William Temple conference. November 2014. Manchester.
http://williamtemplefoundation.org.uk/conference2014/
Sunday 31 August 2014
Reclaiming the Public Space
Tuesday 26 August 2014
Ordinary Time
Re: previous two posts.
YouTube. The song sung.
Ordinary Time -Thou Who Wast Rich: http://youtu.be/rmXipEDh7Ek
Fragrance - the tune
Re: previous post.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour - Old Fre…: http://youtu.be/0t4vYfaw808
Beyond all splendour
Frank Houghton's wonderful hymn.
Not just for Christmas.
http://confessingevangelical.com/2007/01/07/rich-beyond-all-splendour/
Cole Moreton: #gb14
Greenbelt. Festival of the arts, faith & justice. 2014.
Blog post.
http://colemoretoninterviews.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/what-was-greenbelt-like-20-home-truths-about-this-years-festival-2/
Saturday 23 August 2014
Searching for peace
Blog. William Temple Foundation.
http://williamtemplefoundation.org.uk/searching-for-shalom-gaza-iraq-world-war-one/
Thursday 21 August 2014
Avebury: seeing the stones
Good blog post on visiting Avebury.
http://www.coolplaces.co.uk/blog/2014/8/19/248-the-amazing-stones-of-avebury
Ben Myers on order & power
Apocalyptic and creation
Check out @FaithTheology's Tweet: https://twitter.com/FaithTheology/status/502321211875946497
Gold found by primary school kids
Alston school archaeology project comes up with the goods
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28645612
Saturday 16 August 2014
US v IS
People across large swathes of northern Iraq and Syria are suffering at the hands of a group that have taken to calling themselves Islamic State (IS). They were previously known as ISIS or ISEL, and they still are referred to as such in some quarters. In northern Nigeria, a similar group refer to themselves as Boko Haram.
I do not think we should use these names.
To use the names they choose for themselves only serves to legitimize them, along with their aims and their behaviours. Every time the name is used, especially in the major media services, they become stronger.
Q.What's in a name?
A.
More than we might like to think.
So what do we call them?
'Those murdering bastards in northen Iraq' or wherever they happen to be (TMBxyz)?
'Those Terrible Terrorists' (TTT)?
It is tempting, but no. That is just to accept the rules of the game, their rules: WE ARE RIGHT, YOU ARE WRONG. In doing so we trap them in the circle of hate and horror and consign ourselves, with them, to a bunker mentality.
Further, as a Christian, I want to take seriously what Jesus said about loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you. Miroslav Volf has written peruasively about these issues in his book Exclusion & Embrace.
If I am to pray, I need a name. If it not IS or TTT, what is it going to be? - "I pray for my poor misled and deluded brothers and sisters who are involved in or sympathetic to the movement in (fill in the blank) that is causing so much death and destruction, hurt and horror." No, seriously. I have to call them something. What name does love choose?
And, the major news services have to call them something. What can they use?
It is not an easy problem to solve.
Words like 'Islamic' and 'Terrorist' are loaded and unhelpful, legitmising either their entrenched view of themselves or our entrenched view of ourselves. Love steps out of the barricades. We could try to find an unloaded language. It is difficult but maybe not impossible. Stick to the facts and avoid prejudice. What are they (apart from murdering bastards). They are people. First & foremost. That means that at some level they must, in some repect, be like you and me. Second, they are armed, that is undeniable - perhaps 'militia' or 'movement' or even 'militant' are even-handed. Third, they want something in much the same way as we all want something. We may not understand what they want - they may not understand what they want - but the fact that they think they want it drives them to do what they do.
My best attempt is .... (please wait ... thank you for your patience)
Seriously.
Meanwhile, we can pray without words. That is the great thing about having the Holy Spirit in your life. God understands when we pray in/out of/through love. (see Romans chapter 8). We can love without words. Better still, we love with actions. (That's a tough one. I'm not sure I want to go there right now.)
As for the news media - 'The armed insurgents in ...' might do it for now.
Language is a tricky business. We have to be careful what we say.
I do not think we should use these names.
To use the names they choose for themselves only serves to legitimize them, along with their aims and their behaviours. Every time the name is used, especially in the major media services, they become stronger.
Q.What's in a name?
A.
More than we might like to think.
So what do we call them?
'Those murdering bastards in northen Iraq' or wherever they happen to be (TMBxyz)?
'Those Terrible Terrorists' (TTT)?
It is tempting, but no. That is just to accept the rules of the game, their rules: WE ARE RIGHT, YOU ARE WRONG. In doing so we trap them in the circle of hate and horror and consign ourselves, with them, to a bunker mentality.
Further, as a Christian, I want to take seriously what Jesus said about loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you. Miroslav Volf has written peruasively about these issues in his book Exclusion & Embrace.
If I am to pray, I need a name. If it not IS or TTT, what is it going to be? - "I pray for my poor misled and deluded brothers and sisters who are involved in or sympathetic to the movement in (fill in the blank) that is causing so much death and destruction, hurt and horror." No, seriously. I have to call them something. What name does love choose?
And, the major news services have to call them something. What can they use?
It is not an easy problem to solve.
Words like 'Islamic' and 'Terrorist' are loaded and unhelpful, legitmising either their entrenched view of themselves or our entrenched view of ourselves. Love steps out of the barricades. We could try to find an unloaded language. It is difficult but maybe not impossible. Stick to the facts and avoid prejudice. What are they (apart from murdering bastards). They are people. First & foremost. That means that at some level they must, in some repect, be like you and me. Second, they are armed, that is undeniable - perhaps 'militia' or 'movement' or even 'militant' are even-handed. Third, they want something in much the same way as we all want something. We may not understand what they want - they may not understand what they want - but the fact that they think they want it drives them to do what they do.
My best attempt is .... (please wait ... thank you for your patience)
Seriously.
Meanwhile, we can pray without words. That is the great thing about having the Holy Spirit in your life. God understands when we pray in/out of/through love. (see Romans chapter 8). We can love without words. Better still, we love with actions. (That's a tough one. I'm not sure I want to go there right now.)
As for the news media - 'The armed insurgents in ...' might do it for now.
Language is a tricky business. We have to be careful what we say.
Wednesday 13 August 2014
Ipplepen dig, Devon
Exeter University summer dig. Roman settlement. Blog.
http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/ipplepenblog/
Lufton summer dig
Newcastle University summer dig in somerset. Blog, 2014
https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/luftonarchaeology/
Tuesday 12 August 2014
Thoreau and Walden Pond
Book and author. As interviewed on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 this morning.
Check out @cumiskey's Tweet: https://twitter.com/cumiskey/status/499101194540023808
Saturday 9 August 2014
Ursula Le Guin in conversation
Electric Literature piece with Michael Cunningham:
http://electricliterature.com/ursula-k-le-guin-talks-to-michael-cunningham-about-genres-gender-and-broadening-fiction/
To do our best
... is all we can be expected to do.
Check out @OurCofE's Tweet: https://twitter.com/OurCofE/status/498036527759622144
Thursday 7 August 2014
Cadbury Day. 18/10/14
Day symposium on Roman / Early Mediaeval transition.
http://www.ssarg.org.uk/21727/index.html
Wednesday 6 August 2014
Thoughts from the cave
Elijah in hiding.
http://thelivingrhema.com/category/cave-is-not-your-hiding-place/
Heaney: past revenge
Check out @HeaneyDaily's Tweet: https://twitter.com/HeaneyDaily/status/496914090246545408
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