SEARCH Journal

Autumn 2017

REFLECTION on the legacy of the Reformation continues in this autumn’s SEARCH, with articles on our interpretation of the diaconate as an “inviolate” order of ministry and on Morning Prayer as the most favoured Sunday morning service in Church of Ireland parishes. We are grateful to the Revd Kevin Conroy and Professor Steven Ellis for these.

Summer 2017

ECCLESIA SEMPER REFORMANDA was our unanimous decision for the title of SEARCH’s biennial Colloquium this year. In this quincentennial year of the Reformation, focus on the need for continuing reform in the church, rather than reinterpretation of the past, seemed crucial to all on the editorial committee. “The (Reformed) Church always in need of Reform” – the Latin phrase apparently dates back only to the 17th century in the Dutch Reformed Church; but the concept is much older and also much younger – having returned prominently in the thinking of Vatican II.

Spring 2017

Migration this year has become an explosive issue and a major challenge not only to Christians, but to all the communities of the developed world and their governments. Will we step up to the mark or incur judgment as self-protective xenophobes? So SEARCH returns to the challenge in this issue with four articles, led by Dr David Shepherd of TCD, a version of whose autumn lecture for BACI is a major contribution to biblical thinking in this area. To follow, we offer Peter Cheney’s recent experience in Malta, Tiffy Allen’s Places of Sanctuary initiative to help local people help immigrants in Dublin and my own thoughts on the outsider as bearer of God’s blessing.