Lord Nigel Biggar is Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford, and a well-known author on moral and ethical issues. He has just published Reparations: Slavery and the Tyranny of Imaginary Guilt (Swift, 2025), challenging the current narrative within and beyond the Church of England about the need for reparations for slavery. I had the chance to ask him about it. IP: Why do you think the issues of reparations has become so important in recent years? What has spar...| Psephizo
Yesterday morning, at 10 am, the historic announcement was made as to who will be the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury: Dame Sarah Mullally, the current bishop of London, and former Chief Nurse—appointed to that role when she was 37, the youngest ever appointment. As I have set out previously, the Church of England faces a ... Continue Reading The post What challenges face Sarah Mullally as the new archbishop? first appeared on Psephizo.| Psephizo
The use of individual cups at Holy Communion is again being hotly debated in Church of England parishes and PCCs. I asked Prof Andrew Atherstone about the fruits of his latest historical research into the topic. IP: Why are individual cups still causing controversy? AA: Five years ago, at the height of the early Covid lockdowns, the House of Bishops caused consternation by declaring that individual cups were illegal. They were relying on a former opinion from the Church of England’s Legal A...| Psephizo
Last weekend, in an online conversation, someone highlighted to me the most recent ministry statistics, which were released in June, but seem to have gone under the radar. I certainly did not spot them, and I don't recall anyone commenting on them. They show that 47.5% of current C of E stipendiary clergy are aged 55 or over, which of course means that they will all have retired in 12 years' time. 12 years might sound like quite a long planning horizon—but at the sessions of General Synod t...| Psephizo
Tim Wyatt is an interesting and at times astute commentator on things Church of England. Ten days ago he expanded an article he had written in the New Statesman, setting out the challenges whoever will be appointed next Archbishop of Canterbury, in a much longer piece on his substack. Tim has interviewed a number of people, and thus in principle drawn on a range of opinion. He makes some important points—but my sense is that there is more to be said, and what has been said needs to be put i...| Psephizo
Andrew Goddard writes: After summarising the tumultuous events of last week in relation to the Bishop of Liverpool, in this article I set out what is currently known in relation to the CNC process that led to his nomination. Two further sections outline the allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment made by two women| Psephizo
John Root writes: Eric Kaufmann's Taboo (reviewed last week here) is centrally about the damaging slippage in Anglophone culture from ‘cultural liberalism’ (such as equality of opportunity) to ‘cultural socialism’ (such as equality of outcome); a process that requires cancelling the expression of resistant ideas, inflated concern about the dangers of ‘harm’, and an increased| Psephizo
What is the connection between Marxist thinking, Critical Race Theory, and actions by churches (including the Church of England) to address the perceived experience of racial injustice? The question is contested, but it is not straightforward, since Critical Race Theory has a complex intellectual history, and the underlying assumptions in the debates about race and| Psephizo
