Of Gods and Men (Des Hommes and Des Dieux, French with English subtitles, dir. Xavier Beauvois, cert. 12A) is a remarkable mix of the sort of monastic contemplation seen in Into Great Silence (2005) and the dilemma of whether foreigners committed to aiding a local community should flee when conflict puts them in danger. The [...]
Between Faith and Doubt, John Hick Palgrave, pb, our price: £11.67 In the minds of many who have studied theology John Hick is probably still associated with a ‘pluralist’ approach to world religions. Instead of defending the exclusive claims of Christianity, he has argued that all faiths are pointers to a truth that is greater [...]
There is so much in this hardback with the attractive dustcover that it is difficult to know where to start. The author, James Finley, says what his book is about from his perspective as the writer, and what could be better: “…I am sharing with you what I have learned thus far in my ongoing spiritual journey.” For people who see their life as a spiritual journey, even a pilgrimage or travel through the desert, James Finley has written an articulate if somewhat detailed text on being with and learning to seek God in ones life.
I had read somewhere in a book about the poor by the Jesuit Gary Smith that Christ is seeking us, and that we are “followed” by Christ. This book purports that one lives and prays a realized oneness with God, preparing oneself through contemplation as one discipline. “When engaged in contemplation, we rest in God resting in us. We are at home in God at home in us.” The role is basically receptive.
The person who seeks God in this way, so the book instructs, and the book is a kind of instruction by one who has knowledge to share, and a heart with love to teach, will have a “life-transforming realization of oneness with God.” In some way, by manner of practice, and the nature of contemplation. Some of his phrases are moving, and give reason to think about with a reverent consideration that looks towards divine destinations. He does this in the Christian way. One can “…quietly begin to illumine the most intimate of moments.”
By Graham Gendall Norton There are, I would guess, few readers (even though themselves abstemious), who will not have a bottle or so on hand for welcomes at the festive season. The British have changed: Once it was spirits, fortified high-alcohol port and sherry, or a glass of beer that was offered to visitors. Now, [...]
The Government has been urged by the Bishop of Chester to consider preventing shops opening on Remembrance Sunday until after the ceremonies that take place at 11am. Bishop Peter Forster said in the House of Lords that Remembrance Sunday and associated events were a “matter not just of individual conscience but of national policy and for [...]
By Derek Walker “And so this is Christmas” sang John Lennon, who died 30 years ago this month, so festively-minded readers might prefer to guess some of the end-of-year trivia that finds its way here. Those of you in yuletide quiz mood can find the relevant answers in their traditional place at the bottom of [...]
The Bishop of Lincoln has opposed Government plans to scrap the office of Chief Coroner. Bishop John Saxbee spoke out against the move and voted against it alongside the Bishops of Bristol, Chichester, Exeter and Manchester as the Government was defeated in the House of Lords. Peers voted by 277 to 165 to remove the Chief [...]
Christmas is a time when we inevitably ask ourselves some searching questions. For example: ‘Whatever shall we do with all these sprouts?’ There are the traditional answers, such as ‘make bubble and squeak’, or ‘leave them in the supermarket where they belong’, or ‘fire them over the fence into the neighbours garden with a catapult [...]
2010 started brightly but belatedly with the previous year’s foreign Oscar® winner, Departures (technically in my 2009 best films list). It was a delightful tale of a Japanese man who thinks he’s signing up to work in the travel trade “dealing with departures” only to discover it’s a misprint for “with the departed”. Despite the [...]
Plus ça change…. the English cricket team have rediscovered their losing ways just in time for Christmas or so it seems. Was this Australian bowling performance in the third test merely a blip? Or was the England superiority over the first two Tests — in the field, and with bat and ball — itself merely [...]
Synod says farewell to Bishop
Assisted suicide changes rebuffed
Women bishops move a step closer after debate
Minister gets unusual Valentine’s card
‘Be more confident in faith’
RAF hero priest dies, aged 89
Dialogue urged to prevent discrimination litigation
Missing millions trial underway in S.A.
American church boycott of Starbucks begins
Ulster bishop to lead SAMS-Ireland