Oliver O’Donovan is a widely respected Anglican minister, ethicist and academic. In 2013, O’Donovan wrote an incisive critique of the Church of England’s Report of the House of Bishops Working Group on Human Sexuality (The Pilling Report).
The concerns expressed in that critique also hold true for the pastoral letter from the House of Bishops that accompanied the draft version of Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF) [same-sex couple blessings].
O’Donovan wrote: ‘[It] tells its readers it abides by the church’s teaching, while giving them no reasons for believing that teaching to be true. It avoids any affirmation of the marriage doctrine the bishops are currently committed to, namely, that marriage is between one man and one woman, and yet does not observe the territorial boundary set between it and the Marriage Report when there is a chance of hinting at an alternative. In other words, here is another arbitrary anthology of favourite theological thoughts without a theological structure.’
Christian Nationalism and far-right exclusivism
In March 2026, Dame Sarah Mullally will be formally “enthroned” as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.In accordance with long-standing …