The Church of England has issued a set of “legal guidelines” that pave the way for openly gay clergy to become bishops ― so long as they are and promise to remain celibate.
As a way to help the church understand the “breadth and depth of Palestinian and Israeli spectrum of perspectives,” the Middle East Monitoring Group (MEMG) has issued an open invitation for narratives that reflect that spectrum.
In keeping with their mandate from the 219th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the MEMG will select a total of eight narratives, “four arising from the range of authentically Palestinian perspectives (including both Christian and Muslim), and four arising from the range of authentically Israeli perspectives.”
Two Westminster John Knox Press (WJK) titles were awarded with Gold and Silver place at the ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards in the religion category. Ben Daniel’s Neighbor: Christian Encounters with “Illegal” Immigration was named the first-place winner, while David Beckmann’s Exodus from Hunger: We Are Called to Change the Politics of Hunger placed second. ForeWord’s Book of the Year Awards represent the best independently published books from 2010. Winners in sixty categories—selected by a panel of librarian and bookseller judges—were announced at the American Library Association conference in New Orleans on June 25.
Leaders in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are petitioning Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to maintain the tax-exempt status of a Presbyterian ministry on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Presbyterian Student Center Foundation, known as Pres House, has had a presence at the university since its founding in 1907. It provides student housing, and revenue goes towards its ministries — scholarships, worship, small groups, service trips, volunteer work, pastoral counseling and an on-site chaplain.
A new interfaith group in Japan has joined local opposition to the U.S. military presence on the southern island of Okinawa as the two countries announced on June 21 that they have postponed the 2014 deadline for relocating a U.S. Marine base there, due to the plan’s unpopularity.
Even before the Southern Baptist Convention elected the Rev. Fred Luter to national office, there was already widespread speculation that Luter is poised to become the denomination’s first African-American president.
Sterling Morse calls this year’s Big Tent event his “maiden voyage.”
Less than a year ago the former Washington, D.C., pastor became coordinator of Racial Ethnic and Cross-cultural Ministries for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s General Assembly Mission Council. He will give a keynote Speech July 1 at the Racial Ethnic and Immigrants Convocation, part of the Big Tent in Indianapolis.
As the season of voting on constitutional amendments nears an end, it appears that all but one of the 17 amendments under consideration have been approved by a majority of presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The only amendment that cannot garner enough votes for approval by the cutoff date of July 10 – one year after the adjournment of the 219th General Assembly (2010) – is the addition of the Belhar Confession to The Book of Confessions of the PC(USA).
The Rev. Randall K. Bush, pastor of the East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, submitted the winning sermon in the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance’s (EAA) Food for Life Sermon Competition.
Japanese Christianity has “spinelessly gone along with the government,” mostly shunning social activism and becoming “excessively theoretical,” according to a leading theologian.