Reading The Bible After Christendom

I'm promoting this cos I've been asked to.  And because it's going to be really good.  You should book in.  And then turn up.  You'll be glad you did.

"Exploring The Story" An Introduction to Reading the Bible

Some of my colleagues here at NBLC are teaching a short course which introduces the Bible and explores ways of reading the different types of literature that it contains.  Aimed at anyone at all who might be interested, this is just one expression of our mission to serve as "... a widely accessible resource for mission through theological education, equally available to the whole people of God."  It's happening in South Manchester on three Saturday mornings in January.

For more info, including details of how to book a place, go here.

(BTW you don't need to be able to read Heberw, or have a pointy thing with a brass hand on the end.)

The Book of Eli

Films make me blog. I’ve just been to see The Book of Eli. Here’s some meaning that me and the Hughes brothers came up with.

The words of The Bible are beautiful, potent and good for humanity. So are the words of The Koran, all other sacred texts and the works of Beethoven. Even cheap music has the power to sustain and enrich. You can’t be a hero without being violent. A surfeit of stuff blinds you to what’s important. Salvation normally comes from a lone individual. When making a “post-apocalyptic” film you have to include a shot of a ruined, iconic, American building. Politicians use religion to control the populous – don’t trust ‘em. It is really important to follow where your convictions lead and to do so with determination and discipline. Women are normally peripheral, feeble and insignificant.  Treasuring The Bible is one thing but what really matters is living out its message.  Ultimately the message of The Bible can be reduced to the Golden Rule.  Old people know some important stuff. Go West. If you are going to have a twist in the tail it will only work if doesn’t make a nonsense of all that went before.

21C Illuminated Bible

Mike Lowe, one of our students here in Manchester, is working on a very interesting project producing a communal, 21C, British, illuminated Bible.  It's called the buk.  This is me commending it to you.

The image on the right is the buk's illumination of 2 Corinthians 4v6 “For God who said “let Light shine out of darkness” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (NIV)

Here's what Mike has to say about the project:

Welcome to the buk. The buk is a new community driven illuminated Bible where visual reflections on the Biblical text are made up of images taken in Britain. The aim is to produce a Bible anyone in Britain can connect with very quickly and see that God is at work all around them.

It's looking good.  But don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself.

Image courtesy of thebuk.co.uk 

David Southall to give 2010 Whitley Lecture

Andy Goodliff put this together; I just nicked it.


David Southall is to give the 2010 Whitley Lecture entitled: "The Poetic Paul: On Creating New Realities for Righteousness in Romans".

Why does the Apostle Paul personify righteousness and sin in Romans 6? Why does the character "Righteousness" act out its role as a slave master in opposition to "Slave Master Sin?" In this seminar David J. Southall explores Pauline personification and makes the case that the Apostle uses the poetic ways of speaking as modes of character invention and then goes on to show that personified "Righteousness", becomes Paul's way of talking about Christ in passages which are rich in metaphor and the story of Christ.

Southall gives an exegesis of Romans 6:15-23 which affirms this view and looks at the implications of his position for aspects of Pauline theology including "the justification debate" and universalism.

Southall gained his PhD from Spurgeon's College with a dissertation on theology of Paul in 2007. It was published as Rediscovering Righteousness in Paul (Mohr Siebeck, 2008). See also his chapter 'The Personification of Righteousness within a Metaphoric and Narratorial Setting' in Bible and Mission (Neufeld Verlag, 2008).

He became Chaplain ar Worcestershire Royal Hospital in 2009.
You can hear the lecture at:

• 22nd February 2010 at Regent's Park College, Oxford, 2pm
• 24th February 2010 at South Wales Baptist College, 3.00- 4.45pm
• 2nd March 2010 at Northern Baptist College, Luther King House, 7.30 - 9.30 p.m
• and also at the Baptist Assembly in May.
• 24th March Spurgeon's College
  

God in the Precinct 2

Prompted by a post over at revmusings to reflect on my recent offering on hearing God in the noise of the urban. Here's what I saw in the looking glass:

I'm not agin revmusing's suggestion that attending to God in silence helps to discern the divine tones amidst the noise of life. However, I reckon the key is being intentional, deliberately attending to what God may be saying in any given situation - wherever.

I'm developing one or two thoughts on what a noisy urban retreat might look like. I fancy the idea of taking The Bible into the melee and reading it in all manner of different places to see how that affects what we notice (in the word and in the world). So, for instance chewing over a psalm on the top deck of a bus or running through Mark in the market place or Timothy on the train station concourse. Then there's the idea of spending half-time next time I'm at Old Trafford praying rather than queuing for a pie. (Hang on, make that praying while queuing for a pie). Or what about sitting on a bench in the precinct meditating on the shop window ddisplays?

I reckon these are all worthwhile practices for each of us to pursue. I wonder though if it's worth organising a communal retreat along these signs (in Manchester, obviously) so that we can gather after our reading/praying/meditating and share what we've heard. Would there be any takers?

Full-Time Tutor in Biblical Studies

NORTHERN BAPTIST LEARNING COMMUNITY
(on behalf of ‘Northern Baptist College Ltd’)
www.northern.org.uk

(a member of the ecumenical Partnership for Theological Education, based at Luther King House in Manchester)

intends to appoint a

Full-Time Tutor in Biblical Studies

with a major focus in EITHER Old or New Testament

(Whilst not an essential requirement for appointment to this post, there is potential for the successful applicant to play a significant role in the development and delivery of the ecumenical Partnership’s post-graduate programme.)

Requests for information can be made to:

Revd Dr Richard Kidd (Co-Principal)

richard.kidd@northern.org.uk

(Completed applications must arrive by Monday 22nd June 2009, and interviews will be held on Wednesday 15th July 2009)

[Northern Baptist Learning Community has an Equal Opportunities Policy]

On the down side I'm a bit late with this; on the up side if you get the job then you get to work with me!

Summer School Part Two: The Bible in Post Modern Context

Further to my earlier post on our Partnership For Theological Education Summer School here in Manchester on religious diversity, we can now release details of the other strand that will be running concurrently. Mark Brummit is a highly engaging and somewhat unconventional teacher. Formerly research fellow in biblical studies here at LKH he is currently assistant prof at Colgate College, Rochester, NY.