THE WRITTEN WORD is one of the most important, and indisputably the most permanent, means of spreading the faith. From time to time Anglicans Online publishes an essay that we think to be worthy of your attention. This page is where we archive such essays so that you, and we, can find them later. We list our correspondents in alphabetical order.

We do not customarily accept unsolicited manuscripts for this section; our essayists are invited. If you have something to say that you would like to appear in Anglicans Online, remember that this is the Internet. Put your document on a web page somewhere, and tell us about it. If we find it at all appropriate, we will link it in one or more places, and if it is compelling we may even comment on it in our weekly letter.

The Right Reverend Terry Brown
Terry Brown, DD, is Bishop of the Diocese of Malaita in the Church of the Province of Melanesia.

• Lambeth Reports Daily email reports on the Lambeth Conference 2008. 'I thought I might write a short daily report from Lambeth' he begins; the rest is a fine, personal commentary on two weeks of ecclesiastical meetings. AO is delighted to provide an online home for these reports.

Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Thomas Bushnell is a member of the Brotherhood of Saint Gregory and a graduate student in philosophy at the University of California at Irvine.

• A review of Creating Uncommon Worship Brother Thomas reviews the book by Richard Giles, Dean of Philadelphia Cathedral.
• 'Do nothing without the bishop' Brother Thomas examines a contretemps in May 2004 between the Bishop of Los Angeles and the American Anglican Council.
• Peacemaker or partisan How a remark from Bishop Jon Bruno caused Brother Thomas to rethink the question.
• What I'm doing during General Convention 2003 Someone who has been very involved in the US Episcopal Church's pre-Convention discussions explains why he will be in a far-away campground during the convention itself.

Steve Caruso
Steve Caruso is the Translator at Aramaic Designs and The Aramaic New Testament.

• .Lost in Translation - Aramaic in the Context of Christ Looking at Gallilean Aramaic, the language Jesus actually spoke. It is almost extinct.

The Reverend Anthony F. M. Clavier
Tony Clavier is rector of St Thomas-a-Becket Church, Morgantown, in the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia. He has served on the Dallas panel of the 'New Commandment Task Force'. For thirty years he ministered in one of the continuing Anglican churches as a bishop and primus.

• The General Convention Church? The US Episcopal Church seems to be defined by its General Convention, but perhaps is really defined by its worship. [10 September 2000: a reader's reply].
• On the 'Continuing Churches' of Anglicanism 'I wasn't present at the creation of the continuing church movement, but I ministered in the Continuum for thirty years and as a bishop for twenty-five of those years. I am now very happily an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Arkansas'. Published as part of Louie Crew's Joy Anyway series.

Rodrigo Contreras
Mr Contreras is a Mexican Anglican, a member of the Cathedral parish at San Jose de Gracia Cathedral in the historic center of Mexico City. He writes in Spanish; Anglicans Online has translated his essay into English.

• Una reflexión sobre el diálogo entre la Iglesia Católica-Romana y la Iglesia Anglicana
  English translation by Anglicans Online: A reflection on the dialogue between the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches

Robin Drake
Frances S. "Robin" Drake is a cradle Episcopalian, lifelong church musician, and member of St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Reston, Virginia, USA

• Making Ready? Advent is a time for the Holy Spirit to make us ready for Christ.

Judy Winegar Goans
Judy Winegar Goans is an Episcopal laywoman, an aspirant for holy orders in the Diocese of East Tennessee, and a student at the Episcopal Divinity School. She is an attorney who works in intellectual property and international development.

• On conflicts in church. Some advice about dealing with church bullies and provocateurs.

Helen Gordon
Helen Gordon joined the staff of Anglicans Online in 2008.

• Family

The Reverend Brother Tobias S. Haller BSG
Brother Tobias is vicar of St James Church in Fordham (New York, USA)

• What constitutes a sufficient body to be church? A fascinating and relevant question.

Cynthia McFarland
Cynthia McFarland was managing editor of Anglicans Online from 1997 until her death in 2014.

• The parting of friends Why I left my parish.

Jamie McMahon
Jamie McMahon is a graduate student at Jesus College, Cambridge University and a member of the Standing Commission on Episcopal Church Communications (USA).

• On a recent survey in the Church of England Did it survey what it claims?

Sean Mullen
The Reverend Sean Mullen is Rector of Saint Mark's Church in central Philadelphia, in the Diocese of Pennsylvania. He was formerly Chaplain to Peter Carnley, Archbishop of Perth and then Primate of Australia.

• Of the internet and gum trees. Is the current crisis in the Anglican Communion fueled by the false sense of knowledge we gain in our encounters with the ‘virtual church’?

The Reverend Timothy M. Nakayama
The Reverend Timothy Nakayama is a retired priest in the Diocese of Olympia and was a missionary to Japan from 1991 to 2000. He has contributed three reflections to Anglicans Online, including

• About Tuesday, September 11, 2001: A Japanese-American Episcopal Priest's Perspective
• The Story of Hannah Riddell and Hansen's Disease
• The 50th anniversary of the arrival of two American Episcopal missionaries to Okinawa and
  the 155th anniversary of the arrival of Bernard John Bettelheim, first Anglican Missionary to Japan

H. Jefferson Powell
Jeff Powell is a Professor of Law at Duke University who also holds a Master's of Divinity from Yale and a Ph.D. in theological ethics from Duke. He is a parishioner at St Luke in Durham, North Carolina.

• The Brokenness of A Gift to the World: Why the Episcopal Church should reject the recent proposal for full communion with the United Methodist Church.

A response to Dr Powell's essay was submitted to Anglicans Online by The Rev Thomas Ferguson.

Brian Reid
Brian Reid has been the Publisher and News Centre Editor of Anglicans Online since 1998; he sometimes writes essays on topics that attract his attention. He is a parishioner at Christ Church in Los Altos, California.

• Pancakes On the Anglican ritual meal that is also a North American comfort food.
• Gathered together in His name Reflections on the death of a friend I never met.
• Myrrh is Mine Reflections on a traditional Epiphany service.
• Liturgy and My Church When the traditions change.
• On Going to Church Why a cyberparish is not for me.
• My Father, Art Thou in Heaven? Reflections on the death of my atheist father.

Mac Robb
Mac Robb is a Canadian living in Brisbane, Australia

• Dialog with a Muslim friend A Christian and a Muslim discuss their faiths and their lives.

Simon Sarmiento
Simon Sarmiento is the UK-Europe editor of Anglicans Online.

• A Church at War: Anglicans and Homosexuality, by Stephen Bates. An in-depth review for Anglicans Online.

Jonathan Steinhart
Dr Steinhart is an obstetrician and gynaecologist who has practised medicine on the Navajo Reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico for more than 20 years. 'Jesus, Remember Me' is his first essay for Anglicans Online.

• Jesus, Remember Me

Obi Udeariry
Obi Udeariry is a young Anglican living in the city of Owerri, Nigeria.

• Anglican Bandstand: a story of resistance against creeping Pentecostalism in Nigeria.

The Reverend R. Edgar Wallace
The Reverend R. Edgar Wallace is rector of St Matthias in Minocqua, Wisconsin, in the Diocese of Fond du Lac.

• Christmas letter to my parish, 2005
• Evil: some thoughts and questions

The Right Reverend Pierre W. Whalon
Bishop Whalon is a regular columnist and essayist at Anglicans Online. He is Bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.

• Reflections on the Way of Love A method of daily living as a follower of Jesus.
• Understanding the Episcopal General Convention A history, background, and analysis of the triennial meeting of bishops and lay and clergical Deputies of the U.S. based province
• On Mars as it is in heaven Reflections on diversity in church planting
• Marriage, The Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Communion On the 2015 vote to change the marriage canons
• Bringing in the Sheaves...From Abroad On being an international bishop in a mostly national province.
• Surviving Death? Thinking about what it means to die.
• Finding Faith? Faith, belief, and the Creeds.
• The Open Body: Essays in Anglican Ecclesiology A review.
• The Lion's World A review of Rowan Williams' latest book, an exploration of Narnia.
• Polity Politics Just how does The Episcopal Church govern itself? And why should you care?
• Reading the Bible as a statement of faith An interview with Olivia de Havilland.
• Remembering, and looking ahead On the tenth annivesary of 9/11.
• What is Anglicanism? A user's guide.
• The Ministers of the Church Are . . . Why an upside-down pyramid is just what Jesus wants.
• Covet a Covenant?: Do we really want this covenant?
• Goudou-Goudou: Half a year has passed since the great Haiti earthquake. (Also in French).
• Haiti and the Devil: Debunking the claims that Haiti's earthquake tragedy was God's revenge on Haiti for making a 'deal with the devil'.
• What We Think We Are Doing: Wherever one is on the spectrum of opinion, to have no theology for full inclusion, while more or less practicing it, is worse than having bad theology. Bad theology cries out for better theology. No theology, however, calls the whole enterprise into question.
• Covenant—was ist das auf Deutch?: Looking at what 'covenant' might mean in other languages.
• What Didn't Happen at General Convention 2009—and What Did?
• Covenanting to Covenant: Reflections on the Third ('Ridley') Draft of the proposed Anglican Covenant.
• On Polygamy, Homosexuality, and Generosity
• Peering Past Lambeth: Thinking about what the future might look like after Lambeth 2008.
• What’s Really At Stake for the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion
• A Bishop's Estimate of the Situation: Placing the current Anglican turmoil in a larger context, and making recommendations for action.
• Where Have All the Christians Gone? A report of a visit to Teheran in January 2007. (In French [online] and in Farsi [PDF]).
• Alive and Well: Rumours of the demise of the Anglican Communion are greatly exaggerated. December 2006.
• Ecclesia Semper Reformanda or So It Goes: In a new two-part essay, Bishop Pierre Whalon considers 'where The Episcopal Church is at present with respect to its inner life and the wider Communion' and then attempts to provide 'some analysis of what needs to happen next'.
• Anglicans in Europe—A Model? Bishop Whalon reflects on the Anglican diocesan structure in Europe to see if it might be a model for other places.
• 'I saw the Holy City...' The bishops of the Episcopal Church confront the necessity of rebuilding after disaster.
• A review of Grace and Necessity Bishop Pierre Whalon takes a careful look at the ambitious undertaking of the Archbishop' of Canterbury, to consider the role of art and the artist in society.
• Dispatch from St Peter's Basilica The Inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI and the audience with the Pope the following day.
• The Ghost of Bishop Pike, Revisited On the recent Covenant issued by the US House of Bishops.
• To Whom Do We Belong? On identity, membership, and communion.
• Leading 'the Church Throughout the World' On the global role of bishops.
• Back to Iraq On being a Christian in a non-Christian country.
• 'Playing at Cassandra?' The Anglican Communion after the Eames Commission report: The day after tomorrow...
• Thought, Love, and Bishops, or, The Ghost of James Pike On building a theological basis for recent events.
• The Hard Work of Reconciliation Just what's behind the Delegated Pastoral Oversight plan approved by the House of Bishops.
• Postcard from Camp Allen The first few days of the House of Bishops meeting in March 2004, at Camp Allen, Texas.
• The Conflicts of Apostles on Christian unity.
• The Blight of Parallel Jurisdictions With 20,000 denominations, does it matter? Yes.
• Why This Issue? Bishop Whalon pointedly asks the question. And he essays an answer.
• At General Convention Reflections from the floor of the House of Bishops, August 2003.
• Crossing Boundaries Why there is a need for dioceses to be aware of their edges: June 2003.
• Can Sheherazade Tell Us One More? Bishop Whalon's report and photo journal of his trip to Baghdad in February 2003.
• Whose Sin is it, Anyway? What's right with the original sin.
• Is It Just War? Wondering aloud if a preventive strike against Iraq is morally justifiable. (This article was also published in the International Herald Tribune on 14 November 2002 in a shortened version, titled 'A Moral Justification for Going to War'. You can read the IHT version here.)
• How Should We Christians Relate to People of Other Faiths? At the anniversary of September 11, finding the answer is evermore urgent.
• Israel, Jews, Islam, Muslims, and European Christians How Christians should react to right-wing violence.
• Nous sommes tous des américains On France and its role in religious politics.
• Piety Reconciling an old concept with a modern world.
• Becoming a Bishop in Rome One day in November 2001 ...
• A letter from Paris 11 September 2001
• Join the Ministry and ... ? More thoughts on the 20/20 Vision.
• The Travail of Planting New Churches First we stop the committee meetings.
• What Will it Take to Double Our Size? Musing about evangelism in the Episcopal Church in the USA.
• What is the Difference between Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism? (See also our Spanish and French translations of this essay.)
• The Discipline of Canonical Enforcement Anglicans have traditionally avoided canonical discipline. When that changes, what happens next?
• Our Piece of the Puzzle The Communion begins at our parish doorstep.
• Flying Bishops Revisited Will this Church of England concept work in the USA?
• Nothing in common? What does koinonia really mean?
• Resolution D039 Why all the fuss?
• Episcopalian Democracy General Convention matters.
• Planting a Rainbow Why aren't we planting churches in black communities?
• The True Measure of a Successful Parish: There's a problem when you count only live bodies in pews.
• Pour être bon catholique, j’ai dû quitter l’Église de Rome 'To become a good Catholic, I had to leave the Church of Rome'. In French.
• Heresy versus Schism Is it better to be heretical or schismatic?
• The Centrist Moment Has the time come?

The Reverend Stephen L. White
The Reverend Dr Stephen White is chaplain of the Episcopal Church at Princeton University. In this moving eulogy of his daughter, Christen, who died in November 2002, he tells of a remarkable encounter she had in New York City.

Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann
Jeanie and Bill Wylie-Kellermann were on a remarkable journey from September 1998, when Jeanie was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour, until her death in January 2006. Jeanie and Bill's reflections on life, illness, love, God, disease, laughter, death are astonishing reading. Jeanie was, for many years, editor of The Witness magazine and Bill contributes frequently to it.