Thursday 3 December 2009
Nothing Left To Say? Clearly Not!
Van Morrison once said when he cleaned up his diction he had nothing left to say. As I progress through university at the grand old age of 51 I find that I’m more cautious about what I have to say. The first thing that kicks in is that I wonder who would really care about my opinion anyway? My father used to talk that way and I’m a bit annoyed that I have started to think like him. Was he right or has he just infected me the way fathers do. Of course it’s always gratifying when someone shows a passing interest in what you have to say and even better when they say I agree with you. Ego? Oh yes!
Monday 6 July 2009
Dylan Mashed Up
Some great Dylan tracks mashed up with some current artists. Well worth checking out
http://www.totom.dj/index.php?2009/06/19/82-dylan-mashed
Friday 26 June 2009
RIP King Of Pop
We went to bed last night with the news that the King Of Pop was dead. I was struck by how upset Alma and I felt about this. Another one of our generation who has died, perhaps we measure our own mortality by these events. Michael Jackson was a great Pop musician, but I never bought any of his albums, or singles. I did buy one of his greatest hits collections, but I only played it once. I couldn't connect on any level with the music it contained. Perhaps the videos were too powerful to overcome and stopped me connecting on an emotional level. When I play Self Portrait by Dylan I remember when I bought it and when I played to a friend for the first time. No video to get in the way. I did however always enjoy his videos and hit records when I heard them on the radio. He sold hundreds of millions of albums, but although he was an era defining artist he didn’t produce great art. He is never mentioned in the same breath as The Beatles or Dylan both of whom he dwarfed in sales. He was almost a composite figure with his false face, false hair and false lifestyle. There was never a glimpse of the real Michael Jackson; perhaps the reason was that there was no real Michael Jackson. He was on stage from the age of four and became a Superstar in his teens. His life was a long exercise in child abuse. Perform; make money seems to have been the object. There was no chance for him to grow and develop as a person, or so it seems. There is always the possibility that in private he was a well-rounded, well-read well-grounded character and the Wacko-Jacko persona was all an act.
Dead at 50! In a way it is a perfect way for this Peter Pan of Pop to check out. No ravages of old age to face, no decline into touring for the sake of unpaid bills. No Elvis like exile in Vegas.
So the King Of Pop joins the King of Rock along side Beatle Johnny and Beatle George in that great house band in the sky.
Dead at 50! In a way it is a perfect way for this Peter Pan of Pop to check out. No ravages of old age to face, no decline into touring for the sake of unpaid bills. No Elvis like exile in Vegas.
So the King Of Pop joins the King of Rock along side Beatle Johnny and Beatle George in that great house band in the sky.
Monday 20 April 2009
Monday 13 April 2009
A Letter From Michael Moore
Friends,
Nothing like it has ever happened. The President of the United States, the elected representative of the people, has just told the head of General Motors -- a company that's spent more years at #1 on the Fortune 500 list than anyone else -- "You're fired!"
I simply can't believe it. This stunning, unprecedented action has left me speechless for the past two days. I keep saying, "Did Obama really fire the chairman of General Motors? The wealthiest and most powerful corporation of the 20th century? Can he do that? Really? Well, damn! What else can he do?!"
This bold move has sent the heads of corporate America spinning and spewing pea soup. Obama has issued this edict: The government of, by, and for the people is in charge here, not big business. John McCain got it. On the floor of the Senate he asked, "What does this signal send to other corporations and financial institutions about whether the federal government will fire them as well?" Senator Bob Corker said it "should send a chill through all Americans who believe in free enterprise." The stock market plunged as the masters of the universe asked themselves, "Am I next?" And they whispered to each other, "What are we going to do about this Obama?"
Not much, fellows. He has the massive will of the American people behind him -- and he has been granted permission by us to do what he sees fit. If you liked this week's all-net 3-pointer, stay tuned.
I write this letter to you in memory of the hundreds of thousands of workers over the past 25+ years who have been tossed into the trash heap by General Motors. Many saw their lives ruined for good. They turned to alcohol or drugs, their marriages fell apart, some took their own lives. Most moved on, moved out, moved over, moved away. They ended up working two jobs for half the pay they were getting at GM. And they cursed the CEO of GM for bringing ruin to their lives.
Not one of them ever thought that one day they would witness the CEO receive the same treatment. Of course Chairman Wagoner will not have to sign up for food stamps or be evicted from his home or tell his kids they'll be going to the community college, not the university. Instead, he will get a $23 million golden parachute. But the slip in his hands is still pink, just like the hundreds of thousands that others received -- except his was issued by us, via the Obama-man. Here's the door, buster. See ya. Don't wanna be ya.
I began my day today in Washington, D.C. I went to the U.S. Senate and got into their Finance Committee's hearing on the Wall Street bailout. The overseers wanted to know how the banks spent the money. And many of these banks won't tell them. They've taken trillions and nobody knows where the money went. It certainly didn't go to create jobs, relieve mortgage holders, or free up loans that people need. It was so shocking to listen to this, I had to leave before it was over. But it gave me an idea for the movie I was shooting.
Later, I stopped by the National Archives to stand in line to see the original copy of our Constitution. I thought about how twenty years ago this month I was just down the street finishing my first film, a personal plea to warn the nation about GM and the deadly economy it ruled. On that March day in 1989 I was broke, having collected the last of my unemployment checks, relying on help from my friends (Bob and Siri would take me out to dinner and always pick up the check, the assistant manager at the movie theater would sneak me in so I could watch an occasional movie, Laurie and Jack bought an old Steenbeck (editing) machine for me, John Richard would slip me an unused plane ticket so I could go home for Christmas, Rod would do anything for me and drive to Flint whenever I needed something for the film). My late mother (she would've turned 88 tomorrow if she were still with us) and my GM autoworker dad told me in the kitchen they wanted to help and handed me a check for an astounding thousand dollars. I didn't know they even had a thousand dollars. I refused it, they insisted I take it -- "No!" -- and then, in that parental voice, told me I was to cash it so I could finish my movie. I did. And I did.
So on that March day in 1989, as I was driving down Pennsylvania Avenue, my 9-year-old car just died. I coasted over to the curb, put my head down on the steering wheel and started to cry. I had no money to take it in to be repaired, and I certainly had nothing to pay the tow truck driver. So I got out, screwed the license plates off so I wouldn't be fined, turned my back and just left it there for good. I looked over at the building next to me. It said "National Archives." What better place to donate my dead car, I thought, as I walked the rest of the way home.
Though it wasn't easy for me, I still never had to suffer what so many of my friends and neighbors went through, thanks to General Motors and an economic system rigged against them. I wonder what they must have all thought when they woke up this Monday morning to read in the Detroit News or the Detroit Free Press the headlines that Obama had fired the CEO of GM. Oh -- wait a minute. They couldn't read that. There was no Free Press or News. Monday was the day that both papers ended home delivery. It was cancelled (as it will be for four days every week) because the daily newspapers, like General Motors, like Detroit, are broke.
I await the President's next superhero move.
Yours,
Michael Moore
Nothing like it has ever happened. The President of the United States, the elected representative of the people, has just told the head of General Motors -- a company that's spent more years at #1 on the Fortune 500 list than anyone else -- "You're fired!"
I simply can't believe it. This stunning, unprecedented action has left me speechless for the past two days. I keep saying, "Did Obama really fire the chairman of General Motors? The wealthiest and most powerful corporation of the 20th century? Can he do that? Really? Well, damn! What else can he do?!"
This bold move has sent the heads of corporate America spinning and spewing pea soup. Obama has issued this edict: The government of, by, and for the people is in charge here, not big business. John McCain got it. On the floor of the Senate he asked, "What does this signal send to other corporations and financial institutions about whether the federal government will fire them as well?" Senator Bob Corker said it "should send a chill through all Americans who believe in free enterprise." The stock market plunged as the masters of the universe asked themselves, "Am I next?" And they whispered to each other, "What are we going to do about this Obama?"
Not much, fellows. He has the massive will of the American people behind him -- and he has been granted permission by us to do what he sees fit. If you liked this week's all-net 3-pointer, stay tuned.
I write this letter to you in memory of the hundreds of thousands of workers over the past 25+ years who have been tossed into the trash heap by General Motors. Many saw their lives ruined for good. They turned to alcohol or drugs, their marriages fell apart, some took their own lives. Most moved on, moved out, moved over, moved away. They ended up working two jobs for half the pay they were getting at GM. And they cursed the CEO of GM for bringing ruin to their lives.
Not one of them ever thought that one day they would witness the CEO receive the same treatment. Of course Chairman Wagoner will not have to sign up for food stamps or be evicted from his home or tell his kids they'll be going to the community college, not the university. Instead, he will get a $23 million golden parachute. But the slip in his hands is still pink, just like the hundreds of thousands that others received -- except his was issued by us, via the Obama-man. Here's the door, buster. See ya. Don't wanna be ya.
I began my day today in Washington, D.C. I went to the U.S. Senate and got into their Finance Committee's hearing on the Wall Street bailout. The overseers wanted to know how the banks spent the money. And many of these banks won't tell them. They've taken trillions and nobody knows where the money went. It certainly didn't go to create jobs, relieve mortgage holders, or free up loans that people need. It was so shocking to listen to this, I had to leave before it was over. But it gave me an idea for the movie I was shooting.
Later, I stopped by the National Archives to stand in line to see the original copy of our Constitution. I thought about how twenty years ago this month I was just down the street finishing my first film, a personal plea to warn the nation about GM and the deadly economy it ruled. On that March day in 1989 I was broke, having collected the last of my unemployment checks, relying on help from my friends (Bob and Siri would take me out to dinner and always pick up the check, the assistant manager at the movie theater would sneak me in so I could watch an occasional movie, Laurie and Jack bought an old Steenbeck (editing) machine for me, John Richard would slip me an unused plane ticket so I could go home for Christmas, Rod would do anything for me and drive to Flint whenever I needed something for the film). My late mother (she would've turned 88 tomorrow if she were still with us) and my GM autoworker dad told me in the kitchen they wanted to help and handed me a check for an astounding thousand dollars. I didn't know they even had a thousand dollars. I refused it, they insisted I take it -- "No!" -- and then, in that parental voice, told me I was to cash it so I could finish my movie. I did. And I did.
So on that March day in 1989, as I was driving down Pennsylvania Avenue, my 9-year-old car just died. I coasted over to the curb, put my head down on the steering wheel and started to cry. I had no money to take it in to be repaired, and I certainly had nothing to pay the tow truck driver. So I got out, screwed the license plates off so I wouldn't be fined, turned my back and just left it there for good. I looked over at the building next to me. It said "National Archives." What better place to donate my dead car, I thought, as I walked the rest of the way home.
Though it wasn't easy for me, I still never had to suffer what so many of my friends and neighbors went through, thanks to General Motors and an economic system rigged against them. I wonder what they must have all thought when they woke up this Monday morning to read in the Detroit News or the Detroit Free Press the headlines that Obama had fired the CEO of GM. Oh -- wait a minute. They couldn't read that. There was no Free Press or News. Monday was the day that both papers ended home delivery. It was cancelled (as it will be for four days every week) because the daily newspapers, like General Motors, like Detroit, are broke.
I await the President's next superhero move.
Yours,
Michael Moore
Wednesday 4 March 2009
Bob's Back
I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver/And I'm reading James Joyce/Some people tell me I got the blood of the land in my voice," Bob Dylan sings in a leathery growl, capturing the essence of his forthcoming studio album — raw-country love songs, sly wordplay and the wounded state of the nation — in "I Feel a Change Coming On," one of the record's 10 new originals.
Set for late April, the as-yet-untitled album arrives a few months after Dylan's outtakes collection Tell Tale Signs, and it "came as a surprise," says a source close to Dylan's camp. Last year, filmmaker Olivier Dahan, who directed the 2007 Edith Piaf biopic, La Vie en Rose, approached Dylan about writing a song for his next feature. Dylan responded with "Life Is Hard," a bleak ballad with mandolin, pedal steel and him singing in a dark, clear voice, "The evening winds are still/I've lost the way and will." (The song appears in the film My Own Love Song, starring Renée Zellweger.)
Inspired, Dylan kept writing and recording songs with his road band and guests, with Los Lobos' David Hidalgo rumored on accordion. Dylan produced the album under his usual pseudonym, Jack Frost.
The disc has the live-in-the-studio feel of Dylan's last two studio records, 2001's Love and Theft and 2006's Modern Times, but with a seductive border-cafe feel (courtesy of the accordion on every track) and an emphasis on struggling-love songs. The effect — in the opening shuffle, "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," the Texas-dancehall jump of "If You Ever Go to Houston" and the waltz "This Dream of You" — is a gnarly turn on early-1970s records like New Morning and Planet Waves.
Dylan makes references to the national chaos, as on the viciously funny slow blues "My Wife's Home Town" ("State gone broke, the county's dry/Don't be lookin' at me with that evil eye"), culminating in the deceptive rolling rock of "It's All Good." Against East L.A. accordion and a snake's nest of guitars, Dylan tells you how bad things are — "Brick by brick, they tear you down/A teacup of water is enough to drown" — then ices each verse with the title line, a pithy shot of sneering irony and calming promise. "You would never expect the record after Modern Times to sound like this," the source says. "Bob takes all of those disparate elements you hear and puts them into a track. But you can't put your finger on it — 'It sounds exactly like that.' That's why he's so original.
Thursday 19 February 2009
Monday 16 February 2009
Saturday 31 January 2009
Monday 19 January 2009
Pastoral Theology Reflection
Date Of Class: October 2nd 2008
Subject Of The Session: Introduction To The Subject & Journaling / The Nature of Pastoral Theology
The idea of Theology and life being in balance is good. I hadn’t thought of that. I realise that many people I know have fallen apart theologically when the going gets tough. I’m disappointed by this, but this disappointment is tempered with the knowledge that someday I too may be tested. I think this lecture may help me come to terms with that testing, should it ever happen.
I find Frances Young’s lectures coming to mind and her assertion that we need to find words and actions to develop a theology that includes people who are outside the normal intellectual responses, for example those with dementia or with sever physical and mental disabilities.
Date Of Class: 9th October 2008
Subject Of The Session: What Is Theology?
This lecture gave a superb overview in the thinking of leading theologians. We were introduced to Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Bernard Ramm & Rudolph Bultmann. The headings in the lecture are in themselves full of information:
• Theology Is An Object Of Examination To Be Judged By An Independent, Authoritative Philosophy.
• Theology Is Expressed Within A Philosophy.
• Theology Answers The Questions The World Is Asking.
• Theology Seeks Understanding On Its Own Terms.
• Theology Has Priority Over All Things, Including All Academic Disciplines.
• Theology Faces The Dilemmas Of Everyday Life
• Theology Reflects On An Overwhelming Experience Of God
I have always been suspicious of theology and theologians. On one hand I know that my simple beliefs are the result of long theological debate and thought. So I acknowledge that my scruples about theological thought may be an act of extreme arrogance. However I want to rant at their life of “God Thought”. I am enraged by their apparent ivory tower thinking, but as I start to learn more about these people I see the humans behind the names and realise that they are not the demi-gods of high learning I had thought, but men and women (I think women although I haven’t heard any mentioned yet) who struggled to know God better.
I have always admired Romero and his liberation theology. I’m not surprised to find that he was being accused of being a Marxist. Romero, a man who was not content to sit in an ivory tower, but lived what he preached and was murdered for it. Today I learned he was the practitioner while his theology came from a man called Gutstavo Gutierrez. I note with interest that Gutierrez is still alive! Does this dilute his theology? I’ve had to think about that a lot and I have decided it doesn’t. His theology was so strong that a man was murdered for preaching it. It obviously had a power to empower the poor and enrage the corrupt. Amazing that a message of truth and love could incite murder.
And what of Barth and his suggestion that hell may be empty? How would that go down to many faithful pew-sitting Christians? I wonder and indeed worry about how my capacity to read and learn all this “stuff” and then preach a simple sermon on saving grace afterwards.
But then with my reflective head on I wonder is “Saving Grace” a simple subject?
I’m giving myself permission to relax into theology. This is not going to be easy, because my natural reaction will be to run when the questions get hard.
Date Of Class: 12th October 2008
Subject Of The Session: Worship Visits
Visits: St George’s High Street Belfast & Strandtown CFC
In this age of measurement it was startling to see a church that was so unconcerned by attendance numbers. In these days of bums on seats theology, St George’s seems to be there as a place of worship. This on the face of it may seem a stupid thing to say as most churches would claim that as their purpose, but how many would continue with a full choir and music director for a congregation of five?
I found myself examining the St George’s worship and finding little wrong with it. It was an act of worship. It wasn’t about how I felt when I left. It wasn’t about personal reflection and inward worship, but rather an outpouring of thanksgiving to God
CFC Strandtown was different. It was noisy and brash. People waved flags and a rock band led the worship. There were people who came and gave words of prophesy and a new leader who was given five minutes to introduce her self, while a clock counted down behind her. There was preaching in plain language and an appeal for those who needed prayer to come forward. A team signed for the deaf and hard of hearing and the signing was filmed to be sent to those who couldn’t attend.
Very different ways to worship and encounter Jesus, but both had Jesus at their centre.
Date Of Class: 16th October 2008
Subject Of The Session: Christian Worship An Outline of Theological Principles.
Questions To Address: What Is A Proper Response To God
Today I learned about normative and regulative principles.
regulative principle being: we can only do anything in worship that is commanded by scripture.
Normative principle being: That we can do anything in worship that is not forbidden by scripture.
I am intrigued by the idea that we have adoration at one end and action at the other and that we should head in both directions at the same time. Prof Gibson states in his notes that they “should feed off one another”. This is a fascinating idea. On reflection I believe we as a people are inclined to pick one and ignore the other. Or worse, do both half-heartedly.
The other idea that I embraced was that of authentic worship. And how it can only be authentic if our whole lives are lived as an act of worship. It humbles me to think of how many times I’m inauthentic!
A lot of the information on this module is clearing up muddled thinking for me. To say that Christian Worship is lead by the Holy Spirit seems obvious, but I have never seen it so clearly before. Add to that the notion that the action of the spirit doesn’t stop with the writer who is directed to write something, or the preacher who is moved to say something, but that the information contained in either word or text continues to have a power long after they are conceived and delivered.
Date Of Class: 23rd October 2008
Subject Of The Session: Four Traditions and a Multitude of Cultures
Prof. Gibson outlined the differences between the four main strands of Christian worship. These were under the headings of liturgical, sacramental, reformed & charismatic.
We looked at the sacramental tradition first. This can be grouped under the heading High Church in the Anglican Tradition or Roman Catholic. We learned that when the sacrament is properly administered it becomes a blessing, as worship is a sacred action. This is a formalised style of worship with the participants following the same path every time. The sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, (confession) Holy Orders, (Ordination) Marriage and Anointing. (Extreme Unction or Last Rites)
This means the Roman Catholic Church, has seven Sacraments as opposed to the Methodist Church’s two. (Baptism and Communion)
In the liturgical tradition, the liturgy is not an automatic means of blessing, but rather a means of blessing when the liturgy is properly carried out. Liturgy is a means to allow people to worship best. This is a very subtle difference from the sacramental tradition.
The reformed tradition is a fellowship of believers led by a preacher, whose teaching is based around the bible. God brings his grace through the bible. In this tradition there are only two sacraments. The reformed tradition has a strong emphasis on preaching, both extempore and set. There is a requirement for the leader to be strong and focused. In the past there has been a tradition of middle class men to fulfil these roles.
In the charismatic tradition there has traditionally been a rejection of formalised worship. No liturgy, no sacrament and no music. The best example today would be the Quakers. Where the members sit around until someone is moved by the spirit to say or do something. In these services it would not be unusual to have people speaking in tongues, or falling down on the floor slain in the spirit.
It’s interesting to note that although we identify four types of worship, that are separate from one another, we could find elements of all in each church. Certainly in Methodism all elements are present.
Date Of Class: 16th October 2008
Subject Of The Session: Pastoral Care For People With Dementia.
This always was going to be a difficult class and so it turned out to be.
Heather pointed out when we come to reflect on this subject we should be aware of who comes to the table:
• Experience
• Medical Review
• Theological Issues.
• Pastoral Care
I was struck and deeply moved by the real stories of human pain when this disease strikes. Heather read a story about a man who was caring for his wife who was in the late, early stages of dementia. What struck me about this story was the duality of the disease. Not only was her personality changing, but his was also changing in an effort to cope with their new reality. I also was deeply affected by the thought of how I would feel in his situation.
I suppose the overall effect of the condition was the loss of anchorage. Everything that you hold dear would start to be stripped away and lost, until the very essence of who you are is lost as well. In my experience people define themselves by who they are and what they do. How can they do that now when all that has gone before is taken away?
So how do we as practitioners of pastoral care approach this subject? Some of the people in the seminar class went straight to the big questions like salvation. How is one who is unsaved now able to obtain salvation? Is someone who was once saved able to hold on to salvation if they now condemn God? I never even got there! But I did start to see a clear pathway of service to this group. I see it as an act of worship to God to care for his sheep. I saw it as an act of servant hood to care for the person with dementia and I saw it as an act of pastoral care to the family, to support them in this time of stress and distress.
Date Of Class: 13-11-08
Subject Of The Session: Pastoral Care and Dementia.
Today we discussed what we thought personhood was. We looked at two extreme views on this. One gave an example of how a view by Fletcher in 1975 held that an IQ test could be used to determine if someone was a person. If you scored below 40, then you were a person, but if you scored 20 you were not a person. I can see the attraction of this type of scale, in that it would help medical professionals determine the cognitive state of a severely brain damaged person, but then If you are not a person, what are you? And more disturbingly perhaps what can be done with you and to you? Images of death camps start to surface at this point.
On the other end of the scale we learned that Karl Bart held the view that our life was on loan from God and as such is a gift. Weaver said that life is synonymous with personhood, which I suppose means that while we breath there is personhood. There is biblical teaching on us being made in God’s image, but what does that really mean when we are all so different? I wonder how the question: They Shoot Horses don’t they? Can stand against the idea of being God modelled?
My mind again returns to Frances Young and her son Arthur and her question: “Who will Arthur be in heaven?” I believe we have almost what Jung termed a collective unconsciousness about this. We immediately move toward statements like: “In heaven. all will be made new.” But even if one only moves a few steps from this position one sees that it’s more complicated than this. For Frances Young it was about how would Arthur look and how would he think and what would be his relationship with both God and her. To offer an opinion like: Oh you will see Arthur as he was meant to be for the first time, would most likely elicit a question of to what is Arthur’s worth now? Which brings me back to my first question: If you are not a person, then what are you?
It also takes us to our theology in the face of this destruction of personhood. I had an interesting conversation with my eighty-year-old father about this class. He listened and as he responded with questions around what I was telling him, he eventually asked “that” question. Why bother? Why bother spending time and energy reaching out to people who are absent!
I suspect, in fact, I know, it’s easier with people in stages one and two of dementia. I have experience of that. But to spend time with someone in a vegetative state is difficult. My grandmother lay in a coma for a week before passing. As I looked at her in the bed I had the strangest feeling of her not being there. I was convinced she was already in the next world (I wasn’t a Christian at the time) so what was she? Was she a person? Was it an empty vessel? Was it the last vestige of my Grandmother? We sat around the bed and cared for this empty vessel. For that’s what I have come to accept it was. As a Minister how do I deal with “That” question? This is what I told my father: We pray into the darkness. We pray in the hope that the person may be able to hear those prayers and know the love of the saviour is still with them. We care, because Jesus commanded Feed my lambs. (John 21:15) So we do it as an act of worship. We do it as an act of service, because Jesus reminded us that when we did it to the least, we did it to him. And we do it as an act of love, and not least to offer the family support in their place of darkness and loss.
Pastoral Theology Course Journal
Date Of Class: November 20th 2008
Subject Of The Session: Introduction To Biblical Teaching on Death On Dying
Dr Heather Morris said at the start of the Semester that when researching for her doctorate she interviewed a minister about his theology when faced with personal tragedy. He said that it went out the window when trouble struck. She said she wanted us to develop our theology so that this didn’t happen. But I wonder? Is this possible? I’m not sure that it is possible. I think this is part of our humanity. There comes a point when we are separated from God. I think we are designed to be alone at times of immense stress. I think this is part of the separation of humanity and divinity. When faced with the death of a child I suspect that a spiral into despair is the natural response. Where our theology comes in is later. Our theology is the bridge to healing. When we begin to search for the route from despair our theology will provide the map.
A perfect example of this is provided by Osmond Mulligan in the December edition of the Methodist Newsletter. In the article he describes the loss of his beloved wife and the aftermath of loss and despair. However it was in his theology he sought healing.
Also in this subject we had a visit from an undertaker who in a very understated way took us through the mechanisms of the aftermath of death. He told us of his duties and how they interfaced with ours. His vast experience allowed him to very simply paint a picture of calm service to the dead. I was very touched by this and greatly enjoyed this practical class. He left us with a hand-book which answers many of the questions that we will be asking in future years.
Date Of Class: November 27th 2008
Subject Of The Session: Introduction To Biblical Teaching on Death On Dying
I missed this session due to illness.
Date Of Class: December 11th & 18th December 2008
Subject Of The Session: Church & Community
I have decided to combine the last two lectures as they are best looked at as a whole. There were four areas that we exmined:
• Withdrawal to form an alternative community
• Christendom
• Engagement as means to evangelism
• Engagement as a Partner of mission
Each of the above has its roots in biblical traditions. It is inaccurate to imagine that monasteries were completely apart. In the middle ages the monastery was the centre of community life. Where worship was carried out and the poor were fed. It was also the receptor for valuables to be kept in safekeeping.
The Christendom model caused me to disagree with Professor Gibson. He felt it was a golden age for the church as the church was at the centre of society and was a leading force in science, education and farming. I however felt it was a time of great abuse when the church entwined itself in these things, not to further them, but to control them. One only has to think of Galileo and how he fell foul of the church when he suggested the earth circled the sun and not the other way around. One can see such interference from what has become known as the Christian Right in the USA in recent years. Today this model of church and state in harmony is best seen outside the Christian world in the Nation of Islam, who most defenatly do not believe in the separation of Church & State.
Engagement as means to evangelism and Engagement as a Partner of mission are, I believe, two sides of the same coin. The first is a mission to rescue lost souls, through the power of the gospel. I remember I once met a man who had alcohol dependency problems who told me how much he hated the Salvation Army. This surprised me as I always thought them a great organization. He said that they wouldn’t give the street people a meal and a bed before they had a church service. “The Bastards made me sing hymns,” he complained! There is a danger in this approach as the mission becomes an activity for activity sake. The number of those who gave a commitment is trumpeted as a great success for the Kingdom, but there is little follow up and support.
Engagement as a partner of mission on the other hand has a long term strategy that comes along side the community and helps it over many years. We visited EBM to see a near perfect model of this. “We believe”, said Mark Houston “that God has a bias for the poor”. In this he is tapping into the tradition of Gutierrez and his liberation theology. The EBM has become a major focal point in recent years. It was where the secretary of State met the Loyalist Paramilitary leaders and where at the funeral of David Irvine Gerry Adams came to pay his respects to an old foe and was welcomed by the people of East Belfast perhaps for the first and only time. It was where the Queen came to visit and for the first time walk among some of her most loyal subjects. And the future brings with it the Skainos Project.
“The Skainos Project will be a flagship development in an inner-city area of considerable deprivation, as well as a statement of confidence in the long-term viability of the community. It is designed to contribute to the regeneration of this inner city loyalist community and build loyalist confidence in the peace process thereby nurturing community relations in the area.”
In this nowhere can be found the trappings of religion. Everyone involved is doing it from a position of being Christ like, but the message is subliminal. Jesus said: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these you did for me.” (MATTHEW 25:40 )
Bibliography
Busch E, Barth. Abingdon Press, Nashville 20008.
Ballard & Prichard Practical Theology In Action. SPCK 1996
Croft S & Walton R. Learning For Ministry. Church House Publishing, London, 2008.
Davis R, My Journey Into Alzheimer’s Disease. Tyndale House, Wheaton Illinois.1989
Gutierrez G, A Theology of Liberation. SCM Press London, 2001
Moltman, J (editor) How I Have Changed, Reflections on Thirty Years of Theology. SCM Press London 1997.
Mulligan O, Bereavement - “Insights gained through loss”, Methodist Newsletter Vol. 36, No 393 December 2008 Page 15
Subject Of The Session: Introduction To The Subject & Journaling / The Nature of Pastoral Theology
The idea of Theology and life being in balance is good. I hadn’t thought of that. I realise that many people I know have fallen apart theologically when the going gets tough. I’m disappointed by this, but this disappointment is tempered with the knowledge that someday I too may be tested. I think this lecture may help me come to terms with that testing, should it ever happen.
I find Frances Young’s lectures coming to mind and her assertion that we need to find words and actions to develop a theology that includes people who are outside the normal intellectual responses, for example those with dementia or with sever physical and mental disabilities.
Date Of Class: 9th October 2008
Subject Of The Session: What Is Theology?
This lecture gave a superb overview in the thinking of leading theologians. We were introduced to Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Bernard Ramm & Rudolph Bultmann. The headings in the lecture are in themselves full of information:
• Theology Is An Object Of Examination To Be Judged By An Independent, Authoritative Philosophy.
• Theology Is Expressed Within A Philosophy.
• Theology Answers The Questions The World Is Asking.
• Theology Seeks Understanding On Its Own Terms.
• Theology Has Priority Over All Things, Including All Academic Disciplines.
• Theology Faces The Dilemmas Of Everyday Life
• Theology Reflects On An Overwhelming Experience Of God
I have always been suspicious of theology and theologians. On one hand I know that my simple beliefs are the result of long theological debate and thought. So I acknowledge that my scruples about theological thought may be an act of extreme arrogance. However I want to rant at their life of “God Thought”. I am enraged by their apparent ivory tower thinking, but as I start to learn more about these people I see the humans behind the names and realise that they are not the demi-gods of high learning I had thought, but men and women (I think women although I haven’t heard any mentioned yet) who struggled to know God better.
I have always admired Romero and his liberation theology. I’m not surprised to find that he was being accused of being a Marxist. Romero, a man who was not content to sit in an ivory tower, but lived what he preached and was murdered for it. Today I learned he was the practitioner while his theology came from a man called Gutstavo Gutierrez. I note with interest that Gutierrez is still alive! Does this dilute his theology? I’ve had to think about that a lot and I have decided it doesn’t. His theology was so strong that a man was murdered for preaching it. It obviously had a power to empower the poor and enrage the corrupt. Amazing that a message of truth and love could incite murder.
And what of Barth and his suggestion that hell may be empty? How would that go down to many faithful pew-sitting Christians? I wonder and indeed worry about how my capacity to read and learn all this “stuff” and then preach a simple sermon on saving grace afterwards.
But then with my reflective head on I wonder is “Saving Grace” a simple subject?
I’m giving myself permission to relax into theology. This is not going to be easy, because my natural reaction will be to run when the questions get hard.
Date Of Class: 12th October 2008
Subject Of The Session: Worship Visits
Visits: St George’s High Street Belfast & Strandtown CFC
In this age of measurement it was startling to see a church that was so unconcerned by attendance numbers. In these days of bums on seats theology, St George’s seems to be there as a place of worship. This on the face of it may seem a stupid thing to say as most churches would claim that as their purpose, but how many would continue with a full choir and music director for a congregation of five?
I found myself examining the St George’s worship and finding little wrong with it. It was an act of worship. It wasn’t about how I felt when I left. It wasn’t about personal reflection and inward worship, but rather an outpouring of thanksgiving to God
CFC Strandtown was different. It was noisy and brash. People waved flags and a rock band led the worship. There were people who came and gave words of prophesy and a new leader who was given five minutes to introduce her self, while a clock counted down behind her. There was preaching in plain language and an appeal for those who needed prayer to come forward. A team signed for the deaf and hard of hearing and the signing was filmed to be sent to those who couldn’t attend.
Very different ways to worship and encounter Jesus, but both had Jesus at their centre.
Date Of Class: 16th October 2008
Subject Of The Session: Christian Worship An Outline of Theological Principles.
Questions To Address: What Is A Proper Response To God
Today I learned about normative and regulative principles.
regulative principle being: we can only do anything in worship that is commanded by scripture.
Normative principle being: That we can do anything in worship that is not forbidden by scripture.
I am intrigued by the idea that we have adoration at one end and action at the other and that we should head in both directions at the same time. Prof Gibson states in his notes that they “should feed off one another”. This is a fascinating idea. On reflection I believe we as a people are inclined to pick one and ignore the other. Or worse, do both half-heartedly.
The other idea that I embraced was that of authentic worship. And how it can only be authentic if our whole lives are lived as an act of worship. It humbles me to think of how many times I’m inauthentic!
A lot of the information on this module is clearing up muddled thinking for me. To say that Christian Worship is lead by the Holy Spirit seems obvious, but I have never seen it so clearly before. Add to that the notion that the action of the spirit doesn’t stop with the writer who is directed to write something, or the preacher who is moved to say something, but that the information contained in either word or text continues to have a power long after they are conceived and delivered.
Date Of Class: 23rd October 2008
Subject Of The Session: Four Traditions and a Multitude of Cultures
Prof. Gibson outlined the differences between the four main strands of Christian worship. These were under the headings of liturgical, sacramental, reformed & charismatic.
We looked at the sacramental tradition first. This can be grouped under the heading High Church in the Anglican Tradition or Roman Catholic. We learned that when the sacrament is properly administered it becomes a blessing, as worship is a sacred action. This is a formalised style of worship with the participants following the same path every time. The sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, (confession) Holy Orders, (Ordination) Marriage and Anointing. (Extreme Unction or Last Rites)
This means the Roman Catholic Church, has seven Sacraments as opposed to the Methodist Church’s two. (Baptism and Communion)
In the liturgical tradition, the liturgy is not an automatic means of blessing, but rather a means of blessing when the liturgy is properly carried out. Liturgy is a means to allow people to worship best. This is a very subtle difference from the sacramental tradition.
The reformed tradition is a fellowship of believers led by a preacher, whose teaching is based around the bible. God brings his grace through the bible. In this tradition there are only two sacraments. The reformed tradition has a strong emphasis on preaching, both extempore and set. There is a requirement for the leader to be strong and focused. In the past there has been a tradition of middle class men to fulfil these roles.
In the charismatic tradition there has traditionally been a rejection of formalised worship. No liturgy, no sacrament and no music. The best example today would be the Quakers. Where the members sit around until someone is moved by the spirit to say or do something. In these services it would not be unusual to have people speaking in tongues, or falling down on the floor slain in the spirit.
It’s interesting to note that although we identify four types of worship, that are separate from one another, we could find elements of all in each church. Certainly in Methodism all elements are present.
Date Of Class: 16th October 2008
Subject Of The Session: Pastoral Care For People With Dementia.
This always was going to be a difficult class and so it turned out to be.
Heather pointed out when we come to reflect on this subject we should be aware of who comes to the table:
• Experience
• Medical Review
• Theological Issues.
• Pastoral Care
I was struck and deeply moved by the real stories of human pain when this disease strikes. Heather read a story about a man who was caring for his wife who was in the late, early stages of dementia. What struck me about this story was the duality of the disease. Not only was her personality changing, but his was also changing in an effort to cope with their new reality. I also was deeply affected by the thought of how I would feel in his situation.
I suppose the overall effect of the condition was the loss of anchorage. Everything that you hold dear would start to be stripped away and lost, until the very essence of who you are is lost as well. In my experience people define themselves by who they are and what they do. How can they do that now when all that has gone before is taken away?
So how do we as practitioners of pastoral care approach this subject? Some of the people in the seminar class went straight to the big questions like salvation. How is one who is unsaved now able to obtain salvation? Is someone who was once saved able to hold on to salvation if they now condemn God? I never even got there! But I did start to see a clear pathway of service to this group. I see it as an act of worship to God to care for his sheep. I saw it as an act of servant hood to care for the person with dementia and I saw it as an act of pastoral care to the family, to support them in this time of stress and distress.
Date Of Class: 13-11-08
Subject Of The Session: Pastoral Care and Dementia.
Today we discussed what we thought personhood was. We looked at two extreme views on this. One gave an example of how a view by Fletcher in 1975 held that an IQ test could be used to determine if someone was a person. If you scored below 40, then you were a person, but if you scored 20 you were not a person. I can see the attraction of this type of scale, in that it would help medical professionals determine the cognitive state of a severely brain damaged person, but then If you are not a person, what are you? And more disturbingly perhaps what can be done with you and to you? Images of death camps start to surface at this point.
On the other end of the scale we learned that Karl Bart held the view that our life was on loan from God and as such is a gift. Weaver said that life is synonymous with personhood, which I suppose means that while we breath there is personhood. There is biblical teaching on us being made in God’s image, but what does that really mean when we are all so different? I wonder how the question: They Shoot Horses don’t they? Can stand against the idea of being God modelled?
My mind again returns to Frances Young and her son Arthur and her question: “Who will Arthur be in heaven?” I believe we have almost what Jung termed a collective unconsciousness about this. We immediately move toward statements like: “In heaven. all will be made new.” But even if one only moves a few steps from this position one sees that it’s more complicated than this. For Frances Young it was about how would Arthur look and how would he think and what would be his relationship with both God and her. To offer an opinion like: Oh you will see Arthur as he was meant to be for the first time, would most likely elicit a question of to what is Arthur’s worth now? Which brings me back to my first question: If you are not a person, then what are you?
It also takes us to our theology in the face of this destruction of personhood. I had an interesting conversation with my eighty-year-old father about this class. He listened and as he responded with questions around what I was telling him, he eventually asked “that” question. Why bother? Why bother spending time and energy reaching out to people who are absent!
I suspect, in fact, I know, it’s easier with people in stages one and two of dementia. I have experience of that. But to spend time with someone in a vegetative state is difficult. My grandmother lay in a coma for a week before passing. As I looked at her in the bed I had the strangest feeling of her not being there. I was convinced she was already in the next world (I wasn’t a Christian at the time) so what was she? Was she a person? Was it an empty vessel? Was it the last vestige of my Grandmother? We sat around the bed and cared for this empty vessel. For that’s what I have come to accept it was. As a Minister how do I deal with “That” question? This is what I told my father: We pray into the darkness. We pray in the hope that the person may be able to hear those prayers and know the love of the saviour is still with them. We care, because Jesus commanded Feed my lambs. (John 21:15) So we do it as an act of worship. We do it as an act of service, because Jesus reminded us that when we did it to the least, we did it to him. And we do it as an act of love, and not least to offer the family support in their place of darkness and loss.
Pastoral Theology Course Journal
Date Of Class: November 20th 2008
Subject Of The Session: Introduction To Biblical Teaching on Death On Dying
Dr Heather Morris said at the start of the Semester that when researching for her doctorate she interviewed a minister about his theology when faced with personal tragedy. He said that it went out the window when trouble struck. She said she wanted us to develop our theology so that this didn’t happen. But I wonder? Is this possible? I’m not sure that it is possible. I think this is part of our humanity. There comes a point when we are separated from God. I think we are designed to be alone at times of immense stress. I think this is part of the separation of humanity and divinity. When faced with the death of a child I suspect that a spiral into despair is the natural response. Where our theology comes in is later. Our theology is the bridge to healing. When we begin to search for the route from despair our theology will provide the map.
A perfect example of this is provided by Osmond Mulligan in the December edition of the Methodist Newsletter. In the article he describes the loss of his beloved wife and the aftermath of loss and despair. However it was in his theology he sought healing.
Also in this subject we had a visit from an undertaker who in a very understated way took us through the mechanisms of the aftermath of death. He told us of his duties and how they interfaced with ours. His vast experience allowed him to very simply paint a picture of calm service to the dead. I was very touched by this and greatly enjoyed this practical class. He left us with a hand-book which answers many of the questions that we will be asking in future years.
Date Of Class: November 27th 2008
Subject Of The Session: Introduction To Biblical Teaching on Death On Dying
I missed this session due to illness.
Date Of Class: December 11th & 18th December 2008
Subject Of The Session: Church & Community
I have decided to combine the last two lectures as they are best looked at as a whole. There were four areas that we exmined:
• Withdrawal to form an alternative community
• Christendom
• Engagement as means to evangelism
• Engagement as a Partner of mission
Each of the above has its roots in biblical traditions. It is inaccurate to imagine that monasteries were completely apart. In the middle ages the monastery was the centre of community life. Where worship was carried out and the poor were fed. It was also the receptor for valuables to be kept in safekeeping.
The Christendom model caused me to disagree with Professor Gibson. He felt it was a golden age for the church as the church was at the centre of society and was a leading force in science, education and farming. I however felt it was a time of great abuse when the church entwined itself in these things, not to further them, but to control them. One only has to think of Galileo and how he fell foul of the church when he suggested the earth circled the sun and not the other way around. One can see such interference from what has become known as the Christian Right in the USA in recent years. Today this model of church and state in harmony is best seen outside the Christian world in the Nation of Islam, who most defenatly do not believe in the separation of Church & State.
Engagement as means to evangelism and Engagement as a Partner of mission are, I believe, two sides of the same coin. The first is a mission to rescue lost souls, through the power of the gospel. I remember I once met a man who had alcohol dependency problems who told me how much he hated the Salvation Army. This surprised me as I always thought them a great organization. He said that they wouldn’t give the street people a meal and a bed before they had a church service. “The Bastards made me sing hymns,” he complained! There is a danger in this approach as the mission becomes an activity for activity sake. The number of those who gave a commitment is trumpeted as a great success for the Kingdom, but there is little follow up and support.
Engagement as a partner of mission on the other hand has a long term strategy that comes along side the community and helps it over many years. We visited EBM to see a near perfect model of this. “We believe”, said Mark Houston “that God has a bias for the poor”. In this he is tapping into the tradition of Gutierrez and his liberation theology. The EBM has become a major focal point in recent years. It was where the secretary of State met the Loyalist Paramilitary leaders and where at the funeral of David Irvine Gerry Adams came to pay his respects to an old foe and was welcomed by the people of East Belfast perhaps for the first and only time. It was where the Queen came to visit and for the first time walk among some of her most loyal subjects. And the future brings with it the Skainos Project.
“The Skainos Project will be a flagship development in an inner-city area of considerable deprivation, as well as a statement of confidence in the long-term viability of the community. It is designed to contribute to the regeneration of this inner city loyalist community and build loyalist confidence in the peace process thereby nurturing community relations in the area.”
In this nowhere can be found the trappings of religion. Everyone involved is doing it from a position of being Christ like, but the message is subliminal. Jesus said: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these you did for me.” (MATTHEW 25:40 )
Bibliography
Busch E, Barth. Abingdon Press, Nashville 20008.
Ballard & Prichard Practical Theology In Action. SPCK 1996
Croft S & Walton R. Learning For Ministry. Church House Publishing, London, 2008.
Davis R, My Journey Into Alzheimer’s Disease. Tyndale House, Wheaton Illinois.1989
Gutierrez G, A Theology of Liberation. SCM Press London, 2001
Moltman, J (editor) How I Have Changed, Reflections on Thirty Years of Theology. SCM Press London 1997.
Mulligan O, Bereavement - “Insights gained through loss”, Methodist Newsletter Vol. 36, No 393 December 2008 Page 15
Thursday 15 January 2009
Wednesday 14 January 2009
Tuesday 13 January 2009
Origen. A Different Kind Of Hero
One Page Of Origen is better than ten pages of Augustine!
So said Erasmus. Here is a man who was the major theological thinker of his time, and one who influenced many famous writers who came after. Eusebius was a devotee as was Jerome. He held controversial views on the trinity and incurred the wrath of those who came to power long after his death, but the important thing about Origen was that he was among the first the tackle and seek understanding of who God was and is and what our response should be to him. Today he is almost unknown outside the field of theology. There are those who argue he deserves to be better known. I would count myself among their number
Origen was born in Alexandria around AD185 to parents who were Christians. This was in the reign of Commodus the unworthy son of Marcus Aurelius Origen’s parents had been born pagans, but had converted. Anti-Christian writer Porphyry claims that Origen was born and raised as a pagan, and had studied pagan teachings. Whatever his upbringing he became in the view of Jerome, the most important Christian thinker since the apostles.
Origen was born in troubled times for the empire. Emperors came and went in quick succession. There were threats from outside of the empire. The Saxons were testing the borders on the Rhine and the Persians were doing the same on the Euphrates.
Origen was a fanatic from an early age. When his father was arrested during the persecution of Septimius Severus (AD202-3) Origen wrote to him urging him to be strong in his faith. His father was martyred. There is a story in some traditions recorded by Eusebius that Origen was only stopped from offering himself for martyrdom when his mother hid his clothes. His father’s death changed the economic status of the family who were left in poverty. However Origen came under the patronage of a wealthy lady who provided for him. She appears to have been a dilettante who also counted among her friends Paul the Gnostic Bishop. Origen risked his friendship with her by refusing to pray with Paul at one of her salons. As the persecution continued Clement was forced to flee Alexandria. His place as head of the catechetical school was given to Origen, who was still only eighteen. Bishop Demetrius made this appointment. Around this time Origen decided to sell the non-Christian part of his library and teach only Christian studies. At this early stage of his life he is reputed to have castrated himself so that he could teach female catechumens. Taking his instruction from a literal interpretation of Matthew.
(Matt 19:12) Although it is by no means clear that this actually happened and some scholars attribute it to his enemies attempts to stop him being ordained.
Origen wrote only one book on prayer that was called De oratione or Peri Euches . The book was dedicated to Ambrose and an unknown lady called Tatiana, who some scholars contend was Ambrose’s sister. The book is believed to have been written in Alexandria around the years 233/234, and is the oldest surviving scientific book on Christian prayer.
“John O’Meara says that it is not merely a treatise on prayer; it is a prayer in itself. For the spirit of Origen which, as Erasmus says, is everywhere aflame, is burning here with such intensity as to make it impossible for the reader to remain untouched. J.W. Trigg says, "It is the first clear and thoroughgoing exposition, within the Christian tradition, of prayer as the contemplation of God rather than as a means of achieving material benefits." ”
This is Origen’s only book on prayer, but one shouldn’t draw the conclusion that he wasn’t interested in the subject. The opposite is the case. He saw prayer as the prime element to a deep spiritual life in God. While he only wrote once on the subject per se, he scattered his thoughts on prayer throughout his work. His works often open in close in prayer calling on the names, Father, Logos and Christ. He held the view that no theologian could ever attain a deep knowledge of scripture without a disciplined prayer life.
He instructed his pupil Gregory that to know was never enough, instead one needs to seek a deeper understanding of divine things and that could only be achieved through prayer. “The general thrust of Origen’s view on prayer was that it was a means of obtaining God’s grace and was conductive in the soul’s spiritual perfection in becoming more like God.”
He talked about the purification of the person and the need to forgive those who had angered one. He said that forgiveness is the greatest of all perfections. Commenting on Matt 5:22 he said that only those who have forgiven their neighbours can truly converse with God.
He also talked about how the body should be when praying. He said this was important, as the body was the outward appearance of the soul’s attitude to prayer. He said the best method of praying was to stand with one’s arms outstretched and eyes raised heavenwards. Although he made allowance for those who were sick and said it was acceptable for them to pray while sitting or lying down. He said that one may pray anywhere, but advocated that a special place in one’s house should be laid aside for prayer. In choosing such a place there was a need to make sure that one could pray uninterrupted and also to ensure that nothing untoward had happened in that place.
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “(Page 119)
Like Paul (Thes 5:17) he urged that we should pray without ceasing.
Origen was concerned about what we should pray for. He said it would be foolish to pray for the sun to rise as this has already been fixed, but to pray for a person was fine as God would have already foreseen the situation and would know that people would be praying into the situation and could be influenced by human prayer. It is believed he took this situation to rebut the fatalists who said that God was in charge and had decided before time the amount of grace he would shower on any situation. In doing this Origen took a blue sky thinking approach to the subject and in doing so made a giant theological step by suggesting a human partnership with God in shaping our destiny through prayer.
Origen stated that: “Our wills are free and consequently subject to commendation or condemnation”
He goes on to say that we pray to Our Father, a name not known for God in the Old Testament. Only those who have a sense of adoption through the Spirit can recite the prayer properly as children of God. We should say our Father who are art in heaven because our conduct should be heavenly not earthly.
There was some controversy in his thinking as he saw the trinity differently to what has become the accepted view. He speculated that God was the highest of the three, with Jesus being created by him. He saw the Holy Spirit as being lesser to Jesus and in-fact being created by Jesus. So there was a hierarchy in the trinity in his thinking. He also said that we should pray to the Father, as Jesus himself prayed to the Father and to pray to Jesus was an affront to the Father. He went onto say that to pray to Jesus was ignorance. Jesus prayed to the Father for man and on behalf of man.
He seems to have changed his view on this and indeed prayed to the Logos and to Christ, although how much of this was revisionism after his death is still debated among scholars.
While other church fathers like Tertullian had written about prayer, Origen was the first to write a formal commentary on the Lord’s Prayer. In doing so he started a literary tradition that runs through history to today.
While some of his ideas about posture and standing while praying are long outdated and the idea of facing east would seem strange to many Christians of the 21st century, but his basic ideas and teachings about why we pray make as much sense today as they did when he wrote them. Even today when many of us engage in a conversational prayer life with God we can still ask ourselves why we pray. Origen’s teaching about the divine / human synergy is as good an explanation as one could wish for in an answer. It’s sad that many who copied and expounded his thinking have been raised to sainthood while he remains unknown to the public at large. He is the anti-hero of theology, an original thinker who was an outsider all his life and in many ways seemed happy to be so.
Bibliography
Henri Crouzel translated by A.S. Worrall, Origen (Edinburgh T&T Clark Ltd 1989)
J.A.McGuckin, The Westminster Handbook To Origen (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press)
Raymond Banks, The Early Church, The Christian Church to Ad325. (Newtownards: W&G Baird Ltd 2003)
Hans Kung, Great Christian Thinkers ( London SCM Press Ltd 1994)
http://www.copticchurch.net/topics/patrology/schoolofalex2/chapter16.html
Dec 1st 2008¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
http://books.google.com/books?id=wSIeAC3PNdgC
Dec 1st 2008
http://www.ecatholic2000.com/fathers/origen.shtml
Various Dates
So said Erasmus. Here is a man who was the major theological thinker of his time, and one who influenced many famous writers who came after. Eusebius was a devotee as was Jerome. He held controversial views on the trinity and incurred the wrath of those who came to power long after his death, but the important thing about Origen was that he was among the first the tackle and seek understanding of who God was and is and what our response should be to him. Today he is almost unknown outside the field of theology. There are those who argue he deserves to be better known. I would count myself among their number
Origen was born in Alexandria around AD185 to parents who were Christians. This was in the reign of Commodus the unworthy son of Marcus Aurelius Origen’s parents had been born pagans, but had converted. Anti-Christian writer Porphyry claims that Origen was born and raised as a pagan, and had studied pagan teachings. Whatever his upbringing he became in the view of Jerome, the most important Christian thinker since the apostles.
Origen was born in troubled times for the empire. Emperors came and went in quick succession. There were threats from outside of the empire. The Saxons were testing the borders on the Rhine and the Persians were doing the same on the Euphrates.
Origen was a fanatic from an early age. When his father was arrested during the persecution of Septimius Severus (AD202-3) Origen wrote to him urging him to be strong in his faith. His father was martyred. There is a story in some traditions recorded by Eusebius that Origen was only stopped from offering himself for martyrdom when his mother hid his clothes. His father’s death changed the economic status of the family who were left in poverty. However Origen came under the patronage of a wealthy lady who provided for him. She appears to have been a dilettante who also counted among her friends Paul the Gnostic Bishop. Origen risked his friendship with her by refusing to pray with Paul at one of her salons. As the persecution continued Clement was forced to flee Alexandria. His place as head of the catechetical school was given to Origen, who was still only eighteen. Bishop Demetrius made this appointment. Around this time Origen decided to sell the non-Christian part of his library and teach only Christian studies. At this early stage of his life he is reputed to have castrated himself so that he could teach female catechumens. Taking his instruction from a literal interpretation of Matthew.
(Matt 19:12) Although it is by no means clear that this actually happened and some scholars attribute it to his enemies attempts to stop him being ordained.
Origen wrote only one book on prayer that was called De oratione or Peri Euches . The book was dedicated to Ambrose and an unknown lady called Tatiana, who some scholars contend was Ambrose’s sister. The book is believed to have been written in Alexandria around the years 233/234, and is the oldest surviving scientific book on Christian prayer.
“John O’Meara says that it is not merely a treatise on prayer; it is a prayer in itself. For the spirit of Origen which, as Erasmus says, is everywhere aflame, is burning here with such intensity as to make it impossible for the reader to remain untouched. J.W. Trigg says, "It is the first clear and thoroughgoing exposition, within the Christian tradition, of prayer as the contemplation of God rather than as a means of achieving material benefits." ”
This is Origen’s only book on prayer, but one shouldn’t draw the conclusion that he wasn’t interested in the subject. The opposite is the case. He saw prayer as the prime element to a deep spiritual life in God. While he only wrote once on the subject per se, he scattered his thoughts on prayer throughout his work. His works often open in close in prayer calling on the names, Father, Logos and Christ. He held the view that no theologian could ever attain a deep knowledge of scripture without a disciplined prayer life.
He instructed his pupil Gregory that to know was never enough, instead one needs to seek a deeper understanding of divine things and that could only be achieved through prayer. “The general thrust of Origen’s view on prayer was that it was a means of obtaining God’s grace and was conductive in the soul’s spiritual perfection in becoming more like God.”
He talked about the purification of the person and the need to forgive those who had angered one. He said that forgiveness is the greatest of all perfections. Commenting on Matt 5:22 he said that only those who have forgiven their neighbours can truly converse with God.
He also talked about how the body should be when praying. He said this was important, as the body was the outward appearance of the soul’s attitude to prayer. He said the best method of praying was to stand with one’s arms outstretched and eyes raised heavenwards. Although he made allowance for those who were sick and said it was acceptable for them to pray while sitting or lying down. He said that one may pray anywhere, but advocated that a special place in one’s house should be laid aside for prayer. In choosing such a place there was a need to make sure that one could pray uninterrupted and also to ensure that nothing untoward had happened in that place.
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “(Page 119)
Like Paul (Thes 5:17) he urged that we should pray without ceasing.
Origen was concerned about what we should pray for. He said it would be foolish to pray for the sun to rise as this has already been fixed, but to pray for a person was fine as God would have already foreseen the situation and would know that people would be praying into the situation and could be influenced by human prayer. It is believed he took this situation to rebut the fatalists who said that God was in charge and had decided before time the amount of grace he would shower on any situation. In doing this Origen took a blue sky thinking approach to the subject and in doing so made a giant theological step by suggesting a human partnership with God in shaping our destiny through prayer.
Origen stated that: “Our wills are free and consequently subject to commendation or condemnation”
He goes on to say that we pray to Our Father, a name not known for God in the Old Testament. Only those who have a sense of adoption through the Spirit can recite the prayer properly as children of God. We should say our Father who are art in heaven because our conduct should be heavenly not earthly.
There was some controversy in his thinking as he saw the trinity differently to what has become the accepted view. He speculated that God was the highest of the three, with Jesus being created by him. He saw the Holy Spirit as being lesser to Jesus and in-fact being created by Jesus. So there was a hierarchy in the trinity in his thinking. He also said that we should pray to the Father, as Jesus himself prayed to the Father and to pray to Jesus was an affront to the Father. He went onto say that to pray to Jesus was ignorance. Jesus prayed to the Father for man and on behalf of man.
He seems to have changed his view on this and indeed prayed to the Logos and to Christ, although how much of this was revisionism after his death is still debated among scholars.
While other church fathers like Tertullian had written about prayer, Origen was the first to write a formal commentary on the Lord’s Prayer. In doing so he started a literary tradition that runs through history to today.
While some of his ideas about posture and standing while praying are long outdated and the idea of facing east would seem strange to many Christians of the 21st century, but his basic ideas and teachings about why we pray make as much sense today as they did when he wrote them. Even today when many of us engage in a conversational prayer life with God we can still ask ourselves why we pray. Origen’s teaching about the divine / human synergy is as good an explanation as one could wish for in an answer. It’s sad that many who copied and expounded his thinking have been raised to sainthood while he remains unknown to the public at large. He is the anti-hero of theology, an original thinker who was an outsider all his life and in many ways seemed happy to be so.
Bibliography
Henri Crouzel translated by A.S. Worrall, Origen (Edinburgh T&T Clark Ltd 1989)
J.A.McGuckin, The Westminster Handbook To Origen (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press)
Raymond Banks, The Early Church, The Christian Church to Ad325. (Newtownards: W&G Baird Ltd 2003)
Hans Kung, Great Christian Thinkers ( London SCM Press Ltd 1994)
http://www.copticchurch.net/topics/patrology/schoolofalex2/chapter16.html
Dec 1st 2008¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
http://books.google.com/books?id=wSIeAC3PNdgC
Dec 1st 2008
http://www.ecatholic2000.com/fathers/origen.shtml
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