On Wrecking Ball Bruce Springsteen combines the classic sound of the E Street Band with that of the Seeger Sessions Band. He combines hard times stories of recession hit working people with the language of hope and aspiration in the midst of hard times found in gospel music and spirituals. He even manages to combine folk, gospel and rap within one song ('Rocky Ground') without sounding a false note. He repeats the trick he pulled off with 'Born in the USA' of writing a patriotic sounding song which questions the unthinking patriotism of those who don't appreciate the irony ('We Take Care Of Our Own'). The album is propelled forward by the anger of its storytelling songs before seguing through 'Wrecking Ball' into songs of hopeful fortitude for which Springsteen appropriates the language of faith and the imagery of the Bible. Wrecking Ball is a masterful summation of Springsteen's strengths and an inspirational call to real hope in the face of genuine despair.
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Bruce Springsteen - Rocky Ground.
Monday, 30 April 2012
Windows on the world (194)
Canning Town, 2012
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Sixpence None The Richer - Don't Dream It's Over.
Sunday, 29 April 2012
John Piper and the Church
The commissioning of contemporary art for churches from significant British artists that began through the work of Walter Hussey and George Bell led to numerous stained glass and tapestry commissions for churches and cathedrals by John Piper, among others. Among Piper's most notable church commissions are pieces for the new Coventry Cathedral, Chichester Cathedral and Hereford Cathedral.
Piper had a life-long fascination with, and care for, church buildings; a relationship which began as a young boy when he produced his own sketches and guidebook to the churches in his home county of Surrey. In addition to his links with churchmen such as Hussey, Bell and Moelwyn Merchant, Piper enjoyed a 50 year friendship with Revd. Dr. Victor Kenna writing that “Kenna . . . had a lasting and important influence on my life, combining as he did (and alas so few clergymen do) an understanding of the authority of the Church and the authority of form in paintings and sculpture.”
While, in his early artistic career, Piper was involved with the modernist 7 and 5 Society and Axis, the modernist journal edited by his wife Myfanwy, he moved from the creation of purist abstracts to celebrate and record, in forms that are both romantic and modern, an English provincial world of old churches and stately homes. His subsequent paintings mainly focus on the British landscape and churches.
Stephen Spender noted that Piper and Eliot, among others in this period, were linked in their commitment to the "idea of the sacred." Christopher Frayling has written that, the Neo-Romantic movement (of which Piper was part along with Graham Sutherland who also gained significant church commissions in the period), "sometimes chimed with the aspirations of the post-war Church of England" as they "searched for a lost Eden amid the ruins of the contemporary landscape: who wanted to depict its desolation while striving to reach beyond it; who felt it might soon be closing time in the gardens of the West, and who thought of the pastoral as one of the few remaining symbolic ideas in the culture from which to draw hope."
An exhibition at Dorchester Abbey currently celebrates the contribution John Piper made to the development of modern art in British churches throughout the twentieth century. More than 70 works spanning Piper’s diverse and illustrious career are in the exhibition along with key works from public collections including the Britten-Pears Foundation; Manchester City Art Gallery; Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester; The Collection, Lincolnshire and the V&A. The exhibition also includes special works from private collections, most of which have been rarely seen.
For the first time ever, one of each of the ecclesiastical vestments designed by John Piper for Coventry Cathedral, Chichester Cathedral, St Paul's Cathedral and the very first cope commissioned by Walter Hussey in c. 1954 are on show together. Piper's first piece of stained glass, together with his stained glass designs and cartoons, tapestries, photographs, drawings, collages, paintings and prints are also be on display in this major exhibition of his overwhelming artistic passion.
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Herbert Howells - One Thing Have I Desired.
Piper had a life-long fascination with, and care for, church buildings; a relationship which began as a young boy when he produced his own sketches and guidebook to the churches in his home county of Surrey. In addition to his links with churchmen such as Hussey, Bell and Moelwyn Merchant, Piper enjoyed a 50 year friendship with Revd. Dr. Victor Kenna writing that “Kenna . . . had a lasting and important influence on my life, combining as he did (and alas so few clergymen do) an understanding of the authority of the Church and the authority of form in paintings and sculpture.”
While, in his early artistic career, Piper was involved with the modernist 7 and 5 Society and Axis, the modernist journal edited by his wife Myfanwy, he moved from the creation of purist abstracts to celebrate and record, in forms that are both romantic and modern, an English provincial world of old churches and stately homes. His subsequent paintings mainly focus on the British landscape and churches.
Stephen Spender noted that Piper and Eliot, among others in this period, were linked in their commitment to the "idea of the sacred." Christopher Frayling has written that, the Neo-Romantic movement (of which Piper was part along with Graham Sutherland who also gained significant church commissions in the period), "sometimes chimed with the aspirations of the post-war Church of England" as they "searched for a lost Eden amid the ruins of the contemporary landscape: who wanted to depict its desolation while striving to reach beyond it; who felt it might soon be closing time in the gardens of the West, and who thought of the pastoral as one of the few remaining symbolic ideas in the culture from which to draw hope."
An exhibition at Dorchester Abbey currently celebrates the contribution John Piper made to the development of modern art in British churches throughout the twentieth century. More than 70 works spanning Piper’s diverse and illustrious career are in the exhibition along with key works from public collections including the Britten-Pears Foundation; Manchester City Art Gallery; Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester; The Collection, Lincolnshire and the V&A. The exhibition also includes special works from private collections, most of which have been rarely seen.
For the first time ever, one of each of the ecclesiastical vestments designed by John Piper for Coventry Cathedral, Chichester Cathedral, St Paul's Cathedral and the very first cope commissioned by Walter Hussey in c. 1954 are on show together. Piper's first piece of stained glass, together with his stained glass designs and cartoons, tapestries, photographs, drawings, collages, paintings and prints are also be on display in this major exhibition of his overwhelming artistic passion.
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Herbert Howells - One Thing Have I Desired.
An attitude of openness
Jesus said that he had come that we may have life, and have it to the full (John 10. 10). Jesus is able to give fullness of life because “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him” (Colossians 1. 19). It is out of that fullness that we receive grace upon grace” (John 1. 16).
This is why we are told to pray that we might “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge,” so that we may be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3. 18 & 19). We receive this fullness when, out of love, we don’t judge and don’t condemn but do forgive and give to others. As Jesus said in the Sermon of the Mount:
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6. 37 & 38)
In other words, fullness comes from openness. Think for a moment of a cup or a glass or a chalice or any other container or receptacle that can hold a fluid. Each of these are specifically made to be open. They are designed to be open to receive.
If we place a lid on the container – if it is closed rather than open - then it cannot receive the water. The bottle can only be filled when it is open. Jesus’ image of “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over” is of more than simply being filled. When we forgive and are forgiven, when we give and are given to, then we are receiving a constant flow of love which not only fills us but constantly spills over to others around us. That is what is promised to us, through Jesus, in scripture but it only occurs as we are open.
OPEN is the name of the fresh expression of church that you have begun here on Sunday afternoons. It is about the church being open for all who wish to come and open to a wide range of activities and creativity. The openness that OPEN is supposed to signify, though, is not simply about the practicalities of opening the church doors. Instead, it is much more about an attitude of mind; an attitude of openness to God, to others, to change and difference and newness.
It is an attitude of mind that, as Jesus said, we will not and cannot experience when we are judgemental, when we are condemning, when we are unforgiving or when we are not giving. Openness is demonstrated, Jesus said, through welcome, through acceptance, through forgiveness, and through giving. It is when we are open in these ways that we receive the fullness that God has been pleased to give to Jesus and that fullness spills over from us to those we meet.
We might think about OPEN as something for others – as a way of opening the church to connect with people who haven’t ordinarily come. If we are thinking that way, then we are saying it is not for me. We might even have already tried OPEN and decided that it isn’t for us. If so, we are closed rather than open. OPEN is not just an event or activities or outreach or a fresh expression, more importantly it is an opportunity to be open; to cultivate that attitude of openness through which we are able to receive God’s fullness and share it with others.
OPEN is an opportunity to be open to church looking and feeling different, open to those who don’t come to the usual church services, open to the creativity or conversation of those that we wouldn’t otherwise meet, and by meeting and greeting, welcoming and accepting all this, cultivating that attitude of openness through which we are able to receive God’s fullness and share it with others.
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Eric Bibb - Forgiveness Is Gold.
The Good Samaritan
“In a pastoral society like ancient Israel
“The Shepherd cares for his sheep, calls them by name, leads them to pasture and water, finds shelter for them in inclement weather, defends them against bandits and wolves, and willingly lays down his life for them. The sheep have great confidence in the shepherd. They recognize his voice, obey his commands, and they follow wherever he leads them” (http://www.frksj.org/homily_the_good_shepherd.htm).
“The word “good” (kalos …) means first and foremost beautiful – the good shepherd is attractive. At the same time he is good at his work. So this attractive and very skilled shepherd draws us to himself and is able to provide accurately for our needs” (Stephen Verney, Water into Wine)
“The word “life” (psychē …) is impossible to translate by any one English word. The psychē means the self, or the ego, or the soul. It can be the centre of our earthly life, or the centre of our supernatural life. If the shepherd lays down his psychē for the sheep he is offering them this centre of his inner life, in all its varied aspects …
It might mean that the attractive and skilful shepherd puts the whole of his mind and heart at the disposal of the sheep, through lambing time and shearing time, through summer days in the high mountains and through the cold winter days when food is scarce. Or it might mean that his skilled shepherding reaches this climax, that he is ready to lay down his earthly life to protect the sheep if they are attacked by wolves. Or it might mean, looking into the heart of the shepherd Jesus, that he lays aside his ego self for the sake of the sheep, and seeking their well-being rather than his own he receives from the Father his true Self” (Verney).
The mark of the true leader then is courage. Courage, in the sense described by G. K. Chesterton who said, “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live, taking the form of a readiness to die.” Literally speaking, courage comes from the Latin ‘cor,’ meaning heart. So when we open up to any experience fully, with courage — our whole heart — it naturally opens us up to a deep love. The Argentinian musician Facundo Cabral said, “If you are filled with love, you can’t have fear, because love is courage.” This seems to be another way of saying that perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4. 18) and it must be love of us that enables Jesus to talk so freely, as the Good Shepherd, of laying down his life for us, his sheep.
“What is more, God’s love is universal, so the shepherd must also be concerned for ‘other sheep … not of this fold’, who will also hear his voice and be brought together into one flock (10:16)” (Burridge). Immediately before speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd there has been an incident where a blind man who had been healed by Jesus is rejected by the religious leaders and thrown out. What Jesus says here, about what he offers not being for a little exclusive group but for the whole human race, is in direct contrast “to the religious leaders’ concern to maintain their pure group and throw the blind man out.”
As Lesslie Newbigin writes, “This is the way for all humankind, and to follow this way is to learn the only true leadership.”
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Keith Green - The Lord Is My Shepherd.
In Jesus’ time, sheep were very important as they provided both food and clothing. Shepherd’s had to have a nomadic lifestyle because of the available pasture. They had to travel with their sheep from one region to another as the seasons changed. This created the close relationship between sheep and shepherd that we hear Jesus describing and using in this reading:
“The Shepherd cares for his sheep, calls them by name, leads them to pasture and water, finds shelter for them in inclement weather, defends them against bandits and wolves, and willingly lays down his life for them. The sheep have great confidence in the shepherd. They recognize his voice, obey his commands, and they follow wherever he leads them” (http://www.frksj.org/homily_the_good_shepherd.htm).
This is why the “image of Shepherd stood out in a special way in the minds of the early Christians. In the very first Christian cemeteries and worship places we find crude but definite artistic expressions of the depth and meaning this particular image had for Christians in the very first century of the Church's history. Images of Jesus as the Good Shepherd appear on the walls of the earliest churches and often as decorations on the tombs of Christian martyrs” (http://frcharliehughes.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/blog-184-good-shepherd.html). So, the early Christian community cherished the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
“The word “good” (kalos …) means first and foremost beautiful – the good shepherd is attractive. At the same time he is good at his work. So this attractive and very skilled shepherd draws us to himself and is able to provide accurately for our needs” (Stephen Verney, Water into Wine)
The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep:
“The word “life” (psychē …) is impossible to translate by any one English word. The psychē means the self, or the ego, or the soul. It can be the centre of our earthly life, or the centre of our supernatural life. If the shepherd lays down his psychē for the sheep he is offering them this centre of his inner life, in all its varied aspects …
It might mean that the attractive and skilful shepherd puts the whole of his mind and heart at the disposal of the sheep, through lambing time and shearing time, through summer days in the high mountains and through the cold winter days when food is scarce. Or it might mean that his skilled shepherding reaches this climax, that he is ready to lay down his earthly life to protect the sheep if they are attacked by wolves. Or it might mean, looking into the heart of the shepherd Jesus, that he lays aside his ego self for the sake of the sheep, and seeking their well-being rather than his own he receives from the Father his true Self” (Verney).
In whichever of these three ways or in all three together, the shepherd gives his own life so that the sheep can receive the superabundant life of God himself. Lesslie Newbigin writes that:
“Here is the unmistakable criterion by which true leadership is to be distinguished from false. We are familiar with the kind of leadership which is simply a vast overextension of the ego. The ultimate goal – whether openly acknowledged or not – is the glory of the leader. The rest are instrumental to this end. He does not love them but makes use of them for his own ends. He is a hireling – in the business of leadership for what he can get out it.
By contrast the mark of the true leader is that of the cross” (The Light Has Come).
The mark of the true leader then is courage. Courage, in the sense described by G. K. Chesterton who said, “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live, taking the form of a readiness to die.” Literally speaking, courage comes from the Latin ‘cor,’ meaning heart. So when we open up to any experience fully, with courage — our whole heart — it naturally opens us up to a deep love. The Argentinian musician Facundo Cabral said, “If you are filled with love, you can’t have fear, because love is courage.” This seems to be another way of saying that perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4. 18) and it must be love of us that enables Jesus to talk so freely, as the Good Shepherd, of laying down his life for us, his sheep.
“Jesus …is the good shepherd, who knows his own sheep as they know him (10:14). Shepherds called their sheep out of the fold by their names and the flock followed their voice (10:3-4). The Greek word for church literally means ‘called out’, ec-clesia, from which all our ‘ecclesiastical’ words are derived. Jesus’ knowledge of his sheep is rooted in his knowledge of his Father and his Father knowing him as his Son” (Burridge)
“… the Son can do nothing of himself, but he simply looks at the Father and whatever he sees the Father doing so he does too … the Father holds back nothing for himself but gives everything to the Son.
So it is, says Jesus, between the Good Shepherd and his sheep – between me and mine, and mine and me. They are in my heart, and there I see them in all their human ambiguity. I see what they are and what they can be, and I give myself to them. And I am in their hearts …
That is how the Good Shepherd knows his sheep, and how they know him. They do not simply know about him, or pass examinations in theology, or even read books about John’s gospel. They know him in their personal experience” (Verney).
“What is more, God’s love is universal, so the shepherd must also be concerned for ‘other sheep … not of this fold’, who will also hear his voice and be brought together into one flock (10:16)” (Burridge). Immediately before speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd there has been an incident where a blind man who had been healed by Jesus is rejected by the religious leaders and thrown out. What Jesus says here, about what he offers not being for a little exclusive group but for the whole human race, is in direct contrast “to the religious leaders’ concern to maintain their pure group and throw the blind man out.”
“As we move towards the Passion, the inevitable result of his clash with the authorities, Jesus emphasizes that he lays down his life willingly, out of sheer love for his people, a love which flows even from the heart of God (10:17-18).
This is a challenge to all involved in the pastoral care of God’s people. It takes time and effort to know everyone individually, even as God knows us, and caring for them as Christ laid down his life for us may demand the ultimate sacrifice. The ordination charge for priests in the Church of England says ‘as servant and shepherd … set the Good Shepherd always before you as the pattern of your calling … to search for his children the wilderness of this world’s temptations … the treasure now to be entrusted to you is Christ’s own flock’. This is true whether we are an Archbishop or a bible study group leader, a minister or just visiting an elderly person around the corner – we love others as the good shepherd loves us.”
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Keith Green - The Lord Is My Shepherd.
Saturday, 28 April 2012
Realism is fiction
In Sculpting In Time, Tarkovsky quotes Dostoevsky as saying, "They always say that art has to reflect life and all that. But it's nonsense: the writer (poet) himself creates life, such as it has never quite been before him ..."
If Dostoevsky said it, then it must be true! But this statement also resonates with my own sense, through my own minor creative work, that realism is fiction. Any attempt to describe, recreate or re-present an actual experience always results in subtle changes to the experience. This is partly to do with time and partly to do with editing.
All experience is gained in the moment, in time, while all description, recreation or re-presentation is reflection on what has passed. The act of reflection is qualitatively different from the act of experience involving, as it does, perspective on the event which it is not possible to have at the time. This difference in time subtly effects the description, recreation or re-presentation of the past event changing it, albeit slightly, in the process.
All description, recreation or re-presentation of past events also involves editorial decisions about what to include/exclude and what perspective to give. Actual experience is a constant flow in time but no description, recreation or re-presentation can mimic the constant flow of events in time and therefore decisions have to be made about where to start and end thereby disrupting the actual flow of events as they were experienced. Much of what is viewed on television purports to be actual experience (i.e. news footage or reality TV) yet editors have always made decisions regarding where and what to film as well as, often, what to show. What is seen is always a glimpse of the actual influenced by an editor's perspective rather than the whole of what occurred.
In this sense, realism - even, or perhaps especially, hyper-realism - is a fiction.
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Paul Weller - That Dangerous Age.
If Dostoevsky said it, then it must be true! But this statement also resonates with my own sense, through my own minor creative work, that realism is fiction. Any attempt to describe, recreate or re-present an actual experience always results in subtle changes to the experience. This is partly to do with time and partly to do with editing.
All experience is gained in the moment, in time, while all description, recreation or re-presentation is reflection on what has passed. The act of reflection is qualitatively different from the act of experience involving, as it does, perspective on the event which it is not possible to have at the time. This difference in time subtly effects the description, recreation or re-presentation of the past event changing it, albeit slightly, in the process.
All description, recreation or re-presentation of past events also involves editorial decisions about what to include/exclude and what perspective to give. Actual experience is a constant flow in time but no description, recreation or re-presentation can mimic the constant flow of events in time and therefore decisions have to be made about where to start and end thereby disrupting the actual flow of events as they were experienced. Much of what is viewed on television purports to be actual experience (i.e. news footage or reality TV) yet editors have always made decisions regarding where and what to film as well as, often, what to show. What is seen is always a glimpse of the actual influenced by an editor's perspective rather than the whole of what occurred.
In this sense, realism - even, or perhaps especially, hyper-realism - is a fiction.
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Paul Weller - That Dangerous Age.
I am a sinner
The great Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi visited Andrei Tarkovsky on his deathbed. Zanussi, a good friend, was already well-known then; Tarkovsky understood that people would come to Zanussi in search of information about him. “Tell them,” he whispered to Zanussi, “that I am a sinner”:
"We met the very last time in December, nearly two weeks before his death, once
again in Paris. He had undergone drug treatment and was appallingly thin and
emaciated, but he continued to speak of the future, of what he would film. And
when I listened to him it seemed to me that indeed a moment had come when it was
unknown whether the treatment would kill him or he would overcome the
illness.
He described the films he had failed to make, the Hoffmaniana. It was his old screenplay. Most of all he spoke about the picture focused on the figure of St Antony of Padova. And it seemed to me that the specific historical saint did not concern him particularly, he was much more interested in the notion of sanctity, the tragedy of a conflict between flesh and spirit in man. He said a word which struck me, the word "sinner" in respect to himself. Hardly anyone uses the word today, especially of one's own free will, and he related the word to himself, admitting the imperfection of his actions, and there was something eschatological about it. Nevertheless, I felt a deep hope that he would come through, because he said the word "sinner" an instant after both of us had agreed that modern man's most terrible sin was vanity, a feeling of conceit arising from the illusion that he was independent, a master of his fate, and nothing threatened him. And only illness enabled him to see the fragile nature of our undertakings, our decisions, our conflicts, and our policies which from this vantage point lost their meaning."
He described the films he had failed to make, the Hoffmaniana. It was his old screenplay. Most of all he spoke about the picture focused on the figure of St Antony of Padova. And it seemed to me that the specific historical saint did not concern him particularly, he was much more interested in the notion of sanctity, the tragedy of a conflict between flesh and spirit in man. He said a word which struck me, the word "sinner" in respect to himself. Hardly anyone uses the word today, especially of one's own free will, and he related the word to himself, admitting the imperfection of his actions, and there was something eschatological about it. Nevertheless, I felt a deep hope that he would come through, because he said the word "sinner" an instant after both of us had agreed that modern man's most terrible sin was vanity, a feeling of conceit arising from the illusion that he was independent, a master of his fate, and nothing threatened him. And only illness enabled him to see the fragile nature of our undertakings, our decisions, our conflicts, and our policies which from this vantage point lost their meaning."
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Henryk Gorecki - Symphony No. 3 "Sorrowful Songs" - Lento e Largo.
Art's triumph over grim truth
"Only a faithful statement about the artist's time can express a true, as opposed to a propagandist, moral ideal.
This was the theme of Andrey Rublyov. It looks at first sight as if the cruel truth of life as he observes it is in crying contradiction with the harmonious ideal of his work. The crux of the question, however, is that the artist cannot express the moral ideal of his time unless he touches all its running sores, unless he suffers and lives these sores himself. That is how art triumphs over grim, 'base' truth, clearly recognising it for what it is, in the name of its own sublime purpose: such is its destined role. For art could almost be said to be religious in that it is inspired by commitment to a higher goal.
Devoid of spirituality, art carries its own tragedy within it. For even to recognise the spiritual vacuum of the times in which he lives, the artist must have specific qualities of wisdom and understanding. The true artist always serves immortality, striving to immortalise the world and man within the world. An artist who doesn't try to seek out absolute truth, who ignores universal goals for the sake of accidentals, can only be a time-server."
Andrey Tarkovsky, Sculpting In Time
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Gungor - Wake Up Sleeper.
This was the theme of Andrey Rublyov. It looks at first sight as if the cruel truth of life as he observes it is in crying contradiction with the harmonious ideal of his work. The crux of the question, however, is that the artist cannot express the moral ideal of his time unless he touches all its running sores, unless he suffers and lives these sores himself. That is how art triumphs over grim, 'base' truth, clearly recognising it for what it is, in the name of its own sublime purpose: such is its destined role. For art could almost be said to be religious in that it is inspired by commitment to a higher goal.
Devoid of spirituality, art carries its own tragedy within it. For even to recognise the spiritual vacuum of the times in which he lives, the artist must have specific qualities of wisdom and understanding. The true artist always serves immortality, striving to immortalise the world and man within the world. An artist who doesn't try to seek out absolute truth, who ignores universal goals for the sake of accidentals, can only be a time-server."
Andrey Tarkovsky, Sculpting In Time
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Gungor - Wake Up Sleeper.
Art talks and exhibitions
Following the Art and Sacred Places AGM internationally renowned Scottish artist David Mach RA will be talking about his ‘explosive and daring exhibition’ of over 70 new works of large scale collage and sculpture celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.
Described as ‘contrary, funny and wilfully unpretentious’, London-based David Mach, has said how he was ‘struck by how much The King James Bible is about how we speak now, the language of today comes off those pages’.
‘The Destruction of Jericho’ is viewed from the inside of a family people carrier and ‘The Nativity’ occurred in a post apocalyptic shack made of telegraph poles and upturned cars.
Saturday 12th May, 2012, 14.30-16.30. Studio 16, 21 Wren Street, LONDON, WC1X 0HF. £5 entry or FREE to members (pay on the day). Tel: 01489 878725 or Email: angela@artandsacredplaces.org if you require further information.
Sheona Beaumont has a triple bill starting in May 2012, as part of the Bristol Festival of Photography:
Gillian Welch & Old Crow Medicine Show - The Weight.
Described as ‘contrary, funny and wilfully unpretentious’, London-based David Mach, has said how he was ‘struck by how much The King James Bible is about how we speak now, the language of today comes off those pages’.
‘The Destruction of Jericho’ is viewed from the inside of a family people carrier and ‘The Nativity’ occurred in a post apocalyptic shack made of telegraph poles and upturned cars.
Saturday 12th May, 2012, 14.30-16.30. Studio 16, 21 Wren Street, LONDON, WC1X 0HF. £5 entry or FREE to members (pay on the day). Tel: 01489 878725 or Email: angela@artandsacredplaces.org if you require further information.
Sheona Beaumont has a triple bill starting in May 2012, as part of the Bristol Festival of Photography:
- Elemental: Earth, Fire, Wind and Water. 24th April - 27th May, St Stephen's Church. Exhibiting with Dennis Anthony. Elemental is an exhibition of photography and photo-based installations exploring the imagery of the elements, as seen through Christian spirituality and biblical symbolism. Both cafe walls (Dennis Anthony) and church space (Sheona Beaumont) will be transformed to bring contemplative and conceptual encounter to life.
- The Colour of Landscape. 4th May - 2nd June, The Glass Room, Colston Hall. Exhibiting with Walter Dirks. As part of the Bristol Festival of Photography, Sheona Beaumont and Walter Dirks present photographic work exploring the rich, colourful and diverse landscapes of our planet. Their images range from global habitats to details of flora and fauna, combining awe-inspiring visions of nature-at-large and nature-up-close.
- Bristol Through the Lens. 15th May - 2nd September, The Crypt Gallery, St George's Bristol. This series of 20 pieces is a photographic study of Sheona’s home city. Each image is made up of more than one photograph taken at different times of day/year/view. The work (which includes an essay on the subject) explores the landscape as a changing, animated scene, and shows views of Bristol, such as Cabot Tower and the Avon Gorge, through time and space in new and unseen ways.
Gillian Welch & Old Crow Medicine Show - The Weight.
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Spiritual Life column
Here is my latest 'Spiritual Life' column in today's Ilford Recorder:
In a memorable phrase Desmond Tutu spoke of post-apartheid South Africa
For the Church to be seen as a rainbow people of God, the full range of its diversity of views and voices need to be heard. Specifically, in the current debate over the definition of marriage, it essential that the Church, as well as hearing the views and voices of those opposed to the Government’s current legislative proposals, also hear the views and voices of Christians in favour.
I am thinking of those who see a strong Biblical case for arguing that definitions of marriage are socially determined and not divinely ordained. Those who see Jesus as being the ultimate scapegoat signalling, by his death, the folly and fallacy of all scapegoating of those different from ourselves. Those who see a key aspect of Jesus’ ministry as being to include in the kingdom of God
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Gungor - Let There Be.
Monday, 23 April 2012
The future of Christian Theology
Today I have been at the Barking Episcopal Area Annual Study Day which this year was entitled ‘The Future of Christian Theology’ and led by David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University. David is Acting Director of the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme, the author of several books and editor of Modern Theologians. He is currently working on a theological commentary of St John’s Gospel.
He led us in exploring themes from his most recent book, The Future of Christian Theology (including ‘In a Secular Age: a ‘dramatic code’ for 21st century living,’ ‘Collegiality and Conversation,’ ‘Interfaith Blessing,’ and ‘The Apprentice Theologian’) and in Bible Study together on the Prologue to St John's Gospel.
He gave us two past points of reference for the future of Christian theology; the Prologue of John’s Gospel and the diversity of theologies developed during the twentieth century.
He thought of the Prologue of John’s Gospel as being the most influential single text from scripture because it is a superabundant text to which he is constantly responding. It is an illustration of Ricoeur’s idea that the meaning of a text goes ahead of the text i.e. go on generating new meanings. John’s Gospel was written in order to act like that.
He particularly valued Jean Vanier’s Commentary Drawn into the mystery of Jesus for its understanding of this Gospel’s theology of the endless richness of God. It is a succession Gospel which looks to the future. In the farewell discourses Jesus says you will do greater things than these and be guided into all truth; in action and understanding there will be more and more of what you have experienced to date. The Vanier take on this is that there will be more footwashing. The writer of the Gospel is utterly confident that God has more and more for us in future. God has a future full of good surprises for us; of superabundant love.
The writer of the Gospel has been given the Holy Spirit and is being led into all truth, so is able to write daring, extraordinary theology. The Prologue is a midrash on Genesis 1 interpreting that scripture in ways not articulated before. It is a theology which begins with the interpretation of scripture but is not dull repetition, rather daring interpretation in the Spirit. The writer of this Gospel is saying that good theology interprets scripture and this is done in the Spirit and in relation to Jesus (Christology).
Logos is a term that enables him to relate Jesus to the whole of the Hebrew scriptures (Septuagint). Logos is used for the commandments, the prophetic word, and wisdom literature - so embraces the Torah, the prophets and the wisdom writings. He is immersed in scripture, inhabiting it - he frequently uses the greek word meaning to dwell or inhabit. Logos is also an inter-cultural word as it was a common word in the Hellenistic culture of the day. So there is a dialogue between the Hebrew-Christian tradition and the surrounding culture.
Logos becomes a key term in the Church for developing a Christology. In doing so it was crucial to engage with wider world because all things came into being through Him. Jesus relates to all things, so theology can not ignore any aspect of reality; all peoples, all cultures, all religions - Jesus is involved with everything.
Light shines in darkness; a great natural symbol which sets our imaginations going as we ponder, what does light mean? Theology has to stretch imagination and therefore has to be involved with the Arts. As example, Ford spoke about his relationship with the poet Michael O’Siadhail. Both are each other’s first readers and this has had a remarkable effect on Ford’s theology.
This image is also the beginning of conflict in the Gospel. John is an utter realist about conflict and dualism. It is essential to face up to darkness and evil but he always leads you beyond that. John doesn’t leave you with dualism - darkness doesn’t overcome the light - but he takes the darkness of the cross seriously. Ford was present at a Rwandan service with dancers from genocide survivor communities. As the children began to dance there was a great wave of grief expressed by those widowed through the genocide. There was both ongoing terrible grief and affirmation, through the children dancing to God, that that wasn’t the last word - the cross and resurrection were experienced together.
John the Baptist was a man sent from God as a witness. Our faith is one which is dependent of historical truth. A trust in testimony is central to the Gospel. Belief involves the whole person, everything you are. Faith is inseparable from love.
"His own did not accept him" - the Johannine community had a painful break with the parent Jewish community and the bitterness and pain of that break is apparent here. The Johannine community prizes unity and love. This Gospel is not legalistic and has no Sermon on the Mount. There is an astonishing sense of showing God to the world. Jesus is seen in the way that the community loves one another. They are an intensive community in love for the sake of going out into the world as Jesus was sent (remembering that Jesus was crucified). Being born of God is our identity.
The Word became flesh and entered into history. This is paradoxical for Hellenistic frameworks of understanding. The glory seen in Jesus is that which is seen on the cross. The only mention of grace in the Gospel comes here, in grace and truth. This raises the question, what is John doing in relation to Paul? The answer is that he is doing new theology. Abundance and fullness is set against a packaged theology. There will be more and more truth and wisdom. We have received grace upon grace from Jesus’ fullness.
No one ever seen God but the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has revealed Him. In John 1.18 the climax of this discussion of God and all things, the deepest secret of universe, is this the intimacy of love between the Father and the Son in the Spirit. At the end of the Gospel the beloved disciple leans on the breast of Jesus. We are all beloved disciples in the bosom of Jesus. This is where we are to dwell. We are to mutually indwell Jesus Christ. Vanier has a theology of talking with Jesus, sitting in the presence of the one who loves you.
It’s really just all about Jesus. Jesus leads us into all things. It is about whose face you live before, whose face is in your heart. This forms our identity. We are part of an ongoing drama of love and are not to be distracted by some of the other big frameworks that we might get into. Peter is asked, ‘Do you love me, feed my sheep.’ It doesn’t matter whether the beloved disciple lives to the second coming, the focus is on the ongoing ordinary drama of love - follow me and wash the feet of others.
So what is the future of theology in relation to John’s Gospel. We should be equally daring in our theology. This feels risky - what checks and balances are there? - but unless you grow the tree, you don’t have anything to prune.
The twentieth century was the most fruitful, creative century for theology with theologies from around the world, new voices emerging, such as the voices of women, and the growth of theological institutions. This is utterly unique and how much there is going on is a delight.
What are the key elements of wise and creative Christian theology? There are four elements:
- retrieval - the sense that any decent theology has to re-engage with the sources of scripture and tradition;
- engagement - a simultaneity of engagement with God, Church and World. If theology is weak on any of these three, it is unlikely to be wise or creative;
- thinking - rigorous and imaginative thinking with the excitement of finding new concepts;
- communication - often neglected but intrinsic to content including the need to take the preparation and delivery of sermons more seriously.
The book of Job gives us a healthy ecology of approaches to faith and theology. Much theology is concerned with indicatives and imperators - this is what you believe and what you do - neat packages which don’t open out to other moods and themes. Job questions, imagines, experiments to try to make theological sense of his trauma without givinhg up on his desire for God. He knows that there is more to grasp. Theology can’t be all wrapped up because God cannot be wrapped up. We have to desire God more and more, this has to be the central mood. It is not, first of all, about us - obeying, inquiring, desiring - instead we are affirmed, questioned, commended, desired by God. Job’s friends offer neat packages. We need to desire God for God’s sake. The key to the book is does Job love (fear) God for nothing - as gift, for God’s sake.
Wisdom cries out and wisdom is a discernment of cries. In a parish, you are surrounded by cries. Ben Quash argues we need to improve the quality of disagreement. We will always have disagreements but need to be committed to loving our enemies. There is something wonderful about being in a church (like the Church of England) which tries to engage with disagreement publicly. At the first Primates meeting, the bishops wrestled with Ephesians - dividing wall comes down through death of Christ - and ended by saying that to turn away from a brother or sister in Christ is to turn away from the cross.
Scriptural reasoning suggests that there are no short cuts to long-term inter-faith engagements where faith is on the table. Much inter-faith engagement has been by those on the fringes of their faith and has been seen as a liberal thing to do. A focus on scriptures is more likely to engage those in the mainstream of each faith. Through scriptural reasoning, you go deeper into your own scriptures, into other scriptures, into the common good, and the community doing the scriptural reasoning - not looking for consensus but friendship. When you realise how deeply diverse all religions are, all generalisations dissolve.
Theology is done for the sake of the name. We do things for God’s sake. Unless that is there, you lose the joy. Like O’Saidhail writing poems about jazz and saying, the only end of jazz is jazz.
What we inhabit/dwell in is spirituality. The mystery of God is what comes as and when everyone testifies to God. "No one comes to the Father but by me," John reports Jesus as saying but John has already told in the Prologue that all things relate to Jesus. Karl Barth wrote that Christians are those who, in the light of Jesus Christ, are those who are permitted to hope the best for all people.
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Jonathan Butler - Falling In Love With Jesus.
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Windows on the world (193)
Canning Town, 2012
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Paul Weller - Kling I Klang.
Print exhibition
Peter S Smith has an exhibition of prints at the Bridewell Theatre Bar Gallery which includes prints by students from the wood engraving print workshop that Peter teaches at St Bride.
Peter exhibits his paintings and prints in the UK and overseas with work in public and private collections, including Tate Britain and the Ashmolean Oxford, as well as teaching workshops in the visual arts. He is a Member of the Society of Wood Engravers and an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Painter/Printmakers.
In September 2006, Piquant Editions published a book about his printmaking called “The way I see it….” with an introductory essay by Calvin Seerveld.
Last year Peter was commissioned by St John's Leytonstone for a print to celebrate the completed restoration of the church. This print now features on the Art Trail for the Barking Episcopal Area and Peter held a small exhibition of prints and gave an art talk at the church as part of the Barking Episcopal Area Art Festival.
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Jim White - Chase The Dark Away.
Peter exhibits his paintings and prints in the UK and overseas with work in public and private collections, including Tate Britain and the Ashmolean Oxford, as well as teaching workshops in the visual arts. He is a Member of the Society of Wood Engravers and an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Painter/Printmakers.
In September 2006, Piquant Editions published a book about his printmaking called “The way I see it….” with an introductory essay by Calvin Seerveld.
Last year Peter was commissioned by St John's Leytonstone for a print to celebrate the completed restoration of the church. This print now features on the Art Trail for the Barking Episcopal Area and Peter held a small exhibition of prints and gave an art talk at the church as part of the Barking Episcopal Area Art Festival.
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Jim White - Chase The Dark Away.
Ascension challenge, Pentecostal means
In Jesus, God became a human being. That is what we celebrate at Christmas and what is emphasised by Jesus in this post-resurrection appearance (Luke 24. 36 - 53). God becomes Emmanuel, one with us, one of us.
As we read in Colossians 1. 19 Jesus had in himself, as a human being, the full nature of God. In other words, he showed God to us as fully as God can be seen in human form. This is because the creator must limit himself when he becomes part of his creation and so in Philippians 2. 7 we also read that Jesus gave up all he had when he took the nature of a servant by becoming a human being and appearing in human likeness.
For God to become a human being involved limitation. A helpful analogy is that of an artist and his/her self-portrait. The self-portrait is the artist (in that it looks just like the artist, being an accurate representation of him or her) but it is much more limited than the artist (being paint on canvas rather than living flesh and bones). For the eternal, creator God to become a mortal part of his creation involved a similar level of limitation. Among the limitations as a human being that Jesus willingly accepted was being born in a particular time and place (1st centuryPalestine
Jesus’ ascension was necessary then in order to overcome those limitations. Not so much by regaining his full divinity as by giving each of his followers his Spirit so that we can then be his hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body in the world and throughout history. It is not possible for one person by himself to go to all peoples everywhere but it is possible for Christ’s disciples, his followers, to take his message and his Spirit fromJerusalem to all of Judea and Samaria
The Gospel of Christ is able to go out into the whole world because we, the followers of Christ, are scattered throughout the world and can be his hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body wherever we are. Suddenly, there are no limits on where the Body of Christ – his followers – can be. This is why, at his ascension, he says to his disciples, “you will be witnesses for me inJerusalem , in all of Judea and Samaria
But this can only happen as we all play our own part in the Body of Christ. It can only happen as we act as the hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body wherever we are. This is the challenge of the Ascension for us, but this challenge is combined with the promise that he will send his Spirit to us to empower and equip us to be his people, his Body, by doing what he would have done wherever we are. This is why he also says to his disciples, “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me inJerusalem , in all of Judea and Samaria
For this reason, the Ascension and Pentecost are intimately linked. The Ascension provides the challenge – “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples” (Matthew 28. 19) – and Pentecost provides the means - “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me inJerusalem , in all of Judea and Samaria
We also completed two significant projects: the work on ourCommunity Garden Community Garden St John’s is held among the local community because of our focus on community engagement through the St John’s St John’s
One of our long running initiatives for serving the community, our MU-run Contact Centre, celebrated its 20th anniversary in September 2011. Contact centres are an increasingly essential resource in the area of family support. Without them, the rights of many children to sustain a relationship with a departed parent in a safe place would be either undermined or lost completely. Another of the community services thatSt John’s
We took part in the 'Give A Bible' Bible Year 2011 initiative in the Diocese of Chelmsford to encourage Church members in the diocese to bring a Bible to church on Bible Sunday (23 October) with the intention of subsequently giving it to a neighbour, work colleague or friend. Our 'Give a Bible' initiative placed Bibles back in homes and schools as we chose a range of different translations and versions of the Bible to give away to work colleagues, grandchildren, relatives and friends. These included a Polish translation for one work colleague. SeveralSt John's members also bought a children's storyteller version of the Bible to give to Downshall Primary School for future use in their RE lessons and we also gave Bibles to Aldborough E-Act Free School
2011 was in many ways a time of preparing for the future, while continuing to act as the hands and feet of God in our parish. The Ministry Leadership Team involves more of us in further developing our mission and ministry. The expansion of our Youth Work team gives a base for continuing our Youth Club. The refurbishment of the Fellowship Room will enable more groups to use our facilities providing more community services and addressing our financial issues. The arrival of a new curate will contribute to and support these developments and the growth in the numbers attending with young children.
There are many positive signs for the future as a result of all we have done together in the last five plus years. Our text for 2012 encourages us to run our race with determination by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. So, “let us run with the determination the race that lies before us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end.”
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Philip Bailey - All Soldiers.
As we read in Colossians 1. 19 Jesus had in himself, as a human being, the full nature of God. In other words, he showed God to us as fully as God can be seen in human form. This is because the creator must limit himself when he becomes part of his creation and so in Philippians 2. 7 we also read that Jesus gave up all he had when he took the nature of a servant by becoming a human being and appearing in human likeness.
For God to become a human being involved limitation. A helpful analogy is that of an artist and his/her self-portrait. The self-portrait is the artist (in that it looks just like the artist, being an accurate representation of him or her) but it is much more limited than the artist (being paint on canvas rather than living flesh and bones). For the eternal, creator God to become a mortal part of his creation involved a similar level of limitation. Among the limitations as a human being that Jesus willingly accepted was being born in a particular time and place (1st century
Jesus’ ascension was necessary then in order to overcome those limitations. Not so much by regaining his full divinity as by giving each of his followers his Spirit so that we can then be his hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body in the world and throughout history. It is not possible for one person by himself to go to all peoples everywhere but it is possible for Christ’s disciples, his followers, to take his message and his Spirit from
The Gospel of Christ is able to go out into the whole world because we, the followers of Christ, are scattered throughout the world and can be his hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body wherever we are. Suddenly, there are no limits on where the Body of Christ – his followers – can be. This is why, at his ascension, he says to his disciples, “you will be witnesses for me in
But this can only happen as we all play our own part in the Body of Christ. It can only happen as we act as the hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body wherever we are. This is the challenge of the Ascension for us, but this challenge is combined with the promise that he will send his Spirit to us to empower and equip us to be his people, his Body, by doing what he would have done wherever we are. This is why he also says to his disciples, “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in
For this reason, the Ascension and Pentecost are intimately linked. The Ascension provides the challenge – “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples” (Matthew 28. 19) – and Pentecost provides the means - “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in
2011 has been a year in which we at St John’s St Johns
As a congregation, we thought and prayed about five areas of ministry here at St John’s on which we wanted to focus through a Ministry Leadership Team and also about which members of our congregation could provide strategic direction for each of these areas. By the end of 2011 we had identified those people who would form our Ministry Leadership Team which began in 2012. This team of people have begun meeting with the staff team and churchwardens to form the Ministry Leadership Team. Please do pray regularly and consistently for all involved.
We also completed two significant projects: the work on our
One of our long running initiatives for serving the community, our MU-run Contact Centre, celebrated its 20th anniversary in September 2011. Contact centres are an increasingly essential resource in the area of family support. Without them, the rights of many children to sustain a relationship with a departed parent in a safe place would be either undermined or lost completely. Another of the community services that
We took part in the 'Give A Bible' Bible Year 2011 initiative in the Diocese of Chelmsford to encourage Church members in the diocese to bring a Bible to church on Bible Sunday (23 October) with the intention of subsequently giving it to a neighbour, work colleague or friend. Our 'Give a Bible' initiative placed Bibles back in homes and schools as we chose a range of different translations and versions of the Bible to give away to work colleagues, grandchildren, relatives and friends. These included a Polish translation for one work colleague. Several
We saw several of our own people take significant milestones in their faith including baptisms and confirmations. Others studied our START course as an introductory exploration of the Christian faith as part of their increased involvement here at St John’s
During this year, we were preparing for Geoff Eze to move on from his curacy here at St John’s St John’s
Our text for 2011 was: “I'm absolutely convinced that nothing — nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable — absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us” (Romans 8. 38-39 – The Message). In 2011, as this review of our year shows, we sought to live in the confidence that God’s ever-giving love brings into our lives and community.
2011 was in many ways a time of preparing for the future, while continuing to act as the hands and feet of God in our parish. The Ministry Leadership Team involves more of us in further developing our mission and ministry. The expansion of our Youth Work team gives a base for continuing our Youth Club. The refurbishment of the Fellowship Room will enable more groups to use our facilities providing more community services and addressing our financial issues. The arrival of a new curate will contribute to and support these developments and the growth in the numbers attending with young children.
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Philip Bailey - All Soldiers.
Friday, 20 April 2012
Contemporary Fiction and Christianity
I have several books on order exploring issues of spirituality and faith in modern and contemporary literature.
In The Pen and the Cross: Catholicism and English Literature, 1850-2000 Richard Griffiths examines why some of the most outstanding writers of recent times have been Catholics - often converts, such as Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Muriel Spark and David Jones. Griffiths is concerned also to relate his story to movements on the continent and examines on his way the impact of French Catholic writers such as Huysmans, Peguy and Mauriac on their British counterparts and the influence of British Catholic writers such as Newman, Faber and Chesterton on Europe. Griffiths' book looks as though it should be one of the most comprehensive studies of the modern Catholic novel - a phenomenon about which I've posted here, here, here, here and here.
In Postmodern Belief: American Literature and Religion since 1960 Amy Hungerford explores the work of major American writers, including Allen Ginsberg, Don DeLillo, Cormac McCarthy, Toni Morrison, and Marilynne Robinson, and links their unique visions to the religious worlds they touch.
While in Contemporary Fiction and Christianity Andrew Tate examines the work of more than a dozen contemporary Anglo-American novelists, including John Updike, Douglas Coupland, John Irving, Michèle Roberts, Don DeLillo and Jim Crace. He shows how the 'sacred turn' in western culture is manifested within the novel from the 1980s to the present, paying particular attention to representations of such theological ideas as the miraculous, the heretical, the apocalyptic and the messianic.
Tate's book, which has arrived, looks to be a genuinely comprehensive survey taking in, in addition to those mentioned above: Sara Maitland - "perhaps the most combatively theological British prose writer of the last 25 years"; Donna Tartt - "a 'constant tension' between her committed Christian faith ... and her 'vocation as a novelist"; James Robertson - his "sensitive and intensely theological novel The Testament of Gideon Mack"; John L'Heureux - "a former Jesuit priest - examines the fragile division between faith and unbelief in The Miracle; Jonathan Coe - "suggests that the sacred is found in the midst of the profane"; David Maine - "The Flood ... the first of his series of biblically themed novels"; Rhidian Brook - "a relatively rare novel of religious conversion"; Yann Martel - "challenges the notion that the journey of faith ... is necessarily detrimental to morally complex, demanding fiction"; Pat Barker - "Christ is a startling, defamiliarizing and unique presence"; Norman Mailer - "curiously reverent The Gospel According to the Son"; Salley Vickers - "rewrites the myth of the angel in disguise"; Bernard Malamud - "reclaimed the tradition of the holy messenger"; Jodi Picoult and David Guterson - "focus on figures who claim to have seen and to have been spoken to by celestial beings"; Nick Hornby - explores miracle healings; Frederick Buechner - envisages a "liberating eternal or kairotic moment"; and Jon McGregor - "a celebration of the miraculous possibilities of the quotidian".
No survey, though, can be fully comprehensive and these don't seem to discuss the following: Tom Davies - "the core of all his books is religious"; Shusaku Endo - "compelling but profoundly flawed Christian protagonists"; Catherine Fox - "an exploration of fanaticism and salvation"; Susan Howatch - "known for ... religious and philosophical themes"; John Grisham - "The redemptive power of faith is a strong theme in The Testament"; P.D. James - "a writer whose work is imbued with deep Christian convictions"; Nicholas Mosley - "novelist whose work [is] often philosophical and Christian in theology"; Morris West - "writer whose deep interest in and commitment to Catholicism provided the central theme for nearly all of his thirty novels", Niall Williams - "takes spiritual issues seriously – and continues to write compellingly about them" or Tim Winton - "'to ignore Winton's Christianity is to ignore the elephant in the room", among others.
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Bruce Springsteen - Land of Hope and Dreams.
In The Pen and the Cross: Catholicism and English Literature, 1850-2000 Richard Griffiths examines why some of the most outstanding writers of recent times have been Catholics - often converts, such as Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Muriel Spark and David Jones. Griffiths is concerned also to relate his story to movements on the continent and examines on his way the impact of French Catholic writers such as Huysmans, Peguy and Mauriac on their British counterparts and the influence of British Catholic writers such as Newman, Faber and Chesterton on Europe. Griffiths' book looks as though it should be one of the most comprehensive studies of the modern Catholic novel - a phenomenon about which I've posted here, here, here, here and here.
In Postmodern Belief: American Literature and Religion since 1960 Amy Hungerford explores the work of major American writers, including Allen Ginsberg, Don DeLillo, Cormac McCarthy, Toni Morrison, and Marilynne Robinson, and links their unique visions to the religious worlds they touch.
While in Contemporary Fiction and Christianity Andrew Tate examines the work of more than a dozen contemporary Anglo-American novelists, including John Updike, Douglas Coupland, John Irving, Michèle Roberts, Don DeLillo and Jim Crace. He shows how the 'sacred turn' in western culture is manifested within the novel from the 1980s to the present, paying particular attention to representations of such theological ideas as the miraculous, the heretical, the apocalyptic and the messianic.
Tate's book, which has arrived, looks to be a genuinely comprehensive survey taking in, in addition to those mentioned above: Sara Maitland - "perhaps the most combatively theological British prose writer of the last 25 years"; Donna Tartt - "a 'constant tension' between her committed Christian faith ... and her 'vocation as a novelist"; James Robertson - his "sensitive and intensely theological novel The Testament of Gideon Mack"; John L'Heureux - "a former Jesuit priest - examines the fragile division between faith and unbelief in The Miracle; Jonathan Coe - "suggests that the sacred is found in the midst of the profane"; David Maine - "The Flood ... the first of his series of biblically themed novels"; Rhidian Brook - "a relatively rare novel of religious conversion"; Yann Martel - "challenges the notion that the journey of faith ... is necessarily detrimental to morally complex, demanding fiction"; Pat Barker - "Christ is a startling, defamiliarizing and unique presence"; Norman Mailer - "curiously reverent The Gospel According to the Son"; Salley Vickers - "rewrites the myth of the angel in disguise"; Bernard Malamud - "reclaimed the tradition of the holy messenger"; Jodi Picoult and David Guterson - "focus on figures who claim to have seen and to have been spoken to by celestial beings"; Nick Hornby - explores miracle healings; Frederick Buechner - envisages a "liberating eternal or kairotic moment"; and Jon McGregor - "a celebration of the miraculous possibilities of the quotidian".
No survey, though, can be fully comprehensive and these don't seem to discuss the following: Tom Davies - "the core of all his books is religious"; Shusaku Endo - "compelling but profoundly flawed Christian protagonists"; Catherine Fox - "an exploration of fanaticism and salvation"; Susan Howatch - "known for ... religious and philosophical themes"; John Grisham - "The redemptive power of faith is a strong theme in The Testament"; P.D. James - "a writer whose work is imbued with deep Christian convictions"; Nicholas Mosley - "novelist whose work [is] often philosophical and Christian in theology"; Morris West - "writer whose deep interest in and commitment to Catholicism provided the central theme for nearly all of his thirty novels", Niall Williams - "takes spiritual issues seriously – and continues to write compellingly about them" or Tim Winton - "'to ignore Winton's Christianity is to ignore the elephant in the room", among others.
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Bruce Springsteen - Land of Hope and Dreams.
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Picasso, Duchamp and Craig-Martin
The blurb for Picasso and Modern British Art at Tate Britain states that Picasso remains the twentieth century’s single most important artistic figure, a towering genius who changed the face of modern art. This, in a sense, is stating the blindingly obvious and that the exhibition demonstrates this through the variety and vitality of the art which Picasso created.
The particular focus of this exhibition is on the reception which Picasso's work received in this country and some of the key artists influenced by that work. This is where the current status of Picasso's influence becomes less clear. All of the modern British artists in the exhibition, with the exception of David Hockney, are dead. Generally, the reputation and influence of these artists is (often undeservedly) not what it once was (particularly during their lifetimes). Again, Hockney with his recent and popular exhibition at the Royal Academy is to some extent an exception. But where this is leading is to question the extent to which the artists featured in this exhibition, including Picasso, are actually influencing contemporary art.
While Picasso and Matisse were the towering figures in twentieth century art and the principal influences on much modern art, in terms of influence on contemporary art they would appear to have been superceded by Marcel Duchamp who, by challenging the very notion of what art is with his readymades and by his insistence that art should be driven by ideas, became the father of Conceptual art.
In 2004 Duchamp's Fountain came top of a poll of 500 art experts to be named as the most influential modern art work of all time. Simon Wilson commented: "The choice of Duchamp's Fountain as the most influential work of modern art ahead of works by Picasso and Matisse comes as a bit of a shock. But it reflects the dynamic nature of art today and the idea that the creative process that goes into a work of art is the most important thing - the work itself can be made of anything and can take any form."
Michael Craig-Martin is one of those who have followed the logic of Duchamp’s concept of the ready-made by seeing everyday objects as models for works of art. Interestingly, and through a work (An Oak Tree) which can also be seen currently at Tate Britain, Craig-Martin asserts that this form of artistic creation equates to religious faith:
"An Oak Tree is based on the concept of transubstantiation, the notion central to the Catholic faith in which it is believed that bread and wine are converted into the body and blood of Christ while retaining their appearances of bread and wine. The ability to believe that an object is something other than its physical appearance indicates requires a transformative vision. This type of seeing (and knowing) is at the heart of conceptual thinking processes, by which intellectual and emotional values are conferred on images and objects. An Oak Tree uses religious faith as a metaphor for this belief system which, for Craig-Martin, is central to art. He has explained:
I considered that in An Oak Tree I had deconstructed the work of art in such a way as to reveal its single basic and essential element, belief that is the confident faith of the artist in his capacity to speak and the willing faith of the viewer in accepting what he has to say. In other words belief underlies our whole experience of art: it accounts for why some people are artists and others are not, why some people dismiss works of art others highly praise, and why something we know to be great does not always move us.
(Quoted in Michael Craig-Martin: Landscapes, [p.20].)"
It is interesting to note that, while the stylistic innovations of Picasso could be utilised to depict the central image of Christianity (i.e. the crucifixion, as in the work which Graham Sutherland painted for St Matthew's Northampton), it was through the innovations of Duchamp that the religious nature of artistic creation itself was deconstructed and demonstrated.
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M. Ward - Clean Slate (For Alex & El Goodo).
The particular focus of this exhibition is on the reception which Picasso's work received in this country and some of the key artists influenced by that work. This is where the current status of Picasso's influence becomes less clear. All of the modern British artists in the exhibition, with the exception of David Hockney, are dead. Generally, the reputation and influence of these artists is (often undeservedly) not what it once was (particularly during their lifetimes). Again, Hockney with his recent and popular exhibition at the Royal Academy is to some extent an exception. But where this is leading is to question the extent to which the artists featured in this exhibition, including Picasso, are actually influencing contemporary art.
While Picasso and Matisse were the towering figures in twentieth century art and the principal influences on much modern art, in terms of influence on contemporary art they would appear to have been superceded by Marcel Duchamp who, by challenging the very notion of what art is with his readymades and by his insistence that art should be driven by ideas, became the father of Conceptual art.
In 2004 Duchamp's Fountain came top of a poll of 500 art experts to be named as the most influential modern art work of all time. Simon Wilson commented: "The choice of Duchamp's Fountain as the most influential work of modern art ahead of works by Picasso and Matisse comes as a bit of a shock. But it reflects the dynamic nature of art today and the idea that the creative process that goes into a work of art is the most important thing - the work itself can be made of anything and can take any form."
Michael Craig-Martin is one of those who have followed the logic of Duchamp’s concept of the ready-made by seeing everyday objects as models for works of art. Interestingly, and through a work (An Oak Tree) which can also be seen currently at Tate Britain, Craig-Martin asserts that this form of artistic creation equates to religious faith:
"An Oak Tree is based on the concept of transubstantiation, the notion central to the Catholic faith in which it is believed that bread and wine are converted into the body and blood of Christ while retaining their appearances of bread and wine. The ability to believe that an object is something other than its physical appearance indicates requires a transformative vision. This type of seeing (and knowing) is at the heart of conceptual thinking processes, by which intellectual and emotional values are conferred on images and objects. An Oak Tree uses religious faith as a metaphor for this belief system which, for Craig-Martin, is central to art. He has explained:
I considered that in An Oak Tree I had deconstructed the work of art in such a way as to reveal its single basic and essential element, belief that is the confident faith of the artist in his capacity to speak and the willing faith of the viewer in accepting what he has to say. In other words belief underlies our whole experience of art: it accounts for why some people are artists and others are not, why some people dismiss works of art others highly praise, and why something we know to be great does not always move us.
(Quoted in Michael Craig-Martin: Landscapes, [p.20].)"
It is interesting to note that, while the stylistic innovations of Picasso could be utilised to depict the central image of Christianity (i.e. the crucifixion, as in the work which Graham Sutherland painted for St Matthew's Northampton), it was through the innovations of Duchamp that the religious nature of artistic creation itself was deconstructed and demonstrated.
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M. Ward - Clean Slate (For Alex & El Goodo).
Monday, 16 April 2012
Windows on the world (192)
Canning Town, 2012
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This Picture - Highrise.
Resurrection: chain reactions
Jesus’ resurrection is like a chain reaction causing a resurrection or transformation to occur in the disciples too (John 20. 19-31 and Acts 4. 32-35). They change from being people who desert and deny Jesus, who hide away because they are afraid of the authorities. They change into people who meet publicly as Jesus’ followers, through whom miracles and wonders are done, and who share their belongings or sell what they have in order to give to others. It is an incredible transformation and it happens because Jesus comes into their midst and they receive his Spirit.
As we meet with Jesus today in this building, in this service, in each other and in our lives as we go away from this place, may we take his Spirit with us and share the fruits of his Spirit in our homes, communities and workplaces throughout the week.
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World Wide Message Tribe (WWMT) - Revolution.
Each of us, like the disciples, faces on a daily basis uncertainties and fears about our lives and faith. The disciples were afraid of what they authorities might do to them and this is a reality for many of us today. For instance, we have been reading recently in our local press from Christians today who are convinced that our government wants to prevent Christians from speaking openly about our faith. I don’t subscribe to that view myself but for some people that is how they perceive reality. For others of our congregation, their fear of the authorities has been to do with the way in which their asylum case will be dealt with. These are just some of the reasons why we might feel fear.
Thomas was not afraid instead he was uncertain. He knew that Jesus had died so, despite all that the other disciples told him about Jesus’ resurrection, how could Jesus now be alive? Again, we will have many reasons for uncertainty ourselves. Unlike the disciples, we cannot see Jesus physically and therefore we wonder is he real and am I just making all this up? We can also feel the same uncertainty about decisions we have made about our future – are we in the right job, living in the right area, are our children going to the right school, and so on and so on?
What the disciples felt in these stories is what we all feel ourselves much of the time – different situations, different reasons but the same feeling, concerns and worries!
Now the change that occurs - the transformation that happens to them, this personal resurrection that comes for each one - is not a change in their circumstances but a change in themselves. What happens is that they become aware of Jesus with them and receive his Spirit. They are still in danger from the authorities and they will spend the remainder of their lives not seeing Jesus physically but because they know Jesus with them and receive his Spirit they are able to come out of hiding, face the dangers and begin to do and say the things that Jesus did and said in their own lives.
The point about the disciples being behind locked doors and Jesus appearing to them may not be so much to do with the sense that Jesus was no longer restricted by space and time (although that is significant) and more to do with the disciples becoming aware that he was now always with them wherever they were, if they acknowledge and receive him. Isn’t that what Jesus is saying to Thomas, “happy are those who believe without seeing me.”
Michael Frost has written:
“We have locked God into the so-called sacred realms of church and healings and miracles and marvels … We seem to be trying so hard to “bring down fire from heaven” in our worship services while all along God’s favour is to be found in sunshine on our faces, the sea lapping at our toes, picking our children up at school, or a note from a caring friend.”
As we go about our daily lives are we aware that Jesus is with us in the ordinary things we see and do or do we only expect to meet with Jesus when we are in church or at some other super-charged spiritual occasion. The point about the resurrection experiences of the disciples is that Jesus is with them where they are if they recognise him. Often, the stories tell us, that they don’t recognise him initially. Mary mistakes him for the gardener and the disciples on the Emmaus Road don’t recognise him until he breaks the bread. Jesus is with us where we are, wherever we are, but often we do not recognise him.
How can we recognise him? We recognise him through his Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control. Where we see these things in ourselves, in others and in the world, we can be certain that Jesus is there.
If you watch the TV News and read the newspapers regularly you can easily be convinced that love, joy, peace etc. do not exist within our world. There is a story of bad news that is frequently being told but underneath, hidden and obscured by that bad news story is a different story of good news that doesn’t make the headlines but is the reality of our lives, our church and our faith. This is what we read about in Acts 4: 32-35 – people who are one in heart and mind, who share with one another everything they have, who witness to the resurrection of Jesus and who distribute money according to need. As a church we seek to demonstrate the Spirit of Jesus to our community through our community involvements and through all that goes on in the St John’s
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World Wide Message Tribe (WWMT) - Revolution.
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