Reform Institute (TLRI) have produced a report for the Tasmanian government recommending new laws to deal with sexual orientation and gender identity conversion practices (SOGI). This doesn’t sound as though it would be riveting reading – and for many people within and without Tasmania, it hardly seems relevant to their lives.

I read the report, mainly to prepare a short response. However I found it so disturbing and revealing that I have taken some time to respond in more detail. Why? Because it is a great example of how progressive ideology takes over the basic civic institutions of Western societies. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

The report itself is 332 pages long. Which itself is a statement. Who is going to be bothered to read a report of that size on a subject which seems so inconsequential to most of us? If people bother with it at all it is likely to be within the comfort zones of their own interest groups – or they will just skim read it – note the various buzz words and either agree with the conclusions of the report, or just shrug their shoulders and walk away. Who cares? I do.

And so I thought I would share with you the main lessons to be learned from this report – lessons that can apply in many situations (e.g. The GRA reforms in Scotland, the compulsory trans ideology in the US, or the ‘diversity’ managers being imposed on the NHS in the UK, and corporations throughout the world). The message and the methodology is the same.

One of the main problems is the use of language. I am totally opposed to any form of conversion therapy which is coercive and harmful. Arguing against this report is not the same as arguing for conversion therapy. It is ironic that an ideology which is supposed to be against binary choices – only offers a binary choice. You are either on the ‘good’ side, the ‘right side of history’, the progressive; or you are an evil, hateful regressive. Although the report doesn’t put it in that language, the implication is the same. But life is much more complex than such simplistic binary views.

First, we will look at the sections of the report that deal with pseudo-science, the need for new legislation and the question of harm. Part two will look at the confused language, the question of consent and the definition of conversion. Part three looks at who the report is really aimed at and what its effect will be. …”

Part One: Pseudo-Science and Pseudo–Needs.

Part Two: The Emperor Has No Clothes.

Part Three: The World Turned Upside Down.

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel’s 2022 Christmas message

Posted on December 21, 2022 
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With thanks to Anglican Media Sydney. Download your copy here.

And read this report from SydneyAnglicans.net.

The Anglican Network in Europe’s Bishop Andy Lines ordains Klaus Hickel

Posted on December 21, 2022 
Filed under ANiE, People Comments Off on The Anglican Network in Europe’s Bishop Andy Lines ordains Klaus Hickel

“The German-language congregation of the Leipzig English Church (LEC) has withdrawn from the Diocese in Europe and affiliated with the Anglican Network in Europe.

On 14 December 2022 the Rt. Rev. Andy Lines ordained to the priesthood the Rev. Klaus Hickel to lead the ANiE ministry – the first Diocese in Europe congregation to quit the Church of England for the ANiE. …

In 2012 Klaus and Judith Hinkel came to Leipzig from Australia to develop the German-language ministry at LEC.”

– Story and photo from George Conger at Anglican.ink.

Amazing Grace — 250th anniversary on New Year’s Day 2023

Posted on December 21, 2022 
Filed under History, Resources Comments Off on Amazing Grace — 250th anniversary on New Year’s Day 2023

We may all be thinking about Christmas, but New Year’s Day is close behind.

On 1st January 2023, it will be exactly 250 years since the first singing of John Newton’s hymn Amazing Grace.

Learn more about the hymn and the anniversary, and download the original words, at The John Newton Project.

The above video, made for the 240th anniversary, gives some helpful background. (We’re thankful to The John Newton Project’s Marylynn Rouse for all her research!)

“This brief video shows how John Newton was inspired to write the hymn Amazing Grace for New Year’s Day, Friday 1 January 1773.

John Newton wrote his hymn to accompany his sermon on 1 Chronicles 17:16,17. He drew inspiration from the life of King David in looking back to the past, looking around at the present, and looking forward to the future.

Note Newton’s own words for the 6 verses – towards the end of the video.”

What new hymn might you write for New Year’s Day 2023?

Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches Christmas message 2022

Posted on December 20, 2022 
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“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people; A light for the nations, …” (Is 42:6).

“The above words from Isaiah give the GSFA its self-identity as a ‘servant of the Lord’ in these troubled times. We thank God for our roots that go back to the first Anglican South-South Encounter in Limuru, Kenya in 1994. We marvel at how God has built up our ecclesial grouping since then through successive cohorts of Global South Primates. …”

– Archbishop Dr Justin Badi has released this Christmas message on behalf of the Global South Primates.

No more long grass for the Church of England. Repent or Differentiate.

Posted on December 19, 2022 
Filed under Church of England, Culture wars Comments Off on No more long grass for the Church of England. Repent or Differentiate.

From The Pastor’s Heart –

“One of the most respected voices in the Evangelical world, the senior minister of St Ebbes in Oxford, Vaughan Roberts, is calling on his own bishop and many of the leaders of the Church of England to repent and return to the Apostolic Christian Faith – or failing that, pursue a provincial-level split.

He says Church of England Bishops, who spent last week in meetings, have run out of long grass to hide in and says the Church of England is sleep walking towards the same disaster that has happend to the Episcopal Church in America, losing 100,000 members and seeing hundreds of clergy leaving or deposed. …”

– Watch or listen at The Pastor’s Heart.

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