First Things RSS Feed - Philip Turner https://www.firstthings.com/author/philip-turner en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:50:49 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/philip-turner 60 An Unworkable Theology https://www.firstthings.com/article/2005/06/an-unworkable-theology https://www.firstthings.com/article/2005/06/an-unworkable-theology Wed, 01 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0400 It is increasingly difficult to escape the fact that mainline Protestantism is in a state of disintegration. As attendance declines, internal divisions increase. Take, for instance, the situation of the Episcopal Church in the United States. The Episcopal Church’s problem is far more theological than it is moral”a theological poverty that is truly monumental and that stands behind the moral missteps recently taken by its governing bodies.

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]]> The Episcopalian Preference https://www.firstthings.com/article/2003/11/the-episcopalian-preference https://www.firstthings.com/article/2003/11/the-episcopalian-preference Sat, 01 Nov 2003 00:00:00 -0500 On August 5, 2003, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA), following initial action by the House of Deputies of ECUSA’s General Convention, gave its consent (by a ratio of roughly 60-40) to the election of the Reverend V. Gene Robinson to become the next Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. Gene Robinson is an outspoken gay man who has lived openly with his partner for over a decade. He is also the divorced father of two children. At a later point in the same convention, delegates gave permission for the blessing of gay unions in dioceses that may choose to grant clergy license to perform these services.

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]]> Sex and the Single Life https://www.firstthings.com/article/1993/05/sex-and-the-single-life https://www.firstthings.com/article/1993/05/sex-and-the-single-life Sat, 01 May 1993 00:00:00 -0400 What is it that Christians ought to say and do about the issue of sexual relations between single people? This question currently presses most painfully upon the life of the churches. The real issue is not whether the churches ought to adopt a new sexual ethic, but whether the new sexual ethic they are in fact in the process of adopting is one that is “worthy of (their) calling.” Let me explain.

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]]> To Students of Divinity: A Convocation Address https://www.firstthings.com/article/1992/10/to-students-of-divinity-a-convocation-address https://www.firstthings.com/article/1992/10/to-students-of-divinity-a-convocation-address Thu, 01 Oct 1992 00:00:00 -0400 People who talk overmuch about beginning a new phase of life often appear quite foolish. After all, we rarely know until much later the meaning of our past and the promise of our future. Our ignorance and confusion alone ought to suggest that at times of transition (like the beginning of a new academic year), it may prove the better part of wisdom to imitate Mary, the mother of Jesus, on the occasion of the annunciation, and simply remain silent. You will remember that when the Angel of the Lord came to tell her about what, with a touch of irony, we may call the beginning of a new “term,” she didn’t run right out and tell everyone about the visit. She simply “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

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]]> Undertakings and Promises https://www.firstthings.com/article/1991/04/undertakings-and-promises https://www.firstthings.com/article/1991/04/undertakings-and-promises Mon, 01 Apr 1991 00:00:00 -0500 For Christians, as for everyone else, the topic of sexual ethics is today one of widespread confusion, contention, and uncertainty. In this essay I propose to deal with the specific question of the kinds of promises and undertakings people ought to make when they engage in sexual relations. But I want to do so in a way designed as much to bring into focus the reasons Christian people seem unable to make much progress in the current debate as to defend my own position.

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]]> Authority in the Church: Excavations Among the Ruins https://www.firstthings.com/article/1990/12/authority-in-the-church-excavations-among-the-ruins https://www.firstthings.com/article/1990/12/authority-in-the-church-excavations-among-the-ruins Sat, 01 Dec 1990 00:00:00 -0500 Authority is an issue that occupies a central place in current ecumenical discussion among the churches and it is one of enormous social and political importance as well. Accordingly, while the arguments that follow are directed most particularly to the question of authority in the churches, they have relevance as well, I hope, to analogous concerns in the larger society of which the churches are a part. With respect to church bodies, my premise is that, given our present ecclesial and social circumstances, the issue of authority will serve more to unify the churches than to divide them. I can only hope that history will prove me right.

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