This week the commission4mission webpage has information about two forthcoming events. Firstly, our art installation workshop at this Saturday's Barkingside Fun in the Park event and, secondly, our West Ham Festival exhibition at All Saints West Ham from 20th - 27th June.
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Aretha Franklin - Day Dreaming.
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Sunday, 7 June 2009
Airbrushed from Art History? (8)
Symbolism was an international movement and as a result the many Christian influences found within it also have strong international dimension.
In Belgium, Gustave van de Woestyne, Valerius de Saedeleer, George Minne and Alfons Dessenis formed the first 'generation' of the Latem School, which was followed shortly by a second group of artists - Albert Servaes, Frits van den Berghe, Constant Permeke, Léon de Smet and Gustave de Smet. Robert Hoozee writes in Belgian Art 1880 - 1914 that the "central idea of the little artists' colony was to search for a meaningful, spiritual art."
Like Maurice Denis, who was an influence on his work, van de Woestyne has been viewed as associating "the biblical message with the reality of an idealized rural world cut off from industrial society" (Cathérine Verleysen in Maurice Denis: Earthly Paradise). His work mixed "profound religious devotion with a realistic, sometimes mystical sensibility." George Minne was referred to on more than one occasion by critics as having a 'Gothic soul'. He drew inspiration for themes and forms from the Middle Ages and his entire oeuvre is imbued with religious feeling. Hoozee writes in Impressionism to Symbolism that Minne's work "captured perfectly the introverted spiritually expressive concerns of Symbolism, enclosed as they were within the elegant forms of Art Nouveau."
James Ensor is the greatest of the Belgian Symbolist painting truly visionary scenes and seeing himself often "in the midst of a hostile crowd, as a rejected Christ figure." This is an identification made by modern artists from Ensor and Gauguin onwards which can reflect both the isolation of artists in their suffering rejection or the sense of the god-like power to create possessed by artists. Ensor's biblically themed works such as The Entry of Christ into Brussels in 1889, in addition to their celebration of the artist as creator and unappreciated redeemer, also "create a grand, synthetic critique of contemporary politics, religion and society" which denounces "colonial policies, religious dogma, materialism, oppression, and deceit." (Michelle Facos, Symbolist Art in Context)
Jan Toorop was the oldest and most prominent of the Dutch symbolists and had many links with the Belgian movement. Robert Goldwater writes in Symbolism that the "mysticism of Toorop and [Johan] Thorn-Prikker" was a significant aspect of the "brief flowering of Dutch Symbolism." Toorop's early paintings are in the style of Ensor, he then works in a neo-impressionist style before his symbolist orientation begins to take hold. He draws on an eclectic range of iconography, including Javanese puppet figures, the flowing tresses of the Pre-Raphaelites, and Celtic interlace. All these elements come together in The Three Brides where Michael Gibson writes in Symbolism that:
"The central fiancée evokes an inward, superior and beautiful desire ... an ideal suffering ... The fiancée on the left symbolises spiritual suffering. She is the mystic fiancée, her eyes wide with fear ..." The bride on the right has "a materialistic and profane expression ..." and stands for the sensual world."
Gibson writes that "Thorn Prikker took Toorop's formalism a step further; the garland worn by The Bride echoes Christ's crown of thorns." He explained that "his basic intention [is] to fix ... the essence of things contained in general abstract concepts such as life, purity, mysticism, but also in the emotions of love, hate, depression." Goldwater writes that "his subjects are Christian, but like Maurice Denis, the best of whose early work has the same serene and lyric mood."
In Italy Symbolism was combined with Divisionism, the application of "pure colours directly onto the canvas in small dots, lines and threads" (Aurora Scotti Tosini in Radical Light). Giovanni Segantini's transcendent mountain scenes were often imbued with religious references while his "typically Symbolist dialectic of holy mother and fallen women" used "female characters who often represented the binary opposition of Mary and Eve" (Vivien Greene in Radical Light). "Guiseppe Pellizza da Volpeda was able to sustain his passion for socially conscious subjects while also using Symbolist imagery that was imbued with Christian motifs and was based on Italiam medieval and Renaissance prototypes." The Procession "re-enacts the powerful rituals of Catholicism" while The Mirror of Life "suggests biblical passages in which sheep symbolise the followers of Christ" in order to conceive the sheep of the scene as a metaphor for humanity.
For Gaetano Previati, "the most traditionally religious of the Divisionists," the Madonna and Child was a preferred theme realised most famously in Motherhood. "Previati sought to suggest the religious mysticism of his subject through the evocation of light, which radiates non-naturalistically from the figure of the Madonna in a diffused aureole" (Lara Pucci in Radical Light). "Previati's reinterpretation of Christian iconography and his efforts to reassign a spiritual meaning to art had a significant influence on the next generation [the Futurists]."
Yevgenia Petrova in From Russia portrays Mikhail Nesterov as one of "Russia's subtlest Symbolist artists":
"Nesterov devotes many of his paintings to people of the Church, remote from worldly vanity, immersed in the mysterious and rich world of spiritual quest. As a rule, the personages in Nestoerov's canvases are not portrait-like, having no concrete prototypes. They are symbols of the existence of a way of life, which rejects vanity and worldliness."
Petrova then describes the works of Mikhail Vrubel as "exhibiting a completely different kind of religiosity, rebellious in character, in keeping with the spirit of the Symbolist age":
"The thinking being tormented by good and evil, pride and sorrow, condemnation and revolt, strength of will and resignation to fate: this is the main theme of the mature Vrubel ... In his later years, Vrubel embodied his obsession with repentance in another masterpiece on a religious theme, Six-Winged Seraph."
This latter work "is perceived as an inner vision of the artist, to whom an angel has appeared to remind him of his high mission as one of the chosen, calling him to "inflame the hearts of people throughout the world", to arouse their spirits "from the trivia of the everyday, through sublime imagery"" (Valentina Knyazeva in From Russia).
Similarly, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin's Virgin of Tender Mercy to Evil Hearts is "permeated with an energy of great spiritual force" which "acquires a special significance as the artist's heartfelt response to the tragic events taking place at the time [the First World War]" Galina Krechina in From Russia).
National identity was a significant element within Symbolism, particularly in Eastern Europe. For example, Piotr Kopszak and Andrzej Szczerski writing in Symbolist Art in Poland suggest that:
"At the turn of the twentieth century the debate arose among artists concerning the search for a distinctive Polish national style. Hopes for an assertion of national identity found their expression in paintings and sculptures related to Polish history and national myths, and the Romantic idea of Polish messianism. These works implied that the sufferings of Poles had a deeper, spiritual meaning and served to redeem Europe. Poland appeared as the 'Christ of Nations', modelled on the symbolism of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ: in Romantic literature for example, contemporary Poland was compared to the crucified Jesus Christ, especially by [Adam] Mickiewicz. In the fine arts, the religious iconography of crucifixion appeared in works dedicated to national uprisings, and the sacrifice of national heroes, or in visionary works, such as [Stanislaw] Wyspiański's Polonia."
Jósef Mehoffer was a "major representative of the Polish art scene around 1900" who "throughout his life turned to the Roman Catholic religion as a source of inspiration, and his profound knowledge of Christian iconography was unique among his contemporaries." "His works were particularly well known for their attractive aesthetic qualities, based on colour harmonies and ornamental arabesques." He executed numerous church decorations but these were "a source of intense debate, with traditionalists considering the boldly modern works of Mehoffer to be inappropriate." Kazimierz Sichulski was another whose diverse output "often conveyed deeper Symbolist and religious meanings" (Julia Dudkiewicz in Symbolist Art in Poland).
In Hungary two artist communities had great significance, as Gyöngyi Éri and Zsuzsa Jobbágyi write in A Golden Age. Károly Ferenczy became the leading figure of the Nagybánya Artists' Colony and painted "a series of Biblical paintings exemplifying his love of nature." The lyrical approach to nature of the Nagybánya Artists and their semi-religious attitude to art "were both features of international Symbolism and a comon aspect of the Central-European Stimmungsmalerei." It was Ferenczy "who first painted the type of harmonious compositions where colours dominate the design, and the atmosphere is full of tender lyricism" (Ilona Sármány-Parsons in A Golden Age).
The Gödöllő Colony was inspired by the philosophy of Leo Tolstoy by simplifying their own lives and popularising his teachings for the common good, seeking happiness in unity:
"The painting Ego sum via, veritas et vita (1903) by Aladár Körösföi Kriesch is one of the most perfect expressions of the purity of this Christian faith. It displays a mentality that sought and found the fullness of life in family togetherness. Körösföi painted it after the premature death of his first child. The composition (on the right side of which members of the Gödöllő settlement are recognizable) illustrates Christian compliance with the Divine will."
"Sándor Nagy's paintings and drawings also reflect the Gödöllő striving for the purification of the spirit ... Ave Myriam (c. 1903) ... is part of a series depicting the development of the artist's own life in its progress towards beauty and perfection. At the beginning of the cycle, the artist discovers the evangelical tenets then, finding a wife, experiences the joyous beauty of life and reaches fulfilment with the birth of a child."
Finally, Tivandar Csontváry Kosztka was a "strange, obsessed genius" who following a vision aged twenty-seven indicating that he would be greater than Raphael "painted huge, visionary works in such a subjective style that they were inaccessible to the general public." The Praying Saviour "with its depiction of Moses in the background and the rather spectral presence of the apostles at the bottom of the picture, belongs to a ... visionary period, as do Cedars of Lebanon (1907) and Riders on the Seashore (1909), in which the freize-like procession of figures enhances a sense of enchantment." With similar nationalistic tendencies to those of the Young Poland movement, Csontváry "believed that a national art would serve to legitimize the history of the Hungarians as a separate and independent people in the heart of Europe."
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Arvo Part - Magnificat.
In Belgium, Gustave van de Woestyne, Valerius de Saedeleer, George Minne and Alfons Dessenis formed the first 'generation' of the Latem School, which was followed shortly by a second group of artists - Albert Servaes, Frits van den Berghe, Constant Permeke, Léon de Smet and Gustave de Smet. Robert Hoozee writes in Belgian Art 1880 - 1914 that the "central idea of the little artists' colony was to search for a meaningful, spiritual art."
Like Maurice Denis, who was an influence on his work, van de Woestyne has been viewed as associating "the biblical message with the reality of an idealized rural world cut off from industrial society" (Cathérine Verleysen in Maurice Denis: Earthly Paradise). His work mixed "profound religious devotion with a realistic, sometimes mystical sensibility." George Minne was referred to on more than one occasion by critics as having a 'Gothic soul'. He drew inspiration for themes and forms from the Middle Ages and his entire oeuvre is imbued with religious feeling. Hoozee writes in Impressionism to Symbolism that Minne's work "captured perfectly the introverted spiritually expressive concerns of Symbolism, enclosed as they were within the elegant forms of Art Nouveau."
James Ensor is the greatest of the Belgian Symbolist painting truly visionary scenes and seeing himself often "in the midst of a hostile crowd, as a rejected Christ figure." This is an identification made by modern artists from Ensor and Gauguin onwards which can reflect both the isolation of artists in their suffering rejection or the sense of the god-like power to create possessed by artists. Ensor's biblically themed works such as The Entry of Christ into Brussels in 1889, in addition to their celebration of the artist as creator and unappreciated redeemer, also "create a grand, synthetic critique of contemporary politics, religion and society" which denounces "colonial policies, religious dogma, materialism, oppression, and deceit." (Michelle Facos, Symbolist Art in Context)
Jan Toorop was the oldest and most prominent of the Dutch symbolists and had many links with the Belgian movement. Robert Goldwater writes in Symbolism that the "mysticism of Toorop and [Johan] Thorn-Prikker" was a significant aspect of the "brief flowering of Dutch Symbolism." Toorop's early paintings are in the style of Ensor, he then works in a neo-impressionist style before his symbolist orientation begins to take hold. He draws on an eclectic range of iconography, including Javanese puppet figures, the flowing tresses of the Pre-Raphaelites, and Celtic interlace. All these elements come together in The Three Brides where Michael Gibson writes in Symbolism that:
"The central fiancée evokes an inward, superior and beautiful desire ... an ideal suffering ... The fiancée on the left symbolises spiritual suffering. She is the mystic fiancée, her eyes wide with fear ..." The bride on the right has "a materialistic and profane expression ..." and stands for the sensual world."
Gibson writes that "Thorn Prikker took Toorop's formalism a step further; the garland worn by The Bride echoes Christ's crown of thorns." He explained that "his basic intention [is] to fix ... the essence of things contained in general abstract concepts such as life, purity, mysticism, but also in the emotions of love, hate, depression." Goldwater writes that "his subjects are Christian, but like Maurice Denis, the best of whose early work has the same serene and lyric mood."
In Italy Symbolism was combined with Divisionism, the application of "pure colours directly onto the canvas in small dots, lines and threads" (Aurora Scotti Tosini in Radical Light). Giovanni Segantini's transcendent mountain scenes were often imbued with religious references while his "typically Symbolist dialectic of holy mother and fallen women" used "female characters who often represented the binary opposition of Mary and Eve" (Vivien Greene in Radical Light). "Guiseppe Pellizza da Volpeda was able to sustain his passion for socially conscious subjects while also using Symbolist imagery that was imbued with Christian motifs and was based on Italiam medieval and Renaissance prototypes." The Procession "re-enacts the powerful rituals of Catholicism" while The Mirror of Life "suggests biblical passages in which sheep symbolise the followers of Christ" in order to conceive the sheep of the scene as a metaphor for humanity.
For Gaetano Previati, "the most traditionally religious of the Divisionists," the Madonna and Child was a preferred theme realised most famously in Motherhood. "Previati sought to suggest the religious mysticism of his subject through the evocation of light, which radiates non-naturalistically from the figure of the Madonna in a diffused aureole" (Lara Pucci in Radical Light). "Previati's reinterpretation of Christian iconography and his efforts to reassign a spiritual meaning to art had a significant influence on the next generation [the Futurists]."
Yevgenia Petrova in From Russia portrays Mikhail Nesterov as one of "Russia's subtlest Symbolist artists":
"Nesterov devotes many of his paintings to people of the Church, remote from worldly vanity, immersed in the mysterious and rich world of spiritual quest. As a rule, the personages in Nestoerov's canvases are not portrait-like, having no concrete prototypes. They are symbols of the existence of a way of life, which rejects vanity and worldliness."
Petrova then describes the works of Mikhail Vrubel as "exhibiting a completely different kind of religiosity, rebellious in character, in keeping with the spirit of the Symbolist age":
"The thinking being tormented by good and evil, pride and sorrow, condemnation and revolt, strength of will and resignation to fate: this is the main theme of the mature Vrubel ... In his later years, Vrubel embodied his obsession with repentance in another masterpiece on a religious theme, Six-Winged Seraph."
This latter work "is perceived as an inner vision of the artist, to whom an angel has appeared to remind him of his high mission as one of the chosen, calling him to "inflame the hearts of people throughout the world", to arouse their spirits "from the trivia of the everyday, through sublime imagery"" (Valentina Knyazeva in From Russia).
Similarly, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin's Virgin of Tender Mercy to Evil Hearts is "permeated with an energy of great spiritual force" which "acquires a special significance as the artist's heartfelt response to the tragic events taking place at the time [the First World War]" Galina Krechina in From Russia).
National identity was a significant element within Symbolism, particularly in Eastern Europe. For example, Piotr Kopszak and Andrzej Szczerski writing in Symbolist Art in Poland suggest that:
"At the turn of the twentieth century the debate arose among artists concerning the search for a distinctive Polish national style. Hopes for an assertion of national identity found their expression in paintings and sculptures related to Polish history and national myths, and the Romantic idea of Polish messianism. These works implied that the sufferings of Poles had a deeper, spiritual meaning and served to redeem Europe. Poland appeared as the 'Christ of Nations', modelled on the symbolism of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ: in Romantic literature for example, contemporary Poland was compared to the crucified Jesus Christ, especially by [Adam] Mickiewicz. In the fine arts, the religious iconography of crucifixion appeared in works dedicated to national uprisings, and the sacrifice of national heroes, or in visionary works, such as [Stanislaw] Wyspiański's Polonia."
Jósef Mehoffer was a "major representative of the Polish art scene around 1900" who "throughout his life turned to the Roman Catholic religion as a source of inspiration, and his profound knowledge of Christian iconography was unique among his contemporaries." "His works were particularly well known for their attractive aesthetic qualities, based on colour harmonies and ornamental arabesques." He executed numerous church decorations but these were "a source of intense debate, with traditionalists considering the boldly modern works of Mehoffer to be inappropriate." Kazimierz Sichulski was another whose diverse output "often conveyed deeper Symbolist and religious meanings" (Julia Dudkiewicz in Symbolist Art in Poland).
In Hungary two artist communities had great significance, as Gyöngyi Éri and Zsuzsa Jobbágyi write in A Golden Age. Károly Ferenczy became the leading figure of the Nagybánya Artists' Colony and painted "a series of Biblical paintings exemplifying his love of nature." The lyrical approach to nature of the Nagybánya Artists and their semi-religious attitude to art "were both features of international Symbolism and a comon aspect of the Central-European Stimmungsmalerei." It was Ferenczy "who first painted the type of harmonious compositions where colours dominate the design, and the atmosphere is full of tender lyricism" (Ilona Sármány-Parsons in A Golden Age).
The Gödöllő Colony was inspired by the philosophy of Leo Tolstoy by simplifying their own lives and popularising his teachings for the common good, seeking happiness in unity:
"The painting Ego sum via, veritas et vita (1903) by Aladár Körösföi Kriesch is one of the most perfect expressions of the purity of this Christian faith. It displays a mentality that sought and found the fullness of life in family togetherness. Körösföi painted it after the premature death of his first child. The composition (on the right side of which members of the Gödöllő settlement are recognizable) illustrates Christian compliance with the Divine will."
"Sándor Nagy's paintings and drawings also reflect the Gödöllő striving for the purification of the spirit ... Ave Myriam (c. 1903) ... is part of a series depicting the development of the artist's own life in its progress towards beauty and perfection. At the beginning of the cycle, the artist discovers the evangelical tenets then, finding a wife, experiences the joyous beauty of life and reaches fulfilment with the birth of a child."
Finally, Tivandar Csontváry Kosztka was a "strange, obsessed genius" who following a vision aged twenty-seven indicating that he would be greater than Raphael "painted huge, visionary works in such a subjective style that they were inaccessible to the general public." The Praying Saviour "with its depiction of Moses in the background and the rather spectral presence of the apostles at the bottom of the picture, belongs to a ... visionary period, as do Cedars of Lebanon (1907) and Riders on the Seashore (1909), in which the freize-like procession of figures enhances a sense of enchantment." With similar nationalistic tendencies to those of the Young Poland movement, Csontváry "believed that a national art would serve to legitimize the history of the Hungarians as a separate and independent people in the heart of Europe."
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Arvo Part - Magnificat.
Do you love me?
This evening's service at St John's was a meditation on love based on the repeated question of James Baldwin's Ears to hear me:
The joint, as Fats Waller would have said, was jumping ...
And during the last set, the saxophone player
took off on a terrific solo.
He was a kid from some insane place like Jersey City
or Syracuse, but somewhere along the line he had disco-
vered he could say it with a saxophone.
He stood there, wide-legged, humping the air, filling
his barrel chest, shivering in the rags of his
twenty-odd years, and screaming through the horn,
"Do you love me?" "Do you love me?" "Do you love me?"
And again - "Do you love me?" "Do you love me?"
"Do you love me?"
The same phrase unbearably, endlessly, and variously
repeated with all the force the kid had ...
The question was terrible and real.
The kid was blowing with his lungs and guts
out of his short past; and somewhere in the past,
in gutters or gang fights ... in the precinct basement,
he had received a blow from which he would never
recover, and this no one wanted to believe.
Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?
The men on the stand stayed with him, cool and at a
little distance, adding and questioning ... But each man
knew that the boy was blowing for every one of them ...
The reading of this poem followed an instrumental piece played by Floyd, a saxophonist who had travelled from Bexley to be with us for this service. Maddy Channer who led the service spoke about the way in which so many of our actions are a cry for love and linked the poem to the repeated question that Jesus asked Peter as he restored him following his denial.
"Love ... is tried and tested by those nearest to us. True love needs the discipline of demand, the nag of domesticity, and the failings of those dearest to us. This means pain, the pain of growth and perfecting ... The Easter Christ wore the scars of human brutality, for his love had been perfected in the fires of human malice and meanness." (Hugh Lavery)
The service ended with prayers based on 1 Corinthians 13 and another marvellous saxophone solo from Floyd. It was a simple, profound and life-giving, reflective service.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Albert Ayler - Summertime.
The joint, as Fats Waller would have said, was jumping ...
And during the last set, the saxophone player
took off on a terrific solo.
He was a kid from some insane place like Jersey City
or Syracuse, but somewhere along the line he had disco-
vered he could say it with a saxophone.
He stood there, wide-legged, humping the air, filling
his barrel chest, shivering in the rags of his
twenty-odd years, and screaming through the horn,
"Do you love me?" "Do you love me?" "Do you love me?"
And again - "Do you love me?" "Do you love me?"
"Do you love me?"
The same phrase unbearably, endlessly, and variously
repeated with all the force the kid had ...
The question was terrible and real.
The kid was blowing with his lungs and guts
out of his short past; and somewhere in the past,
in gutters or gang fights ... in the precinct basement,
he had received a blow from which he would never
recover, and this no one wanted to believe.
Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?
The men on the stand stayed with him, cool and at a
little distance, adding and questioning ... But each man
knew that the boy was blowing for every one of them ...
The reading of this poem followed an instrumental piece played by Floyd, a saxophonist who had travelled from Bexley to be with us for this service. Maddy Channer who led the service spoke about the way in which so many of our actions are a cry for love and linked the poem to the repeated question that Jesus asked Peter as he restored him following his denial.
"Love ... is tried and tested by those nearest to us. True love needs the discipline of demand, the nag of domesticity, and the failings of those dearest to us. This means pain, the pain of growth and perfecting ... The Easter Christ wore the scars of human brutality, for his love had been perfected in the fires of human malice and meanness." (Hugh Lavery)
The service ended with prayers based on 1 Corinthians 13 and another marvellous saxophone solo from Floyd. It was a simple, profound and life-giving, reflective service.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Albert Ayler - Summertime.
Movers & Shakers
Lee Scott MP talking with other participants
On the start line for the 'Movers & Shakers' cycle ride
Chris Elliott (left) one of the LCC organisers
Councillor Keith Prince, Leader of Redbridge Council, speaking after the ride
Elwin Cockett, Archdeacon of West HamYesterday I was at the new Redbridge Cycling Centre, with its stunning views across London and links with the London Olympic site for 'Movers and Shakers', an initiative by local branches of London Cycling Campaign in which people of influence within the community act as role models to demonstrate that cycling can be for everyone.
'Movers and Shakers' culminated in yesterday's public event at the RCC, on Forest Road, Ilford IG6 3, beside Hainault Lodge Nature Reserve. 'Movers and Shakers' present included, among others:
- Richard Allen, Head of Business Planning, Barnardo's Children's services;
- Ravi Bhanot, organiser of the Sewa Week (Hindu) Ilford Charity Bike Ride;
- Paul Canal, Chair of Wanstead & Snaresbrook Ward Conservatives;
- Chris Carter, Editor, 'Ilford Recorder';
- James Cleverly, Mayor's Ambassador for Young People, GLA member Bexley & Bromley;
- Revd. Elwin Cockett, Archdeacon of West Ham;
- Chief Inspector Paige Kimberley, Met. Police;
- Cllr. Keith Prince, Leader of Redbridge Council; and
- Lee Scott, MP Ilford North.
I managed three circuits of the Upper Track and one of the full track (just!), on top of cycling to and from the RCC. All of which was probably the most exercise I've had in a long time! But well worth it to play a part in encouraging others to cycle and in order to see the excellent facilities at the RCC.
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Pink Floyd - Bike.
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Present & Engaged
Archbishop Rowan Williams preached and presided at a Eucharist to launch the Presence and Engagement Network (PEN) on June 1st. PEN brings together those ministering in multi faith contexts, and those who train and equip them, in the Church of England dioceses covering Greater London.
The launch event, which included Bishops from each of the participating dioceses, was part of a day of reflection, prayer and celebration on the witness of Christian congregations in multi faith contexts. The Archbishop also gave the keynote address at this study day, organised at the Contextual Study Centre, which looked at the characteristic practices of Christian congregations - and the distinctive opportunities and challenges of multi Faith contexts. Materials from the day will be posted online shortly and I will include a link to them when they are.
I was part of the day as one of CTC's tutors and the author of the 'Living with other faiths' resource pack which was promoted as part of the PEN launch and a copy of which will be sent to every parish in Greater London. My particular part to play was to response to a excellent paper on Reading scripture in Presence & Engagement contexts which was given by Michael Ipgrave, Archdeacon of Southwark.
Michael's paper, which will be included in the materials to be posted online and is well worth reading, considered the four themes of ‘handling’, ‘opening’, ‘revisiting’, and ‘engaging scripture’. In my response I affirmed what he said by adding some stories from my own experience:
I have just finished using the PEN ‘Living with other faiths’ resource materials in one of two courses looking at these issues as part of the Chelmsford Diocese’s Lent & Eastertide courses.
As in previous years it was the realisation by the course participants that the contexts in which Israel, Jesus and the Early Church lived and ministered were multi-faith which really opened up the issue to them. There is a palpable change in the group and their understanding when they see, for example, that, by commending the Good Samaritan, Jesus is challenging people of one faith to receive from someone of another faith.
As in previous years it was the realisation by the course participants that the contexts in which Israel, Jesus and the Early Church lived and ministered were multi-faith which really opened up the issue to them. There is a palpable change in the group and their understanding when they see, for example, that, by commending the Good Samaritan, Jesus is challenging people of one faith to receive from someone of another faith.
When that realisation comes, the course participants recognise, as Michael expressed, “that the people of God have already known and grappled with the challenges of living amid religious plurality.”
I recently led a project, through a network called Faiths in London’s Economy, which developed a ‘Shared Faiths response to the credit crunch’; a document that now features on the Faiths debate page of the G20 London Summit website. What was fascinating about that process was the way in which dialoguing with people of other faiths sharpened my understanding of my faith.
One particular debate was with a Muslim member of the group over a statement that in some faith traditions human beings are seen as co-creators with God. Initially, this appeared arrogant in the extreme to him but over email exchanges and telephone conversations we found common ground in the idea of human beings as representatives of the divine on earth. Michael said that these kinds of encounters sharpen our “awareness of the way in which churches handle the Bible.” And that was certainly my experience in this instance.
One particular debate was with a Muslim member of the group over a statement that in some faith traditions human beings are seen as co-creators with God. Initially, this appeared arrogant in the extreme to him but over email exchanges and telephone conversations we found common ground in the idea of human beings as representatives of the divine on earth. Michael said that these kinds of encounters sharpen our “awareness of the way in which churches handle the Bible.” And that was certainly my experience in this instance.
Finally, in the ‘Living with other faiths’ pack we give several scenarios in which people are asked to think of basic information about other faiths that it would be useful for them to have before making initial contact. One of these scenarios involves an approach from a Muslim group to use Church accommodation for an Islamic Study Circle. Most people’s initial reaction is that Churches should not get involved. That is until we give them a case study of one church that has engaged with such a group. Allowing the group to use their premises led to the building of friendship which led to shared study of their respective scriptures.
While that church was not formally engaged in a Scriptural Reasoning process they also found their Scriptures speaking to them when they were brought alongside the sacred texts of other religions and that experience developed considerably the building of friendship, trust and understanding in their local community.
Michael ended by saying that when we engage with one another’s scriptures “we can sense our human interactions with one another being caught up in, and transformed by … dialogue with God.” The centrality of dialogue to interfaith engagement can, I think, be an entry point for us into understanding the way in which dialogue informs Christian faith. The idea that the form of scripture sets texts in dialogue with each other; that dialogue or exchange is at the heart of the Trinity; and that God seeks to draw us into that dialogue and that Jesus is the self-communication of God.
As one paraphrase of John 1 puts it: “It all arose out of a conversation, conversation within God, in fact the conversation was God. So God started the discussion, and everything came out of this, and nothing happened without consultation. This was the life, life that was the light of men, shining in the darkness, a darkness which neither understood nor quenched its creativity.” If, as that paraphrase would have it, interfaith dialogue is an aspect of that broader dialogue with God then my motivation for getting engaged is all the greater.
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Van Morrison - And The Healing Has Begun.
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Windows on the world (56)
Ditchingham 2009
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The Band - Whispering Pines.
Because Britain matters
Here is the latest important message from HOPE not hate:
"We're not going to tell you how to vote we're going to tell you why.
If we sit back and choose not to vote we will let the BNP in through the backdoor. They will win seats in tomorrows election. Britain will be represented by racists. But all this can be stopped by you. A BNP victory would betray all that Britain stands for.
We've made a video featuring Eddie Izzard talking to Ken, a WWII war veteran, and Gisela, who lived in Nazi Germany during the 1930s - people who have had first hand experience of what happens when fascists seize power. I'd like you to watch it and then share it with your friends.
65 years ago brave men and women took to arms to protect us all from the perils of fascism. They gave everything and more to keep the Nazi threat off of British soil.
All you have to do is vote. Each of us has the responsibility to stop the BNP. The best way we can do that is to not only to vote ourselves but to encourage everyone we know to go out and do the same. Every person you get to the polls to vote for any other party makes it harder for the BNP to win a seat. Email your friends now and remind them to vote tomorrow."
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Billy Bragg - A New England.
"We're not going to tell you how to vote we're going to tell you why.
If we sit back and choose not to vote we will let the BNP in through the backdoor. They will win seats in tomorrows election. Britain will be represented by racists. But all this can be stopped by you. A BNP victory would betray all that Britain stands for.
We've made a video featuring Eddie Izzard talking to Ken, a WWII war veteran, and Gisela, who lived in Nazi Germany during the 1930s - people who have had first hand experience of what happens when fascists seize power. I'd like you to watch it and then share it with your friends.
65 years ago brave men and women took to arms to protect us all from the perils of fascism. They gave everything and more to keep the Nazi threat off of British soil.
All you have to do is vote. Each of us has the responsibility to stop the BNP. The best way we can do that is to not only to vote ourselves but to encourage everyone we know to go out and do the same. Every person you get to the polls to vote for any other party makes it harder for the BNP to win a seat. Email your friends now and remind them to vote tomorrow."
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Billy Bragg - A New England.
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