Pusey House Last month, each copy of New Directions contained a booklet about Pusey House. Have you read it yet? And, if you have, have you reacted to it yet? It explains how very simply those of the Forward in [...]

George Austin One of the best reads each week in the Sunday Times is the article by John Humphrys, the BBC Today programme’s welcome scourge of devious politicians. In some ways it is like the best of Thought for the [...]

Margaret Laird on the revival of a Cornish Pilgrimage Long before the development of the ‘Eden Project’ Cornwall was often described as 'God's own country' Certainly, in recent years, there seems to have been evidence of divine intervention in the [...]

History, prayer, exegesis, and mathematics REFORMATION Europe’s House Divided, 1490–1700 Diarmaid MacCulloch Allen Lane, 832pp, hbk 0 7139 9370 7, £25 This door-step of a book is set to become standard. It deals with a longer period than most other [...]

Disproportionate influence ‘There are people who think that Europe or North America are the most secular parts of the world. But I would submit that this "honour" is held by New Zealand and Australia’. So wrote John Shelby Spong after [...]

Stephen Noll on the rapacity of ECUSA liberals While there are many high principles of theology and ecclesiology worth discussing at this time of historic crisis, the bread-and-butter political issue facing most conservative leaders in ECUSA is how to keep [...]

Gerry O'Brien on the limits of democracy As the strains of ‘Joy to the world, the Lord has come’, ring out from our churches this Christmas we may pause to ponder the offerings which 50-odd American bishops are bringing to [...]

Goose Chase The booing of geese is quite obviously a very un-Anglican activity. But I think even Anglicans are still permitted to cook them ‘Take a friend’s advice,’ says Eliot’s Second Tempter to Thomas. ‘Leave well alone, or your goose [...]

LAY CELEBRATION A strange document dropped on to the 30 Days desk this month. It was a report of a ‘global survey’ conducted by Durex, the contraceptive leisurewear manufacturer, on the frequency of sex per annum per person in each [...]

Of Hobbits and History The last of the Lord of the Rings films will be out soon. I have loved the books since I was a child and read and re-read them. Do I dare go and see the films? [...]