We live in a time of repeated scandals in which prominent church leaders turn out to be hiding egregious sinful behaviour.

If you’re near my age, or older, you likely remember seeing this photo in a newspaper in June 1972, probably on page one.

I joined the faculty at Wycliffe in 2019 only a few months before the start of the pandemic. I was in Toronto first, and visited a number of churches in-person, but by the time my wife joined me the city was in lockdown.

As someone who has spent several decades in Church-land, I've heard literally thousands of sermons, homilies, and meditations. Too often, I hear preachers representing Jesus as someone who was uncomfortable with Judaism.

The struggle for justice seems never to be won, and it is easy for those who fight for it to become weary.  

During the 1960s, which were a decade of upheaval in western Christianity in general, the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) registered some fundamental changes in its worship, theology, ecumenical outlook, discipline, and cultural inclusiveness.  

“One must not argue about opinions.

How can studying the past help us in our Christian formation?

My first degree was in history. I was educated at the University of York in England by professors who were by and large resolutely unimpressed by notions of human progress.