Why I began to study modern heresy
A very long time ago, in 1999, a suggestion was put forward in some quarters of the Church of England that Don Cupitt might be tried for heresy. (Cupitt’s Official site ; Wiki ; Sea of Faith ) I was appalled by the idea and published an article about the futility of the proposal in the Modern Church journal Modern Believing . Having taken my stance I then had to work out why I thought the issue was important. After all, I only knew Don Cupitt by repute so this was about me much more than about him. The idea and substance of heresy has proved to be sufficiently interesting to keep me ferreting round and round the issue for the subsequent twenty years. I have been a member of the Church of England ever since deserting my natal Methodism In my teens. I was ordained in 1988, my bishop telling me at the time that he would never have ordained me if he had believed what the training course had told him about me. Perhaps both were right; I’ve never asked to see my file. In all this time