andygoodliff

Top 5s of 2006

Looking Back on 2006 ...

Top 5 Posts

1. Bible Study and Scripture Reading
2. Should churches employ youthworkers?
3. british baptist theologians series
4. why stanley hauerwas gets me into trouble
5. evangelical and evangelicism

Top 5 Books

1. God's Companions
2. Face to Face
3. Tracks and Traces
4. Practicing Passion
5. Contemplative Youth Ministry

Top 5 Films

1. Liitle Miss Sunshine
2. The Inconvenient Truth
3. The Prestige
4. Munich
5. Syriana

Top 5 TV

1. Studio 60
2. Lost
3. The Root of all Evil?
4. The War of the World: A New 20th Century History
5. Prison Break

Top 5 Trips

1. Paris
2. Holy Island
3. Ben Nevis
4. Greenbelt
5. Baptists doing theology consultation

New Books for 2007 | John Zizioulas on Communion and Otherness

John Zizioulas has just published his sequel of sorts to Being as Communion, called Communion and Otherness: Further Studies in Personhood and the Church. This is a collection of recent unpublished papers and essays as well as his famous 1975 article from SJT called 'Human Capacity and Human Incapacity: A Theological Exploration of Personhood.' Rowan Williams has written the foreword (which Douglas Knight posts here), where he says it is both a systematic theology and a work of apologetics.

Also out later this year is The Theology of John Zizioulas: Personhood and the Church, edited by Douglas Knight (May 2007) and including essays by Colin Gunton, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Douglas Knight and Alan Brown.

Books Read in 2006

Fiction

Labyrinth - Kate Mosse
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Atonement - Iain McEwan
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
Starter for Ten - David Nicholls
The Understudy - David Nicholls
Deception Point - Dan Brown

Non-Fiction

Wild Swans - Jung Chang
The Pope in Winter - John Cornwell

Youth Ministry

Practising Passion - Kenda Creasy Dean
Contemplative Youth Ministry - Mark Yaconelli
Off the Beaten Track - Richard Passmore

Church and Theology

God's Companions - Sam Wells
Naming the Silences - Stanley Hauerwas
Critical Reflections on Stanley Hauerwas' Theology of Disability - ed. John Swinton
Face to Face - Frances Young
Tracks and Traces - Paul Fiddes
Faith and Politics after Christendom - Jonathan Bartley
Flickering Images - eds. Anthony Clarke and Paul Fiddes
Choice, desire and the will of God - David Runcorn
Promise and Presence - John Colwell
Engaging Scripture - Stephen Fowl
The Story we find ourselves in - Brian McLaren
First and Second Samuel - Walter Brueggemann
Men Behaving Badly - John Goldingay
The Shape of Living - David Ford
Eat this Book - Eugene Peterson
Sex and Love in the Home - David Matzko McCarthy
Growing Old  in Christ - eds. Hauerwas et al
The Doctrine of God and Theological Ethics - eds. Alan Torrance and Michael Banner

RE

Teaching Religious Education - Julian Stern

Advent Explorations 4

Happy Chistmas!

We ran our fourth advent explorations service tonight on the theme of good news? The service started in darkness and then as we sang o come let us adore him the church was slowly lighted by candle. I had a number of guys of different kinds of drums to accompany. Then borrowing an idea from ikon's greenbelt service 'fundamentalism' we had four people one by one stand and speak about good news. The first shared 10 good pieces of news and 10 bad pieces of news. The second began with 'I'm going to have a baby'. The third 'I'm going to be a dad ... sort of'. And the fourth was about someone who had it all. I think it worked well. People then had an opportunity to explore different stations, especially exploring micah 5.2, before we joined together again at the end to sing a few more carols and pray.  It's been a good four weeks.

God of light and hope
Of stars and surprises
Open our eyes to your glory
And our hearts to your presence
That we may respond with joy to the angel’s good news

God of joy and peace
Of songs and silence
Open our ears to hear your story
And our hearts to your Spirit
That we may respond with wonder to the mystery of Jesus

God of wonder and creation
Of shops and street corners
Open our mouths to speak good news
And our hearts to your Son
That others may discover the word of Christ

advent blog finishes ...

the hopeful imagination advent blog finishes today. I hope you found the time to occasionally read it over the last few weeks. There were some great posts from various people. It's a great way to focus thoughts  through the advent season.

New Books for 2007 | Stanley Hauerwas on The State of the University

  Stanley Hauerwas has two books out. First, The State of the University: Academic Knowledges and the Knowledge of God (April 2007)

In this book, controversial and world-renowned theologian, Stanley Hauerwas, tackles the issue of theology being sidelined as a necessary discipline in the modern university. It is an attempt to reclaim the knowledge of God as just that - knowledge.

• Questions why theology is no longer considered a necessary subject in the modern university, and explores the role it should play in the development of our "knowledge"
• Considers how theology is often excluded from the knowledges of the modern university because these are constituted by an understanding of time necessary to make economic and state realities seem inevitable
• Argues that it is precisely this difference that makes Christian theology an essential resource for the university to achieve its task - that is, to form people who are able to imagine a different world through critical and disciplined reflection
• Challenges the domesticated character of much recent theology by suggesting how prayer and the love of the poor are essential practices that should shape the theological task
• Published in the new and prestigious Illuminations series

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
1. Theological Knowledge and the Knowledges of the University: Beginning Explorations
2. Leaving Ruins: The Gospel and Cultural Formations
3. How Risky is The Risk of Education: Random Reflections from the American Context
4. The End of "Religious Pluralism:" A Tribute to David Burrell, C.S.C.
5. The Pathos of the University: The Case of Stanley Fish
6. What Would a Christian University Look Like?: Some Tentative Answers Inspired by Wendell Berry
7. Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana: Schooling the Heart in the Heart of Texas
8. Christians and the So-Called State (We Are In): A Meditation on Loyalty after September 11, 2001
9. Democratic Time: Lessons Learned from Yoder and Wolin
10. The State of the Secular: Theology, Prayer, and the University
11. To Love God, the Poor, and Learning: Lessons Learned from Saint Gregory of Nazianzus
12. Seminaries Are in Trouble: Chastened Reflections on the Centennial of Bethany Theological Seminary
13. Ordinary Time: A Tribute to Rowan Williams

He also has recently published his theological commentary on the gospel of Matthew (December 2006/January 2007).

 

Films Watched in 2006

I've watched quite a lot of films this year. I love watching films. Some of the were released this year, others are older, but the first time I've seem them. I'll probably catch a few more over christmas and add them to the list. I've given them an 'goodliff' rating.

Munich (4 out of 5)
Shooting Dogs (4 out of 5)
The Inside Man (3 out of 5)
The DaVinci Code (3 out of 5)
X-Men 3 (2 out of 5)
Pirates of the Carribean 2 (3 out of 5)
Serenity (3 out of 5)
Syriana (4 out of 5)
A Cock and Bull Story (2 out of 5)
Failure to Launch (1 out of 5)
V for Vendetta (3 out of 5)
Memoirs of a Geisha (3 out of 5)
Shopgirl (3 out of 5)
Fun with Dick & Jane (2 out of 5)
Brokeback Mountain (4 out of 5)
The Producers (1 out of 5)
Anchorman (3 out of 5)
Remember the Titans (2 out of 5)
A History of Violence (4 out of 5)
Killing Fields (4 out of 5)
Lord of War (4 out of 5)
Flightplan (3 out of 5)
Cinderella Man (3 out of 5)
Madagascar (2 out of 5)
Little Miss Sunshine (5 out of 5)
In My Country (3 out of 5)
Confetti (3 out of 5)
The Matador (2 out of 5)
The Inconvenient Truth (5 out of 5)
The Colour Purple (3 out of 5)
Goodnight and Goodluck (4 out 5)
The Libertine (3 out of 5)
Mission Impossible III (3 out of 5)
The Prestige (4 out of 5)
Casino Royale (3 out of 5)
Superman Returns (2 out of 5)
Sense and Sensibility (5 out of 5)
The Hours (4 out of 5)

5 things

brodie has asked me to contribute to the 5 things you may not know about me meme which has been cropping up in blogosphere. So here goes:

1. in year 7 (the first year of secondary school) I fell in the school pond

2. I was taught theology by colin gunton, douglas campbell, steve holmes, murray rae, eddie adams and others

3. I once played a game of pool with bishop tom wright and lost

4. I have never been on an areoplane

5. every year on our summer holiday my family would listen to the 13-hour bbc radio version of lord of the rings

I'll tag ash, stuart, douglas, jon and sean.

Advent Explorations 3

Tonight we held our third advent explorations which focused on the theme of joy (our readings included Zep 3.14-21, Phil 4.4-7, Isaiah 12.2-6).  To help to think about joy, we each wrote on a piece of paper what we felt the word 'joy' meant to us and then we put them inside balloons and inflated them. Later came the fun bit when we popped all the balloons (photos coming soon hopefully) and unravelled people's descriptions of joy to make a giant puzzle (the puzzle was a bit hard to construct), but it was fun. I'll post some of the words I wrote on tomorrow's advent blog. Finding something that expresses joy and rejoicing we found really hard as a theme, but I think it was a good evening. We are doing one more on christmas eve, which after last nights planning should be good.

Being Mary

I love this advent post by my friend Miriam

It wasn't Jesus' mother I was thinking of as I dashed around the kitchen in preparation for friends this afternoon; or as I was whipping biscuits out of the oven last night just prior to a meeting. It was Mary, Jesus' friend, who just sat down and chilled out with him. Years ago someone asked me whether I was Mary or Martha and I said both. A clever answer I thought- be busy AND spend some time with God...
Truth is, the Martha bit comes more easily- I love it when people come over- I like them to be comfortable and feel easy without tripping over toys or worse... I like giving them food and drink, and somewhere in the back of my head there is a twinge of pride at my "gift of hospitality"...
But what did Jesus actually say?  "Martha you are worried and upset by many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her."
Only one thing is needed. So I want to revise my thinking. I want to be Mary- through and through. Not worried and upset by "preparations". Not resentful with God at giving me no rest from my busy work for Him. In reality this kind of work was never His, but mine. I don't think he wants us working for Him at all- just being with Him. God is single minded in His desire for us- heart, soul, mind and strength.  The greatest commandment.
I share these ponderings because this is the season for practical preparations in which we find ourselves duty bound to spend hours and hours toiling at. But only one thing is needed. Mary chose the better way- so dare we compromise? Dare we give away even part of our inner being to worries and upset? Mary made it look so simple. Maybe it is.

See hopeful imagination for more advent posts.