Notebook: Rachel Mann Breaking the bounds ATTENDANCE at a senior colleague’s office retirement “do” brought these lines from William Cowper to mind: “From all his wearisome engagements freed, Shakes hands with bus’ness, and retires indeed.” My colleague’s tenure has be...

In this week's Notebook, Rachel Mann ✍️ on the beckoning of retirement, the strange ‘liturgies’ of an MOT, and Holy Week in Gloucester

Palaeontologist awarded 2026 Templeton Prize Professor Conway Morris recognised for ‘outstanding contributions to the field of evolutionary biology’

www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202...

Israeli Prime Minister condemns sledgehammer attack on statue of Jesus in Lebanon THE Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday condemned “in the strongest terms” an Israeli soldier appearing to use a sledgehammer against a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon. Analysts said that an image of the attack, which sprea...

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday condemned “in the strongest terms” an Israeli soldier appearing to use a sledgehammer against a statue of #Jesus in southern #Lebanon

#Israel #Jesusstatue #churchnews #churchtimes

Book review: Another Christ: Rediscovering Jesus, Francis, and discipleship today by Andrew D. Mayes ANDREW MAYES is worried that we have over-emphasised the more comforting images for Jesus (such as shepherd and servant), resulting in a faith that is tame and predictable, instead of risky, outrageous, and passionate. Accordingly, he examines Jes...

"Andrew Mayes is worried that we have over-emphasised the more comforting images for Jesus, . . . resulting in a faith that is tame and predictable, instead of risky, outrageous, and passionate."

📚 Philip Welsh reviews Another Christ: Rediscovering Jesus, Francis, and discipleship today

#Jesus

TV review: Secret Garden and Sam and Ade Go Birding THIS week’s viewing was all about the ordinary wonder of wildlife and the abundant nature that is found right on our doorsteps. Secret Garden (BBC1, Sundays from 5 April), a five-part series presented by Sir David Attenborough, is the perfect thin...

Jayne Manfredi catches up with the five-part series presented by Sir David Attenborough, and watches a ‘charming’ endeavour to reboot birdwatching as a hobby 📺

#SecretGarden #DavidAttenborough #birdwatching #SamandAdeGoBirding

Radio review: Heart and Soul, Sunday, and The Best of Times Radio JAMAICA claims to have the world’s highest density of churches. On Heart and Soul (BBC World Service, Friday), Nick Davis reported from the country’s south-west, the part most seriously devastated by Melissa, a Category 5 hurricane, last October (...

Gerry Lynch listens to a report on the recovery of Jamaica’s churches post-hurricane Melissa, and another on the rise of nationalistic Buddhist extremism in Asia 📻

#radioreview #Jamaica #hurricanemelissa #buddhism

Film review: Glenrothan MANY actors have a go at film directing but, as it requires a different skill-set, few repeat the experience. Brian Cox, almost 80, has made his debut with Glenrothan (Cert. 12A), which has opened to mixed reviews. Criticised as maudlin and packed...

Stephen Brown reviews ‘a fascinating interpretation of the parable of the Prodigal Son’ 📽️🍿

#filmreview #glenrothan #Forgiveness #churchtimes

Sunday’s Readings: 4th Sunday of Easter Acts 2.42-47; 23; 1 Peter 2.19-25; John 10.1-10 OF ALL the words that Christians use without reflecting about their significance, “Amen” is surely the most important and one of the most familiar. It is a word that Jesus himself uses repeatedly and...

Cally Hammond on the lectionary readings for 26 April 📖

#Bible #lectionaryreadings #Sundaysreadings #churchtimes

The Cloud of Unknowing: sitting comfortably with divine mystery THE Cloud of Unknowing opens with a plea to its reader not to read it. The anonymous author of this 14th-century mystical handbook warns that it is intended only for those who have committed themselves fully to the highest point of the contemplati...

The anonymous author of a medieval theology book approached contemplation of God through ‘unknowing’ says Rebecca Field

#ApophaticTheology #TheCloudOfUnknowing

Faith: Understanding statistics after the withdrawal of ‘quiet revival’ claims FOR a brief period, recently, the phrase “quiet revival” entered public conversation with a certain tentative confidence. A report suggested that church attendance in Britain was rising, particularly among young adults. The claim was not extravaga...

"What the Church is less practised at recognising is the thing that now appears to be growing: a faith that is partial, hesitant, and not yet fully formed," ✍️ Steve McMillan

The leaders of #FreeChurches in the UK have raised the alarm about the Government’s move to require the police to consider previous and planned protests in the same area when deciding whether to impose conditions on a demonstration
#churchnews #churchtimes

A new programme that uses popular school-assembly songs to inspire worshipping communities seeks to “double the number of children and young people as active disciples by 2030”

#iSingPOP #schoolassembly #churchtimes #churchnews

No nation can win a nuclear war THE war against Iran on which the United States and Israel have embarked has revived fears of nuclear conflict. The war has been partly justified by Washington and Israel as a way to stop Iran from getting the bomb, although there is no evidence t...

"The claim that nuclear deterrence keeps us safe has collapsed under the weight of history,"✍️ Robert Knotts

#NuclearDisarmament

Bishops express ‘solidarity’ with London Jewish community after suspected arson BISHOPS in London have expressed their “solidarity” with the Jewish community, saying that they “condemn unequivocally” the “abhorrent” anti-Semitic attacks in the capital, after another suspected arson incident, in Harrow, on Saturday night. The ...

Bishops in #London have expressed their “solidarity” with the Jewish community, saying that they “condemn unequivocally” the “abhorrent” anti-Semitic attacks in the capital, after another suspected arson incident, in Harrow, on Saturday

#Antisemitism

Book review: How England Began: From Roman Britain to the Anglo-Saxons by Nicholas J. Higham WHY do the British speak English? Or, put differently, why don’t they speak a modern descendant of Latin or Brittonic, the two languages most commonly used at the end of Roman rule on the island? The old “Germanist” scholarly tradition had no trou...

"Higham takes an essayistic, synthetic approach, combining historical sources with archaeological ones to produce an exceptionally readable, even gripping, scholarly text."

#books #history

📚 Gabriel Byng considers a new book about the origins of a nation

Church Times Train-a-Priest fund open through Eastertide OUR Church Times Train-a-Priest (TAP) Fund remains open for donations through Eastertide. Our hope is that the availability of TAP grants will help to remove some of the barriers to participation for people from less financially secure situations....

Our Church Times Train-a-Priest (TAP) Fund remains open for donations through Eastertide. Our hope is that the availability of TAP grants will help to remove some of the barriers to participation for people from less financially secure situations.

‘Each picture could be a personal pilgrimage’ — the solitary life of artist Gwen John THE artist Gwen John’s images — from tiny watercolour studies of figures swiftly produced on the backs of food packets to monumental portraits of nuns — were tenderly attentive, materially innovative, and steadily meditative. Raised in Wales, she ...

One hundred and fifty years after her birth, Gwen John’s work and words have come together in an exhibition. Ayla Lepine visits it

#GwenJohn

The unexpected tenacity of local ecumenical partnerships LOCAL ecumenical partnerships — single-congregation, structured partnerships in which people from different denominations worship, serve, and minister together as one — appear to be demonstrating resilience rather than decline. LEPs, as they are k...

“A certain kind of welcome has already happened, which makes other forms of welcome much easier.”

More than 400 local ecumenical partnerships are active in England. Sarah Lothian finds out why they appear to show particular resilience

Viewpoint with Andrew Brown: God is on the side of cats — and humans, too NOW that it seems the world has been rebooked from the Apocalypse Express on to the Apocalypse Replacement Bus Service, there is a moment in which to write about things of lasting value: cats and poetry. The two come together in a book that I foun...

"There is no eternity for her; there is only change. The world, 'all that is not cat . . . will rejoin without a seam when he is dead, she writes"

#UrsulaKLeGuin

Theatre review: Shadowlands by William Nicholson (Aldwych Theatre, London) DESPITE the eclipse of his death in 1963 by the assassination of President Kennedy on the same day, the reputation of C. S. Lewis has continued to grow, both here and in the United States. His Narnia Chronicles and his religious writings remain po...

"The action deals with Lewis’s personal development as he becomes affectionate with an American divorcee, whom he then marries . . . but whose death from cancer after they have three years together shatters him."

Simon Walsh sees the West End production of #Shadowlands

#CSLewis #HughBonneville

Book review: Moses Maimonides: A very short introduction by Ross Brann MOSES MAIMONIDES (1135-1204) was the outstanding Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages. His status within Judaism is roughly equivalent to that of St Thomas Aquinas in Christianity, and his writings on philosophical theology proved influential on thin...

"As a philosopher of religion, Maimonides was chiefly preoccupied with combating the dangers of anthropomorphism . . . and anthropopathism."

📚 Alexander Faludy reviews Moses Maimonides: A very short introduction by Ross Brann

#Judaism #Maimonides

Photo stories of the week

Photo stories of the week 📸

‘Titanosaur’ at Peterborough Cathedral,
Late Queen’s wardrobe on show, raven chicks in NY,
Christian campaigners raise alarm over Sudan
Pupils become climate champions

Book review: The Seven Rules of Trust: Why it is today’s most essential superpower by Jimmy Wales JIMMY WALES is the co-founder of the non-profit free encyclopaedia Wikipedia. A few years prior, he had launched the platform Nupedia. This required contributors to prove that they were an expert before posting on it. After a year, it had only 21 ...

"If you do not come through for them, people will lose their trust in you, and it is hard to get back."

📚 @evepoole.bsky.social reviews The Seven Rules of Trust: Why it is today’s most essential superpower by Jimmy Wales

#Wikipedia #books

Music review: Love Beyond by Richard Haley and Tabitha Webb IT IS brave of any artist to tackle the broad sweep of the Bible. Other musical-theatre writers have taken sections, but the ambition of Richard Haley and Tabitha Webb in Love Beyond is to start at the very beginning. The Cadogan Hall was packed f...

"This is a divine love story, opening with the Trinity voicing a united hope for the world."

Simon Walsh hears a work written to spread the Bible’s good news 🎶

Podcasts review LAST week, I set my alarm for 12.45 a.m. to watch the re-entry into the atmosphere, and splashdown, of the crew of Integrity (Comment, 10 April). The podcast 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II (World Service) provides expert commentary from pre-launc...

#Podcasts Azariah France-Williams on 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II, With and For, Hosted by Dr Pam King, and Good People 🎧

Faith for Holy Places NEAR Smerwick Harbour, on the north-western edge of the Dingle Peninsula, in Ireland, is the oratory of Gallarus. It appears dull and bleak in its isolated setting, but it is one of the best-preserved stone churches in Ireland, and is now on the c...

"Slowly, I became aware of those who had come to pray at this holy place over so many centuries."

#FaithforHolyPlaces Peter Varney reflects on the Oratory of Gallarus (Gall Aras) in #Ireland

#GallarusOratory

English churches should fly the flag of St George LAST summer, St George flags popped up everywhere — on zebra crossings, mini roundabouts, and lamp-posts (Comment, 3 October 2025). “Operation Raise the Colours” was ostensibly non-partisan and all about inspiring patriotism; but it was hard not t...

"Healthy patriotism is oriented towards the common good, asking what responsibilities the nation bears toward the wider world."

St George's Day should be used to consider how to foster a healthy kind of patriotism, says Martyn Snow

Book review: The First King of England: Æthelstan and the birth of a kingdom by David Woodman IN 927, Æthelstan, king of the English, who had taken control of the Viking kingdom of York, met the princes of Wales, the king of Scots, and the ruler of English Northumbria, at Eamont Bridge in Cumbria. All recognised him as their overlord. This...

"He has covered every aspect of the king and his reign in an admirable way and written a definitive account that will last for many decades."

📚 Nicholas Orme reviews an account of the reign of King Æthelstan

#books #bookreview

India’s supply chains hit by Iran war IN SEVERAL districts across Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, in eastern India, Christian street vendors are facing disruption to their livelihoods as the war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran begins to affect supplies of LPG (liquef...

In several districts across Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, in eastern #India, Christian street vendors are facing disruption to their livelihoods as the war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran affects supplies of liquefied petroleum gas.

Music review: Tamerlano by G. F. Handel (London Handel Festival) TAMERLANO is one of Handel’s darkest and most psychologically complex operas, posing questions about the abuse of power and whether suicide is ever right. It is also a powerful exploration of the bond between father and daughter. First stage...

"Tamerlano is one of Handel’s darkest and most psychologically complex operas, posing questions about the abuse of power and whether suicide is ever right."

Fiona Hook reviews Tamerlano in London’s Handel Festival

#Opera #Tamerlano #Handel