Living Wittily

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  • Rationalisation, excuse making and library fines

    Dscn0068 Today I had another one of those threatening but courteous reminders about an overdue library book. Just so that I know, and don’t forget, and therefore will be in the words of the Authorised Version, "inexcusable O Man!", I am being reminded of the cumulative nature of the library fine system, and being forewarned that I may soon face my very own personal credit crunch. Thing is, the book cost £4 about 12 years ago, so unless I return it soon I will be paying the purchase price without actually buying it. Then again, why not just return the thing – but life’s been too busy and a wee fine seems a fair trade-off to attend to other priorities. Or why not renew it online. Well, can’t renew it online once it has hit the fine trajectory.

    But the genius of the cumulative fine system is that it pushes returning the book up the priority list, the speed of ascent directly proportionate to projected expense. I have found by previous experience that mitigating circumstances have neither relevance nor purchase power with the library staff. The same courtesy that informs the tone of the emails is discernible in the non-negotiating, smiling but unyielding insistence that, yes indeed, you do owe an arm and a leg, and until you pay it, the amount increases at an alarming rate. And once it reaches a certain level of impressive indebtedness, your library access will be suspended.

    So, as well as last minute Christmas shopping, and as a contribution to peace on earth and goodwill amongst all people, I’m going to return the blessed book, pay my dues, wish the librarian a happy Christmas, and maybe even include a wee box of chocolates for those vigilant guardians of literature, scholarship, literacy and culture. Anyway being charged for keeping a book longer than the agreed borrow date isn’t so much a fine, as a legitimate rent payment, a modest charge for the hire of educational input, huh? Rationalisation – one of the more obvious signs of excuse making, when to re-quote Paul, "You are inexcusable, O man!" I’m off to the library……….

  • University, education and millionaire shortbread

    Millionairesshortbreadcookies_2 Waiting in the queue for my Chai Tea Latte (aye, dead sophisticated me!) a colleague from the University came over and we debated about the pros and cons of going halfers on a 2 inch square of millionaire shortbread. Now I’ve sat on Learning and Teaching Board, on Validation Panels and on various other ruminative, deliberative and generally talkative committees with this colleague – and none of the debates were as animated as our discussion about whether the base should be shortbread or cheesecake in content and texture; how thick the caramel should be relative to chocolate; and whether either of us was prepared to admit to cleaning out the condensed milk can when millionaire shortbread was being made at home. Now that’s what I call an academic discussion, a robust exchange of viewpoints, a collaborative forum in which the discussion outcomes were no less significant than some of the other discussions we have had to witness / participate in / sound informed about.

    In the end we decided to leave the discussion at the level of theory, though with an assumed action point that post-Christmas, the discussion should be resumed with the acknowledgement on both sides that a firm conclusion may only be achievable if the differing opinions were subjected to practical testing (tasting).

    Amazing how you learn what you learn these days at University.

  • Hopeful Imagination – go look!

    I have been blogging today at Hopeful Imagination. Elizabeth Jennings’ Carol for 2000 has important things to say about preventing the past from determining our future. Memory can be an important perspective, a way of holding on to significant expereince – it can also be a block to newness, an obscuring of fresh possibility, a silencing of voices which invite us into the future. Go look here.

  • Another dividing wall of hostility

    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.

    75951388_54b06f4cf7_2

  • Christmas, nativity and dividing walls of hostility

    Nativity_set_2This 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….

  • Autism and Religion Symposium

    Accedbod 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.

    .

    Central 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.

  • Aehrenleserinnen_hi Worship

    is a way of seeing the world

    in the light of God.

    .

    Prayer may not save us

    but prayer makes us worth saving.

    .

    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.

    .

    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.

  • 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.

    0824505425_01__ss500_sclzzzzzzz_v11 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.

  • 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.

    Photo_contact 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.

  • The Joy of Theological Interpretation of Scripture

    51k0jbbpx0l__aa240_ 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.

    Johnchrysostomnp 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!