Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal Winter 2020 — Volume 4.4 A quarterly journal for debate on current issues in the Anglican Communion and beyond Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal Volume 4.4 — Winter 2020 — ISSN 2399-8989 EDITORIAL The Winter 2020 issue of the Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal is rich and varied. In addition to an article by John N. Collins, an international scholar of the diaconate, there are six articles on the vocational diaconate by authors linked to the Scottish Episcopal Church: John Reuben Davies, Norma Higgott, Stephen Mark Holmes, Harriet Johnston, Richard Tiplady and Anne Tomlinson; the Scottish Episcopal Institute Annual Lecture 2020 by the missiologist Cathy Ross entitled ‘Mission and Formation in a Time of Lament and Hope: Reflections after COVID-19’; a response to the Doctrine Committee’s ‘Theology of Authority in the Ministry of the Church’ (Grosvenor Essay no. 13) by John Hind; an article about pilgrimage and running by Mark Calder; an informal reflection on ministerial practice by Gregor Duncan; and, finally, five book reviews. This Winter issue marks four years for the Journal, with sixteen issues having come online since Spring 2017. Thanks are due to those whose contributions over these last four years have made the Journal a significant source of theological reflection in Scotland and the Anglican Communion, especially Nicholas Taylor and Alistair Mason, who both stand down from membership on the Editorial Board at the end of this calendar year. As we approach the Fourth Sunday of Advent, our Prime Minister and First Minister have both announced renewed restrictions in light of a new strain of the Covid-19 virus. The Collect for Advent IV is a particularly apt prayer at this time insofar as it asks the Good God to ‘speedily help and deliver us’. O Lord, raise up (we pray thee) thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through the satisfaction of thy Son our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory, world without end. Amen. (Scottish Book of Common Prayer) ARTICLES ‘Yet here am I among you like the waiter’ (Luke 22. 27) JOHN N. COLLINS 9 What is a Deacon? A Liturgical Perspective JOHN REUBEN DAVIES 15 Diaconal Ministry NORMA HIGGOTT 23 Durandus and the Deacon: How Medieval Liturgical Interpretation Can Help Us Understand the Diaconate STEPHEN MARK HOLMES 27 A Reflection on the Ministry of Deacons in the Church of Sweden in Light of the Theology of the Diaconate HARRIET JOHNSTON 51 The Vocational Diaconate as a Vehicle for Pioneer Ministry in the Scottish Episcopal Church RICHARD TIPLADY 63 Formed in the Field: Steps Towards the Provision of Dedicated Diaconal Formation in the Scottish Episcopal Church ANNE TOMLINSON 73 Mission and Formation in a Time of Lament and Hope: Reflections after COVID-19 CATHY ROSS 87 ‘Theology of Authority in the Ministry of the Church’ (Grosvenor Essay No. 13): A Response JOHN HIND 101 Running with Patience: Pilgrimage as Journeys of the Church MARK CALDER 111 Liturgy: Some Informal Reflections by an Episcopal Practitioner GREGOR DUNCAN 131 BOOK REVIEWS ROBERT GOVAERTS, Along the Side of the Pond: Memoirs of a Belgian Contemplative Reviewed by DAVID JASPER 141 MUNTHER ISAAC, The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope Reviewed by NICHOLAS TAYLOR 142 MICHAEL GRIFFIN, Religion in the English Novel: From Jane Austen to Margaret Atwood Reviewed by DAVID JASPER 144 ERIC ZIOLKOWSKI, Religion and Literature: History and Method Reviewed by KATHRYNE ANNE WILLS 146 ALVYN PETTERSEN, The Second-Century Apologists Reviewed by DAVID JASPER 149 AUTISM AND LITURGY A special request regarding a research project on autism and liturgy Dr Léon van Ommen needs your help for a research project on autism and liturgy. Léon is a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, a member of St Ninian’s Church (Aberdeen) and a member of the Liturgy Committee of the Faith and Order Board. Léon is conducting a research project on autism and liturgy. He is looking for participants. If you (self-)identify as autistic/on the autism spectrum and are willing to share your experience of worship and liturgy, please get in touch with him at [email protected]. People anywhere on the autism spectrum, including non-verbal, and of all ages, are welcome to join. The project is based at the Centre for the Study of Autism and Christian Community, at the University of Aberdeen. Ethical permission has been obtained from the University. Please email Léon for more information, he would love to hear from you. PROFESSOR DONALD M. MACKINNON A special request regarding the late Professor Donald M. MacKinnon Dr André Muller, who is working on an intellectual biography of Professor Donald M. MacKinnon (1913–94), would be very interested to hear from anyone who knew the Scottish philosophical theologian, or heard him lecture or preach, or corresponded with him, or has any information about him. André may be contacted via email ([email protected]) or post (14a Arnot Ave, Clouston Park, Upper Hutt, 5018, New Zealand). Enquiries Enquires to the Revd Dr Michael Hull Scottish Episcopal Institute 21 Grosvenor Crescent Edinburgh EH12 5EE Scotland–UK 0131 225 6357 [email protected] Disclaimer The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the authors in the Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church or the Scottish Episcopal Institute. Copyright The author of each article published here owns his or her own words. The articles in the Scottish Episcopal Journal may be freely redistributed in other media and non-commercial publications as long as the article is not abridged, edited or altered in any way without the express consent of the author. A redistributed article may not be sold for profit or included in another medium or publication that is sold for profit without the express consent of the author. The articles in the Scottish Episcopal Journal may be included in commercial publication or other media only if prior consent for republication is received from the author. The author may request compensation for republication for commercial use. Revised Friday 15 January 2021 ‘Yet here am I among you like the waiter’ (Luke 22. 27) JOHN N. COLLINS Yarra Theological Union (Australia) Deacons are all familiar with the Lord’s saying in the Gospel according to Luke, ‘I am among you as one who serves.’ For this reflection I have drawn on the slightly different translation in the New English Bible of 1961, ‘Yet here am I among you like the servant,’ but I have changed the word ‘servant’ to ‘waiter’. The New English Bible is not much used these days, but at this point I think it hit the mark. I changed ‘servant’ to ‘waiter’, however, because I want to emphasize the focus Luke maintains throughout this scene. That focus is ever so sharply on a group of people at the closing stage of an important and formal meal. And I like very much the way the New English Bible captures the shock value in what Jesus says. ‘Yet here am I among you like […]’ Obviously, he is about to tip the scales, to say something unexpected, something challenging whose import is critical for his confused companions. When, by contrast, we turn to our contemporary version, ‘but I am among you as one who serves’, the table scene tends to slip from view and we easily begin to consider a broader scenario where Jesus is reminding us of all kinds of serving that he has engaged himself in and now sends us out too. The earliest English translators had no inclinations in this direction. They kept the attention very much on the meal. Both John Wyclif (1380) and William Tyndale (1526) have Jesus and his disciples sitting ‘at meat’ — in 1611 the Authorized Version retained this — and the two figures Jesus introduces into the scene are ‘he that sittith at the mete’ and ‘he that mynystrith’, that is the table attendant or waiter. Jesus then turns things around with — as Wyclif put it — ‘I am in the middle of you as he that mynystrith.’ In taking up Jesus’s saying for a reflection, we will keep the same table scene in view. Luke’s Passover Helping us here is the way Luke has structured what we call the Last Supper, although the word ‘supper’ is something of a distraction. This antique word ‘supper’ speaks of an evening meal but, as the dictionary describes it, a ‘light and informal’ one, which is not at all what Luke aims to present. Like Mark and Matthew, Luke is particular about establishing the character of the meal as a Passover. Disciples are sent into Jerusalem to make the preparations. Of the Passover itself, however, with its lamb, unleavened bread and bitter 10 SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL herbs, we hear virtually nothing, but that is of little matter as we hear the emotive expression of Jesus’s ‘earnest’ desire ‘to eat this Passover’ with his disciples before he suffers (Luke 22. 15). With the mention of the suffering — a salient feature of Jesus’s earlier warnings during their long journey up to Jerusalem (Luke 9. 22 and 44; 13. 33–34;18. 31–33) — a looming tragedy at once sets its frame around the whole of the proceedings. Even as these conclude Jesus identifies himself as the Suffering Servant of the later Isaiah; he is to be ‘reckoned with transgressors’ (Luke 22.