Recent events in the USA and the UK reveal how theological education is changing, reflecting wider issues in global higher education as well as local and ecclesial concerns. Those responsible for seminary leadership and governance might pay closer to attention to those wider developments, and not neglect wider benefits to the Church of theological discourse generated in these institutions beyond vocational training.

Matthew's story of the Canaanite woman is an unusual and disturbing story in the Gospel tradition. Alongside other Gentile stories in Matthew's very Jewish Gospel, it signifies the opening of the doors on the Gentiles and their inclusion in the community of faith. The woman's language and the silence of Jesus speak powerfully to the contemporary context within Anglicanism. The liturgical language she employs teaches us how to speak in worship, while Jesus’ silence addresses our own experience of suffering and the seeming deafness of God. In the end, the narrative, for all its exegetical difficulties, is a powerful story of communion and the ultimately gracious response of God. As Anglicans we need to recover the depths of our own speech, grounded in Scripture and the Book of Common Prayer, as expressions of the grace of an inclusive God who teaches us how to speak and how to wait in faith.

This article provides a detailed empirical assessment of British public opinion on the issue of the disestablishment of the Church of England, one of the most important questions concerning relations between church and state. It uses a nationally representative survey conducted in 2011. It finds that, in socio-structural terms, those more supportive of disestablishment are men, those living in Scotland and those with a degree-level education. In political and ideological terms, Liberal Democrat party identifiers and those with left-wing and liberal policy preferences are more supportive of disestablishment. There are also significant differences on the basis of newspaper readership, with Guardian readers most supportive. The findings contribute to existing empirical research on this topic and demonstrate the need for further analysis of how religious orientations shape public attitudes on this debate.

This paper critically examines the role of Charles Riley, Bishop of Perth, in the foundation of the University of Western Australia in 1913. Riley advocated a modern university devoted to applied science, which would also include a humanities/arts component that would be able to deliver a liberal education. It goes on to explore what a ‘liberal education’ meant to Riley in connection with a theological education for clergy. It argues that Riley, and his successor Archbishop Le Fanu, desired a theological education for clergy connected with the university as productive of such a liberal education. Such an education would enable clergy to be leaders in society, capable of understanding modern issues in the context of faith, and able, by virtue of their education, to engage sympathetically with people of diverse backgrounds and views.

This article argues that for good practice, well-being and fruitful ministry, decisions by and about clergy married to clergy (CMC) in the Church of England require a clear quantitative picture of their ministry, and offers such a picture in early 2013 drawn primarily from published data, compared with national Church of England statistics. Over 26 per cent more clergy dyads were found than previously thought, with many active in ministry. A wide variety of ministry patterns were identified, including a higher than normal percentage in non-parochial roles, supporting previous research noting high levels of boundary enmeshment and absorptiveness. Considerable gender inequality prevailed in shared parochial settings in spite of women having been ordained priest for nearly 20 years, with very few wives holding more senior positions than their husbands, while female CMC are more likely to be dignitaries than other ordained women.

A critical conversation between the Church of England's response to the Government's consultation on Equal Civil Marriage 2012, questions arising from professional parish practice as a priest, and literature in this area of research. The article explores the theological significance of ‘equal marriage’ (equal access to marriage and equality within marriage) as a Christian possibility within the Church of England, with contemporary approaches to gender and sexuality.