Piety and prayer Michael Ramsey Bishop Michael Ramsey explains that to be pious is not necessarily to be near to heaven. As with works, so with piety. There can be good works done with zeal and energy, and yet there [...]

Arthur Middleton on the hymns of Charles Wesley and their celebration of a personal relationship with God Hymns are commonplace in Anglican worship today but until around 1800, the singing of hymns was suspect in the Church of England. This [...]

The Christians of the first three centuries necessarily had to worship at a domestic level. For those with a background in Judaism this was natural particularly as the Eucharist had roots in the Kiddush meal that took place in the [...]

Under the auspices of the Ecumenical Marian Pilgrimage Trust, Anglicans of various shades,Roman Catholics, Scottish Presbyterians, Orthodox of several Patriarchates and Methodists now make a significant biennial visit to Walsingham In 2002 a small group led by Metropolitan Kallistos of [...]

Digby Anderson explains why the growing ‘accessibility’ of the bible is not necessarily a good thing if it undermines our understanding of its holiness There are some books, once quite popular, that no one seems to want today. They remain [...]

PRE-RAPHAELITES Victorian Avant-Garde Tate Britain 12 September 2012–13 January 2013 Admission £14, concessions available DO WE need another exhibition of the PRB (Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood)? There was Millais at the Tate in 2007/8. Most of this exhibition is on permanent display [...]

If it is the flag which stands for England, It is the standard red and white War of the fire and the rose, Ambulance colours, recalling the wounded surgeon. If saints stand for us, Here where we have no abiding [...]

Before the building of the temple of Jerusalem, and in idol moments, the Israelites were prone to erect altars in high places (‘nearer heaven’). The Christian church has neither forbidden nor promoted churches on hilltops, and indeed St Michael is [...]

Stephen Keeble on the origins of the Oxford Movement and today’s secular threats to the Church A few years ago I found this two- handled vase in a junk shop. The lady who ran the shop did not know what [...]

In the first of two interviews new directions speaks to Bishop Martyn Jarrett ND Let’s start with a biographical outline of how you came into the world, where, when, why? I was born in 1944 in inner city Bristol. We [...]