Class Divisions in England

There are murmurings that suggest evangelicals in England are beginning to accept that the secular class divisions have been unhelpfully baptised and reaffirmed within the praxis of evangelicalism. Such indications include a stern warning on the matter from Tim Keller at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly this year, Total Church (IVP) by Chester and Timmis, in which they recount some of the classism they have encountered in ministry endeavors and the stark inequality of resources applied across the north and south of England- churches, money, people etc.

These are just the murmurings however. We are a long way from admitting the full extent to which class has shaped and distorted English evangelicalism. The nature of classism is that it is a deniable sin - one finds it both hard to pin down and embarrassing to admit. Tim Keller said at EMA that there is a need to write articles and discuss the issue more openly. That will be difficult for English evangelicals - it would involve great humility, charity, patience - and would surely necessitate some radical changes to the programmes of ministry currently heavily invested in.

Perhaps one thing that would help sweeten the pill, and enable us to experience more of the inner honesty God's Spirit can prompt, is to reflect on how this issue has been addressed in church history. When we learn from the past we can feel less personally picked upon - and can learn the lessons we would resent were the speaker still alive!

That being the case, may I commend the writing of William Wilberforce?

He pondered for several years if he could stand the embarrassment that would come from publishing his thoughts on the matter, but in the end he chose to make his views known. The title itself of his work reveals the extent to which he was willing to challenge the Establishment's status quo:

'A practical view of the prevailing religious system of professed Christians in the higher and middle classes in the country contrasted with real Christianity.'

Tim Keller's challenge issued at EMA to engage with the distorting effect of class on Christian ministry will be difficult - perhaps knowing that it has been raised before, by one of the most eminent British Member of Parliament in history - will make us feel less afraid?

True Spirituality

Every now and then I browse my bookshelves - lovingly not idolatrously (!) - and get drawn back to a book that has deeply shaped my attitude to Christianity. More than any other book the most influential one has to be 'True Spirituality' by Francis Schaeffer. I have read a lot of books and in the end I think that this book is the most convincing summary of what it means to be a Christian.

In so many situations and dealing with so many areas of doubt, failure, pastoral care and uncertainty - I find Schaeffer gives insightful direction.

Take for example his comments on the danger of theology, orthodoxy and church programmes:

" Intellectual pursuits can be to the glory of God, but today much intellectual pursuit is merely a game. The final integration point is God himself - even right doctrine can be the false integration point. If I was a non-Christian and had to fill the vacuum of having no absolute meaning to life, I could find no game as exciting as playing the theological game.

Almost all liberal theology is just a game; pure gamesmanship. But even orthodox doctrine can become merely intellectual. a final integration point, and can actually shut us off from God, rather than open the door to him, which it is meant to do.
And religious organisations, including good and true churches, and programmes which are right in their own place, become poison when they become the final end." p.172

In this and so many areas - True Spirituality really does encourage one to not rest satisfied till one has the full riches of grace impacting your life.

I was recently made aware of an excellent short essay on the significance of Schaeffer. Check it out at:

http://www.christianheritageuk.org.uk/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=86152

Then go buy True Spirituality and read it for yourself!

It is available in a republished edition:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/True-Spirituality-Francis-Schaeffer/dp/0842373519/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196339749&sr=8-1

Public Private distinction

Britain's culture strongly endorses a distinction between public and private religious beliefs. It is assumed and encouraged at many levels. MPs accept that votes on abortion should be private matters of conscience- no party would campaign on the matter. Church leaders say that one can focus on teaching the Bible in a way that avoids touching on matters of social concern. The media makes little effort to fairly represent Christian beliefs.

The pressure to live as if belief in Christ is a purely internal affair with no public impact is huge.

A glaring example of this was seen this week in Blair's comments that as he explored Christian things, he had to keep his views secret: to let people know that Christianity would affect his views and decisions would be to come accross as a 'nutter'.

It is easy to criticise Blair- as the Telegraph did- calling him a hypocrite.

I feel a bit more uneasy about it all- should Christians not be examing themselves? Should the finger of blame for the weak state of culture and Christianity not be pointed at us? What have we done - or failed to do - that has led to such a disasterous distortion as this public/private distinction become not only possible, but commended?

Republished article

My article critiquing evangelical preaching, originally published in the Churchman journal, has been republished online.

Editor of the site did a great job reformatting the work to make it look nice - judging from the amount of emails I have received the site has helpfully exposed the thoughts to a wider audience.

Feel free to pass the link on to others:


http://www.theologian.org.uk/

Free advertising

I am not in the habit of giving free advertising on my blog - but this advert deserves it for humorous use of political events!

Nice Latin turn of phrase

Augustine trained as a great orator - refining his Latin and turn of phrase so that he could impress audiences who applauded if you said something with a particular rhetorical flourish!

He gaev all that up when he became a Christian preacher, preferring to aim for humility of speech that opened the door to God's power manifesting itself through truth and simplicity. However he remained the man he always was - grace transformed hsi personality but did not erase his past. As a result one can still see the crisp concise marks of the professional rhetor in his sermons. Speaking extempore from his weekly meditations on scripture, he could still round off a passionate section of exhortation with a precise Latin rhyme! One that came to my attention this morning is found in sermon 173.1:

"vivimus si credimus."

That is, "We live if we believe."

Modern people imagine that Latin was a language of writing since that is the form it is usually studied in today at school. Augustine's sermons remind us that it was a spoken language, well suited to rhyme and exhortation. The above is one of many such examples in Augustine's sermons. A turn of phrase that expresses more than a little good theology too!

Going to Court

I realise that there are more sides to an issue than one - it can still be fruitful to consider the wisdom of a man like Augustine as it can provoke us to surprising courses of action.

Augustine disliked the role he had forced upon him as a bishop, of hearing legal disputes. In an even more litigious culture than his we may be surprised and challenged by his application of Ephesians 5:15-16 to legal disputes:

"Redeeming the time is this: when someone brings a law suit against you, lose something so that you will have time to spend on God, not on law suits. So lose it; what you lose is the price you pay for time."
Sermon 167.3

Counter cultural it is - but also refreshing?

Bishop Iker

Bishop Iker makes a powerful appeal for Anglicans to contend for the faith and seek to please God rather than man. These are difficult times for Anglicans - It is hard to not admire the courage and integrity of speeches such as this.

The speech starts 20min into the video.

Right tools for the job

I have been told that at the outset of a phd you need to ensure you have the correct tools for the job. As of yesterday I have the right tools!

For only (!) 800 pounds you can be the proud owner of a complete digital collection of augustine's works in latin. Over twenty years in the making, there are over 5 million words- each one coded so that if you search for a latin word, you will get a hit for every occurance regardless of how the word's form appears. All the writings are the latest critical editions. There is also secondary bibliographies.

Surveying the volumes one is reminded in a fresh way of the old saying that anybody who says they have read all of Augustine- lies!

Now this may not sound as fun as super mario bro on the nintendo, and I don't think there will be a Playstation version anytime soon- but for somebody wishing to study the writings of Augustine in depth- it is an amazing programme. Definitely the right tool for the job!

Not yet ready to dive into the technical searches, the first thing I have done is check how many times Augustine mentioned mouse traps in his work. Believe it or not- quite a few times.

The Character of a Heretike

John Donne was a very interesting man - 17th century poet, MP, converted Roman Catholic turned Anglican - and preacher. You can read a summary of his life at

www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/donnebio.htm

I was reading one of his sermons this morning, preached in 1627. In it he makes the following observation:

"To overthrow the foundations of the Church upon the appearance, and pretence, and colour of Reason; God cannot have proceeded thus and thus, because there is this and this reason against it. Now the foundations of the Church are the Scriptures; And when men present reason of probability, of verisimilitude, of pious credulity, not deduct't out of the Scriptures, they fall into that regular Irregularity, and into that constant levity, which Saint Augustine justly makes the Character, and Specification of an Heretike, to seeme to proceede upon reasons, and not deduce those reasons from the Scriptures."

What is your weak point?

Hopkins is wonderfully understated in the psychological thriller 'Fracture'. He is a genius engineer who can discern the stress and fracture points in metals. He also is a keen student of human nature and discovers that every person has a weak point to which pressure can be applied.

He seeks to use this to evade murder charges - discerning the weak point of stress in a lawyer's heart and manipulating it to his own gain. The movie is interesting because the weak point in the lawyer's life is his own hard work, drive and success. In other words, pride.

Augustine frequently preached about the topic of pride, warning that it lay in the heart and made us vulnerable to being thrown off course by sin's enticements. It is nice to see Hollywood pay such careful attention to the preacher from Hippo!

Modern mission

From new testament times Christians have shared the message of Christianity in many ways. One such method has been in organised focused missions. Last week I was involved in one such mission- for Bristol University Christian Union.

During the week I gave a number of talks each day and chatted with students about Jesus. I learnt a lot from the intense immersion in student life and the attempt to present Christ. Some of my observations were:

1. The media's impression of hostility to Christianity is not entirely accurate. In the past students may have been keen to argue against the claims of Christ- this was not the case at Bristol last week. Rather, the majority of students who were not interested in learning- simply did not show up. Those who did come to hear talks tended to be genuinely interested in finding out about Jesus. Perhaps the media focuses on aggressive atheists such as Dawkins and Hitchens not because they represent the genuine views of the majority- but because they are in a minority and feel shrill and desperate?

2. This meant that those who came to the mission were on the whole very humble and keen to explore the claims of Jesus. Questions were not aggressive but genuine. There was real evidence of people learning and growing over the week. A real hunger for words of life was felt by many. I was myself struck by the humble questions from students- I wondered if I am myself so humble in seeking understanding.

3. A high proportion of the students who modeled this humility before the word had absolutely no experience of Christianity. They came due to a leaflet handed to them in the street. Due to this I chose to read long sections of Luke's gospel. We frequently read 60 verses for a talk- over three times the ammount normally read in mission talks. There was a need to expose people to the words of Jesus. As this was done it was profitable to both answer questions AND point to the many verses that show that one's eyes are blinded unless God opens them. It was helpful to let people know that while it is good to investigate, one ought not do so unaware of the spiritual fight going on around us all. We ask rational questions- but are unable to respond rationally to the rational evidence!

4. Doing mission like this stirs up all kinds of opportunities to minister to Christian and outsider- the Bible makes sense when read on the cutting edge of the mission field. It was surprising the number of helpful conversations happened around the missionary endeavor.

All this and more firmly impressed on me the importance of university missions. There are reasons to adapt to the changing culture- this does not mean giving up on reaching out but grasping the opportunity before us- a truly post-church secular generation starved of words that bring life. Mission may need to change but it needs to happen with courage, passion and Christ centredness.