A visit to the National Trust house at Greys Court yielded this surprise: a maze (the paths of which my son loved running along).
In the centre was a monument with some inspiring words from Augustine on the life of faith...
The Maze of Faith
In the centre was a monument with some inspiring words from Augustine on the life of faith...
Manchester Passion
As a child of the '90s I can't wait for this: the Passion story set to Indy music.
Kick off for this live event is: 9.00pm Good Friday BBC3. It will last about an hour you can go see it live in Manchester, too...
Full set list:
Jesus sings You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side (Morrissey)
Mary sings Cast No Shadow (Oasis)
Jesus sings Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) at the Last Supper.
Mary sings Search For A Hero (M People)
Judas sings Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now (The Smiths) as he is about to betray Jesus.
Jesus sings Sit Down (James) to the sleeping disciples
Jesus and Judas sing Blue Monday (New Order)
Peter sings I Am The Resurrection (The Stone Roses) when he betrays Jesus
Mary sings Angels (Robbie Williams)
Jesus and Pontius Pilate sing Wonderwall (Oasis)
Mary sings Sunshine After The Rain (Elkie Brooks)
Full details here and here
'...suffered under Pontius Pilate'
Excerpt from David Cunningham's Reading is Believing on the fourth article of the Apostles' Creed (p. 83)."The Biblical texts tells us that Jeus suffered from hunger (Matt. 4:2), from loneliness (Matt. 26:40), from frustration (Mark 8:21), from anger (Mark 3:5), and from a feeling of abandonment (Mark 15:34).
The writers of the creed could also have emphasized his sufferings under the religious authorities of his day, or at the hands of his compatriots. But by focusing on Pilate (and therefore on the Empire), the creed draws our attention to the temporal power structures that seek to dominate our lives.
These structures may be political, economic, familial, or cultural; they may draw their strength from illegitimate appeals to difference in race, gender, and other biological realities; and they may achieve their dominance through violent coercion, subtle suggestion, or the incitement of mass panic.
Of course human suffering is not limited to these particular forms, but neither should we forget that much of our suffering results from structures that are put in place by human beings.
The creed emphasizes that Jesus suffered under some of the same forms of domination that we suffer under today."
Review of 'This Thing of Darkness'
Master and Commander meets Origin of Species in this superbly exciting novel. In This Thing of Darkness we follow the intellectual and nautical journeys of HMS Beagle, her Captain Robert FitzRoy, and most famous passenger, Charles Darwin.
As is well known, Darwin's time on board the Beagle furnished him with the material to compose his theory of evolution by natural selection. What Harry Thompson's impressively researched, lightly-told and frequently humorous book does, too, is to reveal the many other stunningly impressive scientific advances her crew made and the acts of heroism these involved.
Against the background of powerful natural and human adversity, under its inspirational and at times mercurial Captain, this tiny vessel's crew made incredible discoveries in disciplines as diverse as navigation, geology, anthropology, botany and meteorology.
But this thrilling novel is not just about external journeying. The 'thing of darkness' to which the title alludes refers not just to the illumination of previously unknown geographical, or even intellectual, information. We are party, also, to the exploration of the darker recesses of the human person.
Thompson makes us witnesses to the ill effects of human greed, ignorance and (with great pathos) naive idealism. And he does this with nods to the present which are, by turn, wry, poignant and savagely critical. It is these recurring allusions to the present that make this novel transcend the genre of nautical yarn and lift it to the status of modern-day parable.
Colonizing settlers are thus shown exterminating native 'terrorists' and justifying their deeds with words and sentiments cleverly borrowed by the author from George Bush and Tony Blair's 'War on Terror'. The aftermath of a tsunami is vividly rendered with descriptions reminiscent of recent news footage. The tale of an experiment to civilize Patagonian natives ultimately risks personal and tribal disaster, and a comment about modern globalization and its effects on ecologies and cultures can clearly be heard as an echo.
Throughout this, though, there is also an on-going exploration into the way scientific and religious arguments interact. Here the writer does not simply re-enact before us the clash and sparks of abstract thought, but more movingly lays bare their effect upon the darker places of the human personalities who think them. This is a tale at whose heart are two very unique individuals, whose personalities and beliefs are initially complementary, but finally irreconcilable.
In the context of the present debate about Creationism, Intelligent Design and Neo-Darwinianism which has in recent months touched schools, courtrooms, archiepiscopal pronouncements and even recent episodes of West Wing, this novel is not only viscerally gripping, but also intellectually and emotionally engrossing.
There is an ironic and final pathos about This Thing of Darkness. It was both its young author's first and last novel. Harry Thompson succumbed to his own encounter with natural selection in the form of lung cancer. It was not before he was aware though that his brilliant novel had been long-listed for the Booker Prize. A superb beach novel, particularly if that beach is a raised one, five thousand feet up in the Andes, and littered with fossils.
(c) M.Laynesmith, 2006.
As is well known, Darwin's time on board the Beagle furnished him with the material to compose his theory of evolution by natural selection. What Harry Thompson's impressively researched, lightly-told and frequently humorous book does, too, is to reveal the many other stunningly impressive scientific advances her crew made and the acts of heroism these involved.
Against the background of powerful natural and human adversity, under its inspirational and at times mercurial Captain, this tiny vessel's crew made incredible discoveries in disciplines as diverse as navigation, geology, anthropology, botany and meteorology.
But this thrilling novel is not just about external journeying. The 'thing of darkness' to which the title alludes refers not just to the illumination of previously unknown geographical, or even intellectual, information. We are party, also, to the exploration of the darker recesses of the human person.
Thompson makes us witnesses to the ill effects of human greed, ignorance and (with great pathos) naive idealism. And he does this with nods to the present which are, by turn, wry, poignant and savagely critical. It is these recurring allusions to the present that make this novel transcend the genre of nautical yarn and lift it to the status of modern-day parable.
Colonizing settlers are thus shown exterminating native 'terrorists' and justifying their deeds with words and sentiments cleverly borrowed by the author from George Bush and Tony Blair's 'War on Terror'. The aftermath of a tsunami is vividly rendered with descriptions reminiscent of recent news footage. The tale of an experiment to civilize Patagonian natives ultimately risks personal and tribal disaster, and a comment about modern globalization and its effects on ecologies and cultures can clearly be heard as an echo.
Throughout this, though, there is also an on-going exploration into the way scientific and religious arguments interact. Here the writer does not simply re-enact before us the clash and sparks of abstract thought, but more movingly lays bare their effect upon the darker places of the human personalities who think them. This is a tale at whose heart are two very unique individuals, whose personalities and beliefs are initially complementary, but finally irreconcilable.
In the context of the present debate about Creationism, Intelligent Design and Neo-Darwinianism which has in recent months touched schools, courtrooms, archiepiscopal pronouncements and even recent episodes of West Wing, this novel is not only viscerally gripping, but also intellectually and emotionally engrossing.
There is an ironic and final pathos about This Thing of Darkness. It was both its young author's first and last novel. Harry Thompson succumbed to his own encounter with natural selection in the form of lung cancer. It was not before he was aware though that his brilliant novel had been long-listed for the Booker Prize. A superb beach novel, particularly if that beach is a raised one, five thousand feet up in the Andes, and littered with fossils.
(c) M.Laynesmith, 2006.
'Amen'
Cunningham ends his series of literary reflections on the Apostles' Creed by noting the presence of the final word: 'Amen':'...creeds are not mere laundry lists of statements about the Christian faith. In fact they are really much more like prayers. When we say them, we are not merely announcing what we think or describing the state in which we find ourselves; we are also asking God for help and guidance in living into the faith that the creeds attempt to articulate. We are confessing our faith, but we are also confessing our unfaith...
...Our tendency to inhabit the borderlands between faith and unfaith is not new. It is not merely a recent development brought on by life in an increasingly secular age. In fact, it has been typical of the way that people have responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ through the ages....
...In his Confessions, Augustine offers a wonderful description of the long and arduous path[,] that he wandered through the equally attractive lands of faith and of doubt until he finally came to realize that "our hearts are restless until they rest in God." And what Christian has not been beguiled by the beautiful story in the Gospel of Mark, in which the father of the sick child is told that all power and possibility is dependent upon his ability to believe? He cries out to Jesus, as would we all, "I believe; help my unbelief"...
...Perhaps these stories [quoted in the previous chapters] can even help transform our perception of the Apostles' Creed (and other statements of Christian belief) from a suspiciously antiquated checklist of beliefs in to a heart-felt and life-transforming prayer--a prayer that we can utter in the spirit of a bereaved parent who cries out, "I believe; help my unbelief!" and a prayer to which we can, with confidence and joy, say "Amen."'
(Reading is Believing, pp. 235-6)
A Missed Academic Career
Sally found this fun tool for discerning what sort of an academic you might turn out to be. Sadly it didn't have either history or theology in it. Does that explain why I get an imperfect 85% English rating?
"You scored as English. You should be an English major! Your passion lies in writing and expressing yourself creatively, and you hate it when you are inhibited from doing so. Pursue that interest of yours!
English - 83%
Linguistics - 75%
Anthropology - 75%
Philosophy - 67%
Journalism - 67%
Psychology - 67%
Sociology - 67%
Engineering - 63%
Theater - 50%
Mathematics - 50%
Biology - 42%
Art - 33%
Chemistry - 33%
"You scored as English. You should be an English major! Your passion lies in writing and expressing yourself creatively, and you hate it when you are inhibited from doing so. Pursue that interest of yours!
English - 83%
Linguistics - 75%
Anthropology - 75%
Philosophy - 67%
Journalism - 67%
Psychology - 67%
Sociology - 67%
Engineering - 63%
Theater - 50%
Mathematics - 50%
Biology - 42%
Art - 33%
Chemistry - 33%
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