Holy C of E

In this special coronation edition of the  podcast, we brought in a new host to join the Holy C of E team, Calum Mullett, and spoke to the theologian Thomas Plant about his recent essay, “Memory. Monarchy, and Metaphysics. Fr Plant is a chaplain and professor at St Paul’s University in Tokyo, a researcher at The Centre for the Study of Platonism in Cambridge, and author of the recent book, The Lost Way to the Good. He told us about his journey from atheism in England, to spiritual awakening in Japan, and finally to the waters of baptism in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. We also discussed the meaning and metaphysics of monarchy, and why Christians should give thanks for its symbolical and sacramental reality in Great Britain.  Find Fr Thomas at https://liturgicalasia.substack.com/. Thanks for listening. To get in touch, please send an email to holycofe@gmail.comand follow us on Twitter @holycofe1.You can email us at holycofe@gmail.com or follow us on X at @holycofe1.

Church of England priest Jamie Franklin and doctoral student of Divinity Clinton Collister sit down with author of Loving and Hating the World: Ambivalence and Discipleship James Lawson. Fr James' book makes the challenging claim that true Christian discipleship consists in neither wholly accepting nor in wholly rejecting the world but in maintaining a holy balance between those two extremes. We examined this argument in the light of theological sensibilities such as the Radical Orthodoxy movement and that of Rowan Williams. We also explored the philosophy of Charles Taylor in the same light and considered the potential for a revived Christian Platonism that sees the material world not as a prison-house for the soul but as a conduit of transcendence. In the final section of the conversation, we spoke about Rod Dreher and The Benedict Option and ask why Dreher's thesis has been given short shrift in some Anglican circles.This is a vital conversation for any Christian attempting to come to terms with our relationship to the prevailing culture and the call of God upon our lives as disciples.Thanks for listening. To get in touch, please send an email to holycofe@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @holycofe1.You can email us at holycofe@gmail.com or follow us on X at @holycofe1.

We were delighted to be joined by recently consecrated Bishop of Oswestry Paul Thomas for a fascinating and inspiring conversation on how Bishop Paul is approaching his role of encouraging priests and churches in the South West of England, the importance of the Book of Common Prayer, the role of beauty in worship and evangelism, the current challenge of cultural accommodation within the Church of England and much more besides. Bishop Paul's introduction to the Book of Common Prayer is available here.Thanks for listening. To get in touch, please send an email to holycofe@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @holycofe1.You can email us at holycofe@gmail.com or follow us on X at @holycofe1.

In this special episode, Clinton and Jamie talk to the author of What Do Men Want?, Nina Power. Nina is an academic and current editor of post-liberal publication 'Compact'. She has also, in recent years, become more interested in Christianity and is now attending church and preparing for baptism. In this wide-ranging interview, we spoke about the appeal of Christianity to those who have become disillusioned with the liberal dream, Nina's thoughts on sex, gender and Christianity, the role of Roman Catholic priest and author Ivan Illich in shaping Nina's thought and a lot, lot more. Thanks for listening. To get in touch, please send an email to holycofe@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @holycofe1.You can email us at holycofe@gmail.com or follow us on X at @holycofe1.

What is the Catholic Christian understanding of marriage, family and sex? In this episode Fr Jamie Franklin and Clinton Collister speak with Fr Luke Miller, Archdeacon of London and author of A Lifelong Springtime: The Life and Teaching of Fr George Congreve SSC, about his formation in the Anglo-Catholic tradition and his recent lecture in Oxford about God’s order and purposes for marriage, family and sex.  Fr Miller draws on Scripture and the tradition of the Church to offer a perspective on what it means to be made man and woman, to be married and to follow the orthodox Christian sexual ethic. Thanks for listening. To get in touch, please send an email to holycofe@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @holycofe1.You can email us at holycofe@gmail.com or follow us on X at @holycofe1.

In this episode of Holy CofE, Fr Jamie and Clinton talk about John Neville Figgis, corporate personality and freedom, and how to be a faithful member of churches and associations, with particular interest in membership in the Church of England and other Anglican provinces. Thanks for listening. To get in touch, please send an email to holycofe@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @holycofe1.You can email us at holycofe@gmail.com or follow us on X at @holycofe1.

Fr Gerald McDermott is former Chair of Anglican Studies at Beeson Divinity School, and a prolific author and theologian working in areas of systematic and historical theology. He is currently developing his magnum opus A History of Redemption  and another work on the fundamentals of Anglican Theology and practice Deep Anglicanism. Fr Gerald is one of the most accomplished and significant theological voices working within the Anglican world today and we hope listeners find much that is of interest and help in his contribution.In this wide-ranging conversation we spoke about about the challenges posed to the contemporary church by liberalism and heterodox thinking: the nature-grace controversy; the fall and historical conceptions of original sin; monism and dualism; universal salvation and eternal damnation; evangelicalism and the role of tradition in the church; and much more besides. Fr Gerald also addressed some of the salient points from his recent online exchanges with Eastern Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart concerning many of the same issues.Thanks for listening. To get in touch, please send an email to holycofe@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @holycofe1.You can email us at holycofe@gmail.com or follow us on X at @holycofe1.

For this special episode, regular host Clinton Collister was joined by independent researcher Dr. Peter Webster to talk about the legacy of Anglican systematic theologian E.L. Mascall. Peter Webster is a historian of contemporary British Christianity. Details of his work on Eric Mascall, including the article discussed in the podcast, may be found at:  https://peterwebster.me/mascall/ E.L.Mascall was a proponent of orthodox Anglican theology and classical theism in the middle of the twentieth century, a time during which orthodoxy increasingly came under pressure as liberal trends exerted an ever more powerful influence in the Church. Peter and Clinton help us to understand the significance of Mascall as a priestly theologian and why his work is so important to engage with today.Thanks for listening. To get in touch, please send an email to holycofe@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @holycofe1.You can email us at holycofe@gmail.com or follow us on X at @holycofe1.

In this bumper episode, Jamie and Clinton round out this series with a thorough discussion of two significant theories of the atonement. The Abelardian view of the atonement sees the cross as an act of God's love which seeks to bring about shame for sin, repentance and reconciliation with God, whilst penal substitutionary atonement says that the death of Christ constitutes a propitiation of the wrath of God through the transference of our penalty on to Christ on the cross. We debate the merits and potential drawbacks of both of these positions.We close with some final reflections on the way that we see the death of Christ by arguing that it must not be reduced to one specific theory but can be conceived of as a confluence of atonement for sin, exemplary obedience to God and victory over the cosmic powers of death and hell.For the essay by Fr Robert Crouse 'Atonement and Sacrifice' please see here: http://www.stpeter.org/crouse/writings/atonement_and_sacrifice.htmThanks for listening. To get in touch, please send an email to holycofe@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @holycofe1.You can email us at holycofe@gmail.com or follow us on X at @holycofe1.

In the third part of our series on the atonement, Clinton Collister and Jamie Franklin discuss three prominent theories concerning our understanding of this issue: Christ's death and resurrection as victory over the powers of sin and darkness, the theory that Christ's death was a ransom paid to Satan in order to free human beings from the penalty of sin and the theory that Christ's death was an offering made to God in order to liberate human beings from the price that they owed to God due to sin. We plan in our fourth episode in this series to discuss the Abelardian view of the atonement and the theory of penal substitutionary atonement.Thanks for listening. To get in touch, please send an email to holycofe@gmail.comand follow us on Twitter @holycofe1.You can email us at holycofe@gmail.com or follow us on X at @holycofe1.