Stephen Platten – författare

When Barack Obama praised the writings of philosopher theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in the run up to the 2008 US Presidential Elections, he joined a long line of top politicians who closely engaged with Niebuhr's ideas, including Tony Benn, Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King Jr. and Dennis Healey. Beginning with his early ministry amongst industrial workers in early twentieth century Detroit, Niebuhr displayed a passionate commitment to social justice that infused his life's work. Rigorously championing 'Christian Realism' he sought a practically orientated intellectual engagement with the political challenges of his day. His ideas on International Relations have also helped to shape debate amongst leading academic thinkers and policy makers. In both Christian and secular contexts he continues to attract new readers today.In this timely re-evaluation both critics and disciples of Niebuhr's work reflect on his notable contribution to Christian social ethics, the Christian doctrine of humanity, and the engagement of Christian thought with contemporary politics. The authors bring a wide range of expertise from both sides of the Atlantic, indicating how a re-evaluation of Niebuhr's thought can help inform contemporary debates on Christian social ethics and other wider theological issues.

2012 is the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, now widely used in the Church of England and throughout the Anglican Communion. Comfortable Words draws together some of the world’s leading liturgical scholars and historians who offer a comprehensive and accessible study of the Prayer Book and its impact on both Church and society over the last three and a half centuries.Comfortable Words includes new and original scholarship here about the use of the Book of Common Prayer at different periods during its life. It also sets out some key material on the background to the production of both the Tudor books and the seventeenth-century book itself.The book is aimed at scholars, students in theological colleges, courses and universities, but there is sufficient accessibility of style for it to be accessible to others who are interested in the Prayer Book more widely in the church and to intelligent lay people. The book is unique in the way that it studies the Prayer Book and looks at the impact of it, both on the Church and on English society.

2012 is the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, now widely used in the Church of England and throughout the Anglican Communion. Comfortable Words draws together some of the world’s leading liturgical scholars and historians who offer a comprehensive and accessible study of the Prayer Book and its impact on both Church and society over the last three and a half centuries.Comfortable Words includes new and original scholarship here about the use of the Book of Common Prayer at different periods during its life. It also sets out some key material on the background to the production of both the Tudor books and the seventeenth-century book itself.The book is aimed at scholars, students in theological colleges, courses and universities, but there is sufficient accessibility of style for it to be accessible to others who are interested in the Prayer Book more widely in the church and to intelligent lay people. The book is unique in the way that it studies the Prayer Book and looks at the impact of it, both on the Church and on English society.

Oneness considers the role monastic life plays within the life of the contemporary church.Using a focus on the life, practice and history of the Shepherds Law community as a starting point, the book broadens the discussion to consider how such communities negotiate the boundary between the solitary life and life within their community.With a foreword from Justin Welby and an afterword from Rowan Williams. Table of Contents:Foreword by Archbishop Justin Welby Prologue by Diarmaid MacCullochPart 1: Setting the SceneIntroduction - Stephen Platten 1. Religious Communities and Their Citizenship - George Guiver2. Northumbria's Long Tradition - Sarah Foot3. Father William's Baton - Peta Dunstan4. Shepherds Law: The Story so Far - Stephen PlattenPart 2: Unfolding the Mystery5. The Skete - Andrew Louth6. Francis of Assisi: A Hermit and His Hermitages - Brother Nicholas Alan Worssam SSF7. The Monastic Sacrament in Life, Liturgy, Saints and Buildings - George Guiver 8. Gregorian Chant and Monastic Life - Dom Xavier Perrin OSB 9. Monastic Architecture and the Building of Shepherds Law: Monastic Life and Architecture - Christopher Irvine and Ralph Pattison 10. Waiting While Running - George Guiver Afterword by Rowan Williams

Frequently described as Anglicanism's most creative twentieth century theologian, Austin Farrer’s impact on Anglican theology is considerable.Published to mark the 150th anniversary of Keble College, of which Farrer was Warden, this book brings together essays from leading scholars including Ian W. Archer, Mark Goodacre, Michael F. Lloyd, Judith Wolfe and John Barton alongside four previously unpublished lectures by Farrer himself.

Austin Farrer is often called the one genius the Church of England produced in the 20th Century. His innovative ideas crossed a host of theological disciplines. Assessing his continuing importance and introducing him to a new generation of readers, Austin Farrer for Today brings together a stellar collection of writers to re?ect on Farrer’s contribution to biblical theology, philosophy, language, doctrine, prayer and preaching. Chapters include: •Rowan Williams on Farrer as a doctrinal theologian •Morwenna Ludlow on Farrer's language and symbolism •Jane Shaw on Farrer as preacher •John Barton, on typology in Farrer

This helpful volume sets out to clarify the Church of England’s thinking about baptism, confirmation and admission to communion, and addresses some very practical questions in relation to ministry in this area. Discussion of the topic is grounded in the New Testament and the early Church, and is traced through the development of the Church’s theology and practice of initiation from the mediaeval and Reformation periods up to the present. Drawing on the Book of Common Prayer (1662), the Thirty-nine Articles and Common Worship, as well as on Scripture and the Church’s tradition, it sheds light on contemporary practice and understanding, which can – and do - vary locally. Anglican approaches to Christian initiation are also explored in relation to those of other churches.

A guide to over 60 of Britain’s most notable abbeys and monasteries.Taking you on a journey that has inspired pilgrims and visitors for centuries, Abbeys and Priories of Britain is the perfect introduction to some of the country’s oldest and most beautiful religious centres.The guide will take you from the wilds of the Isle of Iona in Scotland and Iona Abbey to Tintern Abbey in the beautiful Wye Valley in Wales, to the pomp and circumstance of Westminster Abbey, shining regally in England’s capital. While many of the entries are now ruins due to Henry VIII’s ‘Dissolution of the Monasteries’ period, a visit still reveals the rich influence and legacy they have had on Britain’s history.Beautifully illustrated with over 130 stunning colour images, and with concise and accessible history for each entry, this is both a perfect guide and a much-cherished souvenir of a visit.Includes extended entries on Binham Priory, Blanchland Abbey, Buckfast Abbey, Dryburgh, Fountains Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey, Hexham Abbey, Holyrood Abbey, Jedburgh Abbey, Lindisfarne Priory, Melrose Abbey, Mountgrace Priory, Rievaulx Abbey, Selby Abbey, Strata Florida Abbey, Tewkesbury Abbey, Tintern Abbey, Westminster Abbey, Whitby Abbey and St George’s Windsor.

As suspicious as one often is of the other, literature and spirituality enjoy a rich and deep relationship. They have been inextricably linked since narrative and symbol first met in the earliest biblical writings.Story, poetry and drama have always been used to express the human search for religious meaning and to modulate the divine voice. Equally, 'Take Christianity out of English literature,' asks Ronald Blythe in this book, 'and what is left?'In this fascinating and spirited collection of essays the novelist Penelope Lively explores fiction writing as an act of creation with its clear spiritual resonances. A. N. Wilson inveighs against the modern church for its desecration of the language which shaped and nurtured it. The poet David Scott looks at the lonely, subversive calling of the priest-poet from Caedmon to R. S. Thomas, and Richard Marsh considers David Jones's writings in the First World War where, for many, religion turned to mud and the only way across that vast no man's land was by the same ancient way of myth and symbol, the way that literature and spirituality have travelled together since the beginning.

This volume includes lectures from high profile figures from academia and the Church. Anglian and Catholic voices explores continuity and change in the Anglican Church and its relations with Rome, from its earliest days onwards.