[31.2] ESTABLISHMENT R.I.P.

The historic Anglican church of St Mary, Putney, is the site of a conference on the disestablishment of the Church of England this coming Saturday (22 November 2003), beginning at 14:30. The principal speaker is Theo Hobson, whose book Against Establishment: An Anglican Polemic is published this week. Also contributing are Colin Buchanan (Bishop of Woolwich), Giles Fraser (Vicar of Putney, lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College Oxford), and Simon Barrow (CTBI). Hobson maintains a website called disestablish.

This event follows on from the Jubilee Group AGM and Christ The King Lecture, given by Kenneth Leech, earlier on in East London -- 11am at St John's, Bethnal Green. Ken has edited a book on disestablishment called Setting The Church Of England Free, published by the Jubilee Group in 2001. Not to be confused with another title of the same name by John Mills-Powell.

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[31.1] FAIR (TRADE) POINT...

T.S. Eliot once observed that the the grand contours of the world are actually shaped by those 'minute particulars' that make up much of the fabric of our daily lives. So forgive what might appear a trivial observation in the midst of global events...

This morning I was picking up a coffee on the way to work; the fuel of a caffeine lifestyle in the metropolis, I fear. The person serving me got the order wrong, and when I pointed the mistake out he instantly rectified it. He then poured the 'wrong' cup of coffee straight down the drain -- before I had any chance to say, "Well, if it's going to waste, the fact that I ordered latte rather than cappuccino really doesn't matter." But the truth is, that waste is legislated. Staff (underpaid as it is) aren't allowed to drink surplus coffee it or give it away. Commercial logic says that it's better to throw something out than use it. Just a fleeting microcosm of the values we live by in advanced consumer societies. And I'm talking about me, not just the corporations.

Of course if I hadn't been patronising a multinational coffee oulet in the first place... and so on. Ah, the contradictions. (For those indulging an occasional high street caffeine fix, the Costa chain use fair -- or at least, marginally fairer -- trade beans; though the lion's share of the profit still goes to them, of course.)

We can take small steps to promote not just Fair Trade but also just practice. See Ethical Junction and, from the radical US Christian magazine / network, SojoBlend. The churches in the UK are involved heavily in the Trade Justice Movement, too. Action is only a click or two away.

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[30.1] BUSH'S TELEGRAPH

Members of the Jubilee Group and other Christians are meeting up on Thursday 20 November 2003 to join the protests in central London accompanying the visit of US President George W. Bush. Fr Paul Butler writes: "Meet at London Bridge, Outside Tube Station Entrance, upper level, (i.e. the same level as where you leave the train station, before the stairs going down), 1.30-1.45pm."

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[29.1] LET FREEDOM ROLL?

The British (and indeed European) antipathy towards President George W. Bush has caused considerable consternation among leading White House officials. But then world leaders do tend to exist in their own hyperfast thought bubbles, transported by jets to far-off places where they have little time or inclination to understand the globe as viewed from significantly different perspectives.

US correspondent Gary Younge quotes Bush Jr. as telling moderate Asian Muslims, in a recent round-table, "I've been saying all along that not every policy issue needs to be dealt with by force." Clearly he thought this would sound encouraging rather than foreboding!

This morning a senior US diplomatic figure noted (in passing, and without comment from the interviewer on BBC Radio 4) that the impending demonstrations against the US President were a sign of Europe's "moral decay". The idea that his nation is the planet's ethical arbiter seemed so natural as to be, quite simply, common sense.

It is this unshakeable certitude, allied to the fractures and fissions of a divided and uneven world, the growing incommensurability of its ideologies, the weakening of international institutions and the politics of overwhelming force that is proving - tragically - such a fertile breeding ground for terror and political extremism.

President Bush styles himself as a 'Bible believer'. But he seems not to have grasped the fact that the Book of Revelation, so abused by the religious right to whom he allies, is precisely a playground for apocalyptic ideology because it reflects the violent revenge fantasies of the oppressed (which, rent asunder from their context, easily become the fantasies of the armed and self-righteous). The redemption in the text, of course, is that these fantasies do not prevail. It is the Lamb who is slaughtered - not the slaughterers of lambs - who triumphs in the narrative, with its message that a love which can embrace suffering (rather than force that can inflict it) is ultimately the only 'power' that will save us from destruction.

At present Bush's trust - whatever his personal religious profession - is not in the love of the Crucified One and the belovedness of the crushed. It is in the salvific capabilities of armies, occupations and 'bombing to make us good'. This may seem to generate short-term gains, but as the unfolding tragedy in Iraq testifies, it reaps what it sows. Until this truth is grasped the violence, anger and incomprehension on all sides will continue. As will the protests and demonstrations.

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[28.1] GETTING CENTRED

Worth checking out is the Center for Religion and Life website from the US. Their mission statement is as follows: "In a time of both interconnectedness and conflict, we are participants in a journey of questioning and questing, seeking to clarify the meaning and purpose of life. The intent of the Center’s educational programming, services, and publications is to welcome and encourage all who would join us in this quest to live life with meaning, awareness, and joy, in awe of the mystery before us, that is called God, and the hope of living with grace and compassion in the human community. The Center invites contemporary voices to challenge our way of thinking and seeing, encouraging dialogue and building bridges of understanding and peace."

In particular see Gary Dorrien's lecture, 'Imperial Designs: Resisting the Permanent War', and David Ray Griffin's 'Scientific Naturalism: A Great Truth That Got Distorted', which are avilable for research only. Other contributors include Marcus Borg.

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[27.1] BUILD BRIDGES, NOT WALLS, IN ISRAEL-PALESTINE

British and Irish Church leaders have this week written to the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem assuring them of prayers and continued international support for a sustainable political resolution. The letter was sent by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and signed by leaders from Anglican, Roman Catholic, Reformed, Free Church, Orthodox, African and Afro-Caribbean traditions.

The letter reads:

"We greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose birth amidst the violence of Roman Palestine we celebrate in a few weeks' time.

"We are keenly aware of and saddened by the seemingly endless pain being endured by the peoples of the Holy Land, Palestinian and Israeli, and assure you of the prayers of many in our congregations for continued international support for a sustainable political resolution. We continue to believe that a two-state solution represents the most realistic path to a just and durable peace and thus express the hope that both sides of the conflict will work to ensure that measures necessary to build confidence between Israelis and Palestinians are given every chance to succeed.

"In response to your Statement of 26 August 2003, we wish to make three observations:

"1. We share your abhorrence of the level of violence that has grown to characterise the conflict, which has inflicted such damage on families and their livelihoods, and on both societies at large. We are asking our congregations to continue to support Palestinians and Israelis pledged to work for non-violent solutions.

"2. The ending of the Israeli presence in Occupied Palestinian Territories remains a sine qua non for the achievement of peace and long-term security for all. We have studied the statements of church leaders in Jerusalem, as well as those of the Holy See and the World Council of Churches, and will continue to represent the matter to our own Government.

"3. The erection of the 'separation wall' or 'security fence' poses a very serious threat to many facets of Palestinian life, with over 210,000 people in danger of being effectively cut off from their farmlands, workplaces, schools and health clinics. It also further undermines the search for peace itself. The Israeli authorities undeniably have responsibility for the security of their own citizens. It is difficult to accept, however, that the routing of this barrier will not create more 'facts on the ground', to the detriment of a potential, viable Palestinian state which, according to the Quartet's 'Road Map' is timetabled to be achieved only two years hence.

"We thus share your dismay about this development, and assure you of the seriousness of political representations which churches continue to make towards the Israeli and British Governments on this specific matter."
The full list of signatories is here.

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland is the umbrella body for all the major Christian denominations in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. It liaises with ecumenical bodies in Britain and Ireland as well as ecumenical organizations at European and world levels. Its work includes Church Life, Church and Society, Mission, Inter-Faith Relations, International Affairs and Racial Justice. It provides a forum for joint decision-making and enables the Churches to take action together.

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[26.1] CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES CHALLENGE EXCLUSION

Small Christian communities that combine social and political engagement, the inspiration of biblical faith, a critical stance towards institutional religion and prayerful celebration can confront the forces of exclusion and economic domination in Europe today. That was the message from a gathering of ‘base ecclesial communities’ (CEBs) meeting in Edinburgh recently.

Representatives of Christian communities from France, Spain, Euskadi (the Basque country), Hungary, both language communities in Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, Scotland and England gathered at St Colm’s International House to exchange experiences and plan for the future. Networks also exist in Italy, the Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and other countries.

Among the common concerns named as Gospel challenges was the re-assertion of ‘fortress Europe’, the malign impact of big corporations on daily life, the growing influence of the far right and widespread mistreatment of refugees and asylum seekers.

(Excerpt from a longer story on Ekklesia. See also the post here on 28 October 2003.)

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[25.2] UK ANGLICANS WELCOME ROBINSON

InclusiveChurch.Net, the network of Anglicans working for an open church, has whole-heartedly welcomed the consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. ‘It is not only the people of New Hampshire who are celebrating this weekend,’ says the Rev Dr Giles Fraser, their chair - who is also Vicar of Putney and Lecturer in Philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford. ‘Inclusivity is at the very heart of the Gospel message. In Christ there is neither black or white, male or female, straight or gay. The consecration of Gene Robinson underlines the Biblical witness of God’s love for all.’

‘It was very important that Gene Robinson’s consecration took place,’ says Fraser. ‘Along with many others, I was very disappointed when Jeffrey John was forced to withdraw after having been appointed Bishop of Reading earlier in the summer. If the consecration of another openly gay priest, duly elected and confirmed, had failed to take place it would have been disastrous for the church.’

The statement from the Primates of the Anglican Communion, following their meeting at Lambeth Palace on 15-16 October, has begun a process that could lead to realignments in the church. But Fraser is of the firm conviction that groups who find it difficult to accept a gay Bishop mustn’t split off. ‘I sincerely hope that people do not leave. The great genius of Anglicanism is that is manages to hold together unity and diversity,’ Fraser continues.

He also believes that the consecration is vital to the mission of the church. ‘In this country, 58 per cent of the population say they are Christians but do not go to church – in no small part because they think the church is judgmental. Gene Robinson’s consecration could hardly send out the message more strongly: the Anglican Church is an inclusive church.’

InclusiveChurch.Net and others are now considering what input they might have into the newly announced Commission to look at life in the worldwide Anglican Communion, which claims 70 million members.

Meanwhile, in a statement regretting the division surrounding Bishop Robinson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams stressed today: 'It is clear that those who have consecrated Gene Robinson have acted in good faith on their understanding of what the constitution of the American church permits. But the effects of this upon the ministry and witness of the overwhelming majority of Anglicans particularly in the non-western world have to be confronted with honesty.

'The autonomy of Anglican provinces is an important principle. But precisely because we rely on relations more than rules, consultation and interdependence are essential for our health.

'The Primates meeting last month expressed its desire to continue as "a communion where what we hold in common is much greater than that which divides us". We need now to work very hard to giving new substance to this, and to pray for wisdom, patience and courage as we move forward.'


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[25.1] WANDERING PREJUDICES

The recent furore over the burning of Romany effigies in a Guy Fawkes 'celebration' in East Sussex has raised once again the appalling plight of Gypsies and nomadic peoples, especially in Europe. George Monbiot has a useful and disturbing piece on this subject ('Acceptable hatred') in this morning's Guardian newspaper. He asks why, despite so much evidence of persecution, expressions of hatred towards Gypsies are still acceptable in public discourse (and cites some awful examples, incuding a quotation from the current UK Home Secretary.) Monbiot goes on to explore the overlooked religious dimension of this problem as follows:

"The conflict between settled and travelling peoples goes back at least to the time of Cain and Abel. Cain was a farmer, a settled person; Abel was a herder: a nomad. Cain killed Abel because Abel was the beloved of God. The people who wrote the Old Testament were nomads who had recently settled, and who looked back with longing to the lives of their ancestors. The prophets' constant theme was the corruption of the cities and the purity of life in the wilderness, to which they kept returning. All the great monotheisms were founded by nomads: unlike settled peoples they had no fixed places in which to invest parochial spirits.

"Yet the city, despite the execration of the prophets, won. Civilisation, from the Latin civis, a townsperson, means the culture of those whose homes do not move. The horde, from the Turkish ordu, a camp and its people, is its antithesis. It both defines civilisation and threatens it. We fear people whose mobility makes them hard for our settled systems of government to control. But, like Cain, we also appear to hate them for something we perceive them to possess: the freedom, perhaps, which the prophets craved."

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[24.1] A CENTRE FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIATION

A note from Steve Alston of St Ethelburga's reminds me to include this summary of their work:

"In 1993 a terrorist bomb exploded in Bishopsgate just 15 yards from St Ethelburga’s church. One man was killed and 51 others injured in the blast that caused widespread damage to surrounding buildings.

The devastation to St Ethelburga’s church seemed so total that it seemed this might be the final chapter in the history of a church which had survived the Great Fire and Blitz and served the City of London since mediaeval times. Closer inspection of the bombsite showed there was much that could be saved or reconstructed, and in 1997 the new Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, proposed a new role for St Ethelburga’s as an innovative Centre for Reconciliation and Peace.

ST ETHELBURGA’S MISSION STATEMENT

* Our vision for St Ethelburga’s flows from reflection on an act of violence which did great damage to the church, an act which was one of the episodes in a conflict in which religious divisions have played a major part. As Christians, we are deeply sorry for all violence done in the name of Christianity.

* We recognise that Christians are called on to be peacemakers. We also recognise that while historically, religious feelings have at times led to frightening violence, all the world’s great religions call on their followers to work for reconciliation and peace.

* In this spirit, we seek to work with other Christians, and with people of other faiths and none, for the better understanding of conflicts, whether violent or not, and towards the peaceful transformation of conflict.

* We offer St Ethelburga’s as a space within which the different narratives of conflict can be heard, and where conflicting positions can be explained and examined, realising that the honest recognition of differences is a necessary condition of reconciliation.

* We aim to make known and where possible to develop further ways in which faith communities can contribute to the transformation of conflict, to the peaceful resolution of differences and to the re-building of communities.

* Valuing the global role of the City of London and our own location within the City, we hope to benefit from the international knowledge of the business community as well as to help business to engage positively with local, national and international conflict.

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[23.3] ROBINSON IS CONSECRATED BISHOP

There was a great deal of rejoicing (as well as the media-anticipated gnashing of teeth) as Canon Gene Robinson was finally consecrated Bishop of New Hampshire this evening. Opponents of the move expressed horror and hatred both inside and outside the service: BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Protests at gay bishop service. But Robinson was backed by a considerable majority of other ECUSA bishops, and the message earlier today from the Archbishop of Canterbury was healing rather than anxious. At a ceremony marking the new covenant between Methodist Church and the Church of England, he said:

"It is an irony that as we celebrate this new mutuality today, we also as Anglicans face new tensions and divisions, with those on both sides of our current troubles believing that obedience calls them to a risky break with what we have thought of as orthodoxy and good order. [Note the nuance of 'what we have thought of']

"But perhaps this celebration is timely after all in God's purpose. It is a reminder that when we can no longer see how to hold together, God will still teach us in our separateness."

"And one day we shall be led, in both thankfulness and repentance, to share with one another what we have learned apart, to bring to one another a history not without its shadows and stresses, but still one in which something quite distinctive has been learned," Dr Williams said.

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[23.2] LAMBETH WALK

Amusingly enough, my spell-checker keeps wanting to replace 'Lambeth' with 'lambada' every time I type it. What on earth would the Archbishop of Canterbury's staff make of that, I wonder? Reminds me of poet Adrian Mitchell's observation, "If I can't dance to it, it's not my revolution." Or Gospel, as the case may be...

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[23.1] PRIMATES' INSTINCTS?

My own reactions to the propositions coming out of the recent gathering of Anglican Primates from around the globe can be found here, in an article on Anglo-Catholic Socialism called 'Mystique, Politique and sexualite.' The full saga of the Anglican dispute about sexuality (including updates from Lambeth, interviews with soon-to-be Bishop Gene Robinson, and the recent LGCM conference in Manchester) can be found on the superb Thinking Anglicans site. Check the well-organized archives if what you are looking for is not instantly findable.

Oh yes, and this amusing response to Manchester Cathedral's last-minute withdrawal of hospitality to LGCM, mirroring their own public statement:

"In the light of sensitivities and timing in relation to the current debates in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, I have reluctantly declined to include a link to Manchester Cathedral. The Anglo-Catholic Socialism website regards the Cathedral Chapter and the Bishop's Senior Staff as a legitimate Christian organization, and wish them well in whatever it is they think they are committed to." Ted Mellor, Los Angeles"

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[22.2] NEW ROWAN WILLIAMS BOOK

Out today is 'Silence and Honey Cakes: The Wisdom of the Desert', published by Lion at £9.99, and available on Amazon.co.uk at £7.99 right now. In this text, Rowan Williams goes back to the 4th century Desert Fathers and Mothers for inspiration and insight. He discovers that the spirituality of the desert resonates strongly with aspects of the modern spiritual search.

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[22.1] PATIENCE AND CONFLICT

From Muslim commentator Abdal-Hakim Murad:

"The despair [of the Iraqi people] is now palpable. Instead of the fledgling representative government which they had been promised, they have been given a devastated land, which is fast becoming the leading battleground between the Anglo-Saxon world and terrorist factions too shadowy to name. The disillusionment of many ordinary Iraqis makes the behaviour of crowds confronted with American or British troops hard to predict. With America allied so closely to Israel, the traditional enemy of the Arabs, many Iraqis seem to be developing their own intifada. Soon, the Anglo-American relationship to the Iraqis may resemble the Israeli relationship to the occupied Palestinians. As in Israeli politics, a withdrawal from these occupied territories is likely to be suicidal for our politicians. We will stay, and sweat blood, while peace plans come and go.

"Confronted with this mess, what words could I choose to heal the anger of my congregation, newly united in its resentment of the war? The words of the Prophet seem the best place to look. If the problem is anger, then remember that he said: "If you are angry, then sit down. If you are still angry, then lie on the ground."

"If the problem is the extremism which so often becomes the ideological expression of anger, then we can recall how the Prophet was distressed by extreme forms of religion. There are some people, he said, who go into religion so hard that they come out the other side, like an arrow passing right through its target." Full text here. (c) BBC, 2003.

A British convert to Islam, Abdal-Hakim Murad, was born in 1960 in London. He was educated Cambridge University and at al-Azhar University, the highest seat of learning in Sunni Islam. He has studied under traditional Islamic scholars in Cairo and Jeddah,Saudi Arabia. Murad has translated several classical Arabic works, including Imam al-Bayhaqi's 'Seventy-Seven Branches of Faith', and 'Selections from the Fath al-Bari'. He is also the Trustee and Secretary of The Muslim Academic Trust and Director of The Anglo-Muslim Fellowship for Eastern Europe.

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[21.1] DIVISION AND HOPE

Many church websites are almost as dire as their noticeboards. A happy exception is that of St Peter with All Saints, Nottingham. This includes a Claves Regni newsletter page, which contains articles and thought pieces. I was particularly struck by Andrew Deuchar's sermon on "Facing Up To Division In Faith", based around Romans 14. 1-17. The full text is here. Deuchar formerly worked for Archbishop George Carey, but his own thinking on this subject is rather more capacious, as this extract indicates:

"For a long time we have been content to walk together through the darkness and the light. It has been uncomfortable and untidy - perhaps even at times apparently incoherent. But it has not been wrong. Until recently we have rejoiced in our diversity. We have recognised, as my former boss used to say quite regularly, that we are still becoming a communion, and therefore we are in the realms of provisionality. We believe that we belong together, we want to learn from one another, and we resist either a pulling apart into independence or a chaining together under some centralised authority. We have been willing to take risks in our search for the truth of Christ.

"Risk-taking calls for humility, a readiness to listen and learn, to embrace disagreement and debate. But today, seduced by the opportunity for renewed power in the world, we are being drawn away from faith towards the arrogance of certainty, and the demand for compliance with a set of values and beliefs that are being arbitrarily drawn up according to a particular way of interpreting scripture. And with the arrogance of certainty goes the death of mystery, and with the death of mystery goes the possibility that God can work change in us.

If we are to begin to face the mystery of God - a mystery which can encompass the vastness of the universes, the depths of wickedness, the burning intimacies and promises of love and persons, then we must share in the risks of God - risks which include the possibilities of suffering, sin, and getting things wrong. The power of love is not having everything cut and dried, with reserve force to push the divine plan through. Such power could leave no room for the freedom which true love requires.

"So wrote Bishop David Jenkins, a prophetic voice of our times whose words seem to become more and more perceptive as the years have passed."

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[20.1] STRUGGLING WITH THE CAUSES OF WAR

A thoughtful piece by Charles Moore (not the ex-editor of the Daily Telegraph in Britain, I imagine!) from Bruderhof.com on the roots of war. This excerpt was offered as their daily reflection yesterday:

"It's hard to live consistently, but it is essential if we are to make our world a less violent place. If we're honest, most of us aren't very willing to give up the good life we enjoy. Consequently, we keep on fueling the very fires of war we wish to extinguish. We want to own what we have, enjoy our creature comforts, maintain our autonomy and modes of mobility, and make sure our bottom line is secure, even when the rest of the world suffers because of it." (c) Bruderhof Communities.

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[19.2] FOOD FOR SILENCE

James Alison's extraordinary new book, 'On Being Liked' (DLT, 2003) is launched at Waterstone's bookshop in London's Oxford Circus this evening. The sequel to 'Faith Beyond Resentment', it proposes a re-imagination of the central axis of the Christian faith as a transposition from the question 'how does God deal with sin?' to 'how do we take up God's invitation to share the act of creation?'

This is not a sentimental reduction of the Gospel's tough wrestling with human shortcomings and wrongdoings, but a re-focusing on the life of God as constitutive of the kind of re-ordered desire-in-community that can give us the resources to face such things. Its focus is on what makes for personal and social well-being, and the discovery of reasoning faith that the answer is thoroughly theological.

Ihar Ivanou writes: "James Alison is an excellent storyteller. His writings are always somehow inspired by his own experience that brings a heart-touching aroma to the written. At the same time, his reflections on Biblical passages are amazingly insightful."

Here is an excerpt from 'Faith Beyond Resentment'.

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[19.1] DOMINATED BY DEITIES

The media has given much attention to the court victory by a Muslim in Italy who objected to the presence of a crucifix ("a little man between two sticks," as he described it) in his son's school classroom. Minority religious communities and secularists have long objected to the state's imposition of Catholic symbolism on public spaces. John Bell of the Iona Community presented a powerful BBC Radio 4 Thought For The Day on the issue this morning. The full text is here. These are Bell's concluding observations:

"[I]rrespective of Christian, Islamic, or Hindu beliefs, Western societies are dominated by deities. But unlike in ancient Rome, worship of them is more subtle.

"We don't have shrines to Mars, the god of war, but we do encourage a huge armaments industry at whose behest children in Angola and Mozambique still lose limbs through tramping on hidden landmines.

"We don't have shrines to Mammon, the god of insatiable consumption, but the logos of multi-national junk food giants are foisted in the face of the world's poorest, with the expectation of instant devotion.

"We don't have shrines to Bacchus and Aphrodite, the deities associated with excess and gratification, but we do have a whole fashion industry committed to exploiting the variable tastes of children and teenagers who don't have the money to pay the dues which the brand names demand and so pester their parents.

"By all means take down the Cross and the Crescent and the Star of David, but only if you also take down the insignia of ...of the multinationals I cannot name on radio.

"Or else leave the symbols of religious faith in their place, allowing - in the case of the cross - for the self-importance of earthly gods to be set against the seeming naivete of the Creator of the Universe who saves the world through suffering love."

I appreciate Bell's final sentiment. But it misses three points. First, the image of the cross in the public realm has been corrupted by its Constantinian associations ("With this sign we conquer"), so that its sanctioning by the state can perhaps never be innocent. Second, its ubiquity and generalization may cheapen the Christian commitment that it be a symbol of God's willingness to suffer rather than to inflict suffering. Thirdly, the idea of a God who suffers and who identifies with humanity at its most degraded is incomprehensible and offensive to Muslims: the meaning of God's presence in Christ crucified is something that needs to be offered and discussed with sensitivity, not with power.

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[18.2] RENEWING EUROPE'S ECCLESIA FROM THE BASE

St Colm's International House in Edinburgh was the meeting place for a weekend gathering of European base ecclesial communities (24-27 October 2003). Some 25 persons from 12 countries / people groups were present to share stories and experiences and plan for the future.

Many people are aware of the existence and impact of CEBs in Latin America and South-East Asia (for example), but a similar phenomenon in Europe is less familiar. In some countries, such as Spain and Euskadi, the communities are very well-organized. In others (most notably England) they are few and fragmentary. Their characteristics include an orientation to those at the base of society, contextual reading of the Bible, socio-political engagement, prayer and celebration, and a critical position in relation to institutional church. Many are Catholic, some Protestant, and all stress ecumenism.

Few CEBs are what would be called 'intentional' communities in the sense of living together on a daily basis, but all have features of communal intentionality, including the sharing of resources and money. In Scotland Bert and the Iona Community home groups are among those linked in to the European network, which has been in existence for 20 years. In Ireland, the Crumlin Road community are involved.

In England there is a Contact Group which has been galvanised over the years by Jeanne Hinton. Simon Barrow has been part of this initiative, along with David Cowling (formerly of Grassroots) and Ruth Harvey (when she was with the Living Spirituality Network) and the late Derek Hanscombe of USPG.

The English group plans to meet again in December 2003. St Margaret with St Mary in Liverpool is one parish developing a distinct CEBs model here.

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[18.1] ON NOT LETTING IT ALL GET YOU DOWN...

A thought from Archbishop Rowan Williams. This was actually penned in 1998, and is even more true today...

"Living in the Christian institution isn't particularly easy. It is, generally, these days, an anxious, inefficient, pompous, evasive body. If you hold office in it, you become more and more conscious of what it's doing to your soul. Think of what Coca-Cola does to your teeth. Why bother?

"Well, because of the unwelcome conviction that it somehow tells the welcome truth about God, above all in its worship and sacraments. I don't think I could put up with it for five minutes if I didn't believe this."

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[17.1] DIFFICULT CATHOLIC CHOICES

Last week the Rt Rev Vincent Nichols, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, complained strongly about what he described as anti-Catholic bias in BBC programming and reporting. The BBC denied this. So did most commentators, though a number acknowledged that a wider distrust of organised religion and religious authority among those holding comspolitan values can certainly be discerned. Then again, is it not up to the churches to engage such widespread viewpoints openly rather than simply to condemn them?

One of the programmes that stimulated Nichols' ire was 'Sex And The Holy City', an episode of the well-respected Panorama documentrary series (broadcast on Sunday 12 October) which looks at the way the Vatican has been promoting anti-contraception and anti-reproductive health care messages throughout the third world. Reporter Steve Bradshaw, while not disguising his amazement at factually inaccurate claims in a global Catholic health manual that claims the latex in condoms permits the HIV virus to transmit (something explicitly denied by scientists and the WHO), allowed both sides of this life-or-death argument to be put. He praised the dedication and care of Catholic nurses and health workers in Kenya, Nicaragua and the Philippines (where the mayor of Manila has declared a 'pro-life city'). But at the same time he did not disguise the consequences of the ban on contraception, which has been to aid the spread of deadly infection in many of the most vulnerable communities on earth.

The argument that contraception is anti-life because it breaks the organic link between sex and fertility holds no theological water in the twenty-first century. It is based upon a naturalistic fallacy in ethical reasoning which conflates an 'is' with an 'ought' and attributes this to the will of God. No-one can deny that the moral issues surrounding the creation and nurturing of life are complex and demanding. But to reduce them to a one-stop policy (in both senses of the term) is dangerously reductive in a world where intentions and consequences cannot be ordered by magesterial demand, and where poverty, lack of education and the constraints of culture and community are potent factors in influencing the choices individuals have to make in less-than-ideal situations. Indeed the evidence of public education campaigns points in a very different direction.

Gospel communities can and should promote positive alternatives to the commodification of sexuality and the powerlessness which forces women, in particular, into dangerous and damaging situations. But it certainly cannot do this by pushing these problems onto the backs of their victims. To do so is, in the words of one Latin American theologian, 'anti-evangelical'.

Catholics for a Free Choice is a worldwide organisation promoting alternative perspectives on the issues of contraception, reproduction, fertility, abortion and respect for life. Its site includes a good selection of articles and publications. Many of those involved are lay people and health workers / eductors. Founder Frances Kissling is interviewed here. It is important to realise that faithful Catholics can hold views on these matters which suggest a devlopment of the tradition in a quite different direction to the weight of the current magisterium, though I am sorry that the theological basis upon which CFaFC operates seems to be fairly reductive. Back in 1980 TheOtherSide showed how it doesn't have to be that way.

Hopefully a wider range of theological ethicists linking the making of choice with the promotion of life will become involved in this crucial debate as it (inevitably) develops. For this is not a matter of abstract reasoning; it is a question of human survival and flourishing.

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[16.1] DISCERNING THE RIGHT STUFF

Today's Observer newspaper contains a brief report on the activities of Howard F. Ahmanson Jr, a Californian millionaire (see, it's not just Arnie who's got a screw loose) long involved in funding right-wing religious causes. At the moment he is helping to bankroll the anti-gay backlash against Bishop Gene Robinson and others in ECUSA. But his network also operates through The Claremont Institute, and his other 'concerns' include anti-evolutionism and odd 'pro-caucasian' statements from friends such as NRA-ally Charlton Heston.

Back in the 1980s I was involved in some investigations into the Christian Right, especially when it was tied up with unsavoury pro-apartheid initiatives. Sadly many CR protagonists seem well beyond the reach of reasonable discourse, and though people such as Christian Aid's former research Derrick Knight did a good job of exposing their political ploys (which included smears against Christian NGOs), it is all too easy to get caught up in an unhelpful world of conspiracy and counter-conspiracy. This, after all, is the currency of paranoia that the religious right trades in. Better, I think to promote healthy, reasoning faith than to be too caught up in contending decay and defamation, which has its own damaging ecology...

Still, it is good that there are people out there willing to respond creatively, trenchantly and positively to the flow of ideas from the CR quarter. One such is the author of The Right Christians, a weblog on issues involving Christianity and politics which is updated around five times a week. The Rev Allen H. Brill is an ordained Lutheran minister educated at Concordia Seminary in St Louis, MO. He is also a member of the South Carolina Bar with a degree in Government from Harvard College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School.

Brill has some good guest contributors and a fine set of links. And he writes additionally for Open Source Politics. I found his link on Religious Liberal blog. See RL's fecund articles page, too. My own vision of an open, engaged and radical Christianity would find far more roots and routes in the tradition than the likes of John Dewey (say). But at a time when the scope for debate in church circles is getting narrower and meaner, alternative voices are vital: and the liberal tradition is a necessary and honourable one, even if (as will be clear elsewhere in FaithInSociety) I would want to argue with some of its premises, prognoses and procedures.

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[15.1] CHURCHES CALLED TO SUPPORT MID-EAST CHRISTIANS

The Middle East Forum of CTBI's Churches' Commission on Mission has circulated the following to the British and Irish church media in the light of the unfolding tragedy in Israel/Palestine:

"These are difficult times in the Middle East, with political instability, economic hardship, the continued recourse to weapons of war and violence, and deep suspicion of the motives of Western governments, not least with regard to Israel and Palestine. The indigenous Christian communities in the region share these difficulties, and are put at risk by the mistaken but common identification of Christianity with the actions of the US and UK governments.

"These communities have from the beginning formed an integral part of the life and culture of the region, but Christians have been emigrating, feeling that there is no future for them in the land of their birth. If Christianity were to die out in its very place of origin, it would be a tragedy for the whole Church as well as for the hopes for peace.

"In the days before the latest Iraq War many in our Churches were associated with the widespread protests and with criticism of the United Kingdom government. This was well reported in the Middle East and did much to lessen the belief that this was a war between Christianity and Islam. Whatever the mix of good and evil that is now resulting from the war, the danger of a “clash of civilizations” has not receded and Christian communities remain highly vulnerable.

"The Middle East Forum of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland’s Commission on Mission asks that we continue to remember Middle East Christians in our prayers, words and actions. For example the material prepared for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2004 (see www.ctbi.org.uk) originates from the Syrian Church with its history of promoting good relations between Christians and Muslims. That week will provide a great opportunity for us to hear the voice of our Christian brothers and sisters there and to grow in understanding of and solidarity with them.

"It remains possible to visit the region and the Churches there; we can invite Middle East Christians to British and Irish Churches; we can establish partnerships; we can advocate clearly; we can support those agencies and individuals working with the churches in their witness and service; and we can hold all who suffer in our prayers.

"This is a critical time for them and for the world. What we do can make a crucial difference to what the future holds."

On behalf of the Middle East Forum (which is the meeting of Middle East specialists of CTBI member Churches and agencies):
The Revd Colin Morton and Dr Aziz Noor.
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland
Inter-Church House
35-41 Lower Marsh
London SE1 7SA Contact phone number 07939 139881

[This letter was picked up in the UK by The Church Times and The Baptist Times. ]

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[14.1] CITY LIGHTS

St Matthews-in-the-City is "a progressive Anglican church with a heart for the city and an eye to the world" located in Auckland, New Zealand. They produce an excellent, topical weekly e-zine with articles, news, comment, prayers and other relevant gobbits of interest to those with a broad and faith-ful perspective on the world. 'Social justice remains firmly on St Matthew's agenda. The congregation helped organize and host the Auckland City stopover of the Hikoi of Hope in 1998 and a lecture series on Apec to coincide with the Auckland summit of Apec leaders in 1999. This year, the social justice group is focusing on the theme of "healthy communities".'

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[13.1] ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE

Arundhati Roy, quoted this morning by the radical Anabaptist Bruderhof.com:

"Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen...with our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our sheer relentlessness—and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we're being brainwashed to believe...Remember this: We are many and they are few. They need us more than we need them. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."

From a specifically Christian perspective they also quote their founder, Eberhard Arnold.

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[12.1] THINKING ALLOWED

Thinking Anglicans is an excellent new(ish) website which has a rootblog RSS feed, too. A sane persepective on the intense debates going on within worldwide Anglicanism. As they say: "TA proclaims a tolerant, progressive and compassionate Christian spirituality, in which justice is central to the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of God. Our spirituality must engage with the world, and be consistent with the scientific and philosophical understanding on which our modern world is based. It must address the changes which science and technology have brought into our lives."

Also worth checking out, if you haven't already (surely you have by now?), is the InclusiveChurch.Net initiative, which now has more than 5,000 signatories.

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[11.1] STOP MAKING SENSE

Broadsheet reading religious adherents would probably have been tempted to dismiss Andrew Anthony's diatribe against the irrationality of faith ('Religion Is A Class-A Drug') in The Guardian recently. They would be wrong to do so. He articulates very accurately the deep anger that many western liberals feel about the subject right now.

Of course it is breathtakingly daft to claim, as Anthony does, that: "[r]eligion - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism etc, etc - is by definition irrational and, more than that, it is an irrationality that lays claim to the complete truth." This is rhetoric shaped by precisely the kind of generalised demonisation that it claims to be against. A classic example of being inhabited by the spirit of 'the enemy', and one that cheers only those occupying the rigid extremes of discourse.

But elsewhere there are palpable hits: "[T]here is plenty of ammunition in the New Testament for anti-semites. But only if you ignore the logic, such as there is, of the Bible. Correct me if I am wrong, but the whole point of the gospels is that Christ died for "our" sins. Thus someone had to finger him - whether it was the Jews or the Romans - and whoever did should then surely be congratulated by Christians for arranging the set-piece that gave birth to their religion. Except that God must have arranged his son's death because He arranges everything. Or does He? Who knows? What we can be sure of is that while it is perfectly acceptable to denounce [Mel] Gibson's film as anti-semitic, few critics will go so far as to call it anti-sense."

This is, of course, a travesty of the Gospel narratives and of the task of interpretation. But it is a travesty which sadly bears the marks of some versions of Christian believing. I don't know if Anthony reads his fellow-columnists, but Giles Fraser (vicar of Putney, lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College Oxford and instigator of InclusiveChurch.Net) dealt with the fraught question of atonement very effectively not so long ago ('Easter's Hawks and Doves'). Curious that, these days, you get this kind of debate in the broadsheets, but rarely in the church media -- much of which long ceased trying to talk to anyone else.

See Giles Fraser's other columns here.

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[10.1] MAN IN BLACK

Not being an aficionado of country music, I had given Johnny Cash very little thought until he died, I'm afraid -- and specifically until I saw this reflection from Nathan Decker on 'The Daily Dig'. The lyric below is reprinted from www.bruderhof.com.


Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side (c) Johnny Cash estate

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[9.1] LOST IN THE POST?

Distinguished literary critic Terry Eagleton has, in the past, more than dallied with radical Catholicism -- as well as with Marxism. He was, if I recall correctly, one of the authors of The Slant Manifesto, a key tract in the history of the Anglican-Catholic Left from the 1960s. Eagleton's profitable musings have taken him in different directions since then, but he remains a trenchant critic of the conceits of the nihilistic end of post-modernism. This from his recent essay, Living In A Material World:

"Cultural theory as we have it promises to grapple with some fundamental problems, but on the whole fails to deliver. It has been shamefaced about morality and metaphysics, embarrassed about love, biology, religion and revolution, largely silent about evil, reticent about death and suffering, dogmatic about essences, universals and foundations, and superficial about truth, objectivity and disinterestedness. This, on any estimate, is rather a large slice of human existence to fall down on. It is also rather an awkward moment in history to find oneself with little or nothing to say about such fundamental questions. [...]

"Postmodernism is obsessed by the body and terrified of biology. The body is a wildly popular topic in US cultural studies - but this is the plastic, remouldable, socially constructed body, not the piece of matter that sickens and dies. The creature who emerges from postmodern thought is centreless, hedonistic, self-inventing, ceaselessly adaptive. He sounds more like a Los Angeles media executive than an Indonesian fisherman. Postmodernists oppose universality, and well they might: nothing is more parochial than the kind of human being they admire.

"[T]he bracing scepticism of such postmodern thought is hard to distinguish from its aversion to engaging with fundamentalism at the kind of deep moral or metaphysical level where it needs to be confronted. Indeed, this might serve as a summary of the dilemma in which cultural theory is now caught. Postmodernism has an allergy to depth, as indeed did the later Wittgenstein."

I'm not sure I agree on Wittgenstein. And postmodern critique has much to offer in deconstructing modernist hubris. But Eagleton demonstrates that distinguishing theory from fashion (or, as Mark C Taylor once put it, "a matter of thought from a matter of mere scholarship") is vital for our moral, political and spiritual welfare.

Terry Eagleton's latest book, After Theory, is published this month.

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[8.1] THE FACE OF TERROR

Another superb article in The Guardian by Karen Armstrong - a first-rank academic in the area of interreligious studies and theology, a former nun, and (as if that wasn't enough) one of the best commentators working in the journalistic medium. She will not let us off the hook:

"How do we account for the rise of this religious violence in the post-Enlightenment world? Ever since 9/11, President Bush has repeatedly condemned Islamist terror as an atavistic rejection of American freedom, while Tony Blair recently called it a virus, as though, like Aids, its origins are inexplicable. They are wrong, on both counts. The terrorists' methods are appalling, but they regard themselves as freedom fighters, and there is nothing mysterious about the source of these extremist groups: to a significant degree, they are the result of our own policies. [...]

"Ironically, we tend to become like our enemies. In describing his war against terror as a battle between good and evil, President Bush has unwittingly reproduced the rhetoric of Bin Laden, who subscribes to a form of Sunni fundamentalism that divides the world into two diametrically opposed camps in just the same way. The last thing the Israelis intended was to create "Palestinian Zionism", and yet in the early days Israel aided and abetted Hamas, which virulently opposed the secularist ideology of the PLO, in order to undermine Arafat. They should have learned from the tragic fate of Egypt's Anwar Sadat, who, at the beginning of his presidency, sought to create an independent power base by courting the Islamists who eventually killed him.

"The west has also cultivated its future enemies, by arming Bin Laden and other Arab mujahedin in Afghanistan during the cold war and by giving initial support to the Taliban. These exploitative policies reflect a thinly veiled contempt; the religious ideas of these groups were dismissed as beneath serious consideration. Yet to those who had studied these movements it was clear long before 9/11 that fundamentalists all over the world were expressing fears and anxieties that no government could safely ignore." (From: 'Our Role In The Terror')

See also Karen's fine book, The Battle for God: a History of Fundamentalism.

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[7.1] SPACE FOR GRACE

'Room to be people' was the title of a superbly open and engaging little book on the meaning of the Christian faith by Jose Miguez Bonino, Argentinian Methodist liberation theologian and a vice-president of the World Council of Churches. It's a phrase which often comes to mind when I think of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. I went there on a visit to the US west coast some six or seven years ago, and Canon Mark Stanger hosted me very... well, graciously. The Cathedral is an extraordinary place to pray, to worship and to experience the sheer spaciousness of God in the human spirit. The website was one I chanced across again on Sunday evening. Well worth a look for resources, music, meditations and more.

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[6.1] THERE BE DRAGONS

The BBC Radio 4 'Sunday' programme had a slightly more up-beat update from NEAC (see 5.2. below) . The great majority greeted Rowan Williams very warmly, it reported. And 'Fulcrum' got it's first media plug and friendly bishop -- Tom Wright of Durham, to be precise. Meanwhile the Archbishop told his audience wryly that he had been tempted to preach on the AV translation of Psalm 71: "I am become, as it were, a monster unto many." Instead, in a seven-minute address and prayers, he encouraged them (and us all) to listen more carefully for God. It is remarkable (and no coincidence) that the Church of England at its most disturbed and dysfunctional has a leader who is so centred, thoughtful, good-humoured and spiritual. Not to mention a first-rate scholar and poet (thanks to David Fielden for that link). Dr Williams needs all the support he can get.

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[5.2] HOW THESE CHRISTIANS LIBEL ONE ANOTHER

Stephen Bates, The Guardian's religious affairs correspondent, has a revealing (if slightly depressing) article about the National Evangelical Anglican Congress (NEAC) in Blackpool ... and the refusal of some delegates even to pray in the same room with the Archbishop of Canterbury, with whom they disagree over homosexuality.

The piece refers, inter alia, to Roy Clements, the outstanding preacher and Christian leader whose outing effectively ended his public ministry as a Baptist pastor and leader within the Evangelical Alliance. Roy's excellent website is a source of essays and information from the alternative evangelical conscience on questions of sexuality, rooted in careful reflection, prayer and tough personal experience.

The number of evangelicals in and outside the Church of England who refuse to tow the line of the vociferous, wealthy and extremely well-organized conservative lobby is much higher than is often realized -- not least because of the climate of vituperation which surrounds them. Christina Rees speaks out in Bates' article. Jonathan Bartley of Ekklesia has written of his experience. And Jeremy Marks of Courage is interviewed on Clements' site, which also contains a very good summary of responses to what is going on from outside the evangelical camp. Other dissident voices include Anne Townsend (the missionary author, now psychotherapist and Anglican priest), US theologian Tony Campolo, and Dave Tomlinson (of 'post-evangelical' fame).

The point of mentioning this is not to 'fan the flames' of argument (to adopt the ironic title of this year's NEAC), but instead to point towards the true diversity that exists within the evangelical world. My own interests in this are three-fold. First, it is part of my own inheritance. I attended NEAC in Nottingham in 1977 as a young student Christian. Second, a close member of my own family was gay, and suffered enormously from the tension between his own experience and the repression of the religious culture that had nurtured his faith. That was part of what occasioned my 1999 pamphlet, Toward Communion. Third, though my own theology has moved into significantly different trajectories over the years, I still value the faith and vitality of evangelical colleagues. Their commitment to taking Jesus Christ, the Bible and mission seriously is crucial: though in many respects what 'evangelical orthodoxy' believes about such things is, in my experience, severely lacking.

A friend of mine who teaches theology in Scotland put it well. Speaking of his students, he observed a frustration with many of the self-styled 'liberals' who were afraid of conviction lest it offend anyone. The evanglicals, on the other hand, had conviction by the spadeful but needed, he said, to think much harder about what they believed. His judgement? 'They could be the future of the church - but they really need to get their theology sorted out!'

From a very different angle, Alison Webster, social responsibility adviser in the Anglican Diocese of Oxford, writes today's Face to Faith column on the sexuality argument.

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[5.1] SCIENCE-RELIGION DIALOGUE

From 3-5 October 2003 the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences will hold a conference on The Past and Future of the Science-Religion Dialogue: Celebrating the Work of Ian G. Barbour.

The conference sessions deal with methodology; God and nature; theology and physics; theology and biology; ethics, technology and the environment; and perspectives from process theology, Roman Catholic theology and Buddhist thought. Presenters will explore a variety of theological visions of the field's wider dimensions and its frontier challenges. Each speaker will assess what has been accomplished in the past and help us envision what lies ahead as we look toward the coming decades in the light of the legacy of Ian G. Barbour.

Barbour earned a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Chicago, where he was a teaching assistant to Enrico Fermi, designer of the world's first atomic reactor. After teaching physics in Michigan Barbour embarked on a Ford Fellowship to study theology and ethics at Yale Divinity School. Moving to Carleton College in 1955, he created what is now the department of religion while teaching half time in the physics department. He began a lifetime of research and writing on science and religion, starting with the fundamental methodological issue: how do we relate fields as divergent as the natural sciences and religious thought?

He went on to explore the theological implications of physics, cosmology, evolution, anthropology and the neurosciences, as well as ethical issues concerning technology, human need and the environment. In 1999, Ian Barbour was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in recognition of his wide-reaching efforts to further the dialogue between science and religion. (c) CTNS

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[4.6] BEATITUDE PROBLEM?

Most commentators agree. Whether 'conservative' or 'liberal', they judge the Sermon on the Mount as pie-in-the-sky stuff for the particularly saintly; worthy, but plain 'impractical' in the 'real world'. This isn't a consensus I share. What Marcus Borg calls the historical-metaphoric approach to the text reveals a profound challenge to our assumptions.

"The Gospel is best described as the drama of divine reversal. Almost everything that constitutes what we might call the 'dominant logic' of our time is turned back to front, inside out and upside down... " Here is one of a set of reflections on the Beatitudes for the Work Dynamics series. They are intended to be simple, direct, pastoral, but theologically informed. The rest can be located on the articles page.

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[4.5] THEOLOGY AND ETHICS

A thoughtful and provocative site from American theologian Kenneth Cauthen. He comments: "The[se] articles set forth the views of a theologian deeply influenced by modern science, historical studies, cultural relativism, ecological concerns, pragmatism, and the like. They represent what I believe to be persuasive and pertinent for a generation about to enter the 21st century. I employ a form of process-relational thought and am deeply rooted in the Christian (and Baptist) traditions. These essays are tentative expressions but reflect five decades of reading, thinking, and teaching. Long ago Harry Emerson Fosdick defined a liberal as one who wanted to be both 'an intelligent modern and a serious Christian.' That is my aim and the guiding philosophy of these essays."

A recent correspondent asked me if I was a liberal. The answer, inconveniently, has to be 'yes' and 'no'. Yes, because the possibility of liberality in religion and politics has been one of the great gifts and developments of the twentieth century. No, because liberality is not sufficient in and of itself; nor is it self-sustaining. Like modernity it has its virtues and its blind-spots. Theology informed by liberalism and modernism can be enormously fruitful. But it can also end up devaluing the uniqueness of the texts, traditions and convictions with which it works.

What is especially important in a climate of growing absolutism is the discovery of resources from within the Christian tradition which can speak positively of, and to, pluralism. I think this is more than possible. As Richard Rohr once said in my presence, "My exclusive commitment to Jesus Christ has shown me that in Christ God is abolishing all human exclusivisms." I think that's just about right. Can other life-stances (including liberalism) develop similar trajectories? That is up to them, and it is also part of the challenge and strain of dialogue -- which, as the WCC reminds us, is rooted in authentic witness to each other of what we have seen and heard.

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[4.4] CYBERTHEOLOGY

Debbie Herring of the Urban Theology Unit, Sheffield, has a fabulous set of resources on her cybertheology.net website. She explains: "This site is intended as a resource for those interested in the study of theology in cyberspace, theology of cyberspace and theology for cyberspace. You'll find collections of links under each of these headings. There's also a section of links concerned with research method in this environment. There are links to some of my own lectures, essays and articles on cybertheology."

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[4.3] MEANINGS HUMAN AND DIVINE

From a review of Kenneth Cragg, 'Am I Not Your Lord? Human Meaning in Divine Question', London Melisende, 2002, ISBN 1 901764 21 4, hardback, pp. 255, £18.

"In spite of its hard-headedness [this] is a redemptive work. The final chapter contains a clear-sighted repudiation of religiously sanctioned nationalisms, a call to discernment and discrimination (in the technical, non-pejorative sense of the word) among faith communities, and a redrawing of the virtue of secularity away from irreligion and anti-religion. Both the character of the transcendent God and the unity of human beings in a world divided by ideological manipulations are at stake in the confessions we make. Rigorous self-examination is implied in the divine question, says Cragg. If society is not to be overcome by cancer, faith is needed. But if faith is not to turn bad, despair, despotism and false hopes must be overcome. This is the religious quest."

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[4.2] FULCRUM AND FIRE

Evangelicals in the Church of England meet this weekend at a time of high drama over the sexuality argument within the Anglican communion. While much of the media attention will no doubt go to the more belligerent protagonists, 'central' evangelicals are trying to create a space for debate and encounter through a new network called Fulcrum.

They say: "While diversity among Evangelical Anglicans is one of their strengths, fragmentation is not. Our desire is to see the various strands within Evangelicalism drawn together by a shared outlook that flows from historic Evangelicalism's commitment to Scripture, the cross, conversion and mission. We believe this commitment unites all Evangelicals, whether they count themselves as conservative, open or charismatic (or a mixture of all three). It is this that forms the centre of gravity which we seek to renew."

For non-evangelicals that begs a large number of questions, of course. There are some within that fold who deny the diversity of the Bible and its shadow sides, for example. A more serious dialogue on hermeneutics is required. And is the strengthening of 'party identities' really what's needed at the moment? In what would a 'shared outlook' among evangelicals consist -- and how would it enable them to handle the deep convictions of those who disagree with them?

It seems unlikely that hard-liners will be appeased by such moves right now, capital 'E' or not. But Fulcrum's willingness to acknowledge the divisions of their own tradition and to engage collegially with Christians of other outlooks is an important sign of hope. There is a generosity to their statement which is to be applauded.

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[4.1] THE BLAINE TRUTH?

The amount of verbal (and now physical) abuse occasioned by illusionist David Blaine's 44-day self-deprivation ordeal is truly astonishing. He is supposed to be the narcissist (according to received wisdom on the subject), but the truth is: we just can't bear not to be in on the act

Suspended in his glass cage over London's Tower Bridge, Blaine's antics naturally raise all kinds of questions. Isn't it more than a little tasteless for a super-rich American to dress himself in introspection and risk his life needlessly in a world where many have no choice, where people face death daily? And how much less does someone have to do, in practical terms, to court a world media transfixed by the glare of mere spectacle?

Those are among the obvious issues. But, as with much postmodern performance, there is something rather more threatening at stake. Blaine is doing no more or less than holding up a blank canvas to his public and seeing what projections they decide to thrown on to it.

His role is passive. But what is revealed about some of the watchers is disturbing, frightening even. We are ready to vilify and scapegoat even the most unthreatening of presences. We hate so easily. We are stirred to anger so needlessly. Even those who "couldn't give a monkey's" are obviously enraged.

Blaine sits in his cage, eyeing his spectator-tormentors. But they (we) are the ones caught in the spotlight. Who is afraid of what -- and why? What's worse, a slow sapping of life or the shock of utter emptiness? In certain respects that box might as well be a crucifix.

Meditative musings aside, there is nothing overtly religious about Blaine's fast. Nothing Christ-like about his 'sacrifice'. And thankfully no religious system has yet been able to 'claim' his presence. Quite the opposite. The cage is a voluntary non self-emptying, a none (sic) event, an exercise in purposeful fruitlessness. But perhaps that is exactly what it takes to expose the massive cruelty at the core of our palpably vacant agenda...

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[3.3] TEXTS UNDER NEGOTIATION

More (see also 3.2 and 1.2 below) on the challenge and opportunity of encountering biblical texts, from a review published last year:

"[Walter] Brueggemann suggests a twofold interpretative strategy in relation to the Bible: making critical use of the tools around us, certainly, but above all allowing ourselves and our world to be challenged by the ‘counter-drama’ of the text itself. This is how we can ‘fund’ post-modern imagination with the fragments of a Gospel which bursts open new possibilities – instead of merely buying into a new ideology, or trying to create another citadel within which everyone is supposed to submit.

"In this ‘re-reading’ process, imagination – the capacity to portray, receive and practice the world in ways different from the ‘common sense’ view generated by dominant orthodoxies – is the vital ingredient. For Brueggemann what lies behind the text is a God who both reveals the basis of life and invites us to join in the redemption (re-construal) of the world. In the final third of the book he helps us to re-enter the biblical counter-drama by sketching, with the aid of specific biblical passages, the shape of a ‘Gospel infrastructure’ for living – in direct contrast to ‘the infrastructure of commodity consumerism’. ...

"... The question for the community that is shaped by its encounter with these texts – as the church must necessarily be – is ‘what authorises us to change or go beyond the received text?’ Here the theological case must be made for a creative interaction between the fruits of the living tradition, the excesses of language, the constraints of reason, and the uncontainable God who lies behind and beyond the world in which it is set."

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[3.2] ENDISM IS NIGH, TEXTS ARE TRICKY

One of the mixed blessings of writing about religion on the web is the correspondence that comes your way. Any letter with the word 'prophecy' in the header is always a good warning in itself, since it invariably announces the writer's conviction that they hold some special key to unlock the 'meaning of the Bible' and (inevitably) the end of the age. It is such patchworks of de-historicized texts and half-baked, retrojective regarblings of current events which have, for many thoughtful people, confirmed the suspicion that Christian and Jewish scriptures are little more than primitive playgounds for the deranged religious imagination.

Those who deploy historic texts in this way are (without intending it) showing the deepest possible disrespect for them. Understandably, most serious biblical scholars just ignore this stuff -- and meretricious nonsense such as 'The Bible Code'. Of the scholarly challenging of misunderstanding there is no end: and since the 'answers' that the Bible pundits seek are to do with human certainty (not the contingency in which open faith deals), the grounds for conversation seem pretty sparse. The trouble is that this leaves a huge gap between those who learn and those who leap.

One of the few scholars who seeks to fill this particular void is Craig C. Hill, Professor of New Testament at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. His book 'In God's Time' (and the website created to promote it) is a model of patient wisdom. Likewise, but at a more rarified level, Peter Ochs of the University of Virginia demonstrates what is at stake in scriptural reasoning, even if he is, perhaps, a little too dismissive of historical-critical methodology. The Society for SR, of which he is a leading light, has a stimulating electronic journal. Another treasure is Stephen Fowl's book, 'Engaging Scripture: A Model for Theological Interpretation.' Different perspectives are offered by 'The Postmodern Bible', ed. George Aichele et al., (Yale University, 1995) and 'Voices From The Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the third world', ed. R. S. Sugirtharajah (SPCK, 1991).

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[3.1] SUN SPOTTING

An extraordinary conversation unfolded on the train yesterday evening. Armed only with The Sun, three commuters pontificated on what they would like to do to "violent and intolerant" Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri. Most of these ways of "dealing" with "the mad Mullah" involved reciprocal degrees of intolerance and violence, it seems. So no surprise there. Finally one protagonist, warming to the tabloid's own suggestion, came up with the best idea of all. "They should send him back to Islam," she declared without a flicker of irony. I wanted to suggest that until we stop being the mirror of the problem, we cannot see the light. But I didn't have the courage...

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[2.3] THE CHALLENGE OF THE GOSPEL TO THE CHURCH

Has the church grasped the central ethos of the message that formed it? Or is it constantly in danger of betraying the freedom and love of God in a world crying out for such things? These questions re-asserted themselves in my mind when I read, in the Church Times, a review of a book I co-edited a couple of years ago with Graeme Smith ('Christian Mission in Western Society', CTBI, 2001). The piece was written by Robin Greenwood, and the heading -- possibly not of his creation -- was 'Back to Jesus now that religion's done.'

At one level I feel uneasy about the simplicity of that. I want to say that there is no way 'back', only ways forward. And 'Jesus' can be a sticking plaster... and in many cases religion is far from 'done' (whatever we might wish). The questions linger.

Yet the more I think about it the more I have to accept the truth in this incidental but crucial phrase. Historic Christianity is, indeed, in crisis. And its salvation is not abandonment, but the recovery of its foundations -- which are in a person and a dynamic, not a dogma and an institution.

"The defining logic of Jesus is, in fact, God. In particular, it is the self-giving of a God who is wholly beyond our manipulation and (mostly in hidden ways) closer to us than the murmering of our hearts.

"How such a God is to be understood and responded to in an age of secular reason and irrational faith is, for the theologian, the key issue. And problem. And opportunity.

"Without doubt many have, for a variety of reasons, given up on God. And many of those who haven't given up (and who couldn't even conceive of it) have turned God into an ideological weapon of their own convenience.

"This is, sadly, as true in Christian communities as it is in those of other great faiths. 'Religious' or 'spiritual' people are not immune from falsehood. Actually, they may be prey to it in especially dangerous ways, because their wrong-headedness can quickly acquire a divine sanction – thus becoming invulnerable.

"To re-discover God through Jesus helps in this regard, because believing in Jesus' Lordship becomes, paradoxically, an essential means by which we can be empowered to disbelieve the ruling ideas (and most especially the ruling religious ideas) which currently imprison us as human beings, or even as Christians.

"Put simply: if God (whatever else God is about) is like Jesus, or more accurately, if God comes to us in and through Jesus, then we have some basis for knowing what God is not.

"We know, for instance, that God does not inflict violence and suffering. Quite the opposite. God endures and absorbs it. That is the meaning of the cross and the hope of the resurrection.

"To discover God in Jesus is also, through prayer, reflection and action, to discover that God is actually nothing like the God we thought we believed (or disbelieved) in.

"Who God finally is remains beyond our capacity, of course, because God’s ‘being’ is absolutely unlike ours. But the promise of the Gospel is that, in terms which can be made flesh, God is not less than God is in and as Jesus – that is, God is not less than infinite, uncontrollable, non-violent love.

"And that is just the beginning of a renewed hope which might make a vital difference for us and for our world -- if we, as followers of this Jesus, can develop the courage and the capacity to act on it. " From: To change the world.

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[2.2] SOUL SEARCHING

Well, it's one way to sell your product in this damnably commercial environment. WeWantYourSoul.Com provide a survey to find out where your heart really is -- and therefore where your treasure will stack up best, too (as St Matthew might put it). I discovered the following: "Your soul is worth £30205. For your peace of mind, 17% of people have a purer soul than you." Well, that puts me in my place for the time being... but I think I'll leave the cash on the shelf.

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[2.1] CHURCHES SUPPORT PEACE WITNESS IN ISRAEL PALESTINE

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme run through the World Council of Churches, in association with NGOs and the heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, is an enormously important peace-and-justice building mechanism in a deeply fractured political climate. An example of how faith communities can make a positive contribution in a situation of conflict where religion is often darkly entwined in wrong-doing.

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[1.3] NON-EVOLVING EDUCATION

For many years, it seems, the influence of the US religious right has been restricted in terms of its impact on faith communities in Britain. Now that is beginning to change. One of the first areas in which the new climate is blowing is education, where two 'Christian schools' (in Gateshead and Middlesborough, respectively), have declared that they will teach 'creationism' (a grotesque distortion of biblical faith) alongside evolutionary biology -- which will in turn be described, quite disengenuously, as 'a faith position.' It is sad that new generations are coming into existence whose experience of Christianity may be that of a religion which turns its back on reason and the enormous gains of scientific discovery. This is far from how the tradition has been in the past. Here are some resources and reactions to the current situation. See also Faith and Reason.

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[1.2] WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE 'BIBLICAL'?

Many of the arguments in the Church of England (and elsewhere) at the moment concern the role, status and interpretation of the Christian scriptures -- which are, themselves, located in the midst of many other competing texts and authorities in an irreversibly plural world. Much of what is said on this topic in the arena of the media is vastly misleading. Here are some resources for beginning to think through this challenge sensibly and faithfully...

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[1.1] TO CHANGE THE WORLD?

Where to start this diverse collection of posts on subjects as diverse as politics, property, passion and preaching? With a declaration of conviction, I suppose. But given the state of the world, that is far from easy.

As faith-based extremism straddles the globe, religion is getting a dubious press, and understandably so. Arguments revolving around God cost lives, say the sceptics. They are right.

From Muslim-Christian violence in Nigeria to bombers in Bali, from the 'Lord's Resistance Army' in Uganda to 'promised land' settlers in occupied Palestine, from communal conflict in India to sectarianism in Ireland... misplaced faith is deadly.

If you're gay, love your partner, and have been nominated to be a bishop things are not quite as drastic, of course. But they are still hugely unpleasant.

When people disagree about the fundamentals of faith they can be deeply unattractive and wounding to each other and to those around them. Often without realising it.

For anyone who belongs to a religious community this is more than just "someone else's problem." It raises questions about the enterprise of faith per se.

So it is an extremely foolish person who embarks on the journey of 'reflecting theologically' about society at large without recognising just what a hugely destructive force religion can be. Any religion.

And yet, and yet... We all know that faith can also be a source of immense inspiration, redemption and exemplary humanity. Think of Desmond Tutu. Or Sojourner Truth. Or Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Or Hildegard of Bingen. Or a cloud of other witnesses.

What's more, and whatever the urban sophisticates may wish, religion is not going away. It is now a bigger player on the world scene today than anyone would have credited, prior to the terrible crash of those twin towers in New York on 9/11.

So where do we go from here?

[read on]