A hermeneutic of wonder

This is the phrase that has been buzzing round my head since Saturday when Maggi Dawn came to Chelmsford to lead a day based on her book The Writing on the Wall. Through a series of lectures, discussions, a quiz and various reflections, Maggi opened up for us an exploration of the Bible and it’s relationship with high art and popular culture. This was much more than just a dip into her book, as Maggi used worked examples to illustrate her themes and interact with a very engaged and enthused group of over fifty people.

The first session began with an introduction exploring the influence of the Bible on western culture and the importance of knowing the biblical text in understanding art, film and literature. This was followed by a reflection and discussion on the way in which artists have interpreted the stories and illuminated them in different and often contrasting ways. An exercise comparing depictions of Jesus’ resurrection appearance to Thomas by Caravaggio and Granville Gregory provoked a lively discussion.

Maggi then took us into an exploration of The Annunciation. We began with the text from Luke 1:26-38, with people sharing their images and understanding of the story, before looking at how various artists have explored and interpreted the story. Reflections on the paintings by Fra Angelico and Millet, Igor Mitoraj’s wonderful sculpture The Doors of the Annunciation and the poetry of Muir and Rowe helped us to look at the story in different ways and to question our own presuppositions. The session was a carefully crafted and illuminating example of the question:

What if we allow art to be a lens through which we revisit our theology?

I found myself reflecting on the cycle of interpretation that we are drawn into as Christians and how important it is to surface this process not only to examine what we impose on the text but to open ourselves to glimpse fresh insights through the eyes of the artist. So the story of The Annunciation inspires great works of art and those works of art influence how we interpret the story; a classic simple example is the image of Gabriel with wings depicted in Renaissance portrayals of the story. Other artists then challenge that image and take us back to the text. A good contemporary example would be the portrayal of Gabriel as an ordinary man in the BBC production The Nativity. Other themes we looked at in the story included the responses of Mary and the passage of time.

After lunch we kicked off with a quiz that served to further illustrate the influence of the Bible on our culture and language (and highlighted my ignorance). The main session in the afternoon was a sustained reflection on the way that art can change how we see the world and in the Christian context illumine the way in which we engage with scripture. At the heart of this session was a fascinating case study on the life of Abraham. This was rich material for a sermon series or set of Bible studies as we considered depictions of key moments in the story and works on the theme. Maggi drew on insights from Coleridge, T.S Elliot, Kierkegaard, Phyllis Trible, Rublev, Caravaggio, Segal, Rembrandt amongst others. The afternoon concluded with responses to interpretations of The Crucifixion and Jacob Wrestling the Angel from a wide range of artists. The quality of the contributions from the discussions reflected the high level of engagement with Maggi’s themes.

Having let a couple of days pass before recording my responses to the event, I am left with the phrase ‘the hermeneutic of wonder’ (Wordsworth?). As we allow a conversation to develop between the Bible, the artist and ourselves so we are opened up to new possibilities, to creative and challenging insights. Familiar stories and texts from scripture come alive as we learn to sit with layers of meaning and wrestle with questions and ambiguities raised and explored by the artist. The Arts, as Maggi so ably demonstrated, are not there just to decorate, make pretty or illustrate, but to communicate and reveal things that otherwise might remain unseen or constrained.

There is another opportunity to explore The Writing on the Wall with Maggi in Barking on May 7th. Places are still available and details can be found here.

Heaven in ordinary – Duffy, Herbert & Berryman

This morning was given over to a very stimulating session with the students on our Living the Story course. Jonathan Evens was leading the session on poetry and we looked at the work of Carol Ann Duffy, George Herbert and John Berryman. I don’t want to steal Jonathan's thunder and will put in a link if he choses to blog in more detail, but I do want to give a taste of what we covered. (Update: link to Jonathan's reflection on the session.)

First up was Carol Ann Duffy’s poem Prayer. As Jonathan explained, Duffy was once asked if she thinks poetry has to some extent taken the place of religion in our society. Her response was to say ‘It does for me: I don’t believe in God.’ So her sonnet Prayer has been described as the voice of a secular spirituality.

Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
utters itself. So, a woman will lift
her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.

Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
in the distant Latin chanting of a train.

Pray for us now. Grade I piano scales
console the lodger looking out across
a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls
a child's name as though they named their loss.

Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer -
Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.

Mean Time (Anvil, 1994)

We explored Duffy’s poem in relation to one of George Herbert’s poems on the subject Prayer (1). Not surprisingly more overtly Christian than Duffy, Herbert’s poem is no less rich with imagery and contains some phrases that have become part of our cultural landscape. It seemed to some of us as if Duffy’s Prayer was a reflection on Herbert’s phrase ‘Heaven in ordinarie’.

Prayer, the Church's banquet, Angel's age.
          God's breath in man returning to his birth,
          The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heaven and earth;

Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tower,
          Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
          The six days' world-transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;

Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss.
          Exalted Manna, gladness of the best,
          Heaven in ordinary, men well drest,
The Milky Way, the bird of Paradise,

          Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
          The land of spices, something understood.

The Poetical Works Of George Herbert, ed. George Gilfillan. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1853

Later in the session Jon invited the students to compare two poems by the American post-war confessional poet John Berryman (though the students didn’t know they were by the same author at the time). I hadn’t read Berryman so enjoyed engaging with something fresh and challenging. Again so much to explore in a short space of time and I look forward to spending more time reading Berryman’s work. The first poem is Dream Song 201 one of several hundred Berryman poems in the Dream Song cycle featuring the principal character Henry.

Hung by a thread more moments instant Henry’s mind
super-subtle, which he knew blunt & empty & incurious
but when he compared it with his fellows’
finding it keen & full, he didn’t know what to think
apart from typewriters & print & ink.
On the philosophical side

plus religious, he lay at a loss.
Mostly he knew the ones he would not follow
into their burning systems
or polar systems, Wittgenstein being boss,
Augustine general manager. A universal hollow
most of the rest seems;

so Henry in twilight is on his own:
marrying, childing, slogging, shelling taxes,
pondering, making.
It’s rained all day. His wife has been away
with genuine difficulty he fought madness
whose breast came close to breaking.

The second Berryman poem is called Eleven Addresses to the Lord (6)

Under new management, Your Majesty:
Thine. I have solo'd mine since childhood, since
my father's blow-it-all when I was twelve
blew out my most bright candle faith, and look at me.

I served at Mass six dawns a week from five,
adoring Father Boniface & you,
memorizing the Latin he explained.
Mostly we worked alone. One or two women.

Then my poor father frantic. Confusions & afflictions
followed my days. Wives left me.
Bankrupt I closed my doors. You pierced the roof
twice & again. Finally you opened my eyes.

My double nature fused in that point of time
three weeks ago day before yesterday.
Now, brooding thro' a history of the early Church,
I identify with everybody, even the heresiarchs.

As with the first two poems it seemed as if Dream Song 201 was a meditation on the line ‘Confusions & afflictions followed my days'’ from Eleven Addresses (6).

So, yet more examples of the way in which artists have engaged with Living the Story from within and without. One thing I immediately responded to was the way in which Duffy’s poem recognised the moments of gift or grace in the everyday. It reminded me of the need to step back and be alert to what is going on around me, instead of striving to see glimpses of heaven in the extraordinary. Of course the glimpses of heaven in the extraordinary are fantastic when they come along.

One final comment. The final stanza of Duffy's poem referencing 'the radio's prayer' reminded me of this classic from Blur.

The Mercy Seat

Spent a very productive couple of hours yesterday with friends Jonathan Evens and Paul Trathen preparing for a course we are running called Living the Story.

Tom Wright has described the Bible as being like a five act play containing the first four acts in full (i.e. 1. Creation, 2. Fall, 3. Israel, 4. Jesus) and the writing of the New Testament as forming the first scene in the fifth act and also giving hints of how the play is supposed to end. We are then called to live in this story improvising our part in the play on the basis of what we know of the story so far and the hints we have of how it will end.  Living the Story is something that Christian artists and writers have tried to do throughout Church history and continue to do today. In the course we will be examining a selection of contemporary uses of the Bible and the Christian story in popular culture and considering whether or not they can be said to be 'living the story'.

One of the artists we will be considering is Nick Cave and here’s a taste of his work. I’ve posted about Cave’s spirituality here.

The Writing on the Wall

I am delighted that Revd Dr Maggi Dawn is coming to Chelmsford Diocese to lead two study days on her book The Writing on the Wall.


The Writing on the Wall

Saturday March 26th
Chelmsford Cathedral Chapter House

Saturday May 7th
St Margaret’s Church, Barking

10am – 4pm

2011 is the 400th anniversary of the publication of The King James Version of the Bible. But just how well do we understand the Bible, and its relationship to our culture?
Maggi Dawn, author of The Writing on the Wall, will show how art, music, poetry, sculpture and film have been influenced by the Bible far more than we usually realise. But the arts do more than merely illustrate bible stories and characters: they also open up possibilities for interpretation.

This day will open up some of the theological and devotional adventures that become possible when the riches of the Bible are recognized within the world of the arts, and offer all kinds of inspiration, for teaching, preaching and personal spiritual growth.

Reviews of The Writing on the Wall.

The days are being run as part of the Diocesan Lent and Eastertide Schools. Details of cost and booking can be found here.

We need a big picture: Bible Year 2011 (3)

Another message I missed in the midst of the New Year celebrations was Rowan Williams’s New Year message. In it the Archbishop reminds us that we all need a big picture to help us make sense of our lives. Taking the theme of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible,  Rowan suggests:

Whether you're a Christian or belong to another religion or whether you have nothing you'd want to call a religion at all, some kind of big picture matters. If we 're going to talk about a 'big society', that'll need a big picture, a picture of what human beings are really like and why they're so unique and precious. This year's anniversary is a chance to stop and think about the big picture – and to celebrate the astonishing contribution made by that book four hundred years ago.

The full text of Archbishop Rowan’s message can be found here.

On a similar theme I have organised a series of courses in the Diocese of Chelmsford on how we can explore ‘the big picture’ and details can be found here.

Details of other Bible Year 2011 initiatives in the diocese can be found here.

Bloggers Live!

I’ve now finalised the programme for our diocesan Lent and Eastertide Schools for 2011. I’m delighted to say that several eminent bloggers will be contributing to the programme. Although the Bible is an intrinsic part of our education and training programmes, for next year I have tried to include courses that link in with Bible Year 2011. Here’s a taster:

Maggi Dawn: The Writing on the Wall
2011 is the 400th anniversary of the publication of The King James Version of the Bible. But just how well do we understand the Bible, and its relationship to our culture? Maggi Dawn, author of The Writing on the Wall, will show how art, music, poetry, sculpture and film have been influenced by the Bible far more than we usually realize. But the arts do more than merely illustrate bible stories and characters: they also open up possibilities for interpretation. This day will open up some of the theological and devotional adventures that become possible when the riches of the Bible are recognized within the world of the arts, and offer all kinds of inspiration, for teaching, preaching and personal spiritual growth.

Elizaphanian (Sam Norton): The New Atheism
Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, A.C. Grayling… The aim of this module is to familiarise students with the main arguments and methods of the “New Atheists”, to understand where they stand in intellectual history, and to have renewed understanding of - and confidence in - the classical Christian intellectual tradition. Sam has blogged about his course here.

The Ugley Vicar (John Richardson): Revelation
Who's afraid of the book of Revelation? This course aims to show that Revelation is really not that difficult to understand, once we grasp the overall structure and see how it uses imagery from the Old Testament to address the situation of the Church in every age. The focus will be on teaching through the whole book, with an emphasis on interpretation and application. All you will need is a notebook and a Bible. John Richardson is the author of Revelation Unwrapped, and has been teaching the book of Revelation to church groups and courses for over fifteen years.

Phil's Treehouse (Phil Ritchie), Between (Jon Evens) & The Journey Home (Paul Trathen): Living the Story
Tom Wright has described the Bible as being like a five act play containing the first four acts in full (i.e. 1. Creation, 2. Fall, 3. Israel, 4. Jesus) and the writing of the New Testament as forming the first scene in the fifth act and also giving hints of how the play is supposed to end. We are then called to live in this story improvising our part in the play on the basis of what we know of the story so far and the hints we have of how it will end.  Living the Story is something that Christian artists and writers have tried to do throughout Church history and continue to do today. In this course we will be examining a selection of contemporary uses of the Bible and the Christian story in popular culture and considering whether or not they can be said to be 'living the story’.


For details about dates, times and venues of courses go to Lent Schools 2011 and Eastertide Schools 2011 for the full programme. Contact details for booking at Lent and Easter schools 2011.

Muslims - compare and contrast

I was appalled at the attack on MP Stephen Timms by Roshonara Choudhry during a constituency surgery earlier this year. This week Ms Choudhry was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years. Mr Timms is MP for East Ham in the Chelmsford Diocese and is well known for his Christian faith as well as being a hard working MP and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the last Labour government.

I’ve followed the events around the stabbing and subsequent trial with interest, not least because of the sensitive issues the case touches on with regard to faith and community relations in East London. Many of my friends and colleagues work very hard as ministers to foster good relations and positive dialogue against a backdrop of incessant rabble rousing by the BNP and other extremist groups. They are not naive about the problems associated with the radicalisation of young Muslims, however, they are greatly disturbed by the stereotyping and scape-goating that would characterise Muslims as the cause of all the ills facing local communities.

Today the papers and blogs are full of details and comments about the case and the content is all too predictable. To highlight the problem here are two examples of blogs commenting on the case and how it has been handled.

Cranmer has been clear about his reading of both the trial and the behaviour of Ms Choudhry and her supporters. Here is a flavour of his comments:

At the sentencing of Roshonara Choudhry, the trainee teacher who attempted to murder Stephen Timms MP, the public gallery erupted with cries of 'Allahu akbar' ('God is great'), 'British go to hell' and 'Curse the judge'.

Quite why they were not immediately arrested for contempt of court is unknown.

Praising their God in a court of law?
Just about acceptable.

Passing opinion on the limited soteriological options of the British?
Well, it might be ‘racist’, but we’ll call it ‘freedom of expression’.

But ‘Curse the judge’? How did that pass without immediate intervention by the Judge?

Miss Choudhry appeared by video-link because she 'refused to accept the jurisdiction of the court'. Why was this permitted? Are all ‘citizens’ of the UK granted this option? Are we not all subjects of Her Majesty, and therefore all subject to the Crown in Court, on whose behalf the Judge presides and dispenses the Queen’s Justice for the maintenance of the Queen's Peace? More 

Contrast Cranmer’s account with that of Minority Thought commenting on press coverage of the same events:

The front page and main story of today's Daily Express is a clear and unsubtle attempt at maintaining the "us and them" mentality which is so often levelled by that paper against Muslims:

MUSLIMS TELL BRITISH: GO TO HELL

The headline refers to the shouts from "a group of men" (according to the Mail) who were sitting in the public gallery during the trial of Roshonara Choudhry, the woman convicted of stabbing Stephen Timms MP earlier this year.

Rather than leading with the story at hand, the sentencing of Choudhry to "life" imprisonment, the Express has chosen to focus on the deranged rantings of a few nutcases in a courtroom instead. Both the Daily Mail and The Sun have also gone with this angle, but neither has chosen to put it across in as brazen a way as the Express.

That there are Muslim extremists who say such things is beyond a doubt. However, the Express' decision to make this the key focus of the story, along with the language used in the headline, is an attempt to imply that these shouts are in some way an expression of what every Muslims thinks about the British.

Can you imagine, for example, what the Express would have done if the men who broke into shouts of "Go to hell, Britain" were Christians? Would the Express have replaced "Muslims" with "Christians" in the headline? Would they even have mentioned it so prominently in the first place? More

Now I am not for a moment dismissing or diminishing the real problems of extremism, violence and terrorism. My family come from Belfast; I grew up there in the mid 1960s and regularly visited family there throughout the troubles. Yet, despite the generalised picture created by media coverage of blood splattered streets, I learnt from personal experience that not all Catholics were out to murder me in my bed and not all Protestants were frothing at the mouth preachers of hate.

What concerns me is the narrative slant that commentators choose to give to particular stories concerning matters of great sensitivity like the Choudhry case. What is it that these commentators are hoping to achieve? What attitudes are they seeking to foster in their readers? What reaction are they hoping to elicit? What values underpin the choice of their words and presentation of the story?

In recent years we have run a course in the diocese as part of our Lent and Eastertide Schools. Living With Other Faiths helps people explore why we should engage with other faith communities and how we can go about doing so. The course objectives are to identify biblical principles for engaging with other faith communities; to develop an understanding of the beliefs and sensitivity to the practises of other faiths; to consider a range of ways of engaging with other faith communities and to identify particular approaches appropriate to participants’ situations.

Approaches like Living With Other Faiths may be dismissed by some, sadly including some Christians, as a typical P.C. response to the issues raised by our multi-faith society. I prefer to see it as just one of many positive responses to our calling as Christians to seek the common good.

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

bible in motion

Interesting article on the Today programme this morning about the problem that a lack of Bible knowledge is causing for the reading and study of English Literature. The Poet Laureate Andrew Motion and Professor John Mullan from University College London discussed the difficulties of teaching literature when students don’t know or understand the source material of the Bible and the Classics. Mullan teaches a course to bring students up to speed with some of the key material. You can find the discussion here. If you think that Motion and Mullan are exaggerating then watch an episode of University Challenge and see the students struggle to answer the most basic of questions about the Bible.

This is nothing new. In the early 1980s I studied English Literature at A level and was amazed at the way my fellow students missed references and imagery that I took for granted. Again and again our teachers had to explain a story from the Bible to which the author was alluding. It was essential for the older texts like Shakespeare and Chaucer and for the more modern texts of authors such as Joyce and Golding. The same was true during my Theology Degree at Durham. I took two papers in Literature and Theology with the English department, on a course developed by Dr Ruth Etchells, and many of my colleagues studying English Lit didn’t have a clue about the background primary texts for many of the works we studied.

Even more worrying, I find in my present role developing curricula for various education and training programmes that assumptions about basic student knowledge of the Bible can no longer be made. Every couple of years I have to look at where we start the courses and ask if we need to include more foundational material. At a Course in Christian Studies introductory day a few years ago there was one group of about fifteen students doing an exercise based on a passage from the Old Testament. At the end of the session the tutor came and told me that not one of the students had recognised the story of David and Nathan and where it came from. I do find myself wondering what is going on in some parishes when people don’t know the story of King David.

With the above in mind we developed some Access courses in the Diocese of Chelmsford for parishes to use, which cover the basic content and genres of the Bible and how to read the Bible both personally and with others. This Lent the diocese is running two Saturday courses called Walk Thru The Bible and these have already proved popular judging by the number of people who have signed up. If anyone is interested in these courses details can be found here and there is still time to book.

Jonathan Evens has posted more material on the topic here.
The Guardian has an article about Andrew Motion's concerns here.

lent and eastertide schools 2009

Bookings are still open for the Diocese of Chelmsford Lent & Eastertide Schools 2009. Information about the courses on offer can be found at Lent Schools 2009 and Eastertide Schools 2009.

I and some of my blogging colleagues will be running courses including:

The Big Picture 2: Exploring the engagement between Christianity, Christian Artists and Popular Culture.
Led by Jonathan Evens, Paul Trathen and Philip Ritchie.

Let Us Be Human: How might we put our theology, our global questions and our choices of lifestyle into a constructive dialogue?
Led by Sam Norton and Paul Trathen.

Living With Other Faiths: Exploring why Christians should engage with other faith communities and how we can go about doing this.
Led by Jonathan Evens and David Driscoll.

Other courses on offer cover subjects including:
The ministry of the Evangelist; dance and worship; the faith we share; Churches together today; Children, community and church; the Reformation in Essex and East London; is the Old Testament Christian? mission shaped ministry; walk thru' the Bible; Christian poetry; Old Testament lucky dip; signposts into life (vocation); pastoral care; Christian art; Myers Briggs refresher; prayer workshop.

dordogne (1) - le nouvelle ferme

(view from bedroom Le Nouvelle Ferme, Gouts Rossignol)

Much to my wife's despair I discovered that our gite in the Dordogne has internet access and I just happened to have the laptop with me! Anyway, I've promised not to spend too much time indulging my addiction to the web. The gite is excellent, in a beautiful setting with a pool and great views. The village, Gouts Rossignol, is small but with a boulangerie across the road and plenty of good local food and wine to hand.

Only one disaster so far. A disc got stuck in our car cd player and I was facing the dual nightmare of days with only Primal Scream to listen to and the kids wrath at not being able to listen to the next instalment of Stephen Fry's excellent reading of Harry Potter 7. (To those of you who ask what a vicar is doing listening to Harry Potter I say 'get a life' or better still come on The Big Picture diocesan Lent & Eastertide school). After much prayer and laying on of hands the disc was released and I was spared from uttering my own primal screams and paying out to the local Renault car dealer.

O.K. time to get back to the pool.

(Le Nouvelle Ferme)