Christian ethics has always taken a complex view of the goods and purposes of human sexuality and its role in human relationships. Sexual desire and behavior have to be seen always within the overarching moral imperatives of love of God and love of neighbor. Such love entails self-giving and other-regard, and in longer-term relationships also some measure of commitment, fidelity, reciprocity or mutuality, truthfulness and generativity. Yet not all relationships with these characteristics do (or should) include sexual behavior. Nor do all sexual relationships include all these characteristics or virtues all the time. So we do better to base our moral evaluations of relationships on the exercise of these virtues than on more obvious criteria of sexual orientation or even status in the eyes of the church. At the same time, it is also possible for faithful and reasonable people to disagree faithfully and reasonably on sexual ethics, as on other things.

This article explores what Anglicanism may have to say to a world struggling with a ‘migration crisis’. It begins with the story of the nineteenth-century African martyr, Bernard Mizeki, who was both a migrant and, as a missionary, a place-maker. Using three pairs of words – place and displacement, guest and host, and journey and destination – the article connects Anglicanism’s historic emphasis on parishes and the Incarnation to contemporary thinking on migration. It argues that eschatological thinking is necessary so Christians can consider what sort of destination they offer in their communal life. It concludes by urging more study of the relationship between migration, Anglican identity, and Christian being in the world.

Kenneth E. Kirk is regarded as the person who revived moral theology in the Anglican tradition in the early to mid-twentieth century. This article argues that a renewal of interest in mysticism, led especially by W.R. Inge and Evelyn Underhill in the first two decades of the twentieth century, was influential upon Kirk’s outlook, especially his association of moral theology with ascetic theology (or mystical theology), and linking of personal holiness with ethics. Kirk made prayer – especially contemplative prayer – and worship primary in the education of the soul, the forging of Christian character and therefore the creation of a moral agent.

This essay discusses the political thought of Rowan Williams in the context of his leading influences and wider theology. It shows the continuity in his political writing from his early days as a radical to his frequent political speeches and lectures as Archbishop of Canterbury. The over-riding theme is that of ‘interactive pluralism’, which seeks to establish a form of politics with a very weak system of sovereignty. This influenced his 2008 lecture on ‘Civil and Religious Law in England: a Religious Perspective’, which suggested a limited role for parallel religious law codes alongside those of the state. Although this lecture was subject to much criticism, particularly in the popular press, it nevertheless displays a consistency with his strongly disestablishmentarian inclinations, which give a large amount of space to ‘first-level’ institutions in both decision-making and community formation. A healthy society is established through dispute and dialogue between such groups rather than strong centralized power.

This article offers a new narrative to reflect on Anglican ecclesiology through the lens of theological and cultural ‘mestizaje’. At a time of increasing signs of fragmentation in the world and the church (including the Anglican Communion), this study affirms elements that have been present in historic Anglicanism and contemporary Anglican praxis: the value of intercultural relations, dialogical processes and theological humility. While recognizing the challenges, complexity and limitations of the Anglican mestizo model, it asserts its intrinsic value as a source of ecclesial koinonia.

Those Anglican Churches that have opened marriage to same-sex couples have done so from a liturgical starting point which makes space for the eschatological vocation of marriage. Such liturgies are arguably more congenial to same-sex couples’ demands for equal rites. The Church of England, on the other hand, has clung to services underpinned by a narrow view of marriage as a creation ordinance. It may be well-suited to the established Church’s legal duties but it means that the present demand for the inclusion of same-sex couples into Christian marriage represents a greater challenge. Equal rites, however, need not exclude the view of marriage as a creation ordinance. Interviews with four Church of England clergy who have been involved in same-sex ceremonies allow an exploration of the kind of marriage services that would meet same-sex couples’ demands and offer insights about what these demands say about the English marriage service today.

African women members of the Mothers’ Union in South Africa have forged a neo-indigenous expression of Christianity best expressed in the characteristics of the manyano movement (women’s prayer groups) which include extempore prayer and preaching, extensive fundraising, and the wearing of a church uniform. These women had to resist the restrictions placed upon them by women missionaries and church leadership from England, which included the abolishment of the church uniform during the 1950s. The article traces their struggle of resistance during this period and shows how they fought to wear a uniform and so identified themselves with the movement of women’s prayer unions existing in other churches. It also addresses the significance of the uniform as identified by elderly women from Vulindlela, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and suggests some of the existing ambiguities of the church uniform in the current church context.