Eccentrics, nutters, prodigals and rogues

Three splendid specimens from Fergus Butler-Gallie's celebrated Field Guide to the English Clergy

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St John the Evangelist

Excellent singing and Christmassy feeling at this Advent carol service
23 Dec 18
Ranmoor, Sheffield, England

Mt Zion Lutheran

Friendly people, no nonsense liturgy – and a big surprise!
6 Jan 19
Peoria, Arizona, USA
Pastor Orr dangles above his congregation in Mississippi

Lo! He comes on wires descending

Mississippi pastor drops in on his congregation to tell them about the Second Coming
30 Nov 18
Auto de Fe in the Plaza Mayor de Madrid, 1683

Reporting yourself to the Inquisition

The story of a soldier who turned himself in to the religious police is tweeted by an historian
21 Nov 18
Photo of BBC Broadcasting House

Should Thought for the Day lose its religion?

OK, but wouldn't that make it like almost every other bit of the BBC?
14 Nov 18
Photo of church service sheet

Thanks a lot, Lord

When a Durham Cathedral service sheet took on the tone of a sulky teenager
14 Nov 18
Private Gerald Thompson

A Christian in Hell Fire Corner

Huw Spanner recently came across letters from the Western Front, written by his great-uncle, a devout evangelical Christian.
14 Nov 18
Photo of the title page of The Tryal of the Witnesses of the Ressurection of Jesus by Thomas Sherlock

A cold case from zero AD

A chance discovery in a secondhand bookshop opens up a history of books where the resurrection goes on trial
7 Nov 18
Photo of church service sheet with typo

A boob in the hymn sheet

Heaven alone knows whether the congregation were still able to sing after verse 4
22 Oct 18
Photo of a halloween pumpkin

Why Halloween should be part of the church year

First the church tried to subvert it, then sanitize it, but why not try embracing Halloween?
22 Oct 18
Screen grab of Jesus organ donation TV advertisement

Jesus cast as organ donor in TV ad

An Australian TV ad casts Jesus signing an organ donation form at the crucifixion
21 Oct 18

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Photo by Lawrence OP

St Alban the Martyr

Swamped by the organ, challenged by the sermon, lost in a miasma of holy smoke
20 Jun 18
Holborn, London

St Michael and All Angels

Ghostly cut-outs in the pews, and an outbreak of conviviality that didn't include our reporter
25 Nov 18
Bedford Park, London
Hereford Cathedral

Hereford Cathedral

Haunting organ music but were the choristers sneering? And where was the loo?
6 Oct 14
Hereford, England
Mona Baptist, Kingston

Mona Baptist

Shouting and praising in the congregation, with subdued preaching - and oh, those benches!
18 Dec 11
Kingston, Jamaica
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