Tag: 2018
Creation fulfilled and the Book of Revelation: some questions about order, disorder and the “apocalyptic” genre
The destruction of the Temple is prophesied, and wars, revolutions, turbulence, plague and famine all foretold. But.. do not allow your heads to be turned by all this, avert your gaze, do not attribute any sort of divine significance to any of this… The real coming of the son of man will be like a…
Interdividuals, individuals and fragmented selves: how can mimetic theory help us understand “huiothesia*”?
Rather than being people who are first ordered, and then fall from order (and so are dis-graced), and then restored to order by forgiveness, understood as a form of pity from on high, we may find it possible to tell another story: we start as those who are not yet ordered, and find ourselves being…
Scapegoat: how civilisation harms and how the Cross heals
It’s a word we’re all familiar with, it’s through the violence of the scapegoating mechanism that civilisations are built. And, it is through the scapegoating mechanism that the cross heals. It’s a fascinating way of understanding the atonement, especially for those of us disillusioned with models of atonement that require a violent God.
Nomad podcast
It’s a word we’re all familiar with, it’s through the violence of the scapegoating mechanism that civilisations are built. And, it is through the scapegoating mechanism that the cross heals. It’s a fascinating way of understanding the atonement, especially for those of us disillusioned with models of atonement that require a violent God.
Eucharist: the mystery of the daring Creator
A radical new way of thinking about the relationship between Creation and the Atonement leads James Alison to consider a framework for the Eucharist in which ‘the Creator and Redeemer is engaged in an act of daring’. Read on Thinking Faith
We’re in for a rough ride
In the clerical closet, dishonesty is functional, honesty is dysfunctional, and the absence or presence of circumspect sexual practice between adult males is irrelevant.
Violence: how it forms us and how we can be self-critical about it
There is a third dimension to Girard’s insight which is of particular interest to theologians. The mechanism described is omnipresent in human society, and depends, in order to work, on those involved not knowing that their blamed one is in fact arbitrarily chosen, or innocent. What is it, then, that has enabled anyone to face…
“My sheep hear my voice and I know them”: reflections on language, tone, and teaching in the space between Magister and Magisterium
What does it mean to be taught by Christ? Genuinely to undergo being taught by him? So that any one of us could say, after reflective consideration “I have learned this or that from Christ”, or others could pick one, or several, of us out and say: “They are who they are because they have…
One in Christ: why do LGBTQI people feel excluded by the Churches?
An audio recording of James Alison and Sarah Bachelard discussing the meaning of homosexuality for today. – Why has a natural human orientation so often been cruelly punished and persecuted by church authorities? Why do churches still split over the issue? A SoundCloud stream (87 minutes) Sarah Bachelard is a theologian, retreat leader and priest in Anglican…
Christ Crucified: the power of God and the wisdom of God
Transcribed by Rev. Karen Hanson from the audio recording of the talk given to the Leeds Church Institute (Leeds, England) in April 2018. Good afternoon. Well, thank you very, very much for having me and thank you for challenging me to come up with something I hope may be useful to talk about. One of the challenges…