Posted Friday 19 June 2009
‘That was exhilerating!’ said one participant from the Diocese after the second of the ‘Church and Academy’ seminars last evening in the University; ‘I’d forgotten how much I enjoy engaging with that kind of thinking’.
These seminars offer an opportunity to stand back from the practice of ministry and spend time in reflection; they are a chance to listen to creative minds wrestling with issues about which they have a passionate interest, and then to participate in discussion. And what a lively debate it was, continuing long after the wine was finished and even onwards into a Byers Road fish restaurant!
Revd Professor David Jasper’s paper was indeed a tour de force - we hope in due course to be able to post a copy here – elegantly tracing the changing attitudes to literature and religion’s relationship since the 19th century with numerous illustrations from literary criticism, novels, poetry and art. He outlined his own intra-disciplinary approach, and that of ‘thinking theologically’, the way in which literature in its own right can newly illuminate the way in which we think.
David challenged us to slow down and attend silently to the singularity of every piece of true creativity, to dwell imaginatively in mystery, to create space for the unsayable and the ‘not yet realised’ rather than trying to overdefine God - and to work hard to create the opportunity for others to do likewise, acts which are at once prophetic, priestly and political.
So after these first two seminars, what next? The group evinced a desire to keep meeting as ‘this is a forum’, one priest said, ‘where we can be challenged to keep reading and thinking, and have a chance to meet each other’. After the summer’s break, we will resume meeting monthly; if you haven’t been before, do feel free to come along. Revd Dr Scott Robertson and the Ministry Development Officer will draw up a programme for the autumn term involving seminar leaders from the University and the Diocese, and circulate this via the web site and other diocesan mailings.
Category: Ministry Development
