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1 Alec Vidler on Christian Faith and Secular Despair Born in Rye
Alec Vidler On Christian Faith and Secular Despair Born in Rye, Sussex, son of a shipping businessman, Alec Vidler ( 1899‐1991)was educated at Sutton Valence School, Kent, read theology at Selwyn College, Cambridge (B.A. 1921),then trained for the Anglican ministry at Wells Theological College. He disliked Wells and transferred to the Oratory of the Good Shepherd, Cambridge, an Anglo‐Catholic community of celibates, and was ordained priest in 1923. He retained a life‐time affection for the celibate monkish life, never marrying but having a wide range of friends, including Malcolm Muggeridge, who was at Selwyn with him. Muggeridge’s father was a prominent Labourite and Vidler imbibed leftist sympathies in that circle. His first curacy was in Newcastle, working in the slums. He soon came to love his work with working class parishioners and was reluctantly transferred to St Aidan’s Birmingham, where he became involved in a celebrated stoush with the bishop E. W. Barnes, himself a controversialist of note. Vidler’s Anglo‐ Catholic approach to ritual clashed with Barnes’s evangelicalism. Vidler began a prolific career of publication in the 1920s and 30s. In 1931 he joined friends like Wilfred Ward at the Oratory House in Cambridge, steeping himself in religious history and theology, including that of Reinhold Niebuhr and “liberal Catholicism”. In 1939 Vidler became warden of St Deiniol’s Library, Hawarden (founded by a legacy from Gladstone) and also editor of the leading Anglican journal Theology, which he ran until 1964, exerting considerable progressive influence across those years. He also facilitated a number of religious think‐tanks in these, and later, years. -
Book Reviews the DOCTRINE of GRACE in the APOSTOLIC FATHERS
Book Reviews THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE IN THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. By T. F. Torrance. 15opp. Oliver <8- Boyd. 12/6. Probably all students of theology must have noticed the significant change in the understanding of the term ' grace ' from the time of the New Testament onwards. Perhaps, too, they will have wondered how and why it was that the evangelical Apostolic message degenerated so completely into the pseudo-Christianity of the Dark and Middle Ages. It is the aim of Dr. Torrance in his small but important dis sertation to supply an answer to both these problems. He does so by taking the word ' grace ' and comparing the Biblical usage with that of the accepted Fathers of the sub-Apostolic period : the Didache, I and II Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hermas. The resultant study has a threefold value for the theologian. It has, first, a narrower linguistic and historical value as a contribution to the understanding of the conception of grace in the first hundred years or so of Christian theology. As the author himself makes clear in the useful Introduction, this question is not so simple as some readers might suppose, for the term grace had many meanings in Classical and Hellenistic Greek. It is important then to fix the exact con notation in the New Testament itself, and also to achieve an aware ness of any shift of understanding in the immediate post-Apostolic period. The exegetical discussions at the end of each chapter have a considerable value in the accomplishment of this task. -
Christian Public Ethics Sagepub.Co.Uk/Journalspermissions.Nav Tjx.Sagepub.Com Robin Gill
Theology 0(0) 1–9 ! The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: Christian public ethics sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav tjx.sagepub.com Robin Gill This special online issue of Theology focuses upon Christian public ethics or, more specifically, upon those forms of Christian ethics that have contributed sig- nificantly to public debate. Throughout the 95 years of the journal’s history, there has been discussion about public ethics (even if it has not always been named as such). However, Christian public ethics had a particular flourishing between 1965 and 1975, when Professor Gordon Dunstan (1918–2004) was editor. When I became editor of Theology in January 2014, I acknowledged at once my personal debt to Gordon. He encouraged and published my very first article when I was still a postgraduate in 1967, and several more articles beyond that. And, speaking personally, his example of deep engagement in medical ethics was inspirational. When he died, The Telegraph noted the following among his many achievements: He was president of the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology and vice-president of the London Medical Group and of the Institute of Medical Ethics. During the 1960s he was a member of a Department of Health Advisory Group on Transplant Policy, and from 1989 to 1993 he served on a Department of Health committee on the Ethics of Gene Therapy. From 1990 onwards he was a member of the Unrelated Live Transplant Regulatory Authority and from 1989 to 1993 he served on the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. (19 January 2004) The two most substantial ethical contributions that I have discovered in searching through back issues of Theology were both published when he was editor and were doubtless directly encouraged by him. -
Completed Thesis
THE UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Human Uniqueness: Twenty-First Century Perspectives from Theology, Science and Archaeology Josephine Kiddle Bsc (Biology) MA (Religion) Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2013 This Thesis has been completed as a requirement for a postgraduate research degree of the University of Winchester. The word count is: 89350 THE UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER ABSTRACT FOR THESIS Human Uniqueness: Twenty-First Century Perspectives from Theology, Science and Archaeology A project aiming to establish, through the three disciplines, the value of human uniqueness as an integrating factor for science with theology Josephine Kiddle Bsc (Biology) MA (Religion) Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Doctor of Philosophy February 2013 The theme that underlies the thesis is the challenge presented by science, as it developed from the time of the Enlightenment through the centuries until the present day, to Christian theology. The consequent conflict of ideas is traced in respect of biological science and the traditions of Protestant Christian doctrine, together with the advances of the developing discipline of prehistoric archaeology since the early nineteenth century. The common ground from which disagreement stemmed was the existence of human beings and the uniqueness of the human species as a group amongst all other creatures. With the conflict arising from this challenge, centring on the origin and history of human uniqueness, a rift became established between the disciplines which widened as they progressed through to the twentieth century. It is this separation that the thesis takes up and endeavours to analyse in the light of the influence of advancing science on the blending of philosophical scientific ideas with the elements of Christian faith of former centuries. -
Pseudoscience and Science Fiction Science and Fiction
Andrew May Pseudoscience and Science Fiction Science and Fiction Editorial Board Mark Alpert Philip Ball Gregory Benford Michael Brotherton Victor Callaghan Amnon H Eden Nick Kanas Geoffrey Landis Rudi Rucker Dirk Schulze-Makuch Ru€diger Vaas Ulrich Walter Stephen Webb Science and Fiction – A Springer Series This collection of entertaining and thought-provoking books will appeal equally to science buffs, scientists and science-fiction fans. It was born out of the recognition that scientific discovery and the creation of plausible fictional scenarios are often two sides of the same coin. Each relies on an understanding of the way the world works, coupled with the imaginative ability to invent new or alternative explanations—and even other worlds. Authored by practicing scientists as well as writers of hard science fiction, these books explore and exploit the borderlands between accepted science and its fictional counterpart. Uncovering mutual influences, promoting fruitful interaction, narrating and analyzing fictional scenarios, together they serve as a reaction vessel for inspired new ideas in science, technology, and beyond. Whether fiction, fact, or forever undecidable: the Springer Series “Science and Fiction” intends to go where no one has gone before! Its largely non-technical books take several different approaches. Journey with their authors as they • Indulge in science speculation—describing intriguing, plausible yet unproven ideas; • Exploit science fiction for educational purposes and as a means of promoting critical thinking; • Explore the interplay of science and science fiction—throughout the history of the genre and looking ahead; • Delve into related topics including, but not limited to: science as a creative process, the limits of science, interplay of literature and knowledge; • Tell fictional short stories built around well-defined scientific ideas, with a supplement summarizing the science underlying the plot. -
This Is Your Hour, and the Power of Darkness
Introduction: ‘Th is is your hour’ Th en Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. Luke 22:52– 3 In the foreboding political atmosphere of late 1930s Europe, several Christian activists and thinkers came together in a British- based, inter- nationally connected circle to try to understand – and resist – the apparent cultural disintegration of western society and the rise of totalitarianism. Th roughout the Second World War and its aftermath the group’s members analysed the world’s ills and off ered guidelines for post- war ‘reconstruc- tion’. Convinced that the crises of the age resulted from Christianity’s decline, they sought its ‘revolutionary’ restoration to dominance in British, European and western culture: in short, a ‘Christian society’. While there was no contemporary label for their eff orts as a whole, some of which remained out of the public eye, I call them ‘the Oldham group’, after their organiser, the missionary and ecumenist Joseph H. Oldham. Active between 1937 and 1949, the Oldham group grew out of the inter- war ecumenical movement and consisted of church- affi liated organisations, an informal discussion group (‘the Moot’) and publication projects, notably the Christian News- Letter . It was substantially Anglican with signifi cant free church (i.e. non- Anglican Protestant) membership; denominational perspectives, however, remained secondary in a search for shared, ‘Christian’ principles. -
Here Is Characteristically Anglican Liberty Which Encourages Members „To Develop Their Personal Gifts and Thus to Enrich the Offering Laid at the Feet of Christ‟
THE ORATORY OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD The First Seventy Five Years by GEORGE TIBBATTS,* OGS {* spelling corrected} - 2 - {iv} Copyright © Almoner, Oratory of the Good Shepherd 1988 Published by The Almoner, OGS, 56 Buckland Crescent. Windsor, Berks. Printed by Dramrite Printers Ltd, Southwark, London SE1 ISBN No. 1 871161 00 2 In this digital copy the start of each page of the book and other editorial notes are shown by e.g. {10}. - 3 - {v} FOREWORD This history appears as the Oratory celebrates the seventy fifth anniversary of its foundation in Cambridge in 1913. Canon Tibbatts, who has served both as Secretary-General and Superior, is uniquely qualified to tell the story. His association with the Oratory began in his undergraduate days at Kings in the l920ies. He knew personally the founding fathers and enjoyed their friendship. In the years preceding the first world war three young clerical dons (John How, Eric Milner-White and Edward Wynn) sought to establish a society for celibate priests, bound by a common rule of life, marked by Catholic discipline of prayer and devotion, and characterised by the importance attached to regular and systematic study in the life of a priest Their inspiration was drawn from the Catholic revival of the previous century, and they were concerned to make a distinctive witness in the religious life of the University. The ethos of the Oratory was, and has continued to be essentially Anglican in its Catholic form. The devotion to Our Lord as the Good Shepherd, the adoption of Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding as patron, testify to the pastoral ideal and English temper of the Oratory. -
Science Fiction Book Club Interview with RL Fanthorpe (February 2021)
Science Fiction Book Club Interview with R.L Fanthorpe (February 2021) Robert Lionel Fanthorpe entered into a publishing arrangement with Badger Books of England in the early 50's. Over the next decade and a half, he proceeded to write science fiction novels under many different pen names. The exact number of books is not known due to the fact that some of the pseudonyms were being used by other writers working for Badger at the same time. It is estimated to be 180+ books. Of these books, 89 are known to have been written in a three-year period. That works out to be one 158-page book every twelve days. But those days writing for Badger were a long time ago, since then Fanthorpe has become a reverend with a love for Harley Davidson bikes, an explorer who loves unravelling the mysteries of the world, a major contributor to paranormal research, a television presenter, and he has continued to write books on subjects such as religion as well as the paranormal. Eva Sable: Who did you enjoy most reading as you grew up? Do you regard those authors as influences? My favourites were H.G.Wells, especially ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ and Jules Verne. I also enjoyed Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ and ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’. John Grayshaw: If you haven’t already answered it, I’ve heard that HG Wells was a particular influence? Yes, very much so: he was probably my main influence. I greatly enjoyed ‘The Invisible Man’, ‘The Time Machine’ and ‘The Island of Dr Moreau’. -
Frederick Dennison MAURICE: Still a Prophetic Voice Today? a Paper for St Aidan’S Fellowship, November 2010 by Derek Pratt
Frederick Dennison MAURICE: Still a prophetic voice today? A paper for St Aidan’s Fellowship, November 2010 By Derek Pratt I. Introduction If you are a regular Facebook user you will know that down the right hand side of the home page there are frequent advertisements for things such as how to flatten ones belly or quizzes to help understand ones self-development. Last year I answered a set of questions which then informed me that I would best fit into a Dominican monastery were I to a become a religious. A few weeks ago I found a quiz, which promised to tell me which Anglican theologian I was. After answering a set of ten questions it informed me that F. D. Maurice was the Anglican theologian I was closest to. My report stated: You are fully convinced that the Scriptures and the Fathers are important to Anglican life and witness. However, social justice is important to you, too - and social justice tends towards some sort of non-revolutionary socialism, and towards an emphasis upon education. Liturgy is at the Church's heart, and both it and the calendar ought to be taken more seriously. Taking these seriously, however, means neither detracting from them nor adding to them. Thus, you have a traditional but not excessively high view of aesthetics. The Gospel is about Christ, and Christ is about grace - perhaps even for all. Therefore, you believe, theology should begin with the Incarnation. Bishops are the successors of the apostles, but you like to remind your friends that the Church is also embedded within a larger political community whose stability it must help to secure. -
CHRISTOPHER EVANS Christopher Francis Evans 1909–2012
CHRISTOPHER EVANS Christopher Francis Evans 1909–2012 THREE YOUNG MEN—two Anglican, one Methodist—studying Theology at Cambridge at various times in the 1930s were destined, though they did not know it, to become the three most influential British New Testament scholars of their generation. All were to become Fellows of the British Academy. The first was Charles Francis Digby Moule (always known as ‘Charlie’), who read classics at Emmanuel College, but then studied Theology at Ridley Hall in preparation for ordination; he became Lady Margaret’s Professor of Divinity in 1951. Youngest of the three was Charles Kingsley Barrett (known by his friends as ‘Kingsley’), who stud- ied mathe matics at Pembroke before switching to Theology and preparing for the Methodist ministry at Wesley House; he spent almost all his teach- ing career in Durham, where he became Professor of New Testament.1 In between them, and overlapping with Charlie Moule, was Christopher Francis Evans, who was for a short time Lightfoot Professor at Durham before moving to the University of London, as Professor of New Testament at King’s College. ‘Overlapping with’, and perhaps overshadowed by, Charlie Moule, who had gone up to Cambridge a year before him. In later life Christopher would relate how, as an undergraduate, he had ventured to enter for vari- ous university prizes, but would inevitably recognise Charlie’s slight figure at another desk in the examination room, whereupon his heart would 1 Both have been the subject of memoirs in this series: W. Horbury, ‘Charles Francis Digby Moule, 1908–2007’, Proceedings of the British Academy, 161, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows, VIII, 281–301; J. -
A Cultural History of Tarot
A Cultural History of Tarot ii A CULTURAL HISTORY OF TAROT Helen Farley is Lecturer in Studies in Religion and Esotericism at the University of Queensland. She is editor of the international journal Khthónios: A Journal for the Study of Religion and has written widely on a variety of topics and subjects, including ritual, divination, esotericism and magic. CONTENTS iii A Cultural History of Tarot From Entertainment to Esotericism HELEN FARLEY Published in 2009 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © Helen Farley, 2009 The right of Helen Farley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN 978 1 84885 053 8 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress catalog card: available Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham from camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the author CONTENTS v Contents -
The Church and Social Christianity As an Agent of Ecumenical Activity: The
The Church and Social Christianity as an agent of ecumenical activity: the British Methodist contribution to the nascent Life and Work movement and precursor of the World Council of Churches Dedication This paper is dedicated to a great pioneer of ecumenical studies in the context of his expertise in systematic theology and in liturgy. I mean, of course, Geoffrey Wainwright, who contributed to so many of these Oxford Institutes up to the last and was a giant in the over 50 years of Methodist – Catholic and other international dialogues. 35 years ago now, he published a chapter in his book The Ecumenical Moment [Eerdmans, 1983] entitled Revolution and Quietism. It has been one of the inspirations for this paper, presented now in the section of the Institute he once co-chaired, at a conference now looking at aspects of revolution and reform from many aspects within Methodism. He seeks within his essay to find a via media in terms of the engagement of religion and society, of the Church and the World, for quiet revolution and revolutionary quiet, in which to seek forgiveness and reconciliation grounded in a universal ethic of love, freely and indiscriminately given. It is in this most catholic spirit of our Founding Father`s praxis and teaching that I seek to offer as a reflection a fresh reading of the ecumenical movement in which he was so immersed. I want to argue that the quiet revolution in ecumenism will work (and can be seen to have worked throughout) in peaceful social action for change and the common good.