In July 2011, the House of Bishops commissioned a review group to draw together and reflect upon explorations on human sexuality conducted since the 1998 Lambeth Conference, and to offer proposals on how the continuing discussion within the Church of England about these matters might best be shaped. This is the group’s report.

This widely anticipated report will be welcomed by all who wish to come to a greater understanding of the issues surrounding homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexualism and the Church. It provides an in-depth account of the surrounding issues, and provides detailed analyses of key Scriptural passages.

What if the problem with desire is not that we want what we can’t have, but that we don’t want it enough? What if desire itself - the gap between wanting and having - is the key to living well? Holiness and Desire explores these questions, considering what a distinctive holiness might look like in our highly sexualized modern culture.

Issues of gender and sexuality are intrinsic to people’s experience: their sense of identity, their lives and the loving relationships that shape and sustain them. The life and mission of the Church of England – and of the worldwide Anglican Communion – are affected by the deep, and sometimes painful, disagreements about these matters, divisions brought into sharper focus because of society’s changing perspectives and practices, especially in relation to LGTBI+ people. Living in Love and Faith sets out to inspire people to think more deeply both about what it means to be human, and to live in love and faith with one another. It tackles the tough questions and the divisions among Christians about what it means to be holy in a society in which understandings and practices of gender, sexuality and marriage continue to change. Commissioned and led by the Bishops of the Church of England, the Living in Love and Faith project has involved many people across the Church and beyond, bringing together a great diversity and depth of expertise, conviction and experience to explore these matters by studying what the Bible, theology, history and the social and biological sciences have to say. After a Foreword from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the book opens with an invitation from the Bishops of the Church of England to embark on a learning journey in five parts: Part One sets current questions about human identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage in the context of God’s gift of life. Part Two takes a careful and dispassionate look at what is happening in the world with regard to identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. Part Three explores current Christian thinking and discussions about human identity, sexuality, and marriage. In the light of the good news of Jesus Christ, how do Christians understand and respond to the trends observed in Part Two? Part Four considers what it means for us as individuals and as a church to be Christ-like when it comes to matters of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. Part Five invites the reader into a conversation between some of the people who have been involved in writing this book who, having engaged with and written Parts One to Four, nevertheless come to different conclusions. Amid the biblical, theological, historical and scientific exploration, each part includes Encounters with real, contemporary disciples of Christ whose stories raise questions which ask us to discern where God is active in human lives. The book ends with an appeal from the Bishops to join them in a period of discernment and decision-making following the publication of Living in Love and Faith. The Living in Love and Faith book is accompanied by a range of free digital resources including films, podcasts and an online library, together with Living in Love and Faith: The Course, a 5-session course which is designed to help local groups engage with the resources, also published by Church House Publishing.

The original 1991 Statement by the House of Bishops on many aspects of sexual behaviour, including homosexuality. Commended by the General Synod for wide discussion within the Church.

Provides strong theological arguments for replacing the binary understanding of gender, and for the embracing of sexual minorities.

Analecta Bruxellensia has been since 1996 the annual review of the Protestant Faculties of Theology and Religious Studies (FUTP (French) and FPTR (Dutch)) in Brussels. Analecta 21 is a varied number. Three themes are developed covering exegetical, historical, sociological, theological and philosophical fields. The first explores hermeneutics related to the understanding and assimilation of the biblical text; the second addresses the weight of ideology in the construction of narratives invoked in the representation of the Other; the third pursues this theme of encounter and otherness in various historical perspectives. From a queer exegesis of the narrative of Acts 8 to the question of the extent of Christ's salvation in the hypothesis of inhabited worlds in science fiction literature, the eclecticism of these academic contributions, as well as their relevance to contemporary debates, promise the reader multiple changes of scenery and genuinely new thinking. This issue also includes a previously unpublished contribution by Paul Ricœur, a restitution of a three-speaker conference given in January 2000 on the theme of justice between ethics and law.

English evangelicals give the appearance of being a community at war, with each other and with the world around them. The issue of homosexuality is one of the key battlegrounds. How has this issue become so significant to evangelicals? Why is it provoking such violent responses? How is it changing evangelicals, and what might this mean for the future? This book examines the history of evangelical responses to the issue of homosexuality, setting them in a wider historical and cultural context and drawing on the work of Rene Girard to argue that the issue of homosexuality has come to symbolise deeply-held convictions within evangelicalism. The conflict over the issue that is now becoming apparent within evangelicalism reveals deep divisions within the evangelical community that will have great significance for the future. The Scandal of Evangelicals and Homosexuality offers an alternative perspective, seeking not to present an answer to the ethical question, but rather to examine the way the debate has become scandalised and consider the cost. It offers a window into contemporary English evangelicalism and provides an important contribution to international and ecumenical debate.

In July 2011, the House of Bishops commissioned a review group to draw together and reflect upon explorations on human sexuality conducted since the 1998 Lambeth Conference, and to offer proposals on how the continuing discussion within the Church of England about these matters might best be shaped. The group, which included four bishops, was Chaired by Sir Joseph Pilling.This is the group’s report. Recognizing the continuing deep divisions within the Church on matters of sexuality, its key recommendations are for a process of facilitated conversations across the whole Church of England and in partnership with the rest of the Anglican Communion. The report considers the rapidly changing context within which the group undertook its work. It examines the available data about the views of the public in our country over time. The report considers homophobia, evidence from science, from Scripture and from theologians. Included with the main report are a Prologue – ‘Living with holiness and desire’ by Dr Jessica Martin – and Appendices by Keith Sinclair, Bishop of Birkenhead and by the Revd David Runcorn, setting out two viewpoints on Scripture and same sex relationships. The Report of the House of Bishops Working Group on human sexuality – while it is not a new policy statement from the Church of England – offers findings and recommendations to form part of the process of facilitated conversations.