Prayer book to go ahead

THE CONTROVERSIAL Anglican Bishop of Durham, Rt Revd David Jenkins, has again landed in hot water this week by agreeing to write the preface to a book of prayers for lesbian and gay people by Catholic theologian, Dr Elizabeth Stuart.
Daring to Speak Love's Name: A Celebration of Friendship was scheduled for release earlier this year by its original publishers, SPCK, but it was stopped after a personal intervention by Dr George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who threatened to resign as President of the publishers if the book went ahead.
Now the publishers Hamish Hamilton have agreed to publish the book, together with a new foreword by the bishop.
Dr Stuart was adamant about the importance of a book of this kind. "It's about time that lesbian and gay Christians had a prayer book of their own to celebrate the key moments of their lives in a Christian context," she said. She said that SPCK had put the archbishop in "an impossible position" by asking him to make decisions on editorial policy.
This week has also seen Dr Jenkins endorsing a book by Geoffrey Parrinder of London University, which claims to have found evidence that St Joseph and Mary had seven other children besides Jesus.
The bishop called it a "much needed contribution" to theological debate.