New issue of Epiphanies examines our differences

The spring issue of Epiphanies, the digital magazine published by the Anglican Journal, is now online after a delay due to coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our latest issue offers a reflection on differences: the things that can divide us, but also how we might transcend those differences in striving for unity. As editor Matthew Townsend writes in his introduction, “we consider here the differences human beings define, the lines we draw and categories we form that separate us from one another and from God.” Particularly in a time of pandemic, he adds, “we are blessed by a God who reminds us of our duty to let go of our differences, that we may all be one.”

Within this issue, you’ll find a detailed examination on what it means for the church to take sides in situations of conflict or injustice, and the degree to which the Anglican Church of Canada might be considered an “ethnic” church given its increasingly diverse and multicultural nature. You’ll learn about a new group, Black Anglicans of Canada, which seeks to give life to the church’s racial justice charter, and how accessibility in the church speaks to the very heart of Christian theology.

We share an interview with the Rev. Leigh Kern, a prison chaplain who discusses the human suffering unfolding within Canadian prisons during COVID-19; and a discussion with Mary Jo Leddy, director of Romero House in Toronto, who speaks on refugees and “otherness”. We offer reflections from the Rev. Edmund Laldin on immigrants and new Canadians; and from Lyds Keesmaat-Walsh, a young queer and trans Anglican who speaks about their own experience in the church.

Columns by Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and National Indigenous Archbishop Mark MacDonald speak, respectively, about “the dignity of difference” and of the dominance of technocratic society and its implications for the world to come. Finally, a postscript to the issue considers its content in light of recent events, from the global pandemic to protests against racism and police brutality that have swept the world.

Read the issue’s articles here or download a PDF version of the full issue here.