Helen King
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helenking.bsky.social
Helen King
@helenking.bsky.social

Sort of retired (not), Professor Emerita, The Open University. Classics, history of medicine/the body/gynaecology. Writer, blogger, C of E lay preacher, chair of Together on General Synod (formerly Gender & Sexuality Group). She/her. Likes flowers. .. more

Helen King is a British classical scholar and advocate for the medical humanities. She is Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at the Open University. She was previously Professor of the History of Classical Medicine and Head of the Department of Classics at the University of Reading. .. more

History 52%
Philosophy 21%
Pinned
If you fancy reading something about the history of women’s bodies, and about what has been taken as defining a ‘proper woman’ (and how dodgy that is)… a reminder that my book came out in paperback last month! Immaculate Forms, Profile Books profilebooks.com/work/immacul...
Immaculate Forms - Profile Books
profilebooks.com

Glad you liked it!

And from Turville church, some more John Piper glass (so many lovely examples round where we live!)

Bit of church crawling this afternoon. Detail of D’Oyley monument, Hambledon, Oxfordshire

Ely had good wording here “A bishop who will ordain women and men and will personally fully affirm and support the ministry of both, and may themselves be male or female”

Worth it just for the credits

If you live or work in Oxford diocese (that means Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire) then please fill in this questionnaire about what you’d like to see in the next bishop: oxford.anglican.org/consultation
Consultation - Diocese of Oxford
Anyone living, working or worshipping in the diocese can contribute their views on who should be our next Bishop of Oxford.
oxford.anglican.org
Forensic analysis of objective video evidence. This is how you serve readers searching for clarity.

From an email to one of our faculty members....

Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!
translucent.org.uk/what-foi-dat... So, in this huge investigation, just four complaints about Trans people in loos/changing rooms, in the last three years, and not a single actual attack?
JKR & the far right media have been treating the public like fools, eh?
What FOI Data Shows About Trans Women in Single Sex Spaces
What FOI Data Shows About Trans Women in Single Sex Spaces. Covering a period of over 3 years 382 FOI requests prove there are no issues.
translucent.org.uk

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall

The Kings are nearly there…
My friends in Austria sent this and I can't stop watching...wait for the end. 🤗💜

Just remind me, at what point do hostile actions become ‘war’? Because I am hopelessly steeped in ancient history and haven’t kept up with the current rules

He’s another superb human being

And from my blog on history, yet again the winning piece was mistakinghistories.uk/2017/08/08/c... - now at nearly 100k reads since I wrote it
Cleopatra and the vibrator powered by bees
One of the most far-fetched myths about ancient sexuality, repeated online but also in print, is that Cleopatra invented the vibrator. Some sites date this event to ‘circa 54 BC’ while others go fo…
mistakinghistories.uk

On Via Media News, the most-read article of 2025 was - by a huge margin - the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral’s searingly personal piece viamedia.news/2025/10/22/w...
Winded After the Death of LLF - ViaMedia.News
by the Very Revd David Monteith, Dean of Canterbury Much metaphorical ink has already been spilt on the announcement from the House of Bishops of the death of Living in Love and Faith (LLF). These ref...
viamedia.news

Some context for current C of E debates on sexuality: Neil Patterson writes “30 years have seen a sea-change in attitude that is much wider than the over-publicised divisions about homosexuality’ viamedia.news/2026/01/01/a...
A Tale of Two Reports - ViaMedia.News
by Revd Canon Neil Patterson, Vice-Dean of Bristol Cathedral and Chair of Together for the Church of England A little while ago I heard for the first time of the 1995 Board for Social Responsibility r...
viamedia.news

E.g. “are you saying that you believe it’s fine to mention murder when you are talking about two people in a committed loving relationship?”

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall

My most-read blog post of 2025, at least on my personal Church of England blog, turns out to read very well as a warm-up for my most recent one: shared-conversations.com/2025/06/07/a...
Another one bites the dust: resignation, LLF … and murder?
updated (bits in bold) 15 June 2025 Friday 6 June was ‘interesting’, in the ‘may you live in interesting times’ sense. I wasn’t at home but my phone kept registering messages. The first was drawing…
shared-conversations.com

Those calls in the CofE for a ‘third province’ - we’ve been there before and it went nowhere. Which hasn’t stopped conservatives even giving it a name … shared-conversations.com/2025/12/29/t...
The Third Province: Welcome to Mercia
Mercia? I wonder how many of those who read this blog realise that the ‘third province’ which some conservative evangelicals are promoting already has a name, even though it doesn’t exist? These co…
shared-conversations.com

Thanks Neville!

So bitty, so not what tennis is about… can’t see how this would make anyone think tennis is interesting

And I wrote that before Sabalenka called a time out so she could do a little dance…

Well, the tennis Battle of the Sexes is a waste of a Sunday afternoon

It’s nearly 2026, when the Church of England elects General Synod again. And a lot hangs on this. viamedia.news/2025/12/28/t...
The Archbishop and the Ballot Box: Why 2026 Will Be a Critical Year for the Church of England - ViaMedia.News
by Nic Tall, National Co-ordinator of Together for the Church of England When future church historians look back at 2026 and judge what most shaped the direction of the Church of England in that year,...
viamedia.news

It’s normal. It’s also normal then to delete the whole flipping paragraph!

Apart from the annual experience as altar server of having my chair nearly in this crib with the scary stare-y doll looking at me, lovely!

Well thank you and I am delighted to hear that you enjoyed it!

Echoing that!