andygoodliff

Blog on Week's Holiday

This blog will be on holiday for the next week and a bit as I'm at Lemmings and then a wedding.

One Book Meme

Richard from Sub Ratione Dei has tagged me.

1. One book that changed your life.

Living the Christian Story, John Colwell (2001)

2. One book You've read more than once

Living the Christian Story, John Colwell (2001)

3. One book you'd want on a desert island

Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

4. One Book that Made you Laugh

The best a man can get by John O'Farrell (2000)

5. One Book that made you Cry

can't think of one.

6. One book you wish had been written

God's Companions by Sam Wells (2006)

7. One Book you wish had never been written

Questions of Life by Nicky Gumbel (it's everything that is bad about about evangelical charismatic theology)

8. One Book you're Currently Reading

Choice, Desire and the Will of God by David Runcorn (2003)

9. One book you've been meaning to read

Trinitarian Soundings, ed. Paul Metzger (2006)

Feel free to share your books in the comments.

Baptisms

Yesterday saw 6 of Bunyan's young people get baptised. It was a great day and wonderful to be involved in preparing them and then baptise them. Their testimonies were amazing, testifying to how God has been present in their lives and called them to this point. I must confess to getting quite emotional as some of them I've been their youthleader for a 4 years and I've seen them grow in faith, but they still managed to surprise me with their stories.

It's a sin to fly!

The Bishop of London, Richard Chartes is reported as saying its a sin to fly because it contributes to climate change and is a selfish act. He says "Sin is not just a restricted list of moral mistakes. It is living a life turned in on itself where people ignore the consequences of their actions.” I agree. I don't think the word sin is too strong here. I think the type of flying he is attacking is the cheap short break to Europe type of flying whihc has become common for people to take several times a year. When it comes to the environment the church has a responsbility to be distinctively different, to think through their actions. Theologically the church must rediscover a doctrine of creation that sees humanity as stewards of creation and God's image-bearers within it.

biographical theology

I've just finished reading Face to Face by Frances Young, which is a subtitled A Narrative Essay in the Theology of Suffering. This is  an extremely important book that describes through biographical narrative Professor Young's theology towards disability, suffering and what it is to be human. Young has a severely disabled son Arthur.

Books like this are extremely important for theology, because they root theology in the world. There is no opportunity for abstract reflections. They cause the theologian to reassess their theology. It reminds me of another book I read a few years back as a first year undergraduate called Evangelicals in Exile: Wrestling with Theology and the Unconscious by Alistair Ross, which narrates Alistair's spiritual journey as a baptist minister and pastoral counsellor with an evangelical upbringing. It was extremely helpful as I was finding my way through the evangelical maze.

I think this narrative theology is another reason why I like Stanley Hauerwas so much. Theology is not something out there, Christianity is not a collection of beliefs, but the lived out life before God. Theology may sometimes describe something beyond our immediate sight, but it must always return to the experience of the theologian. Barth was right to say that theology is done with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.

If you've not read either Face to Face or Evangelicals in Exile let me recommend them to you.

fighting in the dark

From Face to Face: a Narrative Essay in the Theology of Suffering by Frances Young (1990):

It is not true that Christians are better people. My husband is one of the best people I know. Nor is it true that faith gives you the edge in coping with the problems of life. It may delude you into never facing reality, into false hopes, into a sentimental and unrealistic optimism about things. Or it may compound your problems by setting up a sharp dichotomy between an accepted idea of what the world is like and the awful reality you actually have to face. My experience has proved that religion is no escapism. It led me deeper and deeper into the agonies over the state of the world. It raised questions and difficulties which the non-believer never had to face. For many years I felt it would be so much easier just to give up on this Christian nonsense, the absurdity of claiming that this rotten world was created a by a good loving God, the illusion that with enough faith and goodwill everything will somehow be put right and the kingdom of God arrive. But somehow I could not live with that way out. There was something in me that resisted it as an easy option; there was an imperative in me to find again the world of meaning which has once energised my life, to find there was not a blank wall or a black hole, but God. I lived with a dreadful sense of loss. My doubts sapped my energy, deepened my distress, my sense of tragedy, my hopelessness. I was deeply depressed by the experience of living in a God-less world. Yet I could not just drift into a fantasy world and pretend everything was all right after all. The challenges were inescapable. I had to go on wrestling, fighting in the dark.

Qualified

I had my final assessment to decide whether I become a Qualified Teacher, after 5 terms of training. I passed. So I now have a professional qualification as an RE teacher. It's been a challenging two years, with lots of highs and lows. Hopefully come September it will be even better.

1343 metres

We made it. It took us 3hours 45mins to get up there and about the same back. My legs hurt. But some great views. See Ashley's photos here and Joel's here. The weather was fantastic, just right for climbing.  Together we helped each other climb. I don't think I would want to climb it again, but I'd love to go back to the area. We might attempt some of the Pennine Way next year - a bit more flat!