I had the opportunity this summer to present a research paper at the annual European Association of Biblical Studies, which this year was held jointly with the international meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. The conference was held in Uppsala, Sweden, where I studied for a year as an undergraduate student. I had not been back since, so I enjoyed the added bonus of rediscovering old haunts, as well as connecting with new colleagues and friends made in the intervening years.
My paper was on the topic of emotions and the biblical world, with a particular focus on human connection as a counterpoint to loneliness. In a society increasingly characterised as polarised and fragmented, there is value in exploring the significance the Bible places on interpersonal connections.
The seriousness with which God takes the need for human connection can be seen in God’s repeated provision of companions for those who are isolated: Elisha travelling with Elijah, Baruch working with Jeremiah, the second human in partnership with the first, and families for the solitary in Psalms and Isaiah. While the presence of God is vital and pre-eminent for human flourishing, it often appears to be the people whom God provides who are the ones to sustain and encourage us through the daily tasks, excitements, and disappointments of life.
All in all, I was glad to discuss and learn from scholars and students from across the world, all sharing a common interest in how emotions, humanity, and the divine interact in the Bible and other ancient texts, while simultaneously representing Cranmer Hall and St John’s College in the wider academic world.
The Bede Centre for Church Planting Theology is a research centre based at Cranmer Hall seeking to encourage a critical, theological conversation about the starting of new churches.
In September 2025, The Bede Centre published, The Communion Dilemma, a new piece of research exploring the place of communion in new church communities in the Church of England. It was authored by Joshua Cockayne Academic Dean at Cranmer and Director of the Bede Centre.
The report examines the practices of 62 new communities and examines the implications for ecclesiology in the Church of England today. The report is framed around a dilemma that is faced by practitioners in these contexts and argues that none of the available options for celebrating communion is preferable. Summing up this dilemma, Cockayne writes,
For those leading new things in the Church of England, the choices which exist all have deeply problematic implications. If contexts choose not to celebrate then questions abound about whether this context is really a church, at least in any Anglican understanding of ecclesiology. But if contexts choose to celebrate, they are left with equally difficult choices: celebrate with authorised texts which feel jarring and inaccessible to the communities you have been sent to engage with, or find a way of making liturgies more accessible by using unauthorised forms, but thereby violate the Declaration of Assent and potentially cut the new church community off from the ecology of the wider Church.
The report concludes by examining the next steps which might happen to create more space for faithful eucharistic practice in new things.
In a recent webinar, we discussed the research with Revd Mark Earey and Revd Rachael Phillips, a recording of the webinar can be found here. The report was also covered in a recent article in the Church Times.
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