ADDENDUM: Whither the Anglican Communion - as Bp Sarah Mullally is translated to Canterbury?
An update from Mark Chapman to his article in the autumn SEARCH (48.3).
SEARCH Journal
Autumn 2025
Editorial
IT WOULD be impossible to ignore the situation in the Middle East, and particularly in Gaza, as we approach the second anniversary of the HAMAS attack on Israeli civilians and what is now widely regarded as Israel’s genocidal response. The deep trauma of the Holocaust is still so overwhelming that accusations of “antisemitism” are routinely levelled at anyone who deplores Netanyahu’s disproportionate response. Yet Jewish opinion is not overwhelmingly supportive. This is shown by the statement of 80 Orthodox rabbis issued in mid-August, reproduced overleaf. It calls the Israeli government to observe the values of justice, mercy and righteousness celebrated in the Hebrew Scriptures. There will be further contributions from Jewish writers in our next issue.
IT WOULD be impossible to ignore the situation in the Middle East, and particularly in Gaza, as we approach the second anniversary of the HAMAS attack on Israeli civilians and what is now widely regarded as Israel’s genocidal response. The deep trauma of the Holocaust is still so overwhelming that accusations of “antisemitism” are routinely levelled at anyone who deplores Netanyahu’s disproportionate response. Yet Jewish opinion is not overwhelmingly supportive. This is shown by the statement of 80 Orthodox rabbis issued in mid-August, reproduced overleaf. It calls the Israeli government to observe the values of justice, mercy and righteousness celebrated in the Hebrew Scriptures. There will be further contributions from Jewish writers in our next issue.
Meanwhile, we welcome a distinguished contributor from the Palestinian Christian community, Revd Dr. Fadi Diab, a prominent churchman in the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East with links to Dublin and Glendalough diocese. His description of the situation of Palestinian Christians, both now and over the past 80 years, is eloquent, accurate and distressing. It challenges us to Christian solidarity.
But anxiety over world affairs in relation to Christian witness stretches well beyond Israel, as other autumn titles show. The despair felt by many is addressed by Revd Chris MacBruithin in his exploration of the biblical value of hope with reference to the philosophy of Ricoeur and the thinking of Jürgen Moltmann. A new angle on migration issues in relation to the call to hospitality is explored by Dr. Cathriona Russell. And Revd Philip McKinley draws our attention to the excesses of Far Right agitators and politicians and the challenge they offer us as Christians.
Looking to the uncertain future of the Anglican Communion, Revd Dr Mark Chapman analyses the recent Nairobi-Cairo Proposals of IASCUFO and the looser communion structures these may lead to when the next Archbishop of Canterbury is appointed. Then, before we reach the Book Reviews, Dr Andrew Pierce offers us a portrait of Baron Friedrich von Hügel, whose anniversary occurred this year, and Revd Timothy Kinahan reflects on our understanding of the glory of God.
Please note that while we have to increase our price from 2026 we are also offering a cheaper digital version. Please make the arrangements that best suit you without delay, and consult our new treasurer, Clark Brydon, if in doubt.
Contents
Rabbis call Israel to justice, mercy and righteousness
AN international coalition of 80 Orthodox Jewish rabbis recently issued a statement calling for Judaism’s core religious values of justice, mercy and righteousness to be observed by the Israeli government, recognising that all humanity is created in God’s image. The initiative was spearheaded by Rabbi Yosef Blau, former president of the Religious Zionists of America and longtime spiritual advisor at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, who now resides in Jerusalem. Dublin’s former Chief Rabbi, David Rosen, was a signatory.
Trauma and Solidarity amid Genocide
THE TRAUMA in Palestine is cataclysmic. Hamas’ 2023 attack on southern Israel was unprecedented in the history of the struggle, but Israel’s retaliatory genocidal assault has gone far beyond any notion of proportionality or defense. Israel seized upon that tragic moment as both opportunity and pretext to unleash a ruthless and ideologically driven onslaught against a stateless and defenseless people. The aim is tragically clear: to ethnically cleanse Gaza, to erase its people, and claim its land for resettlement. This is not speculation; it is the fulfillment of a long-standing vision embedded within political Zionism itself.
Apocalyptic, Ricoeur and human hopefulness
ANGLICAN priest Edward Cardale’s words reflect a pervasive mood of ‘eco-pessimism’. It is pessimistic (or realistic, he might say), because it is no longer a clarion call to avert climate disaster but recognition that its consequences are already on the near horizon.
Doing justice, practising hospitality: revisiting migration policy
IN THE Christian tradition hospitality is understood as the highest form of love; rooted in Jesus’ command that we love one another as we have been loved. Love in that sense is supra-ethical; it is the ground on which ethics stands, it is not simply reduced to a set of normative practices. Love does not argue, even if it is refracted in many ways: in equal regard for our neighbour, and in setting aside self-interest for the sake of another, and in friendship.
Far-Right Extremism - the challenge to the Churches
THE GLOBAL polarisation of social, political and religious thought is a major challenge for Christian churches today. While in the past far-right and Fascist ideologies changed the course of 20th century European history, now they are finding new expressions and a new resurgence in ur globalised and digitised world. Ireland has traditionally understood itself as avoiding any significant representation of extreme far-right ideologies. However, after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, a new form of anti-immigrant far-right extremism began to affect communities across the country in terms of two poignant issues for Christians; racism and the misappropriation of Christian language and symbols. These become the context in which we are invited to respond to the rising threat.
Whither the Archbishopric of Canterbury?
IN September 2024 I retired from teaching at Ripon College Cuddesdon, the Church of England Theological College near Oxford, after 32 years on the staff, much of it spent as vice-principal. Shortly afterwards, I received a letter from Lambeth Palace, the home and office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to say that I had been given the Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship and I was invited to receive the medal from the Archbishop at a reception at the Palace on 28 November. It was all very unexpected and flattering. Yet I was not destined to see the newly refurbished Palace: things changed very rapidly.
Baron Friedrich von Hügel (1852-1925) - modernist and mystic
27 JANUARY 2025 marked the centenary of the death of Baron Friedrich von Hügel, one of the most significant theological figures of the early 20th century. His title a relic of the Holy Roman Empire, the Baron – his friends and much subsequent scholarship refer to him as nothing else – pursued a wide range of academic interests, at a scholarly depth that continues to surprise his readers. At the turn of the century, he was a central figure in the Modernist crisis in Roman Catholicism; hence the noted French Protestant Franciscan scholar, Paul Sabatier, dubbed him ‘the modernist bishop.’ But the Baron’s scholarly work transcended the immediate concerns of the Modernist crisis.
Nuances of Glory
GLORY . . . The wow factor of God, or at least the wow that surrounds Him. A human attempt to describe the indescribable, the impossible beauty, the transcendent goodness, the ultimate wonder that is the impact of God. Like all descriptive language, there is here a great deal of metaphor, of analogy, an understandable wish to ascribe all that is best to God – “ascribe to the Lord glory and strength” (Psalms 29:1,2 and 96:7,8). The same process can be seen in the New Testament, where its writers plunder contemporary culture to find titles big enough for Jesus.
Book Reviews
