Year: 2021
Type: editorial
Abstract: In this issue of Theology the veteran Jesuit theologian and ecumenist Gerald O'Collins offers another take on the elusive 'perfection' in Matthew 5.48.He is well known as a religious commentator, broadcaster and prolific author -most recently of Letters from Rome and Beyond (Connor Court Publishing, 2021), letters that record his fascinating reflections on the Vatican in the last three decades of the twentieth century.The following articles all address issues of immediate relevance for churches: Dr Matthew Salisbury writes on music and the pandemic; Professor Adrian Thatcher on marriage; and Professor Ann Loades argues that consecrating more (expensive) bishops within the Church of England 'looks like yet another wrong recipe to arrest the decline'.Just on that last point, in 1851 there were over five million Anglican attendances on a Sunday when there were just 26 bishops.Today, with 120 stipendiary bishops (and even more non-parochial archdeacons), average Sunday attendances have dropped to well under one million.Diverting funds from parishes to pay for non-parochial, stipendiary senior clergy might even be a recipe for further decline.On the 1851 scale, the Church of England would have only five stipendiary bishops today!Reminiscent, perhaps, of Northcote Parkinson's comic observation in the 1950s that the number of admirals in the navy increased in inverse proportion to the number of ships.This month, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, surely the most celebrated Anglican in the world, is 90.His legacy is immense and, very suitably, a new book on him has been published this year
Source: Theology
Author: Robin Gill
Language: Spanish
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4200488836
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