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"...for the Bible tells me so"

The famous Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth is sometimes quoted with approval by conservative evangelicals for his answer to a journalist's request to summarize his 6 million word long Church Dogmatics. Barth thought for a moment and then said: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

Barth's beguiling response though hides a rather more sophisticated view of Christian scripture:

"The Bible is God's Word to the extent that God causes it to be his Word, to the extent that he speaks through it."
(Church Dogmatics I/1, p. 109).


Barth would have argued that making claims about biblical inerrancy the foundation of theology is to take a foundation other than Jesus Christ and thus to exercise a form of idolatry.

(With thanks to the often illuminating Faith and Theology blogspot and Barth's Wikipedia entry.)

Top Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained

10. A man's place is in the army.

9. For men who have children, their duties might distract them from the responsibilities of being a parent.

8. Their physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be "unnatural" for them to do other forms of work.

7. Man was created before woman. It is therefore obvious that man was a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment, rather than the crowning achievement of creation.

6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. This is easily demonstrated by their conduct at football games and watching basketball tournaments.

5. Some men are handsome; they will distract women worshipers.

4. To be ordained pastor is to nurture the congregation. But this is not a traditional male role. Rather, throughout history, women have been considered to be not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more frequently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.

3. Men are overly prone to violence. No really manly man wants to settle disputes by any means other than by fighting about it. Thus, they would be poor role models, as well as being dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.

2. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep paths, repair the church roof, and maybe even lead the singing on Father's Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the Church.

1. In the New Testament account, the person who betrayed Jesus was a man. Thus, his lack of faith and ensuing punishment stands as a symbol of the subordinated position that all men should take.

This came from Maggi Dawn's blog and beyond...

Deo Gratias


Kember and colleagues released

Tolkien meets St Benedict


We take a reconnaissance trip to the Anglican Benedictine Community at Elmore Abbey on the outskirts of Newbury today to explore it as a possible place for future staff/student retreats. We make the wonderful discovery there of their oratory. None of the wood in it, green oak, was cut down; all of it fell naturally. Not a single nail went into the timber frame's construction; all is wooden peg construction. I'm sure Tolkien would have approved, it reminds me of Beorn's house in The Hobbit! Or perhaps something from Lothlorien.

The community are now pretty small - only 6 men, but a larger oblate community. We were welcomed by a wonderful monk who looked and spoke like Donald Sutherland. I think the Chaplaincy are just going to have to try and pull this one off, it'd be too good to miss.

Toddler Theology II

"Time for a nappy change, James".
"No, I'm working," he says stubbornly (echoes of comments by work-from-home parents!).
"What work is that?"
"I'm bouncing and sliding," he replies seriously.

With such delight for play/work, so says God's Wisdom:

"The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world...
Then I was the craftsman at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind."

Proverbs 8