Setting up a personal website is a troubling business. I am not speaking about the trouble of rummaging through thirty years of hard and soft files of miscellanea, much of it occasional in purpose and often only half-finished. No, the trouble is deeper: what is a Christian minister, make that a Christian of any stripe, doing exalting himself on the worldwide web? Well, here are my excuses.
Author: Stephen Noll
STORMING LAMBETH: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed
As I see it, the question “Was 2008 the last Lambeth Conference?” misses the target. The last authoritative council of Anglican bishops worldwide occurred in 1998. That was not so apparent at the time, but by 2008 it had become …
“PAY ATTENTION TO POWER”: Anglican Hypocrisy, Part Two
Here is my prediction. Canterbury will not revoke the ban on the same-sex spouses, even while expressing deep sympathy for their plight. The bishops of the Episcopal Church and their celebrity Presiding Bishop will all show up in force. The …
“MEXIT”: Methodists, Anglicans and the Limits of Disagreement (UPDATED)
BREAKING NEWS (26 February 2019). The United Methodist General Conference voted by a 55% to 45% margin to maintain its stance that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” It adopted the “Traditional Plan,” which included a number of …
LAMBETH HYPOCRISY: Disinviting the Spouses
As I see it, this latest move is hypocrisy squared: shameful and shameless.
“SIX RESOLUTIONS FOR LAMBETH”: A Quick Response to Ephraim Radner
On 12 February, Dr. Ephraim Radner sought to “clean up the playing field” with “Six Resolutions” for Lambeth” in 2020. As one who has written extensively on the state of the Anglican Communion – I commented recently on Andrew Goddard’s …
WHEN IS “GOOD DISAGREEMENT” NOT GOOD? When It Contradicts God’s Word
So let’s remember that the Lambeth Conference was not conceived as a garden party or a photo op but rather as a solemn assembly of bishops who have vowed to “banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary …
“LIVING IN LOVE AND FAITH”: Tree or Billboard?
I doubt the final Living in Love and Faith Report will be lively, lovely, or faithful. I suspect it may function more like the billboard in Ogden Nash’s "Song of the Road": I think that I shall never see a …
IMPAIRED COMMUNION: A Flawed Compromise in the Episcopal Church
When all is said and done, why don’t the Communion Partner bishops simply agree to officiate the same-sex services themselves.
“TAKING SWEET COUNSEL TOGETHER”: Lambeth Edition
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the photo of the Toronto “marriage” says it all. Anyone who is not appalled at the idea of a bishop of the church of God being married to a same-sex partner, …
THE EMPTY TOMB: SACRAMENT OF THE MATERIAL GOD
The Empty Tomb stands at the head of the Easter season as a remembrance that the Resurrection life – Jesus’ and ours – can be entered only by the gate of the body’s death. Jesus did not just “enter into …