Here is a picture by Banksy that carries a similar message to the prvious post, about Bethlehem, nativity and the realities of militarised politics. The picture is its own comment, sermon, and prayer
Thanks to my friend Duncan for the link.
Blog
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Christmas, nativity and dividing walls of hostility
This is one of the most unsentimental nativity scenes I’ve ever seen. The dividing wall, the spy-holes too high to see through, the key people excluded from the manger – wish I knew where to buy one. The concrete wall, which some call a necessity and others an obscenity separates Jew from Palestinian, and is a scandal – in the technical sense of a stumbling block, the place where hope and humanity are tripped up, the obstacle that halts progress. And the angels sang, ‘Peace on earth and goodwill to all peoples…but we still strain to hear that angel song. And every time we give ourselves to peace-making, and every-time we slowly dismantle those walls which have been built, in our family, where we work, in that place where we live, and in the wider world, – brick by brick, hurt by hurt, wound by wound, we work away at those far too numerous walls of enmity and hostility, those ancient hatreds and daily resentments, those scandals, which in the end have to be removed by the scandal of God come amongst us as the crucified God – in whom God was reconciling the world to himself….breaking down dividing walls of hostility….
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Autism and Religion Symposium
This weekend I am in Aberdeen (Bridge of Dee in photo!), attending the multi-disciplinary symposium on Autism and Religion. Over two days we will discuss a very wide range of papers from various professional perspectives – theological, psychological, neuro-biological, religious phenomenology, and from people from several different faith traditions. The papers reflect both the area of expertise of the participants, but also aim at enabling the wider discussion by a cross fertilisation of knowledge, ideas, and experiences. .
The symposium is under the auspices of the centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability and is held at King’s College, University of Aberdeen. There is an important element of humility and reserve required in such a symposium, not least because this complex human experience is explored almost exclusively by people who are not themselves diagnosed as being on the Autistic spectrum. Autism itself is such a varied and experientially diverse condition that it includes people whose autism is so severe they require others to be their advocates, while it also includes people well able to speak for themselves, and indeed to be advocates for other people with autism. And between these, many, many people who live their lives with great courage and perseverance, both people with autism and their carers and helpers.My own interests are rooted in personal and pastoral friendships with families where one or more people have autism. My personal theological commitments raise important issues about how we relate to others who perhaps do not have the sense of connectedness we too easily assume in others, and in our working definitions of community, identity and spirituality. So my paper is entitled ‘Is a Sense of Self Essential to Spirituality?’ This is part of a wider set of questions I am currently thinking through as a theological reflection on the nature of our humanity, and how we think of ourselves and others, how we think of God and how God is experienced, how we respond in gestures of redemptive and embracing love, to those who because of various conditions, have an impaired sense of self. I am looking forward to listening, exploring, learning, reflecting, and of course talking – but I hope our talking will be at its most creative in the context of significant pastoral and theological care, as issues are identified, and understanding deepened, within the rich texture often only possible in a conversation where minds are both receptive and generous.
Later in the week, when thought has clarified I’ll post an update.
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Worship is a way of seeing the world
in the light of God.
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Prayer may not save us
but prayer makes us worth saving.
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There is a task, a law and a way;
the task is redemption,
the law to do justice and to love mercy,
and the way is the secret of being human and holy.
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The wisdom of Heschel…nudged by his thoughts prayer seems less of a chore, and becomes again a viewpoint of the soul. Students sometimes become impatient with our urging them towards theological reflection. No mere academic exercise, but ‘a way of seeing the world in the light of God’. Hard to think of anything more indispensable for responsible, responsive ministry. And ministry too has its task, its law and its way – redemption, justice and mercy, holy humanity. Heschel is a forceful if gentle reminder of the deep Jewish roots out of which Christian spirituality has grown – and away from which it must not grow.
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the ineffable mystery and compelling attractiveness of God…
Prayer begins where expression ends. The words that reach our lips are often but waves of an overflowing stream touching the shore. We often seek and miss, struggle and fail to adjust our unique feelings to the patterns of texts. Where is the tree that can utter fully the silent passion of the soil? Words can only open the door, and we can only weep on the threshold of our incommunicable thirst after the incomprehensible.
Heschel understood as few others have, that when deep calls unto deep, words are not only irrelevant, but their utterance can seem irreverent. In a culture battered into submisssion by torrential verbiage, I am looking for writing that values the holiness and humility that gives human longing its trajectory towards eternity. So I find Heschel’s description of prayer hints at the ineffable mystery and compelling attractiveness of God. When I read a paragraph like that quoted above, I long to be that ‘tree, seeking to utter fully the passion of the soil’. And that ‘incommunicable thirst after the incomprehensible’ points to the deepest desires of which, if mine is any to go by, the human heart is capable. Sometimes I am embarrassed by the superficiality, pragmatism and functionalism that turns prayer from such wondering adoration into a pious exercise akin to retail therapy. In the way that matters most, Heschel’s writing does my heart good.
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The democratic intellect, deep values and political expediency
A month ago Martin Ford was a fairly anonymous, quietly efficient and widely respected chair of the Infrastructures Planning Committee at Aberdeenshire Council. Today he was sacked from his job as chair of that committee by a vote that included a very large number of abstentions. Sacked – not for bringing the Council into disrepute by immoral, dishonest or otherwise disreputable behaviour, but because he acted within agreed and established Council standing orders and used his casting vote.
The problem is, he used it according to his conscience, and his conviction of what was right for the local authority he was elected to represent. He dared to not support a £1 billion pound development on the Aberdeenshire coast. He felt unable to approve a multi-million plan that would, in his view be detrimental to the area. He had the courage / stupidity / wisdom / folly (delete as you think applicable) to defy corporate America. But whether his judgement was right or wrong,(opinions vary wildly) whether he drives a car or not (and he doesn’t), whether he approves airport expansion or not ( he doesn’t), whether he represents business interests and aspirations ( and he clearly doesn’t), he was duly appointed after being locally elected. And now he has been removed in a charade that renders local democratic expression irrelevant. So he is removed; the constitution is to be changed to ensure that, in the opinions of the chief movers, such a ridiculous, unthinkable, outrageously blinkered decision cannot be made again by ensuring that in future the big applications go to the full Council. Now I can see why people are angry with Mr Ford. I think the Council are entitled to change the constitution. I fully understand how it can be that opinion is deeply divided between business interests (almost unanimously for) and environmental and local concerns (almost unanimously against). But I see no justification for sacking a man who has done nothing wrong; who has not acted irresponsibly (after all his was a casting vote out of 13 – so six others shared whatever hesitations lead folk to vote against such a massive development opportunity. And several of them have spoken of bullying, assault and other personal threats.
But the Trump organisation now feel they are making good progress. Maybe so. But there is a political shabbiness, a moral distaste, an unpleasant odour caused by anxious sweating over filthy lucre, when concerted actions remove an honourable man from an appointed position, because he acted according to conscience, within the proper procedures and processes, and as a duly elected local government official. I sometimes wonder what it would take for a Scottish Government, of whatever party, but especially one espousing independence(small ‘i’ deliberate) to take seriously the personal and practical cost of believing its own rhetoric. The chair of a local council ‘stood against them’…, ‘and sent them homewards, tae think again’, and his colleagues sacked him. The Scottish nation shaped ‘the democratic intellect’, contributed hugely to the development of a political process where equality, justice and respect were rooted in deep values, – surely we have more political principle, sense of justice and right, and cultural faithfulness than such goings on – but apparently not.
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The Joy of Theological Interpretation of Scripture
For a while now I’ve browsed in and out of the Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible. Now I’m changing the metaphor and doing some systematic trawling. In recent years biblical studies has been increasingly paying attention to the theological message that is woven throughout the literary variety of the Biblical texts.The near exclusive focus on historical and literary criticism created much too thinly textured interpretive results, and the turn towards theological exegesis, the tradition of pre-critical exegesis and study of how texts have been received and used within the Church, now opens up opportunities to weave a texture much more satsifyingly rich, complex and varied in pattern. Edited by the splendidly productive Kevin Vanhoozer, whose own contribution to theological hermeneutics is of benchmark quality with volumes such as First Theology, Is There a Meaning in This Text, and The Drama of Doctrine, this one volume reference is worth studying in its own right, as well as serving as an important reference ready to hand for those who want to do theological mining equipped with up to date tools. Biblical topics, the biblical books, leading figures in theological interpretation and major themes and issues in hermeneutics are covered by articles almost always extensive, substantial and freshly written from a theologically articulate perspective.
Do I need to know about pragamtism, post-structuralism, interlocutionary act, etymologycal fallacy, speech-act theory – now that I’ve read them, yes I did. Does the treatment of biblical books differ from the usual introductory information tediously compiled in brieze block ‘Introductions’? Yes, because the history of interpretation and the theological themes of each book are set in place and the book’s canonical connections are often indicated. What about questions of meaning, metanarrative, methodology, metaphor and models, music and mysticism – well you’ll notice all these areas of interest occur under M, indicating the wide range of concepts and principles explored, here and elsewhere in the book.
Major articles on the historical Jesus, the Gospels, the history of Israel, relationship between the testaments, law, pauline epistles, provide important orientation. Survey articles such as Protestant, Catholic, Charismatic and Medieval biblical interpretation, Western Literature and the Bible, Asian and African biblical interpretation help to widen our too narrow horizons. Substantial doctrinal articles on God, truth, creation, Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, the last things and a general (brilliant) article on systematic theology and biblical interpretation re-train minds habituated to historical and literary questions to discern the theologocal and ecclesial implications of the text as it has been received and has now to be retrieved.
By now you’ll guess I am an enthusiast of this book. Years ago I spent a whole week of reading time immersed in Stephen Neil’s History of New Testament Interpretation (revised and updated to 2000, by Tom Wright). It is a seminal book in my own intellectual biography – it set me off on trails into the history of how the Bible has been studied, interpreted, used and abused.
This volume, though a different kind of book is confirming what I’ve been persuaded of for some years, that the Bible deserves far more reverence, humility and scholarly respect than is evident in either the often over-confident and intellectually arrogant academy, or the often even more over-confident and intellectually arrogant ideologies of fundamentalism. The focus on theological intepretation of Scripture, informed by the catholic and receptive traditions of the church whose book Scripture is, and open to the Spirit who enables personal study, ongoing reflection, communal discernment, and prophetic appropriation and application of Scripture, promises a much more radical obedience to the text. Theological intepretation, evinced from disciplined textual study, employed by minds and hearts that recognise the reality of Scripture as divine discourse, to my mind (and heart) pays due homage to this remarkable gift of God, the Bible by which we nourish, nurture and ennervate the church. Two weeks to Christmas – still time to drop hints and offer to solve someone’s problem by suggesting the gift you’d like!
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When a dog collar is a prophetic statement!
In some cultures to tear your clothes is a sign of grief, a symbolic way of showing that the fabric of life has been ripped apart by circumstances. It is a gesture of both recognition and resistance. The clothes we choose to wear make a statement, they send out social signals of who we are, how we feel about ourselves, and the place we inhabit in the lives of those around us. To rip up our clothes in public isn’t such a common protest in a culture which either pays silly money for designer labels, or pays silly money for the ultra cheap.
So when an Archibishop of the Church of England, cuts up his dog-collar on a prime time Sunday Morning TV programme, we know we are seeing something extraordinary. Archbishop Sentamu spoke with passionate. prophetic bluntness about the regime of Robert Mugabe, the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe, and called for people to pray, march and protext. As he cut up his dog collar, which is a public sign of his identity, he vowed not to wear it again till Mugabe is gone. Just as the Mugabe regime has cut up people’s identity and taken it away, so the Archbishop of York in word and action, criticises, judges and names the political and economic evils that poison the life of the people of Zimbabwe. I have nothing but admiration for this man, for his moral courage and the way he brings his own cultural heritage to his vocation as Archbishop. He is in the tradition of great lovers of Africa such as Aggrey of Ghana, Trevor Huddleston, Alan Paton, Desmond Tutu in speaking truth to power, and symbolising in action the hunger for righteousness that should drive those who follow Jesus and who pray and work for the Kingdom of God. In a culture saturated with political spin, verbal evasiveness and moral ambiguity, and with many politicians and cultural voices being heard in the stereophonic tones of self-preservation and self promotion, there is something ethically bracing and culturally hopeful about an Archbishop whose moral outrage is given theological force at vocational cost.
I for one salute the integrity and righteous anger of the Right Honourable and Most Reverend John Sentamu, Archbishop of York. The pieces of that ruined dog-collar take on sacramental significance, signs of that grace that will always confront the world at its worst.
Go see this gracious act of prophetic protest over here at a paper I don’t often read!
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Carless, careless, couldn’t care less?
I am carless again. Not sure if it was an act of generosity, a gesture in the direction of green living, a parental response to a carless daughter who could use some mobility and convenience for a couple of weeks. A mixture of these and other less obvious motives. Anyway, my car is away on holiday to Edinburgh. This will be an occasional but not drastic incovenience. I’ll still get to work. Two lengthy journeys planned this week can be done on the train, an education in patience, perhaps endurance, and certainly soul-training in greeting the unpredictable with either trusting equanimity or resigned and determined cheerfulness. Autonomous mobility is often important to any one of us, and at the moment we are working on the basis that those who have two cars should lend their daughter one!It’s an interesting experience to hand over a car for a couple of weeks. The actual mechanical, physical, four-wheeled transporter will not be missed from the front window. But the freedom it represents, and which you get so used to, to go wherever, the independence of private available mobility, the convenience to cover miles in minutes, whether to visit someone else, go to B&Q, head out to that contemporary oasis of therapeutic ambience, the coffee shop – that needs some additional forethought, planning, and some of it may not get done because public transport would be such a pain!
It does raise an interesting question about car-sharing in families or at work though. My car is insured for two other named people apart from my wife and myself, my daughter and a colleague. Costs a bit more on insurance, but it does make life more flexible for others, if not for me when the car is with someone else. Maybe in a two car family if one of them was insured for several other occasional users it would provide the benefit of a car when really necessary without multiplying ownership. Would that be living wittily? Am I on to something, or am I trying to console myself by claiming an act of reckless generosity and intentional inconvenience was social responsibility in disguise!?
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Haiku NT Introduction – Final Call
The Haiku New Testament Introduction is two thirds complete – that is, 18 books of the NT have been Haiku’d! As Catriona will be relieved to note, my NT has returned to being a 27 book canon.
The nine that are still to be rendered into Haiku are:- I Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 2 Timothy, Titus, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 2 John, Jude.
Below is my own contribution – on I John. I have immersed myself in this short letter over the years, because of the profundity and possibility of its theology, because of its importance in the formation of Christian character, because of its importance in the spirituality and theology of John and Charles Wesley, and because it has been treated by some of the best commentaries on my shelves. Robert Law’s Tests of Life, a hundred years on is still a beautifully written theological reflection to be reckoned with, and from the pen of a Scottish scholar greatly admired by James Denney – nuff said; John Stott’s Tyndale NT Commentary, still in my view his best NT Commentary; Howard Marshall has never written a better commentary for preachers than his volume in the NICNT; Raymond Brown’s massive Anchor Bible is much too detailed, and posits a convoluted history of the Johannine community, but I’ve still spent hours fascinated by eight hundred pages of lexical, grammatical, historical, textual, social, rhetorical, theological, spiritual comment on this short occasional letter to a wee community under a bit of pressure.
1 John
Walk in light and love!
Holy love will cast out fear
from hearts made perfect.
Jim Gordon
Andy Jones was beginning to develop a dependency on this project so some of you others help him out by distilling the essence of the remaining NT books to 5x7x5 Haiku form. Hope to have the whole NT available for Christmas. Some have been done more than once so an editorial decision will be made as to which is accepted into the haiku canon. I may then publish the others as non-canoncial literature, but important alternative perspectives!
It will be the shortest, most accessible, NT Introduction available, a kind of biblical studies concentrate – probably not sufficient for exam purposes, but with allowances for the Scottish traits of self-deprecation, and understated achievement, some of them are nae bad!
