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Source: (consider it) Thread: Purgatory: "SPCK" bookshops
dorothea
Goodwife and low church mystic
# 4398

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This is sad news indeed. I recall when the Manchester branch closed and, until I discovered St Denys' in Oak street (thanks to a ship mate), I was stuck for an alternative.

I wasn't so keen on the evangelical Christian book shop on Deansgate (I think that might have gone now) and have always struggled with Wesley Owen in Bolton with its displays of Americanised Kingdom Dynamics stuff. I really dislike browsing there and end to come out wondering why on earth I'm a Christian at all, if this is how we market ourselves. Waterstones in Manchester does offer some good stuff, despite the 'wish upon a star' drivel they stock in their eclectic spirituality section. The Bolton one, which is smaller doesn’t offer the same range but has some interesting selections from time-to-time and does acknowledge more traditional forms of spirituality alongside Angel cards.

I have not been to any SPCK shops since the change over but will check out the Canterbury one next time I’m there.

J

[ 03. November 2007, 13:20: Message edited by: dorothea ]

--------------------
Protestant head? Catholic Heart?

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Peter Ould
Shipmate
# 482

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Does anybody know what the content of these new employment contracts was? I'm hearing lots of complaint about them, but until we actually see one that's all just hearsay.
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Rosa Winkel

Saint Anger round my neck
# 11424

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quote:
Originally posted by leo:

A friend wanted to order an Affirming Catholicism book and was told that it was against their policy.


[Disappointed]

I had many dealings with the branch in Chester and the manager and the staff were totally sound.

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The Disability and Jesus "Locked out for Lent" project

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starbelly
but you can call me Neil
# 25

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quote:
Originally posted by Peter Ould:
Does anybody know what the content of these new employment contracts was? I'm hearing lots of complaint about them, but until we actually see one that's all just hearsay.

Yes, I was given one, the original one which I declined to sign contained all sorts of strange things, including that we would be available to clean their churches, do landscaping, that we would actively look out for redundant churches for the trust, that we would work Sundays, that we would work any time of day or night as required, would not be paid for any work done over our contracted hours. The contract did away with part time staff, so you were either on a Full time contract or a casual contract with no guarenteed hours. The amount of holiday and sick pay arrangements were both illegal under UK law. There was an odd appendix saying that if we ran "events" we could not use a whole list of music (including music using electric guitars or drum, non religious vocal music or atonal music)... I could go on and on.

In short the contract was very detailed about what the staff were expected to do, but contained nothing about what we could expect of our employers, although by that stage I had fully realised what to expect from my employers...

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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460

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[Eek!] [Eek!] [Eek!] [Eek!]

utterly unenforceable - what did they think they were doing? If someone signed it and they got sacked for (say) cleaning the church with a Turkish brand of bleach afer midnight on a holy day of obligation and having the temerity to request wages for it (or whatever) the employers would very likely lose any tribunal for unfair dismissal

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Ken

L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.

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starbelly
but you can call me Neil
# 25

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The contract was so unsignable most people thought they had come up with it just to get rid of us all, but then when either whole shops resigned or people refused to sign it (after 11 small ammendments) they seemed really shocked. I think they genuinely thought it was a good contract, which for lawyers seems really bizarre! (I can only assume they are really bad lawyers!)
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Peter Ould
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# 482

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quote:
Originally posted by starbelly:
The contract was so unsignable most people thought they had come up with it just to get rid of us all, but then when either whole shops resigned or people refused to sign it (after 11 small ammendments) they seemed really shocked. I think they genuinely thought it was a good contract, which for lawyers seems really bizarre! (I can only assume they are really bad lawyers!)

If the contract is illegal and people have been sacked for not signing it, surely it's time for the employment lawyers to remind SSG of its obligations under the law of the land?

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Peter Ould
www.peter-ould.net

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FreeJack
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# 10612

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quote:
Originally posted by Peter Ould:
quote:
Originally posted by starbelly:
The contract was so unsignable most people thought they had come up with it just to get rid of us all, but then when either whole shops resigned or people refused to sign it (after 11 small ammendments) they seemed really shocked. I think they genuinely thought it was a good contract, which for lawyers seems really bizarre! (I can only assume they are really bad lawyers!)

If the contract is illegal and people have been sacked for not signing it, surely it's time for the employment lawyers to remind SSG of its obligations under the law of the land?
The contract is not actually illegal just unenforceable, and unlawful if attempts are made to enforce the unenforceable, with remedies at an Employment Tribunal.

I believe they are American lawyers, who are unfamiliar with English law or British culture.

(Happens quite a lot in the City, some US lawyers make mistakes which costs their firms big money.)

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dorothea
Goodwife and low church mystic
# 4398

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Dear me! The contract thing is horrendous. Was it ammended? Or did everyone leave? Have people signed amended versions?

J

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starbelly
but you can call me Neil
# 25

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quote:
Originally posted by dorothea:
Dear me! The contract thing is horrendous. Was it ammended? Or did everyone leave? Have people signed amended versions?

J

It was amended with 11 slight ammendments after a "consultation", but most of the suggestions from people were ignored. The 11 changes were largely where it was obviously breaking UK law, or meaningless world changes (For example "Will be required to work nights" was changed to "may be required to work nights")

Nobody I am in contact with has signed the amended contract.

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Jack o' the Green
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# 11091

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quote:
Originally posted by dorothea:
This is sad news indeed. I recall when the Manchester branch closed and, until I discovered St Denys' in Oak street (thanks to a ship mate), I was stuck for an alternative.

I wasn't so keen on the evangelical Christian book shop on Deansgate (I think that might have gone now) and have always struggled with Wesley Owen in Bolton with its displays of Americanised Kingdom Dynamics stuff. I really dislike browsing there and end to come out wondering why on earth I'm a Christian at all, if this is how we market ourselves. Waterstones in Manchester does offer some good stuff, despite the 'wish upon a star' drivel they stock in their eclectic spirituality section. The Bolton one, which is smaller doesn’t offer the same range but has some interesting selections from time-to-time and does acknowledge more traditional forms of spirituality alongside Angel cards.

I have not been to any SPCK shops since the change over but will check out the Canterbury one next time I’m there.

J

Coming from the same part of the world, I find myself to be in a similar situation. Anything other than Adrian Plass, and I don't bother with Wesley Owen - I tend to get my theological books via Amazon now rather than book shops. Sometimes though I will make the pilgrimage to Chester where they have a wonderful SPCK Shop with a superb second-hand section upstairs.
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Jessie Phillips
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# 13048

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Forgive me for weighing in here but I live in London, and my general theological preference is anglican evangelicalism that leans slightly closer to arminianism than calvinism, and I support textual criticism. If I were to rank the bookshops in central London in order of my current preference, it would be:

1. St Pauls at Westminster Cathedral

2. the Christianity sections of Foyles and Borders on Charing Cross Road (I consider this to be like one shop due to their close proximity)

3. CLC on Holborn Viaduct

4. The Christianity section of the British Museum archaeological bookshop

5. Wesley Owen on Wigmore Street (which has now closed)

6. SPCK and Church House Bookshop (I consider this to be like one shop due to their close proximity)

I wasn't aware of the existence of Mowbrays or Hatchards until it was mentioned in this thread. I have been to Waterstones in Piccadilly, though, but I find that Waterstones is generally not as good at organising things as either Borders or Foyles are.

Mind you, I really don't like buying books before having had a chance to flick through them first. And when I have flicked through a book I like, I usually want to buy it there and then, and take it home with me. So I prefer any of the above shops to Amazon. However, I won't ask a bookshop to order a book in for me that they don't already have in stock, for the same reason; I'll just look for it somewhere else instead, and I'll order it from Amazon if I can't find it.

I'm intrigued that no-one else has mentioned CLC in this thread so far. Although SPCK and CLC both have branches in central London, they don't have any branches in the suburbs, unlike Wesley Owen, which has got branches all over the place.

Do they assume that we'll travel further, then? The reason I don't rank SPCK very high is because I feel that their book stock is too small, and isn't diverse enough, and therefore doesn't usually justify making a special journey for it, even when you lump it in toghether with Church House, whose range is also quite limited.

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Callan
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# 525

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Originally posted by Starbelly:

quote:
Yes, I was given one, the original one which I declined to sign contained all sorts of strange things, including that we would be available to clean their churches, do landscaping, that we would actively look out for redundant churches for the trust, that we would work Sundays, that we would work any time of day or night as required, would not be paid for any work done over our contracted hours.
Blimey. You should have sent them a copy of Rerum Novarum with a note attached saying "read, mark and inwardly digest". Or failing that the relevant passages of UK employment law.

Be nice to Wesley Owen it is then. Mind you I've got decent books on JPII and Aquinas from them in the past so there is at least a silver lining.

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How easy it would be to live in England, if only one did not love her. - G.K. Chesterton

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HyperPilgrim
Apprentice
# 11805

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If this job ad is anything to go by, looks to me like their strategy is to reposition all the bookshops as Orthodox Missionary Outposts with a view to subverting Britain's Cathedrals...

Meanwhile, if it's the best Christian bookshop in London you're looking for, you should pay a visit to the bookshop at London School of Theology: none of your typical happy-clappy wishy-washy evangelical soup dragon stuff there, me hearties! What you will find is plenty of heavy duty academic theology, commentaries, resources for music & worship, psychology, counselling, Islamic studies - yes, even the Qu'ran, in at least three different editions.

Don't try phoning though - they're usually too busy serving customers in the shop to pick up the phone.

The UK Christian Bookshops Directory provides an index of Christian bookshops in London as well as an A-Z index of Christian bookshops elsewhere in the country.

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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460

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quote:
Originally posted by Jessie Phillips:
have been to Waterstones in Piccadilly, though, but I find that Waterstones is generally not as good at organising things as either Borders or Foyles are.

The Waterstones on Gower Street has a bigger selection of theology than the others - and of academic books in general.

CLC is mostly the same sort of selection as Wesley Owen (though its a lot bigger than any WO shop I've been to) but it does have quite a lot of books int he Bible commetary line, and also tends to have very cheap pperbacks from America, often from a Reformed/Calvinist point of view. There seemed to be lots of books by Don Carson last time I went. Also stuff on preaching from the Wee Frees [Smile]

(Is CLC connected with a Presbyterian church at all?)

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Ken

L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.

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Jengie jon

Semper Reformanda
# 273

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Don't think so. Here is their about us . Raises some interesting questions but the most I can find out about colour of Evangelical is that the certainly are EA. Having searched a bit further there seems to be some Methodism in its origin with C.T. Studd being influential and him volunteering for Hudson Taylor who was the son of a Methodist shopkeeper but really no idea.

Jengie

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FreeJack
Shipmate
# 10612

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CLC are evangelical and ecumenical. Internationally it is evangelistic. Getting bibles into non-Christian countries etc.

(Ok, that is ecumenical in the sense of being all kinds of free church evangelical and evangelical Anglican, rather than RC, Orthodox or your average Methodist LEP.)

They wouldn't take a position on charismatic gifts, mode of baptism and would sell books on both sides of the arguments!

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Jengie jon

Semper Reformanda
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FreeJack

Most Ecumenicals organisations have "a sponsor" of some sort. Most have a difficult relationship with that sponsor but it is interesting to find out who it is and can be enlightening.

Oh I don't think Presbyterian at all. It was formed in Colchester in 1931. So you only have ex-pat Scots (including Irish Scots and the occasional Welsh man) Presbyterianism as a real option.

Jengie

--------------------
"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge

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daisymay

St Elmo's Fire
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There are a couple of shops in North London,

Wesley Owen in Wealdstone,

a smallish one with really friendly workers and lots of books, and very efficient at ordering them, and

Cornerstone Bookshop
45-51 Woodhouse Road
North Finchley, London N12 9ET,

again where you can order books and where they have a good mixture, not all extremely expensive.

CLC is quite different from many others, with a different kind of wide variety, and has some books that are very interesting.

The RC one in Kensington High Street has more art than any of the others, as far as I have experienced.

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London
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J Whitgift

Pro ecclesia dei!
# 1981

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quote:
Originally posted by Richard Collins:
I have a friend who told me that the Brewer family are billionaires and so are unlikely to be running the book shop 'to make a profit'.

I guess the underlaying agenda is promote Orthodox books here in the UK, but the control freakery way they've gone about it is disturbing.

The thing is that botht he SPCK and Church House bookshops both had good (if small) Orthodox sections. I can't really see an Orthodox chain of bookshops taking off in the UK. And even if the brothers are billionaires, I can hardly see them running a company which is making no money (or making a loss, to do so would make no business sense whatsoever. (It has to be remembered that these are business men and to run an business which is making not profit runs counter to the instincts of any sound business person).

--------------------
On the issue of homosexuality the Liberals have spent their time thinking, considering and listening (in the spirit of the Windsor process), whereas Conservative Anglicans have used the time to further dig their feet in and become more intransigent.

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Jessie Phillips
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# 13048

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Wow, thanks for the replies, I must go check some of these new shops out.

I discovered all the ones that I've listed from a guide book which also lists the bookshop in the Crypt at St Martin in the Fields as being a "Christian bookshop". Hah! They're having a laugh! No way is that a Christian bookshop! There's a tiny little circle off a very short passage, which has a handful of books about pop theology, pop psychology, cookery, and the odd gift Bible, and picture calendars. And this is off the side of a gift shop that sells things like souvenir red phone boxes, red buses, Big Ben clocks, and tube map mouse mats.

There's also a Christian bookshop on Fleet Street whose name I've forgotten, but which I don't really rate. It's far better than the Crypt, though, but probably not as good as SPCK or Church House Bookshop in my opinion.

Just because I don't rate the London branch of SPCK particularly highly, though, doesn't mean to say that I wouldn't be sad to see it go.

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Cedd
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# 8436

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I went into the CLC on Holborn Viaduct for the last time about 3 years ago. It was the last time for two (related) reasons:

1. Books on Catholicism were all in the 'Cult' section; and

2. I overheard someone ordering a book and being told that they could not order it because it was by a Catholic writer.

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Cedd

Churchmanship: This week I am mostly an evangelical, catholic, orthodox with both liberal and illiberal tendancies. Terms and conditions apply.

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GreyFace
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# 4682

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I have to say I'm not at all surprised at the vetting of what's being sold. I expected it from the moment I heard SSG had bought the shops, with them being basically an Orthodox missionary agency. I'm disappointed to see Affirming Catholicism getting the boot along with Left Behind, but can't really complain. If we Anglicans wanted control over what the bookshops in our Cathedrals and elsewhere stock, we should have put up the money and bought them ourselves.

I'm not even surprised at the ridiculous employment contracts. I've had a few waved in my face in my time, and I've even been known to sign them secure in the knowledge that if anybody actually tried to enforce them the HR Director responsible would be up before a tribunal faster than you could compose a sentence containing the phrases "ignorance of the law bordering on total incompetence" and "blatant constructive dismissal."

What I am surprised about is that the powers that be apparently can't see that the approach taken is counterproductive. As a missionary organisation, what they do represents Orthodoxy to those they encounter and they're making the Orthodox look like a bunch of fundamentalist - in the modern sense of the word - control freaks. It's undermining the work they do restoring redundant churches to (Orthodox) worship too, I'll bet. If I was a Bishop with jurisdiction over them, I'd be inclined to have a quiet word involving urgent courses in the pastoral care of staff and effective management of publicity. Using a big stick if necessary.

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J Whitgift

Pro ecclesia dei!
# 1981

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quote:
Originally posted by Jessie Phillips:
There's also a Christian bookshop on Fleet Street whose name I've forgotten, but which I don't really rate. It's far better than the Crypt, though, but probably not as good as SPCK or Church House Bookshop in my opinion.

It could be the Protestant Truth Society bookshop. They have a bookshop, it's just past the High Court buildings going East along Fleet St towards St. Paul's.

quote:
Originally posted by Cedd:
I went into the CLC on Holborn Viaduct for the last time about 3 years ago. It was the last time for two (related) reasons:

1. Books on Catholicism were all in the 'Cult' section; and

2. I overheard someone ordering a book and being told that they could not order it because it was by a Catholic writer.

Personally I'd long ago filed the CLC bookshop in Holborn in the same draw along with the Protestant Truth Society. When I last visited the CLC bookshop they had a large selection of Chick Tracts on sale, never a good sign in my opinion.

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On the issue of homosexuality the Liberals have spent their time thinking, considering and listening (in the spirit of the Windsor process), whereas Conservative Anglicans have used the time to further dig their feet in and become more intransigent.

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Pokrov
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# 11515

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quote:
Originally posted by GreyFace:
If I was a Bishop with jurisdiction over them, I'd be inclined to have a quiet word involving urgent courses in the pastoral care of staff and effective management of publicity. Using a big stick if necessary.

I think this is one of the problems in that they don't seem to be 'coming' from within any of the established UK jurisdictions.

Obviously there's a degree of 'Orthodox solidarity' mainly because it's still a minority sport here in the UK - but this debarcle hardly paints any of the established churches in a good light and it would be good to see some 'distancing' of UK Orthodoxy from the Brewer brothers ventures...

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Most Holy Theotokos pray for us!

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Father Gregory

Orthodoxy
# 310

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Here I am ...

That distance right now might be compared to the span of the observable Universe .... what's that? 13 billion light years? Not enough!

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Yours in Christ
Fr. Gregory
Find Your Way Around the Plot
TheOrthodoxPlot™

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Callan
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# 525

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quote:
Originally posted by J Whitgift:
quote:
Originally posted by Jessie Phillips:
There's also a Christian bookshop on Fleet Street whose name I've forgotten, but which I don't really rate. It's far better than the Crypt, though, but probably not as good as SPCK or Church House Bookshop in my opinion.

It could be the Protestant Truth Society bookshop. They have a bookshop, it's just past the High Court buildings going East along Fleet St towards St. Paul's.

quote:
Originally posted by Cedd:
I went into the CLC on Holborn Viaduct for the last time about 3 years ago. It was the last time for two (related) reasons:

1. Books on Catholicism were all in the 'Cult' section; and

2. I overheard someone ordering a book and being told that they could not order it because it was by a Catholic writer.

Personally I'd long ago filed the CLC bookshop in Holborn in the same draw along with the Protestant Truth Society. When I last visited the CLC bookshop they had a large selection of Chick Tracts on sale, never a good sign in my opinion.

A few years ago I went past the Protestant Truth Society bookshop only to see a book that I'd been looking for which was highly relevant to my MA in the window. I had agonies of conscience for about 30 seconds before deciding that books trump principles and nipping in and buying it.

Despite that I can't conscientiously recommend it but it has mellowed since I was at the LSE in the 1980s and their front window display was the sort of thing that would have Jack Chick or Ian Paisley muttering "steady on old chap, there's no need to get carried away". Nowadays its your common or garden evangelical bookshop.

Personally, I rarely visit London without nipping into the bookshop at Westminster Cathedral.

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How easy it would be to live in England, if only one did not love her. - G.K. Chesterton

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Gill H

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# 68

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quote:
Originally posted by FreeJack:
CLC are evangelical and ecumenical. Internationally it is evangelistic. Getting bibles into non-Christian countries etc.

(Ok, that is ecumenical in the sense of being all kinds of free church evangelical and evangelical Anglican, rather than RC, Orthodox or your average Methodist LEP.)

They wouldn't take a position on charismatic gifts, mode of baptism and would sell books on both sides of the arguments!

They have probably lightened up a bit these days, but in the 1980s the CLC in Swansea would only sell Adrian Plass books from 'under the counter' as they had received complaints about their irreverence. Absolutely true! I told him this when he came to speak at our uni, and he thought it was a good recommendation. ("Psst, mate ... interested in a first edition Andromeda Veal? Plain brown wrapper, for the discerning evangelical only ...")

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*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.

- Lyda Rose

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J Whitgift

Pro ecclesia dei!
# 1981

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quote:
Originally posted by Callan:
A few years ago I went past the Protestant Truth Society bookshop ... Nowadays its your common or garden evangelical bookshop.

Perhaps I should swallow my theological pride and pop in for a look. (Though I can't quite get over the implicit oxymoron in the shop's name. [Razz] )

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On the issue of homosexuality the Liberals have spent their time thinking, considering and listening (in the spirit of the Windsor process), whereas Conservative Anglicans have used the time to further dig their feet in and become more intransigent.

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+Chad

Staffordshire Lad
# 5645

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quote:
Originally posted by Pyx_e:
I was looking for something and popped into an SPCK (not my local) and was told to get it off the internet!!!??? So this is what an orthodox take over really looks like

"The Plot" thickens! [Big Grin]

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Chad (The + is silent)

Where there is tea there is hope.

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leo
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# 1458

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My friend who was told that their policvy not to stock Affirming Catholicism material has a letter of apology yesterday. It blamed inexperienced staff who had worked with SPCK for many years but who had not fully got used to the changes, then it said their database didn't have the book and they were glad she found the book on the internet. Finally 'change is inevitable and is, I hope, something our long-standing customers will feel willing to 'ride-out''
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Clavus
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# 9427

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If they still have it in print, I highly recommend the Protestant Truth Society's booklet about their founder called 'Contending for the Faith' ('The authentic history of the life and martyrdom of John Kensit and the work that he founded'). It has some lovely photos of anglo-catholic churches, processions, etc. - all in black and white, but the captions and the rest of the text are very colourful!
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J Whitgift

Pro ecclesia dei!
# 1981

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I popped into the SPCK bookshop in Westminster at lunchtime. No change in staff and the second-hand section is still there. All very curious ...

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On the issue of homosexuality the Liberals have spent their time thinking, considering and listening (in the spirit of the Windsor process), whereas Conservative Anglicans have used the time to further dig their feet in and become more intransigent.

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daisymay

St Elmo's Fire
# 1480

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I liked the SPCK bookshop in Marylebone Road - very useful for a "gift' for my son of a Bible with Hebrew, translation and then up-to-date English, all written verse by verse.

And there is the Methodist Bookshop at 25 Marylebone Road, a smallish shop on the ground floor of a huge building. They have some interesting and useful books and cards etc etc there, and I think they order requests.

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daisymay

St Elmo's Fire
# 1480

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And what about this Index of Christian Bookshops?

I meant to put it on the previous post...

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Yerevan
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# 10383

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Are there any scripture union shops in the UK? The one in Dublin is very bizarre in an America end times sort of way.
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Qoheleth.

Semi-Sagacious One
# 9265

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En passant the St Paul's Bookshop next door to Westminster Cathedral celebrated its 15th birthday today, at the 5.30pm Cathedral Sung Mass.

Excellent place,
Q.

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FreeJack
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# 10612

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There used to be a Catholicy bookshop on Kensington High Street (London W8) which was quite good. Run by nuns (either RC or A-C) but reasonable ecumenical mix of materials on sale. Haven't been there for a few years, and can't remember which saint it was named after!
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Angloid
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# 159

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quote:
Originally posted by FreeJack:
There used to be a Catholicy bookshop on Kensington High Street (London W8) which was quite good. Run by nuns (either RC or A-C) but reasonable ecumenical mix of materials on sale. Haven't been there for a few years, and can't remember which saint it was named after!

St Paul. The (RC) Daughters of St Paul who I think have some connection (but not a direct one) with the outfit who run the Westminster Catehdral shop. They're very good and have shops also in Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow.

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J Whitgift

Pro ecclesia dei!
# 1981

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quote:
Originally posted by Yerevan:
Are there any scripture union shops in the UK? The one in Dublin is very bizarre in an America end times sort of way.

As I recall 'Wesley Owen' shops used to be run under the name 'Scripture Union', at least in the UK. I can't recall why the company name was changed, or why.

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On the issue of homosexuality the Liberals have spent their time thinking, considering and listening (in the spirit of the Windsor process), whereas Conservative Anglicans have used the time to further dig their feet in and become more intransigent.

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daisymay

St Elmo's Fire
# 1480

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quote:
Originally posted by FreeJack:
There used to be a Catholicy bookshop on Kensington High Street (London W8) which was quite good. Run by nuns (either RC or A-C) but reasonable ecumenical mix of materials on sale. Haven't been there for a few years, and can't remember which saint it was named after!

Here it is
Pauline bookshop

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Astro
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# 84

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quote:
Originally posted by Yerevan:
Are there any scripture union shops in the UK? The one in Dublin is very bizarre in an America end times sort of way.

They were sold to STL who rebranded them (as well as the STL shops) as Wesley Owen

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if you look around the world today – whether you're an atheist or a believer – and think that the greatest problem facing us is other people's theologies, you are yourself part of the problem. - Andrew Brown (The Guardian)

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leo
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# 1458

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Staff are apparently forbidden to take part in certain musical events e.g. secular singing, rapping, drumming or percussion , ‘a-tonal’ music and using a ‘boom box’.

There is a blong that goes into great detail about SSG & SPCK at http://www.cartoonchurch.com/blog/2007/11/08/

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Father Gregory

Orthodoxy
# 310

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Someone had better warn the Ethiopians ...
All Drummed Out

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Yours in Christ
Fr. Gregory
Find Your Way Around the Plot
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Yam-pk
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# 12791

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I worked for a couple of years at one SPCK in which stocked books to cover the whole Anglican spectrum - from Spong to Stott! As a shop, we catered for customers of every background, and churches of all dominations in and around our city.

Observing the take-over by SSG as mere book-seller, the striking thing was how shrouded in mystery it seemed - the fact that on their original website were some pretty inflamatory statements about the position of the the "true" Orthodox faith vis a vie the rest of the Christian church (hurridly removed from the site once it was discovered!) Also, where had they got their money from? Oil? Russian billionares? The CIA?! What was the real aim in taking over a group of shops no-one else wanted?? This caused a great deal of uncertainty, nervousness, and anxiety amongst the staff at my shop, which has since proved to be fully justified!

Looking on now from on the outside, it looks like the new people want to strip most of the salaried staff out and have purely missionaries or "faith" workers (ala CLC) there, whilst propagating their own narrow form of Orthodoxy to the masses(sic.) in Britain; this, at the cost of jettisoning many members of staff who have, in some cases, decicated the whole of their working lives to the original SPCK shops.

[ 08. November 2007, 16:16: Message edited by: Yam-uk ]

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daisymay

St Elmo's Fire
# 1480

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quote:
Originally posted by Astro:
quote:
Originally posted by Yerevan:
Are there any scripture union shops in the UK? The one in Dublin is very bizarre in an America end times sort of way.

They were sold to STL who rebranded them (as well as the STL shops) as Wesley Owen
The Wesley Owen in Wigmore Street used to be CSSM - a long time ago.

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Gracious rebel

Rainbow warrior
# 3523

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quote:
Originally posted by daisymay:
quote:
Originally posted by Astro:
quote:
Originally posted by Yerevan:
Are there any scripture union shops in the UK? The one in Dublin is very bizarre in an America end times sort of way.

They were sold to STL who rebranded them (as well as the STL shops) as Wesley Owen
The Wesley Owen in Wigmore Street used to be CSSM - a long time ago.
But CSSM and Scripture Union were part of the same organisation weren't they? Perhaps SU took over CSSM ? I certainly remember the old paperback maroon and grey CSSM chorus books (in the days before 'choruses' meant 1970's onwards style praise songs, but old fashioned classics like 'in my heart there rings a melody' that were popular at the women's meetings...) well newer versions of the same book had the Scripture Union name and logo on them. 5 Wigmore Street was definitely the address of the Scripture union back in 60's/70's. memories eh?!

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daisymay

St Elmo's Fire
# 1480

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quote:
Originally posted by Father Gregory:
Someone had better warn the Ethiopians ...
All Drummed Out

And our church - we've had quite a few Sitar and Tabla musicians - (not the particular people in the photo).

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Spong

Ship's coffee grinder
# 1518

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Two thoughts occur to me: first, that the remaining staff should be joining a union as soon as possible so that their TUPE rights can be protected by someone who can bring some legal advice to bear.

And second, are we not going about this the wrong way when we talk about avoiding SPCK? Surely we should all make a point of going into our local SPCK shop on a regular basis and asking why they no longer appear to be stocking X, where X is a book of the sort that SPCK used to stock and doesn't stock now? I think I'm going to regularly ask for one of my namesake's books...

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Spong

The needs of our neighbours are the needs of the whole human family. Let's respond just as we do when our immediate family is in need or trouble. Rowan Williams

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daisymay

St Elmo's Fire
# 1480

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Gracious Rebel,
My husband's church had old copies of the CSSM chorus books, faded red ones, and it was fascinating to check through them and find the old, classic, songs. I think we've kept one copy when they were disposed of.

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London
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