andygoodliff

Hays versus Biggar, Round 2

There is a second exchange of articles between Richard Hays and Nigel Biggar in the latest Studies in Christian Ethics.

The first exchange was in last year - Studies in Christian Ethics 22.2 (May 2009):

Nigel Biggar, 'Specify and Distinguish! Interpreting the New Testament on `Non-Violence' '

Richard B. Hays, 'Narrate and Embody: A Response To Nigel Biggar, `Specify and Distinguish''

The second exchange - Studies in Christian Ethics 23.1 (February 2010):

Nigel Biggar, 'The New Testament and Violence: Round Two'

Richard B. Hays, 'The Thorny Task of Reconciliation: Another Response to Nigel Biggar'

While Hays, I think won the first round, by a fair margin, Biggar lands some critical 'punches' in the second round, although I think Hays still comes out ahead. Hays is just better exegetically. Biggar (a just war proponent) is unconvinced by Hays' non-violent reading of Jesus' narrative. He concludes

I persist in thinking that just war doctrine can do better justice than pacifism to all the relevant material in the New Testament. It strongly affirms that followers of Jesus are forbidden to be vengeful and hateful; that they are called to intend peace, to have compassion, and to forebear; and that in some circumstances—either where they are not authorised to bear the public sword, or where to exercise that authority would be disproportionate and indiscriminate—they are called to leave themselves vulnerable to injury. In addition, it can explain why soldiers in the New Testament are never criticised for
being soldiers (23.1, p.80).

But as Hays notes 'the New Testament never narrates an act of sword-wielding heroism by a Christian' (23.1, p.82).  Hays concludes

I do not mean to trivialise the moral seriousness of your advocacy for just war. I just think that you have made bad exegetical arguments: you have dragooned the New Testament texts into the service of a cause antithetical to their own testimony (23.1, p.86).

Nil Illegitimi Carborundum: A Conference on Theology, the Church, and Controversy

Forthcoming conference being held at the University of Aberdeen. 1-3 July, 2010, with a good line-up of speakers: Robert Jenson, Vigen Guroian, David Bentley Hart, Peter J. Leithart, Carl Trueman, John Webster, Laurence Hemming, Susan Frank Parsons, Markus Mühling, Peter McMylor, Francesca Murphy, Brian Brock.

another year another book on hospitality

Just reading Jason's post 'On hospitality' and was thinking that this has become one of the latest 'buzz' words in Christian theology. There doesn't seem to be a year goes by recently without a book on recovering hospitality. Here are seven recent books that explore the theme.

Christine Pohl, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition (Eerdmans, 1999)

Luke Bretherton, Hospitality as Holiness: Christian Witness Amid Moral Diversity (Ashgate, 2006)

Arthur M. Sutherland, I Was a Stranger: A Christian Theology of Hospitality (Abingdon, 2006)

Elizabeth Newman, Untamed Hospitality: Welcoming God and Other Strangers (Brazos, 2007)

Amos Yong, Hospitality and the Other: Pentecost, Christian Practices and the Neighbour (Orbis, 2008)

Letty M. Russell, Just Hospitality: God's Welcome in a World of Difference (WJK, 2009)

Wolfgang Vondey, People of Bread: Rediscovering Ecclesiology (Paulist Press, 2009)

Update:

George Newlands and Allen Smith, Hospitable God: The Transformative Dream (Ashgate, 2010)

A Parting Theology

The last decade saw the loss of some important British theologians - the Torrances (Thomas and James), Colin Gunton and Daniel Hardy. In the case of Dan Hardy, a new book is coming out in September from SCM: Attracted by God's Light: A Parting Theology edited by David Ford (his son-in-law) and Deborah Ford (his daughter) and Peter Ochs.

It is described as:

Daniel W. Hardy was one of the foremost ecclesial theologians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in the English-speaking world. Attracted by God s Light is a theology of the Spirit and of the Eucharistic foundations of the Church. It is also the last testament of a great ecclesial theologian, and the editors present his theology in a manner that honours its character as testament. They situate his theology in the context of the last year of his life, which included a spiritual pilgrimage to the Holy Land and his conscious effort to dictate a brief theology as his parting words to the Church and the academy.The Revd Prof. Daniel W. Hardy was Van Mildert Professor of Theology at the University of Durham and Director of the Centre for Theological Inquiry at Princeton. He died in 2007.

The Turn to Political and Public Theology

It seems the University of Chester has (quietly) pulled together an impressive looking line-up in its list of theology staff. While other universities are cutting jobs, since the summer they have recruited Rob Warner (sociology of contemporary religion), Elaine Graham (public theology), and Chris Baker (public and urban theology) to add to David Clough (christian ethics), Celia Deane-Drummond (theology and science, Tom Greggs (systematic theology) and Anthony Thiselton (new testament and doctrine), amongst others. It will be interesting to see if how they shape the department.

There is a definite move in English theology departments towards a more public and political theology - King's with its Faith and Public Policy Forum convened by Luke Bretherton; Cambridge with its Interfaith Programme directed by David Ford; Nottingham with its Centre of Theology and Philosophy, the home of John Milbank; Oxford with its McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life directed by Nigel Biggar; Manchester with its Centre for Religion and Political Culture co-directed by Graham Ward; Exeter with its Network for Religion in Public Life directed by Esther Reed; Bristol with its Centre for Christianity and Culture directed by Gavin D'Costa.

Now this probably reflects two things. Firstly this is where the available research funding is and secondly a renewed interested of theology in the public square. There is the New Visibility of Religion and faith is finding itself it a myriad of relationships with Contemporary Politics, to which theologians are writing Political and Public theology, asking how can we best speak in Public Places and how do we best engage with a diverse Religious and Secular World. You can find theologians writing on The Ethics of Human Rights to the University, Vegetarianism, Euthanasia and New Labour. 

I'm excited by this new engagement with public and political life.

Sam Sharpe and the Quest for Liberation: Context, Theology and Legacy for Today

 Regent's Park College, University of Oxford, April 13-16 2010

A Collaboration between the Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture at Regent's Park College, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Jamaica Baptist Union and BMS World Mission

The Sam Sharpe Story

The Conference takes as its centre-piece the story of Sam Sharpe, the Baptist deacon and enslaved person who played an important role in the ‘Great Jamaican Slave Revolt’ of 1831. One of the leaders of a group of enslaved persons who took part in a ‘sit-down strike’ against slavery, he was executed together with more than 500 others. Nevertheless, their revolt is recognized by historians and theologians as having a powerful influence on the process leading to the abolition of slavery, and Sam Sharpe is honoured as a National Hero in Jamaica. The story is of a Baptist Christian whose actions were clearly motivated by his faith and by his reading of scripture; he is reported to have said, ‘In reading my Bible, I found that the white man had no more right to make a slave of me than I have to make a slave of the white man.’ He remains a witness to the principle of ‘liberation from below’: that is, true liberation comes when those who are oppressed or marginalized participate in making their own freedom and justice, rather than simply having it granted to them by those who have power and authority. This is what the Conference identifies as the ‘legacy’ of Sam Sharpe today.

The Conference

The Conference aims to explore this story with regards to its

• Context: making a scholarly examination of the characters, events and social institutions of the time

• Theology: offering a theological reflection on the enslaved revolt, as a contribution to liberation theology

• Legacy: asking what light the story might shed on present-day concerns of oppressed or minority groups, and exploring its global impact.
  In particular, the conference will explore the relevance of the Sam Sharpe story for the West African experience of slavery. It will also offer a theological framework for the process among UK Baptist churches (‘the Journey’) which has followed the apology for slavery by the Baptist Union of Great Britain, and will draw upon the experience of churches of both the Caribbean and the African diasporas in the UK and the USA.

Book Launch

The conference marks the publication of a book centred on Sam Sharpe, called Burning For Freedom: A Theology of the Black Atlantic Struggle For Liberation (Kingston: Ian Randle, 2010) by Delroy A. Reid-Salmon, Research Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture at Regent’s Park College

Invited Speakers include:

Dr.Cawley Bolt (Jamaica Baptist Union)
Dr Neville Callum (Baptist World Alliance)
Ms Rosemarie Davidson-Gotobed (London Baptist Association)
Prof Paul Fiddes (University of Oxford)
Prof Dwight Hopkins (University of Chicago)
Revd Wale Hudson-Roberts (Baptist Union of Great Britain)
Dr David Muir (Evangelical Alliance)
Revd Lynette Mullings (Queen’s Theological Foundation, Birmingham)
Dr Delroy Reid-Salmon (New York & Regent’s Park College, Oxford)
Prof. Horace Russell (Palmer Theological Seminary, Philadelphia)
Revd David Shosanya (London Baptist Association)
Dr Burchell Taylor (Kingston, Jamaica)
Dr Mary Turner (School of Advanced Study, London University)

Whatever happened to associating?

For the Baptist-minded out there, I'm doing some thinking about associations and associating for a college presentation I have to do next week (which may turn into a short paper for publication), so any thoughts or views you have I would be welcome to hear them.

Neil asked a question over a year ago (see here) that has continued to mull around my mind:

what is the relationship between the Union, the Associations and the Churches? In many discussions this is either the unnamed elephant in the room or gets mentioned with some bland statement about the need to be relating together.

Related to that question is another one (which I heard a regional minister ask) - who do regional ministers work for - association or union? The point being that both often seem to produce similar work. This comes back to Tasks and Roles, which has not had an easy ride - partly over the difficulty of answering Neil's question.

The third question, which is possibly provocative, is my own. I've often wondered what would happen if associations no longer existed and regional ministers were centrally employed by the Union (as they were when they were Superintendents)?  I ask this because it seems to me that association in some places, but I know not all, often seems to be by-passed - so churches relate directly to Union and vice versa.