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movement<br />

THE MAGAZINE FOR CHRISTIAN STUDENTS<br />

ISSUE <strong>154</strong> AUTUMN 2016<br />

INTERVIEW:<br />

STEVE CHALKE<br />

We caught up with the<br />

founder of Oasis UK<br />

PAGE 12<br />

THE BIBLE IS MORE<br />

THAN JOHN 3:16<br />

A Christian and an<br />

Atheist read the Bible<br />

PAGE 23<br />

POLITICS AND<br />

THEOLOGY A match<br />

made in heaven? Selina<br />

Stone investigates<br />

PAGE 29<br />

SPOTLIGHT ON THE<br />

BOOK OF ESTHER<br />

Anne Phillips uncovers<br />

the story of Esther<br />

PAGE 38


CONTENTS<br />

EDITORIAL 4<br />

COMING UP 5<br />

NEWS 6-8<br />

GROUP NEWS 9-11<br />

REVIEWS 41-42<br />

GROOVEMENT 43<br />

INTERVIEW:<br />

STEVE<br />

CHALKE 12-16<br />

The founder of Oasis UK tells us his<br />

story and shares his thoughts on<br />

student Christianity.<br />

RESOURCE:<br />

READING<br />

THE BIBLE 17-20<br />

Explore how the Bible as we know it<br />

came about, and discover how we can<br />

interpret the Scriptures today.<br />

MY<br />

FAVOURITE<br />

SCRIPTURE 21-22<br />

SCM members share their favourite<br />

verse, passage or story from the Bible.<br />

THE BIBLE IS<br />

MORE THAN<br />

JOHN 3:16 23-25<br />

A Christian and an Atheist read the<br />

Bible.<br />

THE LONG READ:<br />

POLITICS AND<br />

THEOLOGY 28-31<br />

SELINA STONE<br />

Do politics and theology even go<br />

together, and can any good come<br />

from such a union?<br />

BREXIT,<br />

BLACKNESS<br />

AND THE<br />

CROSS 32-34<br />

WHAT I<br />

LEARNED IN<br />

MY FIRST<br />

SEMESTER 35-37<br />

SCM members Mark Birkett, Alex<br />

Young and Juliane Borchert share their<br />

reflections.<br />

A SPOTLIGHT ON<br />

THE BOOK OF<br />

ESTHER 38-40<br />

ANNE PHILIPS<br />

READING<br />

THE BIBLE:<br />

A MUSLIM<br />

PERSPECTIVE 26-27<br />

MONA SIDDIQUI<br />

A reflection on the aftermath of the<br />

EU referendum.<br />

Take a look at one of the lesser known<br />

books of the Bible to discover more<br />

about Esther.<br />

What does the Qur’an say about the<br />

Bible?<br />

2 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong> MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

3


Welcome to <strong>issue</strong> <strong>154</strong> of<br />

<strong>Movement</strong> <strong>magazine</strong>. You<br />

might have noticed that SCM’s<br />

image has had an update over the<br />

summer, and we thought it only<br />

right that <strong>Movement</strong> had a fresh<br />

new look too!<br />

Student Christian <strong>Movement</strong><br />

Grays Court, 3 Nursery Road, Edgbaston,<br />

Birmingham, B15 3JX<br />

t: 0121 426 4918<br />

e: scm@movement.org.uk<br />

w: www.movement.org.uk<br />

Advertising<br />

e: scm@movement.org.uk<br />

t: 0121 426 4918<br />

COMING UP<br />

As well as updating the look of the <strong>magazine</strong>, we’ve also made<br />

a few other changes. <strong>Movement</strong> will now be published twice<br />

per year rather than once per term, and we’ve added more<br />

pages so that we can bring you an even bigger variety of<br />

features. We’re still committed to great, student-led content,<br />

and we hope that you’ll enjoy what we’ve got lined up for this<br />

and future <strong>issue</strong>s.<br />

This <strong>issue</strong> focuses on the Bible. Lots of people struggle with<br />

how to approach reading the Bible - it’s a complex and varied<br />

set of texts which can often feel quite intimidating. Throughout<br />

this <strong>issue</strong>, our writers focus on various aspects of the Bible,<br />

from what it is like to read the entire book in a year to sharing<br />

their favourite verses.<br />

Finally, this is my final <strong>issue</strong> of <strong>Movement</strong> as Editor, as my four<br />

years on General Council have sadly now come to an end. I<br />

hope you’ve enjoyed the recent <strong>issue</strong>s and are, like me, looking<br />

forward to what the future holds. If you have any ideas for<br />

future content, or would like to contribute, then we’d love to<br />

hear from you! Please email editor@movement.org.uk or get in<br />

touch with the office.<br />

DEBBIE WHITE<br />

We are really grateful for Debbie’s commitment and enthusiasm<br />

as the Editor of <strong>Movement</strong>, and would like to thank her for all<br />

the hard work that has gone into each <strong>issue</strong>! The Editorial Team<br />

<strong>Movement</strong> is published by the Student<br />

Christian <strong>Movement</strong> (SCM) and is distributed<br />

free to all members, supporters, groups, Link<br />

Churches and affiliated chaplaincies.<br />

SCM is a student-led movement inspired by<br />

Jesus to act for justice and show God’s love in<br />

the world. As a community we come together<br />

to pray, worship and explore faith in an open<br />

and non-judgemental environment.<br />

SCM staff:<br />

National Coordinator: Hilary Topp, Finance and<br />

Projects Officer: Lisa Murphy, Groups Worker:<br />

Lizzie Gawen, Fundraising and Communications<br />

Officer: Ellis Tsang, Faith in Action Project<br />

Worker: Ruth Wilde, Regional Development<br />

Worker: Rach Collins, Administration Assistant:<br />

Ruth Naylor<br />

Editorial Team:<br />

Debbie White and Lisa Murphy.<br />

The views expressed in <strong>Movement</strong> <strong>magazine</strong><br />

are those of the particular authors and<br />

should not be taken to be the policy of the<br />

Student Christian <strong>Movement</strong>. Acceptance<br />

of advertisements does not constitute an<br />

endorsement by the Student Christian<br />

<strong>Movement</strong>.<br />

ISSN 0306-980X<br />

SCM GATHERING<br />

14-16 OCTOBER 16,<br />

GLASGOW<br />

SCM Glasgow is looking forward<br />

to welcoming students and recent<br />

graduates to the SCM Gathering<br />

at Wellington Church this October!<br />

Join us for a weekend of community<br />

building and reflection, with bible<br />

study, workshops and time for<br />

worshipping together.<br />

Our guest speaker is the Bishop<br />

of Manchester, David Walker, who<br />

will be joining us on Saturday. His<br />

subject will be: ‘Young, Gifted and<br />

Christian: What makes churchgoing<br />

work for 20 somethings?’<br />

There will also be time to relax with<br />

a ceilidh on the Saturday evening<br />

and time to explore Glasgow.<br />

FAITH AND<br />

FRONTIERS<br />

TODAY<br />

5 NOVEMBER 16,<br />

COVENTRY<br />

Project Bonhoeffer, our partners in<br />

the Faith in Action project, will be<br />

holding a day conference looking at<br />

migration and the <strong>issue</strong>s faced by<br />

refugees. Guest speakers will include<br />

Esther Reed, Associate Professor<br />

of Theology at the University of<br />

Exeter, and a member of Pax Christi<br />

International. Tickets are just £5 and<br />

a travel bursary is available for SCM<br />

members.<br />

SCM GATHERING<br />

10-12 MARCH 17,<br />

MANCHESTER<br />

Join students and recent graduates<br />

for our gathering in Manchester<br />

this spring. We’ll be joined by guest<br />

speaker Fr Timothy Radcliffe O.P., a<br />

Catholic priest, theologian, and the<br />

Consulter for the Pontifical Council<br />

of Justice and Peace, who will be<br />

speaking about vocation.<br />

There will also be space for prayer<br />

and worship, workshops and time to<br />

explore Manchester.<br />

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO BOOK<br />

YOUR PLACE, GO TO<br />

WWW.MOVEMENT.ORG.UK/EVENTS<br />

If you find it hard to read the printed version<br />

of <strong>Movement</strong>, we can send it to you in digital<br />

form. Contact editor@movement.org.uk.<br />

Charity number 1125640<br />

© 2016 Student Christian <strong>Movement</strong><br />

SAVE THE DATE!<br />

MOVEMENT 2017: 9-11 JUNE 2017<br />

Design:<br />

penguinboy.net & morsebrowndesign.co.uk<br />

4 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong> MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

5


NEWS<br />

NEW MEMBERS<br />

ELECTED TO<br />

SCM’S GENERAL<br />

COUNCIL<br />

New General Council members<br />

were elected at SCM’s AGM on<br />

Saturday 11 June, with six new<br />

members elected to trustee and<br />

portfolio positions. SCM members<br />

also re-elected Emma Temple as<br />

a trustee. The new GC members<br />

join Dan Barnes-Davies and Taylor<br />

Driggers, who are serving current<br />

terms as Access and Inclusion<br />

portfolio and International Students’<br />

Representative respectively.<br />

Freddie Alexander, who recently<br />

graduated from the University of<br />

Edinburgh, was elected as a new<br />

trustee. ‘After helping to run SCM<br />

Edinburgh, and being involved with<br />

many SCM events nationally, I am<br />

excited to be able to support and<br />

help with the continued growth of<br />

SCM,’ he said.<br />

Caitlin Wakefield, a postgraduate<br />

student at the University of<br />

Glasgow, was also elected<br />

as a trustee and LGBTQI+<br />

Representative. ‘I am excited to<br />

represent LGBTQI+ students on<br />

GC and to raise topics of concern<br />

for LGBTQI+ Christians and their<br />

allies,’ she said. ‘I believe we should<br />

represent within SCM the values<br />

that we want to see in the wider<br />

world, which means being visible<br />

and making people welcome.’<br />

The current members of General<br />

Council are:<br />

Freddie Alexander, Trustee<br />

Dan Barnes-Davies, Trustee and<br />

Access and Inclusion portfolio<br />

Sarah Derbyshire, Trustee and<br />

Events portfolio<br />

Taylor Driggers, International<br />

Students’ Representative<br />

Ross Jesmont, Trustee<br />

Gemma King, Trustee<br />

Simone Ramacci, Science and<br />

Religion portfolio<br />

Emma Temple, Trustee and<br />

Campaigns portfolio<br />

Caitlin Wakefield, Trustee and<br />

LGBTQI+ Representative<br />

You can find out more about GC<br />

and their roles at www.movement.<br />

org.uk/general-council<br />

SHARING STORIES<br />

OF FAITH & HOPE<br />

AT SCM’S SUMMER<br />

GATHERING 2016<br />

Students were refreshed and<br />

challenged during our summer<br />

event, ‘Stories of Faith’, held on 11<br />

June 2016. The day event featured<br />

workshops from Dr Richard<br />

Goode and the Esther Collective,<br />

and SCM’s AGM, which included<br />

General Council elections and our<br />

annual awards.<br />

Participants heard from Professor<br />

David Ford, who gave an ‘honest,<br />

challenging, funny and very<br />

intelligent’ talk about deepening<br />

our approach to faith. ‘A wiser<br />

faith and wiser understanding of<br />

faith – that’s the aim of theology.<br />

Intense study and discussion of<br />

religious texts within the Christian<br />

faith is important and healthy,’ he<br />

said, to an audience of students<br />

from a range of backgrounds and<br />

denominations.<br />

‘David Ford was excellent, with<br />

many profound insights, and I came<br />

away with lots of new ways to read<br />

scripture,’ said one participant.<br />

The day also included a Love Feast,<br />

or agape lunch, led by Rachel<br />

Allison from Birmingham Methodist<br />

Society. Students, SCM members,<br />

chaplains and staff all participated<br />

in the celebration meal, which<br />

was full of encouraging stories.<br />

We heard about people’s journeys<br />

into Christian activism through the<br />

Catholic Worker <strong>Movement</strong>, and<br />

the valuable role played by people<br />

in supporting a journey into spiritual<br />

discernment. We were led in a<br />

closing prayer and worship session<br />

by Soo Tian, a PhD student based<br />

in Oxford. Huge thanks to Rachel<br />

and Soo Tian for leading beautiful<br />

services.<br />

Thank you to everyone who made<br />

this event possible, from those who<br />

volunteered in the kitchen to those<br />

who helped lead sessions and<br />

organise different parts of the day.<br />

You can view photos from the event<br />

on our Facebook page.<br />

SCM LAUNCHES<br />

NEW ONLINE<br />

PLATFORM<br />

CONNECTING<br />

STUDENTS TO<br />

CHURCHES AND<br />

GROUPS AT<br />

UNIVERSITY<br />

SCM Connect is here – a new<br />

online directory where students can<br />

search for, and connect to, local<br />

churches and student groups in<br />

their university city or town.<br />

We launched the platform over the<br />

summer and people can now join<br />

up by going to www.movement.org.<br />

uk/scmconnect. Churches can sign<br />

up to become Link Churches, which<br />

will automatically list their contact<br />

details in the directory. Students<br />

can register to search the directory,<br />

connecting to Link Churches,<br />

student groups and chaplaincies.<br />

SCM Connect publicity materials<br />

are also available to distribute to<br />

young people, with a scannable QR<br />

code that will direct people to the<br />

platform via mobile devices such<br />

as phones or tablets. If you would<br />

like to connect people going to<br />

university to SCM Link Churches<br />

and groups, you can order SCM<br />

Connect cards by emailing admin@<br />

movement.org.uk.<br />

SCM TO<br />

ESTABLISH NEW<br />

STUDENT HUB IN<br />

MANCHESTER<br />

SCM is pleased to announce<br />

that a new student hub will be<br />

established in Manchester this<br />

September, helping to support and<br />

resource students, groups and<br />

local churches across the North<br />

West of England. Our new Regional<br />

Development Worker, Rach Collins,<br />

will coordinate the hub’s work, and<br />

will be based at St Peter’s House<br />

Church and Chaplaincy.<br />

‘We are thrilled to be able to grow<br />

our work in the North West, which<br />

means more students can find<br />

places of welcome, support and<br />

community this year,’ said Hilary<br />

Topp, SCM’s National Coordinator.<br />

‘We are enormously grateful for all<br />

the generous support from friends<br />

and donors who have helped to<br />

make this new hub a reality. We<br />

look forward to starting the work<br />

in September, and welcome Rachel<br />

Collins to the staff team to support<br />

and train more student leaders and<br />

groups.’<br />

As part of the hub’s outreach, we<br />

will work with more local churches<br />

in the region to grow their mission<br />

to students, and connect more<br />

young people coming to university<br />

for the first time to inclusive<br />

Christian communities. In March<br />

2017, the hub will host an SCM<br />

Gathering with guest speaker<br />

Timothy Radcliffe O.P., a Catholic<br />

priest, theologian and Consulter for<br />

the Pontifical Council of Justice and<br />

Peace.<br />

6 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

7


SCM MOURNS PASSING OF<br />

FR DANIEL BERRIGAN,<br />

PEACE ACTIVIST AND PRIEST<br />

GROUP NEWS<br />

MEET RACH<br />

OUR REGIONAL<br />

DEVELOPMENT<br />

WORKER<br />

We’re delighted to welcome Rach<br />

Collins to the staff team as the<br />

Regional Development Worker<br />

based at the student hub in<br />

Manchester. Since studying Youth<br />

and Community Development<br />

Work at the University of Cumbria<br />

in Lancaster, Rach has worked in<br />

Methodist Churches with children,<br />

young people and families. She has<br />

a variety of random skills including<br />

throwing bowls on a potter’s wheel,<br />

face painting, puppeteering and<br />

making balloon model dogs.<br />

Rach is a Methodist and is involved<br />

with Methodist Women in Britain.<br />

She is a seventh generation<br />

preacher and enjoys finding<br />

ways of using creative prayer in<br />

her services. In her spare time<br />

she enjoys knitting, reading and<br />

watching TV boxsets.<br />

We were sad to learn of the<br />

passing of Fr Daniel Berrigan, a<br />

Jesuit priest and peace activist who<br />

influenced many people within the<br />

movement. Berrigan died at the age<br />

of 94 on 30 April in the company<br />

of family members. He spoke at<br />

Seeds of Liberation, SCM’s annual<br />

conference in January 1973, which<br />

became a defining moment in the<br />

movement’s history.<br />

Writing in a blog post, SCM<br />

member Ross Jesmont said:<br />

‘Daniel Berrigan’s life is an example<br />

of what is looks like to live with<br />

integrity. To live a faithful witness<br />

to Jesus’ teaching. In his addresses<br />

to the SCM [in 1973] he taught the<br />

importance of scripture and the<br />

centrality of community. For me<br />

his examples, words and questions<br />

continue to shape my faith.’<br />

Less than a year before the<br />

conference in 1973, Berrigan had<br />

been released from prison in the<br />

United States, where he had been<br />

held under charges of burning draft<br />

files in protest against the Vietnam<br />

War. He played a crucial role in<br />

energising the anti-war movement<br />

at the time, and in 1980 founded<br />

the ‘Plowshares <strong>Movement</strong>’ by<br />

protesting against the construction<br />

of nuclear missiles at the General<br />

Electric nuclear missile facility in<br />

Pennsylvania, US.<br />

At SCM’s 1973 conference,<br />

Berrigan spoke about the need<br />

for people to renew faith and<br />

spirituality within the pursuit of<br />

peace and justice. He spoke to an<br />

audience of over 350 participants,<br />

saying ‘Unlike the politicos who<br />

have no time for religion, unlike the<br />

religious who have no time for the<br />

political, the new situation requires<br />

a personal integration of two<br />

traditions.’<br />

SCM IN SHEFFIELD<br />

Earlier this year St. Marks Church in Sheffield set up a<br />

student group with an aim to discuss theological <strong>issue</strong>s<br />

and work cohesively as a group to implement positive<br />

social change in the local community. So far, we have<br />

had four meetings, with pizza, potato salad, and plenty of<br />

thought-provoking debate, normally concluding with a trip<br />

to the pub where the discussion often continues. Meetings<br />

have also contained ‘questions in a teapot’ – where<br />

members can ask questions for deliberation by the rest of<br />

the group and also a spontaneous fancy dress session!<br />

We have discussed a number of ideas for the new<br />

academic year. These have included work with older<br />

people in the church and raising money for charity. We’ve<br />

partnered with the SCM group in Sheffield and hope<br />

to continue their great work as most of their members<br />

graduate this year.<br />

From September, we hope to welcome and engage with a<br />

host of new students, who may be interested in joining our<br />

all-inclusive group and who are keen to openly question<br />

and think about our faith as well as consider the active<br />

impact we can have on those around us.<br />

OLIVER GILES<br />

BIRMINGHAM ANGLICAN<br />

SOCIETY<br />

The University of Birmingham AngSoc has enjoyed another<br />

year of prayer and studies. This year we travelled to<br />

Norfolk to enjoy a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady<br />

of Walsingham. Whilst there, we submerged ourselves in<br />

the history and culture of Walsingham, visiting the Slipper<br />

Chapel and a variety of different masses held during the<br />

weekend. We hosted a very successful Christmas dinner<br />

where the Catholic Society and the Methodist Society<br />

were in attendance. We also travelled on the Severn Valley<br />

Railway to Bewdley in the summer term visiting the local<br />

brewery and church.<br />

AngSoc are looking to be more proactive in social action<br />

over the coming year. We are looking to raise money and<br />

awareness for Tearfund’s toilet-twinning project. Action<br />

will also be taken to help the University community, from<br />

litter picking to helping other societies with social action<br />

like the Methodist Society’s Food Exchange project.<br />

We also plan to work more closely with other Christian<br />

and religious societies over the coming year, and we<br />

would also like to look more at Christianity in Science by<br />

celebrating Christianity in Science Week over the coming<br />

term.<br />

ELEANOR LITTLE<br />

8<br />

MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong> MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

9


SCM OXFORD<br />

Oxford is a busy city when it comes to student groups,<br />

but currently one thing is missing - a Student Christian<br />

<strong>Movement</strong> group! To fill this void, SCM members in Oxford<br />

have met for several social meals to exchange ideas and<br />

hatch a plan to start a new SCM group. At one of our meals,<br />

we had the chance to meet Martin & Ruth Conway who<br />

were SCM staff members in the 1960s, and they shared<br />

their experiences of being a part of and then working for<br />

SCM.<br />

There are lots of challenges in creating a group for suits the<br />

needs of Oxford Uni and Oxford Brookes students, but we<br />

hope to overcome them! For the new academic year we<br />

are hoping to grow and to establish regular events taking<br />

place at both universities. Our first focus will be to engage<br />

with the incoming freshers to build an open, welcoming<br />

community of students, who strive to support each other in<br />

their growth in faith and act for justice in the world.<br />

JULIANE BORCHERT<br />

ABERYSTWYTH METHODIST<br />

SOCIETY<br />

It has been an exciting year for Aberystwyth MethSoc, and<br />

this term has been no exception. We attended the excellent<br />

MethSoc Gathering, where a number of Methodist Societies<br />

from across the country met up at Cliff College for a<br />

weekend of fun and fellowship.<br />

Throughout the last few months, we’ve had various socials<br />

and a particularly fun evening at Easter which we shared<br />

with our International Students, complete with an Easter<br />

Egg Hunt and a quiz! Being able to share our faith and help<br />

provide a spiritual home for students is key to any SCM<br />

group in my opinion, and I think that’s especially important<br />

when home is a long way away.<br />

We held our traditional Leavers’ Weekend in the summer<br />

where the Leavers organised a meal for the church, a<br />

sleepover, a ‘summer fete’-inspired evening on the Saturday<br />

and of course, the traditional gunging of the current<br />

MethSoc committee. All of these events managed to raise<br />

over £300 for St. Pauls Methodist Centre, The Wallich and<br />

Tearfund. It’s been a great year for Aber MethSoc, but I’m<br />

looking forward to what is to come even more!<br />

DANIEL LONG<br />

SCM EDINBURGH<br />

SCM Edinburgh has had a successful year, with a lot of<br />

great events and quite a few new members. Some of<br />

our most well attended sessions were a discussion on<br />

Christianity and Money, and an event run in collaboration<br />

with the Feminist Society on Religion and Feminism.<br />

Alongside these topical discussions, we’ve also had a<br />

number of Bible study sessions, and plenty of socials<br />

involving food.<br />

Next year we hope to continue to grow our group and are<br />

planning an event on Faith and Politics for Freshers’ Week,<br />

so new students have a chance to see what we’re about.<br />

We’re also particularly excited about a series of events that<br />

we’ve decided to call ‘What Would Jesus Brew?’ These<br />

will be additional to our weekly Monday meetings and as<br />

the name suggests, are all about drinking beer (or another<br />

choice beverage) and talking about Jesus. The aim is to<br />

connect with students who aren’t part of SCM and don’t<br />

come to our usual meetings, and to hopefully start some<br />

great conversations about faith.<br />

LIZ MARSH<br />

10 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong> MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

11


INTERVIEW<br />

STEVE CHALKE<br />

Revd Steve Chalke MBE is a Baptist minister and founder of Oasis<br />

UK, a charity committed to transforming communities by working<br />

in an inclusive, integrated, empowering and comprehensive way so<br />

that all people experience wholeness and fullness of life. He is also<br />

the Founder and Chair of STOP THE TRAFFIK, a global coalition<br />

of organisations working to end human trafficking. Holder of the<br />

Guinness World Record for the most money raised by a marathon<br />

runner, Steve lives in London with his wife Cornelia, where he acts as<br />

the Senior Leader of Oasis Church Waterloo.<br />

Tell us a bit about yourself and your spiritual journey. I’m Anglo-Indian, and<br />

the first of four kids. Dad was from South India and was very dark skinned, so<br />

I was the darkest skinned kid I knew. I grew up in a home that was very poor,<br />

a home where I knew what it was like to face discrimination. My mum’s family<br />

totally disagreed with the fact that she’d married someone who was effectively<br />

a black man, and I think that that had quite a lot of a shaping effect on my life.<br />

I became a Christian in secondary school. I liked a girl called Mary from the<br />

school down the road, and I started going to a church youth club just to see her.<br />

I’d been going for weeks and weeks and one Friday night my best friend told me<br />

that Mary didn’t fancy me, and it was the worst thing that had ever happened to<br />

me! As I wandered home that night I was contemplating my future without Mary,<br />

a life that was meaningless and all that kind of thing - as you do when you’re 14<br />

- and it was all very depressing. And then I thought, ‘what they tell me about who<br />

I am at this church youth club is a lot better than who they tell me I am at school,<br />

where they tell us we’re riff raff and will never amount to anything, that I’m going<br />

to work with my hands not my head, that I’m not worth educating and won’t pass<br />

any exams. At the church they tell me my life is crammed with meaning and that<br />

I am made by God, in his image, and my life has huge potential’. I remember<br />

thinking, ‘I might be stupid, but I’m not that stupid, I’m going to choose the<br />

church’s story over the school’s story, and I’m going to keep going to the youth<br />

club whether Mary fancies me or not!’<br />

On the rest of the journey home, I decided that if I was going to be a Christian, I<br />

was going to do it 100%, and that I would tell other people this incredible story<br />

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I’d heard, and when I grew up I would be a church leader,<br />

and run a hostel for kids who had never been shown that<br />

anyone cared, and I’d start a school that was worth going<br />

to, and a hospital. And on that night I committed myself to<br />

live Christ’s way, and it was that night that’s directed my<br />

life. And I’ve no idea how it happened, except that it was<br />

a gift of God’s grace. This sense of direction came from<br />

outside of me, and it’s an extraordinary thing.<br />

How did you know that it was from God? I just never<br />

doubted it. It wasn’t as though God shouted it at me or<br />

anything like that, but I had this inner conviction that if it<br />

was true that God made me, and that my life had purpose,<br />

and that God was love and God loved everyone, then my life<br />

needed to be dedicated to getting that message out there<br />

and demonstrating it. It seemed to me to be the inevitable<br />

outcome of choosing to believe these things. All these years<br />

later this still fires and guides me all of the time, I’m still<br />

committed to that exact same thing, to build communities<br />

that demonstrate God’s love in tangible ways. And that was<br />

the beginning of Oasis.<br />

So how did you make it happen? Well I went back to my<br />

youth group and talked to the leaders, and they asked me<br />

to join their band to pay the bass, which was incredible<br />

because I couldn’t play! And they taught me note by note<br />

how to play their songs, and I was also learning from these<br />

guys how to get organised, how to put publicity together<br />

and how to create a plan so that people would turn up. Then<br />

when I left school I worked in a factory in Kent, and I took<br />

the money I earned and set up a youth group and a theatre<br />

company at a church, and all the time I was learning about<br />

leadership and organisation, and we put on productions<br />

and the youth group flourished. Then I applied to Spurgeons<br />

College to train as a Baptist minister, and they said I was too<br />

young, so at the age of 20 I went and worked at a church<br />

in Gravesend, running a youth group and developing a<br />

children’s club, and it all went from there.<br />

What motivates you? Well it comes back to what I said<br />

earlier about the gift that I’d been given, that I never doubted,<br />

that my task in life was to tell people, to demonstrate to<br />

people, the Christian faith, and to run a church, a hostel,<br />

a school and a hospital. My understanding of that vision<br />

has changed, and the theology behind it has developed too.<br />

What is the kingdom of God? It’s holistic, it’s integrated, it is<br />

good news at every level - this gift has been what has kept<br />

me going all this time.<br />

In the leadership seminars that I run now I tell people<br />

that they shouldn’t do something just because they think<br />

it is a good idea, because when you commit yourself to<br />

something that you think is a good idea, when the winter<br />

comes, metaphorically and literally, and its warm inside and<br />

you don’t want to go out to that meeting to get whatever it<br />

is off the ground, you will be defeated, you will give up. For<br />

me, my motivation is from outside of me, from God. That’s<br />

what sustains me.<br />

Your father experienced quite a lot of racism and<br />

discrimination in his lifetime. Have you experienced<br />

this, or was it a problem for you? No, it’s never been<br />

a problem for me, but I did experience it. Throughout my<br />

childhood I was called a half caste, everyone called me a<br />

half caste. People are offended by the term these days, but<br />

that’s what I was called growing up. My biggest pain as a<br />

child was worrying about my dad. He used to do shift work<br />

and I worried about him walking home, about him getting<br />

beaten up.<br />

As a teenager I had a couple of girlfriends, and their parents<br />

never liked me because they worried that if we got serious<br />

our kids might be even darker skinned than me. Britain has<br />

changed a lot though and people are different, even if we<br />

did vote out of the EU!<br />

Do you think that Britain leaving the EU will have an<br />

impact on tolerance and inclusion? I wish we hadn’t<br />

voted out. I campaigned for us to remain because I care<br />

passionately that we’re part of the wider world. But I do<br />

think this - there’s an opportunity now for us to realise that<br />

we are part of a wider world, and that we are global citizens.<br />

That’s how I think of myself. Geography means this is the<br />

place I call home but I consider myself to be a citizen of<br />

Earth, and this doesn’t make me less committed to the UK,<br />

it makes me more committed. And I believe that I should be<br />

as committed to the abolition of poverty in Peru as I am to<br />

the abolition of poverty in Peckham.<br />

What’s your view of the current state of student<br />

Christianity? I’m concerned about what is happening in<br />

our universities, or what is not happening rather, because<br />

at university young people are forming their worldviews.<br />

One of the things that concerns me is that there is little<br />

representation of a robust, joined up, integrated Christian<br />

faith in our universities, and another thing that worries me is<br />

that the representation of Christianity in universities is often<br />

homophobic, anti-women in leadership, and represents an<br />

overly simplistic theological view of the world that is not<br />

just out of sync with where we are in the 21st century, but<br />

with the bible itself. It’s not a grounded, developed, mature<br />

theological stance based on a reading of biblical text and a<br />

holistic application of those texts to life. All of that worries<br />

me because I find as a local minister so many people who<br />

have abandoned Christianity, and time and time again I hear<br />

stories from people who were put off their faith by their<br />

experiences at university, or that when they faced difficult<br />

times the faith they’d been taught didn’t match up to the<br />

life experiences that they had.<br />

What is your hope for Christianity in universities? A<br />

friend of mine said to me that he’d had a ten year gap in<br />

his faith because he realised when he left university that<br />

God he’d been told about didn’t exist, so he left the church.<br />

Now he’s realised that the God that inhabits the universe<br />

is bigger, better, kinder, fairer, more gracious and inclusive<br />

than the God he’d believed in before. This is a problem. The<br />

task in universities is to present a mature and biblical view<br />

of who the God of love, the God of grace, really is, and to<br />

present a clear understanding of the mission that he calls<br />

us into partnership in.<br />

There are always people in life who like a black and white<br />

world. This is right, this is wrong. Do this you get that result.<br />

I don’t think that the world that the bible talks about is black<br />

and white. There are huge areas of greyness, and we find<br />

those in life too. We should be equipping students earlier for<br />

that, so that they don’t abandon their faith when they come<br />

across these grey areas.<br />

Christianity, following Jesus, is not like sailing on a cruise<br />

liner, enjoying all of the food and relaxing and being<br />

entertained, it’s more like being on a battleship. There’s a<br />

fight on. There’s poverty everywhere, there is oppression<br />

everywhere. Our task is to bring God’s kingdom to earth,<br />

creating a world where God is in charge, not bankers and<br />

bent politicians, and where the lowly are lifted up – like Mary<br />

sang in the Magnificat. The cruise liner is sailing into oblivion<br />

and its running out of fuel.<br />

Where can you see God working in the world today? I<br />

see God at work right across the world, and I think it’s the<br />

church’s task to catch up with what God is doing and join in!<br />

I remember talking to a young girl of about 15 who had just<br />

given birth to a daughter, and I watched her looking down<br />

at her baby, this scrap of life a few days old, and I could see<br />

her praying. And perhaps she wouldn’t vocalise it and I’m<br />

sure she wouldn’t express it in the way that I am doing, but<br />

I could see it was there. And her prayer was ‘I’m not going<br />

to give you up, I’m not going to let you go through what I’ve<br />

gone through and suffer like I have suffered, I’m going to<br />

get you out of here.’ That’s God’s spirit at work, and it’s our<br />

task to join in with this.<br />

Why does the church seem to get into such a mess<br />

talking about human sexuality? I think the church is<br />

frightened of sexuality, and has been less than honest about<br />

sexuality. If you look at the track record of the church, it’s<br />

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always been on the wrong side of human history and human to ask ourselves what this actually means. Is prolonging life<br />

<strong>issue</strong>s. We believed that the world was flat, that it was at artificially through the use of expensive drugs, while people<br />

the centre of the universe when it wasn’t, that white men on the other side of the world are dying in their 30s and 40s<br />

could own black men as slaves, and that women should because of a lack of nutrition fair? Is that equality for every<br />

not be in leadership. I think we need to look at this and ask citizen of the world?<br />

ourselves how we have read the bible so wrongly. Then we<br />

need to take what we’ve learned from history and apply If we want to change the world, where should we start?<br />

that to how we treat the LGBTI community. I’ve had people We start where we live, and with what is in our hands. Use<br />

say me, privately, that they support the full inclusion of the the gifts and talents that you have, and the values you live<br />

LGBTI community in our churches, but this needs to be by, and start there.<br />

said publicly. The Pope, and the Archbishop of Canterbury,<br />

recently apologised for the way churches have treated LGBT Who is your favourite theologian? I love theology!<br />

people, and an apology is a good place to start, but it’s only Probably Helmut Thielicke. He’s a contemporary German<br />

as good as changed behaviour.<br />

theologian, and his work is best summed up in one quote -<br />

‘The task of the church is constantly to forward the gospel to<br />

What do you think the next big <strong>issue</strong> to face the church a new address, because the recipient keeps on moving’. His<br />

is going to be? I think the next big <strong>issue</strong> for us to get our whole body of work is about how we present the timeless<br />

heads around is euthanasia. It’s a big <strong>issue</strong> because of truth about God in fresh ways in new cultural settings. He<br />

the advances in medical science that keep people alive points out that Jesus didn’t just tell Old Testament stories,<br />

longer, and this stacks up a huge number of moral <strong>issue</strong>s he told new ones and he asked new questions, but his<br />

for us. Obviously every human life is sacred, but we need message was the same truth.<br />

To read our full interview with Steve Chalke, visit www.movement.org.uk/blog<br />

RESOURCE<br />

READING<br />

THE BIBLE<br />

In my Father’s house are many rooms. In<br />

the body are many parts. In the vine are<br />

many branches. In the books of the Bible<br />

there are many genres - the poetry of the<br />

Psalms, the narrative of the Gospels, the<br />

exhortation and encouragement in the<br />

letters, the visions of the dreamers. Each<br />

is an important, separate, strand in its<br />

own right, while also playing its part in the<br />

whole. So how did the Bible come to us?<br />

Adapted from a resource written by<br />

Barbara and David Calvert.<br />

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Reading the Bible<br />

Origins<br />

The books that make up the Old Testament<br />

were originally written in Hebrew, and<br />

are part of the history, laws, poetry and<br />

prophecies of the Jewish people. At first,<br />

much of this material was the spoken word,<br />

layer upon layer of material passed on by<br />

word of mouth and interpreted afresh by<br />

each generation. Scholars are not sure<br />

when the books were first written down,<br />

but the period of writing covered several<br />

centuries. By the first century AD, Jewish<br />

religious leaders had laid down that certain<br />

books were ‘holy’ – directly inspired by God<br />

– and it is these books which now make up<br />

the Old Testament. No original manuscripts<br />

of the Old Testament have been found –<br />

we have only copies of copies of copies.<br />

The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947,<br />

are the earliest Hebrew Bible manuscripts<br />

known.<br />

The first New Testament books to be written<br />

were Paul’s letters. They were kept by the<br />

churches that received them, but other<br />

churches soon wanted copies. Before<br />

the end of the first century AD they were<br />

collected together, copied and circulated,<br />

along with some other New Testament<br />

letters, and Acts and Revelation.<br />

Of the Gospels, Mark’s is usually thought<br />

to be the first to be written, followed by<br />

Matthew’s and Luke’s. Some scholars say<br />

John’s Gospel was the last to be written in<br />

about 100 AD, but many now believe that<br />

the earliest edition of John’s gospel was<br />

written very early on and maybe even as<br />

early as Mark’s.<br />

Each of the four Gospels is, in a different<br />

way, an answer to the question that Jesus<br />

poses to Peter: ‘Who do you say that I<br />

am?’ Matthew offers us a picture of Jesus<br />

as a messianic teacher, asking for faithful<br />

obedience of his followers. Mark offers us<br />

an edgy, secretive Messiah, who reveals<br />

his identity erratically to a confused band<br />

of disciples. Luke portrays Jesus as a social<br />

prophet with a humanitarian message. John<br />

shows us a cosmic Messiah who appears<br />

from the time before time, revealing himself<br />

in bold signs and gestures. Therefore from<br />

the very beginning, ‘gospel truth’ has been<br />

made up of a rich diversity of voices, stories<br />

and images. The New Testament invites us<br />

to engage with it in a journey of exploration<br />

and discovery.<br />

‘Come, divine Interpreter,<br />

Bring us eyes thy book to read,<br />

Ears the mystic words to hear,<br />

Words which did from thee proceed,<br />

Words that endless bliss impart,<br />

Kept in an obedient heart.’<br />

CHARLES WESLEY<br />

Reading the Bible<br />

How was the Bible written?<br />

These early New Testament writings were<br />

on papyrus. The Egyptians were first to<br />

use stems of papyrus reeds as a writing<br />

surface, and they would press out the fibres<br />

of the stems lengthways, lay another layer<br />

crosswise on top, and stick them together<br />

with glue and water. Our word paper comes<br />

from papyrus, and the word Bible comes<br />

from the Greek word biblos, a book, which<br />

in turn comes from the name of a port called<br />

Byblus, from which papyrus was exported.<br />

However, papyrus was difficult to produce,<br />

not easy to write on, and not very durable.<br />

Parchment, or vellum, was found to be more<br />

satisfactory and the skins of sheep, goats,<br />

calves or antelopes were scraped and<br />

stretched to make it. Papyrus and parchment<br />

were stored in rolls (as the Dead Sea Scrolls)<br />

or in book form, called codices. Most of the<br />

main early New Testament manuscripts are<br />

in codex form.<br />

Who could read the Bible?<br />

By the Middle Ages the Church was very<br />

powerful. From the early days the language<br />

of the Church had been Latin, and to<br />

maintain the power of the Church it was an<br />

offence punishable by death to translate the<br />

Bible into English or to have church services<br />

in English.<br />

Not until the 14th century did England have<br />

a complete Bible in its own language. At that<br />

time John Wycliffe and his followers, often<br />

called Lollards, voiced many criticisms of<br />

the Church. One of their chief complaints<br />

was that the people could not understand<br />

the priests’ mumbled Latin, and worse, that<br />

the priests themselves could not understand<br />

it. Under Wycliffe’s leadership, some of the<br />

Lollards translated the complete Bible from<br />

Latin into English, writing out each copy by<br />

hand.<br />

The Church still banned English Scriptures<br />

in the 16th century when William Tyndale<br />

translated his New Testament which<br />

was printed in Germany. The books were<br />

smuggled into England by sympathetic<br />

merchants in bales of wool and wine casks<br />

with false bottoms. A complete copy of the<br />

first edition is now at the British Museum,<br />

and the only other surviving copy, which is<br />

incomplete, is in St Paul’s Cathedral library<br />

in London. This illustrates the Church’s<br />

efficiency in tracking down and destroying<br />

Tyndale’s Testaments.<br />

What are we reading today?<br />

The King James Version, also known as the<br />

Authorised Version which was published in<br />

1611, was for 300 years the most widely<br />

read book in the English language. Even<br />

today the Authorised Version is what many<br />

English-speaking people think of as ‘The<br />

Bible’. But there is no such thing as ‘The’<br />

Bible.<br />

Many ancient texts have been discovered<br />

since 1611, so the modern translations that<br />

we use today, such as the Good News Bible<br />

and the New Revised Standard Version, are<br />

more accurate than the Authorised Version.<br />

The modern translations of the Bible in<br />

contemporary English come alive and really<br />

feel like a word for today rather than a<br />

word for yesterday. There are also many<br />

paraphrased editions of the Bible available<br />

today such as Gospels in Scouse and The<br />

Message.<br />

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Reading the Bible<br />

How do we interpret the Bible?<br />

The Bible becomes the word of God when<br />

it interacts with human life. To understand<br />

what the word of God is saying to us<br />

today we need the interpretative tools<br />

of experience, reason, tradition and<br />

our knowledge and understanding of<br />

contemporary world affairs, culture and<br />

society.<br />

The Bible is not a simple, uniform collection of<br />

books. Its study can easily cause confusion<br />

or disagreement. We cannot ask ‘What does<br />

the Bible say about this or that? - expecting<br />

definitive answers. The Bible doesn’t say<br />

anything, but gives us snapshots of God<br />

and God’s people so that we can work out<br />

answers for ourselves. There are three basic<br />

rules for bible study that can help greatly:<br />

1. Respect the form.<br />

A passage could be a poem, a prayer, an<br />

account of an event, a parable, a drama,<br />

a testimony… Each brings a perspective<br />

from which the text can be read.<br />

2. Scripture needs more scripture.<br />

That is, the whole teaching on one major<br />

<strong>issue</strong> is rarely captured completely in one<br />

passage, and it needs others to give a<br />

more rounded view. Many insights are<br />

better than one.<br />

3. Jesus is Lord over scripture.<br />

If any teaching does not ring true to the<br />

mind of Christ as we can discern it from<br />

the New Testament, then it must give<br />

way to Christ. Jesus is God’s living Word,<br />

the revealing of God’s nature and will.<br />

If you’d like to explore bible study<br />

further, there are lots of resources<br />

available on the SCM website<br />

including electronic copies of our<br />

‘Reading the Bible’ resource. Visit<br />

www.movement.org.uk/resources<br />

to find out more.<br />

WE ASKED SCM MEMBERS TO SHARE THEIR FAVOURITE<br />

VERSE, PASSAGE OR STORY FROM THE BIBLE:<br />

My Favourite<br />

scripture...<br />

Revelation 21:1-7 is the<br />

passage I always turn to<br />

when I need to lift my<br />

spirits and is quite tear<br />

stained in my Bible.<br />

DAN CRUICKSHANK<br />

John 14:1-7 was a<br />

real comfort when my<br />

grandad died.<br />

ABI NICHOLLS<br />

Psalm 139. All of it. One<br />

choir I used to be in sang a<br />

setting of it and it became<br />

something very special for<br />

all of us at the time. I also<br />

adore Gethsemane...there’s<br />

something about the fact<br />

that God incarnate is in<br />

such a vulnerable position<br />

mentally and emotionally<br />

that I find incredibly<br />

moving.<br />

TAYLOR DRIGGERS<br />

Isaiah 40:11 has long left<br />

a strong impression on me.<br />

I also like the story of Ruth<br />

and Naomi, and the story<br />

of when Samuel first hears<br />

God speaking to him but<br />

doesn’t realise it.<br />

SHANIKA RANASINGHE<br />

Matthew 14: 22-33 where<br />

Jesus walks on water.<br />

KENNETH<br />

WILKINSON-ROBERTS<br />

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It’s a cliché, but<br />

1 Corinthians 13.<br />

STEPHEN WIGMORE<br />

1 John 4:16 has always<br />

been a favourite. Such<br />

a simple and powerful<br />

summary of everything I<br />

believe about God, I always<br />

come back to it when I’m<br />

unsure of my faith.<br />

EMMA TEMPLE<br />

Mine is James 2:14:17.<br />

NICK GORE<br />

Can I just have all of<br />

Matthew 5?<br />

Is that allowed?<br />

ADAM SPIERS<br />

I’ve always thought that<br />

Job was beautiful. The bits<br />

where god is like ‘I’ve looked<br />

after and loved all these bits<br />

of nature for years so why<br />

wouldn’t you think I would<br />

do the same for you’.<br />

ROSINA PAIGE<br />

Psalm 147:3-5 is a great<br />

comfort. And Philippians<br />

2:12-18 is a great<br />

challenge. And I like that<br />

both involve the imagery<br />

of stars.<br />

LYKARA RYDER<br />

OK everyone has serious<br />

choices and I feel awkward<br />

now, but I was just going to<br />

be like, 1 Samuel 16:12 in<br />

the ESV where it says ‘Now<br />

[David] was ruddy and<br />

had beautiful eyes and was<br />

handsome’. If I have to be<br />

serious, Isaiah 56 and<br />

Acts 8:26-40.<br />

JADE CONSTABLE<br />

I have several for<br />

different reasons -<br />

Galatians 4:11-12,<br />

John 1:1-18 and a general<br />

liking of Philippians.<br />

GEMMA KING<br />

I can’t decide! I love the<br />

story of the prodigal son,<br />

the idea that God comes out<br />

to meet us whatever we’ve<br />

done is a very powerful one.<br />

As a teenager, my favourite<br />

was Isaiah 40: 28-31<br />

and those are words I’m<br />

returning to now.<br />

DEBBIE WHITE<br />

I love love love the story<br />

of the prodigal son, I think<br />

it has such a powerful<br />

message behind it. But then<br />

I also love the story where<br />

Mary Magdalene finds the<br />

tomb open. The fact that<br />

it’s a woman not a man<br />

is another really powerful<br />

message to me!<br />

SARAH DERBYSHIRE<br />

The prophets sure had a way<br />

with words. My favourite<br />

is Amos 5:21-24: ‘But let<br />

justice flow like a river and<br />

righteousness like a neverending<br />

stream’.<br />

THE BIBLE IS<br />

MORE THAN<br />

JOHN 3:16<br />

A CHRISTIAN<br />

AND AN ATHEIST<br />

READ THE BIBLE<br />

STEPHEN WIGMORE<br />

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NAOMI<br />

CAITLIN<br />

Often, when I tell other non-religious<br />

people that I’m reading the Bible with<br />

my girlfriend, I get a blank look and a<br />

‘why?’ Fair question, especially coming<br />

from people who’ve known me for a<br />

while.<br />

Until I went to university, I was the kind<br />

of atheist who had never given much<br />

thought to religion, except to assume<br />

that a) it was all a bit pointless and b)<br />

nobody my age was actually, properly<br />

religious - were they? And then I<br />

moved into halls of residence and met<br />

my neighbour, a Christian. We got on.<br />

We became friends. Through her, I met<br />

other Christians, and became friends<br />

with them too. Then, just over three<br />

years ago, I started going out with one<br />

of them. And she’s not just a Christian,<br />

she’s a theology student! Sometimes I<br />

go with her to church, or to Bible study.<br />

And although I can often be heard<br />

loudly asking how this became my life<br />

as I listen to yet another debate on the<br />

finer points of Anglican theology, here I<br />

am. Reading the Bible.<br />

That’s a lot to tell someone in one go<br />

though, so I say I’m doing it because<br />

it’s interesting. Which it is. What I don’t<br />

explain (because it’s personal and a bit<br />

mushy) is that I want to actively try to<br />

understand more about Christianity,<br />

about the Bible’s place in it, and about<br />

faith in general, not just to satisfy my<br />

own curiosity but because it is a part<br />

of who my girlfriend is. Before we got<br />

together, I would never have guessed<br />

how significant her faith and my lack of<br />

it would be in our relationship. Reading<br />

the Bible and talking through each<br />

chapter has sparked some interesting<br />

and revealing conversations about<br />

where our beliefs intersect and diverge.<br />

Inevitably, our longest and most<br />

interesting conversations have been<br />

about the Gospels. When Caitlin<br />

converted, she accepted Jesus Christ<br />

as her Lord and Saviour. For me, He’s<br />

more of a vague acquaintance. It is<br />

when we read the Gospels that I am<br />

most aware that the Bible is not only<br />

a cultural artefact but a holy text. I’m<br />

sure that most of the people reading<br />

this will consider that an eye-rollingly<br />

obvious thing to say, but I haven’t<br />

always known it and I think that’s true<br />

of a lot of people who grew up without<br />

a religion. It is sobering to remember<br />

that what I see as an intellectual<br />

exercise, Caitlin sees as central to her<br />

faith.<br />

Every story and every person in the<br />

Bible has been different to what I was<br />

expecting, and this is true of Jesus<br />

as well. I genuinely thought that the<br />

Bible was going to be full of boringly<br />

good people being boringly virtuous<br />

- how did that rumour get started?!<br />

The Jesus I am confronted with in the<br />

Gospels is neither the gentle hippy<br />

that many other atheists talk about<br />

(‘he was just a great moral teacher!’),<br />

nor the terrifying judge that people<br />

wearing sandwich boards in the city<br />

centre shout about. What I am mainly<br />

struck by is that what Jesus is asking<br />

you to do is really hard. It is nice, as<br />

an atheist, to be free to disregard the<br />

difficult, boring or unpleasant parts of<br />

the Bible, to not have to wrestle with<br />

Jesus’ commandment to give up all<br />

material possessions, or to cut off my<br />

right hand if it causes me to sin. Still,<br />

this experience has made me examine<br />

my own beliefs and behaviour. Like<br />

Harry Potter, I have to choose between<br />

what is right, and what is easy.<br />

I could talk a lot more about what<br />

I’ve got from this experience - how<br />

disappointed I was when I found out<br />

that Exodus isn’t quite the same as<br />

Dreamworks’ The Prince of Egypt,<br />

how much I’ve enjoyed telling various<br />

long-suffering friends and relatives<br />

what went down between Jacob and<br />

Esau, how I instantly became obsessed<br />

with John the Baptist - but ultimately<br />

what it has been is a challenge. I have<br />

questioned my own thoughts and<br />

reactions every bit as much as I’ve<br />

questioned Caitlin’s, and I certainly still<br />

have more questions than answers.<br />

And I’m still not a Christian. But I think<br />

it’s been good for me, and I want to<br />

keep going.<br />

NAOMI BERRY<br />

With glee, I suggested to Naomi that<br />

we take part in my Church’s ‘Bible in<br />

a year’ challenge. I didn’t think that<br />

this would stop the barrage of daily<br />

questions about Christianity, but I did<br />

think that it would give her context<br />

for my own explanations of theology,<br />

orthodoxy, and the quirks of the<br />

Church.<br />

Naomi is intelligent, and I knew she<br />

would love the strangeness of biblical<br />

texts, especially the Hebrew Bible. The<br />

trickster Jacob and the fool Esau, the<br />

drama of Exodus, and the polemic of<br />

David’s psalms delighted her, and it<br />

has been even more delightful for me<br />

to read these with her. Bible study has<br />

been fun with texts from the Hebrew<br />

Bible. Reading Ruth together was<br />

wonderful because we were able to<br />

discuss the various interpretations<br />

of the relationship between Ruth and<br />

Naomi, arguing over which made the<br />

most sense and conceding that more<br />

than one reading can be applied.<br />

Reading the New Testament has been<br />

less fun for me. Because it is more<br />

central to my faith, the challenges that<br />

came from Naomi felt more personal<br />

to me. I didn’t mind laughing over the<br />

stupidity of Abraham trying to pass<br />

his wife off as his sister, but I did mind<br />

criticism of Jesus. I was constantly<br />

gauging her reaction to Him and giving<br />

my own explanation of the text, figuring<br />

out where I stood in relation to it and<br />

trying to convince her to agree with me.<br />

It reminded me very much of reading<br />

these texts myself for the first time; I<br />

converted from atheism at 19, went<br />

to university to read English and came<br />

out with a Theology degree specialising<br />

in biblical studies. Because of my<br />

experience of studying the Bible with<br />

other Christians and other students, I<br />

thought I would be able to approach<br />

this objectively. I was prepared - I had<br />

my theology textbooks, my knowledge<br />

of biblical exegesis, and some of the<br />

apologist arguments I was fond of<br />

when I first converted.<br />

But objectivity has not happened.<br />

Something about reading the Gospels<br />

with someone who I love and respect,<br />

and in our home, meant that I was<br />

much closer to reading it devotionally,<br />

but I was still being confronted with<br />

criticisms I would expect to be fielded<br />

in a university or evangelistic setting. I<br />

had read the Gospels critically before, I<br />

had read them with Christians before,<br />

but never before had I read it in a<br />

personal way with someone who wasn’t<br />

a scholar and wasn’t a Christian, but<br />

who early on grasped the elementals<br />

of exegesis. I’ve suddenly become<br />

equally yoked with someone in terms of<br />

biblical interpretation, except that their<br />

views often differ greatly from my own.<br />

This hit me harder than I expected,<br />

especially when Naomi didn’t like<br />

something that Jesus said or disliked<br />

one of my favourite verses. However,<br />

giving concise reasons for why I<br />

found something beautiful or morally<br />

challenging helped me to understand<br />

my own relationship to the Gospels.<br />

I feel like layers of interpretation and<br />

certainty have been pulled away and I<br />

am left looking at the Bible in its raw<br />

and powerful complexity. And this<br />

will happen again and again as I keep<br />

rereading it. And I will encourage<br />

others to read the Bible for themselves,<br />

and not as a means of conversion. The<br />

Bible is more than John 3:16, and more<br />

than an ancient text. It is a holy text,<br />

but it is also a cultural artefact. There<br />

is so much interpretation, so much<br />

which needs to be contextualised,<br />

dissected, explained and contested.<br />

We have as much right to embrace this<br />

odd collection of books as previous<br />

generations have - creating meaning,<br />

and insight, and most importantly<br />

destabilising the truths, reactions and<br />

certainties we had previously taken<br />

from them. We should remember<br />

this, the weirdness of these texts,<br />

their plurality and mystery and the<br />

fascination that they hold not just for<br />

Christians, but for everyone. Reading<br />

the Bible is an end in itself, not merely<br />

a means to substitutionary salvation.<br />

CAITLIN WAKEFIELD<br />

24 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong> MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

25


READING THE BIBLE<br />

A MUSLIM<br />

PERSPECTIVE<br />

There are various ways of approaching and understanding the Bible<br />

from an Islamic perspective. What does the Qur’an itself say about<br />

the Bible? What does the Qur’an say specifically about Christianity<br />

or Christian communities? What are the socio-legal aspects of<br />

Muslims living with people of different faiths?<br />

It is important to note first of all that there is no Qur’anic equivalent of the term `Bible’, though<br />

the Qur’an refers to this scripture in a number of ways. The most common are Torah (tawrat),<br />

Gospel (Injil) and Psalms (zabur). These scriptures are cited in the context of God having sent<br />

previous revealed scriptures and messengers to people for guidance. Muslim creed demands<br />

that the believer accept these previous revelations as divine truths, although in the Qur’anic<br />

context, the tension is around the validity of these texts as they now stand within their respective<br />

communities. Reference is often made to the corruption or distortion of the original books.<br />

In its regard of Christianity, there are diverse views in the Qur’an. On the one<br />

hand, the Christians, like the Jews and other believers, will be saved on the<br />

Day of Judgement. But there are serious differences between the Qur’anic<br />

message and its statements about the ways in which these two faiths have<br />

developed. The major doctrinal point of departure lies in the Qur’anic plea to<br />

the Christians regarding Jesus and God’s unity. The Qur’an (4:171) urges the<br />

Christians to speak about God with truth and not to exaggerate in their claims<br />

for Jesus’ divinity. In the Qur’an and thus for Muslims, Jesus is only a human<br />

messenger of God, even though he was born when God cast His own spirit<br />

into Mary. Jesus is therefore `Isa, son of Maryam’ (Mary) and not `Isa, son of<br />

God’. In Islam, God’s unity cannot be compromised in any way. Throughout<br />

history, Islam and Christianity have met on so many levels, but always parted<br />

in their different understandings of the relationship between God and Jesus.<br />

Despite a certain ambivalence towards Christianity in the Qur’an, it would<br />

be fair to say that Muslims generally view Christians as belonging to the<br />

monotheistic tradition of religious faith. This is partly because of Christianity’s<br />

own theological claim that the Christian believes in one God and that the Trinity<br />

does not refer to three separate gods. Furthermore, there developed a special<br />

socio-legal relationship with Christians and Jews on many levels. Muslim men<br />

may marry Christian women, the meat of Christians is permissible to Muslims<br />

and the Christians were given the status of dhimmi or protected minorities<br />

under Muslim expansion and during Muslim rule.<br />

But in much of popular<br />

dialogue, the focus is neither<br />

on scripture nor prophecy,<br />

but rather on the areas of<br />

justice, respect and mutual<br />

acceptance which both<br />

faiths recognise as a social<br />

and theological imperative<br />

for meaningful co-existence.<br />

In Islam, God’s unity<br />

cannot be compromised<br />

in any way. Throughout<br />

history, Islam and<br />

Christianity have met on<br />

so many levels, but always<br />

parted in their different<br />

understandings of the<br />

relationship between God<br />

and Jesus.<br />

Today, our increasing emphasis on inter-religious dialogue and inter-<br />

textual readings of each other’s faith has allowed believers and scholars<br />

to rethink areas of both controversy and mutual understanding. For<br />

some Muslims, the later event of the Qur’an as revelation and Islam as<br />

a religion has meant that they do not need to explore the truth claims<br />

of prior faiths – they must simply accept Christianity in its predominant<br />

form, because the Qur’an states it. For others, the tension lies in<br />

whether and how the Christian can accept the prophecy of Muhammad<br />

as a legitimate event in history. But in much of popular dialogue, the<br />

focus is neither on scripture nor prophecy, but rather on the areas of<br />

justice, respect and mutual acceptance which both faiths recognise as a<br />

social and theological imperative for meaningful co-existence.<br />

Mona Siddiqui is Professor of Islamic and Inter-religious Studies and<br />

Assistant Principal Religion and Society at the University of Edinburgh.<br />

This article was originally published in SCM’s Reading the Bible<br />

resource.<br />

26 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong> MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

27


THE LONG READ<br />

POLITICS<br />

AND THEOLOGY<br />

A MATCH MADE<br />

IN HEAVEN?<br />

Do politics and theology even go together? That is the response I usually get<br />

when I use the phrase ‘political theology’. People gasp at the suggestion that<br />

it is possible for good to come from such a union, and it is understandable.<br />

History does not paint an encouraging picture. Christian theology has been used to justify all manner<br />

of political evils including colonisation and the massacres that accompanied them, the transatlantic<br />

slave trade, and the oppression of people of other faiths. At times when the Church has enjoyed<br />

political influence within the government, it has often failed to speak out against injustice, instead<br />

being seduced by the trappings of wealth and power.<br />

However, is this the whole story? Is it possible for Christian ideas to have a positive impact in the<br />

social and political arena? As a Christian, can your faith contribute to the good of the people and<br />

world around you?<br />

What do we mean by ‘theology’?<br />

For some, the word ‘theology’ causes knee-jerk reactions including eye-rolling, reaching for the<br />

phone or slouching across a sofa for a nap. People can become disengaged as they prepare to be<br />

bombarded by long words they don’t understand and long names that are even more difficult to<br />

pronounce. Talk of ‘theology’ can come across as confusing at best, and condescending at worst.<br />

The majority of people worshipping in churches will not have the chance to engage in the formal<br />

study theology at any particular level. This word then creates a barrier between academics and<br />

clergy, and those who may say ‘I am just a normal Christian’.<br />

However, rather than defining theology as an academic pursuit reserved for the brightest among us, we<br />

should really think of it as a process of learning that every single person engages with. A person who<br />

does not believe in God is still impacted by theology because so many people in the world do believe<br />

28 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong> 29


and live their lives in the light of this faith. If theology is simply<br />

an understanding of God, then it is clearly open to more<br />

than just clergy or academics. Every person who believes<br />

in God believes particular things about Him, even if these<br />

things are limited or cannot be expressed coherently. Every<br />

Christian relates to God on the basis of a certain theology or<br />

understanding. Your theology might involve seeing God as a<br />

loving father, or as a harsh judge; this will impact the way you<br />

express your faith and relate to God and others. All theology<br />

is practical; it all impacts the way we think, live and behave.<br />

So what is ‘political theology’?<br />

If we accept that all theology is practical, then political<br />

theology specifically regards the practical impact of Christian<br />

ideas on the social and political world. This does not mean<br />

choosing the bits of scripture that we think of as being<br />

explicitly political and forcing them into a jigsaw to create<br />

one picture, as a systematic approach might do. It is about<br />

understanding that every idea has political implications. For<br />

example, the incarnation is not just an idea to be understood<br />

and talked about; it impacts our sense of identity as believers<br />

to whom Christ has drawn near. This in turn can transform<br />

the way we see our role in the world; we are called to draw<br />

near and reach out to those who are different from us. This<br />

will radically change the way we relate to those who do not<br />

share the Christian faith and to the world beyond the church<br />

along with its systems and structures.<br />

So what do I mean when I say ‘political’? Far from having<br />

a narrow understanding of politics, it can be more helpful<br />

to have a broader definition that goes beyond the formal<br />

How can political theology<br />

change the world?<br />

Religion is often in the news for all the wrong reasons. From<br />

child abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, to terrorists<br />

claiming the Muslim faith, religious groups are increasingly<br />

seen as dangerous. On the one hand, the reaction of wider<br />

society is to push religion back into the private. Many<br />

humanists would take this view as well as many others who<br />

do not recognise religion as a positive influence on society.<br />

On the other hand, there is a desire to publicly scrutinise<br />

religion, to pull it into the light as it were, in order to see<br />

what is really going on. So how might the church handle this<br />

complex relationship with the public square?<br />

By engaging with political theology, Christian leaders have<br />

the opportunity to wrestle ‘with the Bible in one hand and<br />

the newspapers in the other’ 1 . This is an essential aspect of<br />

contemporary ministry where congregants as well as nonbelievers<br />

are relentlessly bombarded with information from<br />

around the globe. Such a process of deep reflection has<br />

the potential to transform leaders as they begin to grapple<br />

with their own story, values and opinions, the realities of<br />

the world, and biblical truth. It is an inevitable challenge if<br />

the Church is going to develop a coherent voice that can<br />

engage confidently and humbly with the conversations in the<br />

public square. The task of political theology is both internal<br />

and external; to generate reflection within the church which<br />

will reform its structure, values and activities in order that it<br />

may effectively serve God in the wider world as a redemptive<br />

force for the sake of the common good.<br />

In our generation,<br />

we can be<br />

overwhelmed by<br />

huge questions<br />

and the realities<br />

of injustice. I<br />

find solace in<br />

remembering that<br />

in the relatively<br />

short time I have<br />

on earth there is<br />

something I can<br />

do, but this is not<br />

everything.<br />

the direct links between religion and politics<br />

by working for the All-Party Parliamentary<br />

Groups on freedom of religion or belief 3 .<br />

Through my work in Brixton I developed the<br />

ability to build power with people rather than<br />

over them. I learned to listen to peoples<br />

stories and to tell my own, and develop<br />

Christian leaders by teaching them to act in<br />

public life.<br />

These are a few things I have learned so far<br />

in exploring political theology in practice:<br />

1. The means are as important as the end<br />

So many people talk about vision; for their<br />

life, for their church; for their community.<br />

We are caught up in a daydream, imagining<br />

all the new things that are possible in life.<br />

We are pushed to dream bigger, to have a<br />

broader vision and to do all we can to make<br />

it happen. We pray ‘your kingdom come’ and<br />

we use all our energy to pull it down pronto!<br />

However, in the process, it is so easy to<br />

forget that how we get there is as important<br />

as getting there (wherever ‘there’ is). If we<br />

use manipulative and underhanded tactics<br />

to get to where we think we need to go, will<br />

that count as success in the end? God does<br />

not simply give us a vision to get to, he is<br />

clear that our character should reflect him<br />

in the process.<br />

fulfil our own self-interest? It is possible that<br />

in our pursuit of good things we neglect the<br />

people God made, and has called ‘good’?<br />

This is especially common in areas of work<br />

which are all for good causes. The core of<br />

my work as a community organiser is oneto-one<br />

meetings with leaders to ensure that<br />

people are loved not used. Do we spend<br />

time getting to know the people around us?<br />

How much do we really value people in our<br />

actions and encourage them to flourish?<br />

3. God really is in control, but you need to<br />

do your bit<br />

Finally, on the road to seeing the world<br />

changed, there will always be moments of<br />

challenge which will threaten your resolve<br />

and your focus. In our generation, we can<br />

be overwhelmed by huge questions and<br />

the realities of injustice. I find solace in<br />

remembering that in the relatively short<br />

time I have on earth there is something I<br />

can do, but this is not everything. I cannot<br />

fix the global economy, end poverty and<br />

eradicate injustice, and for whatever reason<br />

God does not do these things either in the<br />

way we think he should. An understanding<br />

of the sovereignty of God which includes a<br />

human call to responsible action is definitely<br />

required to enable balanced and hopeful<br />

engagement.<br />

government structures of Westminster, ministers, MPs and<br />

local councillors. If we only think of politics in these terms,<br />

often called ‘representative politics’ then only a few people<br />

will ever get to truly shape the world we live in. However,<br />

if we go back to an earlier understanding of politics as<br />

governing the city or ‘polis’ as Aristotle called it, then there is<br />

much more room for involvement. Politics in its truest sense<br />

is about making decisions and governing the common life;<br />

the life we share with those around us. Political theology is<br />

about bringing Christian theology to bear on these decisions<br />

and the processes and structures behind them.<br />

If we want to change the world, we must begin by considering<br />

how the world needs to be changed and then what role we<br />

might play in bringing about that new reality.<br />

When I first began exploring these questions I had the<br />

opportunity to both reflect in the classroom and in practice<br />

through broad-based community organising with Citizens<br />

UK 2 I was accepted onto the Buxton Leadership programme<br />

at the Centre for Theology and Community which enabled<br />

me to work in the House of Lords and also as a community<br />

organiser in Brixton. In both contexts I was able to explore<br />

how Christian values could contribute to public life. I saw<br />

2. People must come before programme<br />

God loves people, but often we fail at this.<br />

Maybe we think that although God says that,<br />

what he really loves is success and progress.<br />

Sometimes we are tempted to stand on the<br />

heads of other people if it means we can build<br />

a global ministry or launch a social justice<br />

project. This is symptomatic of a failure to<br />

take God’s love seriously. Do we love people<br />

practically by making decisions that are for<br />

their own good as opposed to using them to<br />

Selina Stone works for the Centre of<br />

Theology and Community, and directs the<br />

William Seymour Programme engaging<br />

Pentecostal churches in community<br />

organising, harnessing potential for the<br />

development of leaders and congregations.<br />

To find out more about Selina’s work and<br />

the centre’s internship programme visit<br />

www.theology-centre.org<br />

1<br />

Karl Barth 2 www.citizensuk.org 3<br />

www.freedom-declared.org<br />

30 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong> MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

31


BREXIT<br />

THE CROSS<br />

Since the EU referendum there has<br />

been a rise in racially motivated hate<br />

crimes in the UK. How can we as<br />

followers of Christ respond and show<br />

God’s love in the world?<br />

I remember waking up the morning after<br />

the result and realising that something<br />

enormous had just taken place. I’d<br />

stayed awake as long as I could the<br />

night before – hoping that somehow<br />

my attentiveness to democracy might<br />

mean a good outcome. I was wrong.<br />

There was a palpable heaviness in the<br />

air, and I could see it in the faces of the<br />

people in the pub I’d chosen to have<br />

my morning coffee in – people were<br />

unusually quiet. There’s something in<br />

me that suspects that that atmosphere<br />

was not so different to the atmosphere<br />

on that first Holy Saturday – the day after<br />

Jesus’ crucifixion. The unbelievable<br />

had occurred, many people’s worst<br />

dreams were realised – the Son of<br />

God had died, brutally, and now was<br />

the time to wait, to despair, to feel, in<br />

silence and contemplation – until the<br />

great mystery of God unfolded. Now,<br />

I wouldn’t want to suggest that the<br />

triumph of the Vote Leave campaign is<br />

basically comparable to the crucifixion<br />

of Our Lord, but I do want to share<br />

some reflections.<br />

As I write this there has been a terrorist<br />

attack in Nice, an attempted military<br />

coup in Turkey, a number of police<br />

officers killed in the United States in<br />

Dallas and in Baton Rouge, the United<br />

Kingdom has voted to renew Trident,<br />

and in the midst of all of this is the<br />

rising threat of Donald Trump and an<br />

increasing number of racial incidents<br />

in the UK following the referendum. It<br />

is not a perfect world – and the world<br />

in which Jesus rose up from the dead<br />

in was not a perfect world either. This<br />

paradox – the stark reality of the cross<br />

and the evil of the world - was made<br />

clear for me the Sunday morning after<br />

the referendum. My church in Cardiff<br />

had been vandalised – someone had<br />

covered the doors of the Church in red<br />

paint, and thrown red paint all over the<br />

entrance and floor. No specific shape,<br />

no writing – just a bright red mess.<br />

Like the disciples, in that empty space<br />

following the crucifixion and even<br />

after the ascension, I had to find some<br />

way of making the crucified, risen and<br />

ascended Christ particularly present<br />

for the gathered people of God that<br />

morning after a week that had been<br />

so harsh, and which felt personal<br />

because of this act of vandalism. In a<br />

week of so much bad news I had to<br />

preach the Good News of the Gospel,<br />

and it was hard to find!<br />

Now, as a black Methodist Minister<br />

living and serving in Cardiff – vandalism<br />

was nothing new, nor was hate crime.<br />

I had experienced it at my home, and<br />

continue to from time to time. But<br />

this time it wasn’t an attack on me,<br />

nor was it an attack on an ‘other’<br />

part of the community – it was an<br />

attack on us, the body of Christ in this<br />

place. Like the disciples enduring the<br />

vulnerability of losing their Shepherd,<br />

I could see my own flock looking to<br />

me for solace, and I was looking to<br />

the Lord for wisdom, courage, and<br />

patience. What I really wanted to do<br />

was yell, break something, help my<br />

flock to realise that this is what many<br />

of us ‘immigrants’ and descendants of<br />

‘immigrants’ have endured as a reality<br />

long before Brexit was ever a thing,<br />

and if this is how it feels to come to<br />

Church and find this, what would it<br />

feel like if this had been your front<br />

door? If you could put a face or voice<br />

to the crime?<br />

As Christians, it can be easy for us<br />

Like the disciples<br />

enduring the<br />

vulnerability of losing<br />

their Shepherd, I could<br />

see my own flock looking<br />

to me for solace, and I<br />

was looking to the Lord<br />

for wisdom, courage, and<br />

patience.<br />

BLACKNESS AND<br />

32 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

33


to forget that many people for many<br />

reasons live most of their lives at the<br />

foot of the cross, or under the weight<br />

of their own cross. Not because they<br />

want to, but because that is where<br />

their place in the world puts them.<br />

A theology of suffering is not simply<br />

textbook material for those of us whose<br />

life is too often a life of endurance<br />

rather than enjoyment because of the<br />

skin we wear, the sexuality we have<br />

been given, or the social class into<br />

successes, but on how well we have<br />

loved.’<br />

In this post-referendum Britain, we<br />

have to remember that there is no<br />

referendum on the values of the<br />

Gospel, nor shall there ever be. Now,<br />

more than ever, is the time for the<br />

Church be the Church, to find her<br />

voice and her confidence, and for<br />

each and every baptised Christian to<br />

take to heart the words of Jesus who<br />

WHAT I LEARNED IN<br />

MY FIRST SEMESTER...<br />

As an undergraduate<br />

student<br />

which we are born. Yet, the power of<br />

said that he came:<br />

In this post-referendum<br />

Britain, we have to<br />

remember that there is no<br />

referendum on the values<br />

of the Gospel, nor shall<br />

there ever be.<br />

the cross is one which stands to set<br />

all people free, and has something<br />

radical and new to say to every time<br />

and place and situation.<br />

It could be one of the deep sins of<br />

White Christianity that it seeks too<br />

often to avoid suffering, and therefore<br />

disembodies black experience in<br />

many parts of the world, but also<br />

the experience of the immigrant, of<br />

the differently abled, of the LGBT<br />

community, and of the poor – all those<br />

that the world, and sadly even the<br />

Church, might treat as less than fully<br />

human. For far too long it has been<br />

acceptable for good Christian people<br />

to keep their faith private, and their<br />

convictions concealed, meanwhile the<br />

EDL, Britain First, the KKK and other<br />

far-right groups take up the cross<br />

with more courage and passion than<br />

some of us who truly profess Christ<br />

crucified. But when people are facing<br />

prejudice and hatred which is always<br />

enhanced and enabled by our silence<br />

– then for Christ’s sake, we have to do<br />

something. St John of the Cross puts<br />

it beautifully when he says: ‘In the<br />

twilight of life, God will not judge us<br />

on our earthly possessions and human<br />

‘to proclaim good news to the poor…<br />

freedom for the prisoners and<br />

recovery of sight for the blind, to set<br />

the oppressed free and to proclaim<br />

the year of the Lord’s favour.’<br />

This is what the Kingdom looks like<br />

to Jesus, and it will take each of<br />

us to play our part – to take up our<br />

cross, and to follow him – always<br />

remembering, even in the midst of<br />

our very complicated and dark world,<br />

that evil may have its hour, but God<br />

shall have his day. Until then, we do<br />

the Kingdom things. We praise God,<br />

we trust God, we love each other<br />

recklessly, and we press on to Glory.<br />

In the hope, strength and grace of the<br />

One whom death could not hold!<br />

Revd Jarel Robinson-Brown is a<br />

Methodist minister in Cardiff and<br />

blogs at changedfromgloryintoglory.<br />

wordpress.com<br />

MARK BIRKETT The most valuable<br />

lesson I learned was about the importance<br />

of independent learning. During my first<br />

year at university I have been asked<br />

to engage with various set texts and<br />

complete numerous essays, yet it is the<br />

independent learning I have undertaken<br />

that, for me at least, represents the<br />

biggest step forward in my development.<br />

For the first time in my life I have picked<br />

up an academic book free from feelings<br />

of obligation, and instead with a genuine<br />

curiosity and interest. Part of my course<br />

is philosophy, a subject that often gets<br />

accused of being pointless - tackling<br />

abstract concepts with little practical<br />

appeal. I would certainly not attempt to<br />

disagree with this analysis; philosophy<br />

has too often been hijacked by an<br />

academic elite that tackle philosophical<br />

<strong>issue</strong>s that are detached from the stress<br />

and anxiety of day to day existence.<br />

To be honest, I don’t much care if the<br />

table in front of me is real or not, I’m far<br />

more preoccupied with whether or not<br />

these neurotic thoughts I’m having qualify<br />

me to be institutionalised. In fact, forget<br />

about whether or not I exist, because<br />

clearly I do - I’m more interested in how<br />

I should navigate my existence without<br />

going insane. I have come to appreciate<br />

the brilliance of a practical philosophy<br />

that frees itself from the chains of<br />

dusty books and deep meaningful looks<br />

into the distance. A philosophy that<br />

doesn’t require you to talk utter trash,<br />

though you tend to anyway, but instead<br />

encourages you to engage with people<br />

and contemporary <strong>issue</strong>s.<br />

I have become particularly fond of<br />

the wisdom bestowed by the stoic<br />

philosophers who never cease to remind<br />

me that life can be lived differently. It<br />

seems strange to me that ancient Greek<br />

philosophy can be applied to modern day<br />

living, but perhaps I’m naïve to think that.<br />

I can’t help but imagine Seneca would<br />

not have been quietly practicing his<br />

philosophy in his room while next door a<br />

group of plastered students sang painfully<br />

loudly along to Robbie Williams’ Angels.<br />

‘So when I’m lying in my bed, thoughts<br />

running through my head…’ has never<br />

been so poignant a lyric! On reflection,<br />

I have mostly ignored the syllabus at<br />

university, but this has probably been one<br />

of the better decisions of my life. If the<br />

worst comes to worst, I have a promising<br />

career as a Robbie Williams tribute act!<br />

In fact, forget about<br />

whether or not I exist,<br />

because clearly I do - I’m<br />

more interested in how<br />

I should navigate my<br />

existence without going<br />

insane.<br />

34 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

35


training for ministry<br />

ALEX YOUNG The motto of the college where I am<br />

training for ministry is nec taken consumebatur, which<br />

refers to the burning bush of Exodus, burned but not<br />

consumed. How appropriate, given that my first year has<br />

been such a baptism of fire! Like Moses, my calling was<br />

answered with the question ‘Really, God?’ And I have<br />

been aware from the moment of my reluctant acceptance<br />

through to the terror of the exam hall just how much<br />

equipping I need!<br />

I have a music degree, so this isn’t my first go at studying,<br />

but training for ministry and studying in Cambridge has<br />

taught me a lot already. On the Cambridge side of things,<br />

I have learnt how to read really fast, what it feels like to<br />

have to google many of the words your lecturer is using,<br />

how nerve wracking it is to casually discuss your ideas<br />

with three of your peers and an eminent theologian in a<br />

living-room-like study, and that the formality that seems<br />

to control this place only actually exists on the surface.<br />

Cambridge is pretty friendly really! On the ministry side<br />

of things, I have learnt the ups and downs of living in a<br />

small Christian community, the importance of hospitality,<br />

the tricky but liminal times where personal life and calling<br />

intertwine, the curse of ‘seminary sickness’ (always talking<br />

about theology) and the openness to explore and question<br />

all that God is and can be. More importantly, I’ve learnt to<br />

never trust the diary of a church secretary!<br />

The real learning and transformation, though, has been in<br />

my understanding of myself. I have grown in confidence<br />

and bravery, realising that it is not what I am, but who I<br />

am that defines me. I have cultivated strong boundaries,<br />

but am gradually learning an openness with my time and<br />

questions. Most excitingly, though, I have learnt that there<br />

are people out there who are ‘my tribe’, just as crazy as<br />

me, unique, wonderful and full of the joys of the fat pigeon<br />

(a new name we have coined for the Holy Spirit). One of<br />

these is my amazing fiancée, who I have been blessed to<br />

meet this year, and am marrying this summer.<br />

The real learning<br />

and transformation,<br />

though, has been in<br />

my understanding of<br />

myself. I have grown in<br />

confidence and bravery,<br />

realising that it is not<br />

what I am, but who I am<br />

that defines me.<br />

AS AN international<br />

postgradUATE STUDENT<br />

JULIANE BORCHERT Last year I moved a thousand kilometres to work<br />

on my dream research project. I arrived in Oxford knowing I would have to<br />

find new friends, navigate an unfamiliar university system and adjust to my<br />

new life as a PhD student. I also knew that adapting to a different culture and<br />

language would be stressful, but I thought I would be immune to the culture<br />

shock. I had been to England several times before. I had lived in the US for an<br />

exchange year and speak English very well. I had done this before, and thought<br />

everything would go smoothly. But apparently this is not how it works!<br />

I had to accept that navigating subtly different social rules and conventions is<br />

hard, and that no matter how good my English is, using it every day is tiring. I<br />

found myself irritated by small things like the unbearably fluffy consistency of<br />

British bread or the fact that rye flour is not available in most supermarkets. I<br />

had to realise that I was overwhelmed, and my tendency towards perfectionism<br />

was making me nervous and anxious. After a friendly chat with the brilliant<br />

college chaplain, a self-help book on overcoming perfectionism from the<br />

library and a conversation with the college welfare officer, things were put<br />

back into perspective for me. I learned to accept the help that was offered and<br />

started to change some unhelpful patterns.<br />

Just as I was starting to feel more at ease and began to not only settle into my<br />

new country of residence physically but also emotionally, the aftermath of the<br />

Brexit vote left me wondering if I still felt safe speaking my first language in the<br />

street. Once my initial emotions had calmed, I was reminded how privileged I<br />

actually am. As a well-educated, white, able-bodied, cis woman from Western<br />

Europe I can easily fulfil any stereotypical expectation of what a Brit should<br />

look like and can pass as one (as long as I do not say my name). The likelihood<br />

of me becoming the victim of a racist or xenophobic attack is minute. But<br />

the fact that for a second, even I worried about this, showed me how hostile<br />

the atmosphere had become. Currently, I am trying to learn to see this as<br />

a challenge and a call to learn how to build a better, more tolerant and just<br />

I had to accept that<br />

navigating subtly<br />

different social rules and<br />

conventions is hard, and<br />

that no matter how good<br />

my English is, using it<br />

every day is tiring.<br />

society.<br />

So what have I learnt? Not enough - yet. But I am gradually<br />

learning to live.<br />

36 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong> MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

37


A SPOTLIGHT ON<br />

THE BOOK OF ESTHER<br />

The book of Esther deserves more attention than it often receives: for many<br />

Christians it is suspect. However, included in our canon, it stands with every<br />

other biblical book as ‘the word of God’.<br />

Origins and historical context<br />

Although the book can be dated anywhere between<br />

465 BCE (the death of ‘Ahasuerus’) and 70CE, recent<br />

scholarship has narrowed its composition down to<br />

the late 5th or early 4th century, which is not long<br />

after the events it purports to describe.<br />

Its setting is the Persian Empire, after Cyrus (whom<br />

Deutero-Isaiah heralded as God’s servant - Isaiah<br />

45. 1-7) had allowed the captive Israelites to return<br />

home. Many, however, had become assimilated into<br />

Persian society and prospered, so remained there in<br />

the Diaspora. The policy of the Assyrian empire that<br />

had defeated and deported them (before they in turn<br />

were overrun by the Persians), was to encourage<br />

integration between its subject peoples to cement<br />

loyalty to the state rather than to particular lands.<br />

This was especially problematic for Israel for whom<br />

not only nationhood but faith was founded on God’s<br />

promise of the land, so they developed strategies<br />

both outward (e.g. the synagogue) and inward<br />

(e.g. collecting their oral and written traditions) for<br />

maintaining their identity away from ‘home’. Although<br />

Esther contains no mention of God, nor does it reflect<br />

Jewish faith practices, attentive reading reveals<br />

resonances throughout with Israel’s historic faith<br />

story. ,The story also recounts the origin of one of<br />

the most popular Jewish festivals, Purim, the only<br />

festival not ordained in the Pentateuch .<br />

Is Esther fact or fiction?<br />

The reality, as in all scripture, is nuanced: it depends<br />

what we mean by ‘true’. If we’re asking whether<br />

it is an historical account of something that really<br />

happened, then almost certainly it isn’t. Xerxes 1<br />

(Ahasuerus) was away at war when these events are<br />

supposed to have happened, and his wife Amestris<br />

was a member of a prominent Persian family. There<br />

are many other historical inaccuracies. It does<br />

broadly reflect its time and location, though, so its<br />

setting appears authentic.<br />

However tenuous its relation to historical events, it<br />

is best understood as a comic tale told from a faith<br />

perspective, a literary work of great skill, unique in<br />

the Bible. Beneath its ‘burlesque’ the story reveals<br />

universal truths about God and all humankind.<br />

Importantly for us its themes, seen through the<br />

life of Christ, both connect with our own faith and<br />

resonate with social and political structures of our<br />

contemporary world.<br />

Characterisation<br />

Analysis of Esther as a literary work is fruitful.<br />

Characterisation through direct speech and narration<br />

is, with the exception of Esther, static: once we’ve<br />

established that Haman (evil) and Mordecai (good)<br />

are stereotypes, and Ahasuerus is weak and selfindulgent,<br />

we know what to expect and can laugh in<br />

38 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong> MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

39


anticipation of the outcome as the tale unfolds. Indeed,<br />

characters can be paired in different combinations<br />

throughout the story, either complementing or<br />

opposing one another.<br />

Hadassah (her Hebrew name indicating either ‘myrtle’<br />

or ‘to conceal’) or Esther (her Greek name probably<br />

meaning ‘star’) alone appears to grow. It is usually<br />

assumed that she is meekly biddable, passively<br />

accepting her entry into the beauty competition and<br />

its attendant treatments: as time passes after her<br />

coronation she matures till she is ready to accept a<br />

leadership role in a patriarchal culture. Such a drastic<br />

change of character maybe misses the mark, however.<br />

It was by the king’s command that Esther was<br />

‘rounded up’ (kidnapped?) along with innumerable<br />

other young women. She had no choice in it. But in<br />

response she adopts a strategic approach by which<br />

she begins to gain the experience and wisdom she<br />

will draw on later. She does now have a choice, either<br />

to use her wits to win the contest or be condemned<br />

to a life of sexual slavery (2.13-14). She sets about<br />

playing a power game with Hegai, winning his favour<br />

and therefore advantages. By so doing she also gains<br />

allies among the other servants. When her turn<br />

comes for her night with the king, she astutely asks<br />

Hegai what gift to take; if anyone knows what would<br />

give the king ‘pleasure’, Hegai does! Without Esther’s<br />

success, of course, there would be no story, but her<br />

strategic approach to her enslavement is consistently<br />

overlooked.<br />

Esther and Vashti are both strong characters<br />

whose actions shape the narrative and determine<br />

its outcome, so the story has more significance in<br />

feminist and liberation scholarship than it has often<br />

been credited with.<br />

Theological reflections<br />

How do we assess the book of Esther theologically<br />

when God does not apparently feature? Even without<br />

being named, the God made known in call and<br />

covenant throughout Israel’s history is here acting,<br />

in character, behind the scenes. God may be hiding,<br />

or ‘veiling’ (Debra Reid’s preferred word), but God’s<br />

providence is clear: just note all the coincidences by<br />

which ‘good’ is victorious.<br />

In and after the Exile, the Jews struggled theologically<br />

to conceive of God’s presence beyond Israel and the<br />

Temple: this story provides evidence not only that God<br />

is everywhere the people live, but is also active there<br />

in salvation. The book’s acceptance by Jewish leaders<br />

as authoritative back in Jerusalem demonstrates that<br />

the lesson was learnt and kinship between Diaspora<br />

and Israeli Jews honoured, despite distance and<br />

rivalries, ensuring a festival begun in Persia became a<br />

legitimate part of the religious calendar.<br />

Although hidden, God is revealed to be at work in the<br />

words and actions of faithful people, and readers are<br />

invited to discover and live by faith in the same divine<br />

presence. In later post exilic times, prophecy (God’s<br />

new word) was believed to belong to the past: fresh<br />

ways of ‘hearing’ had to be learnt, as in Esther, surely<br />

paving the way for us to hear God’s Word anew in<br />

due time.<br />

Further reading<br />

Debra Reid: Esther (IVP, 2008)<br />

Timothy K. Beal: The Book of Hiding. Gender, Ethnicity,<br />

Annihilation and Esther (Routledge, 1997)<br />

Kathleen M. O’Connor Humour, Turnabouts and<br />

Survival in the Book of Esther in Athalya Brenner<br />

ed Are We Amused? Humour about Women in the<br />

Biblical Worlds (T&T Clark, 2003)<br />

Want to delve deeper?<br />

You can find bible studies for passages in Esther on the<br />

SCM website at www.movement.org.uk/resources.<br />

Anne Phillips is a Baptist minister, now living in<br />

beautiful Derbyshire after spending many years<br />

working as an educator in churches and theological<br />

college.<br />

REVIEWS<br />

THE JESUS<br />

DRIVEN LIFE<br />

Reading the Bible can be hard,<br />

especially as a follower of Jesus. If we<br />

take Jesus seriously, we cannot but take<br />

him non-violently. If we take Jesus<br />

non-violently, we will need to challenge<br />

the violence we find in our Bible and in<br />

our theology. We can take the Scriptures<br />

at face value and be told that us<br />

Christians are nothing like our Christ,<br />

or we can read the Bible the way Jesus<br />

read it, and completely change the way<br />

we live our faith.<br />

The Masked Saint<br />

Directed by Warren P. Sonoda<br />

Certificate 12<br />

Released 23 May 2016<br />

This is the premise on which Michael<br />

Hardin’s The Jesus Driven Life is built.<br />

This 388 page volume is meant to be<br />

read as a study, so it is perfect to be used<br />

in group meetings, but it also reads like<br />

a novel, so don’t be surprised if you’ll<br />

want to finish it all in one setting!<br />

In this book you will embark on a<br />

journey and discover that you had never<br />

read your Bible right before! From the<br />

Old Testament to the Revelation of<br />

John, Michael will show you how Jesus<br />

wanted Scriptures to be read, and in<br />

doing so he will reveal to you what the<br />

real Jesus is like.<br />

He will challenge you to really look<br />

at the texts, help you rediscover why<br />

people were so shocked by what Jesus<br />

was saying.<br />

SIMONE RAMACCI<br />

THE MASKED SAINT<br />

The Jesus Driven Life:<br />

Reconnecting Humanity<br />

with Jesus<br />

Michael Hardin<br />

Paperback<br />

ISBN: 9781514759653<br />

As a fan of WWE wrestling as a child, I jumped at the chance to review The Masked Saint for<br />

<strong>Movement</strong>. The Masked Saint is a well-made film, with great shots, pace and casting. It featured<br />

realistic scenes of wrestling and touched on the theme of including outsiders in the church, which I<br />

really liked. However, I found it overly simplistic in its portrayal of faith, it has more cheese than a four<br />

cheese pizza. Whilst it looks at the theme of faith and violence, it's through the lens of 'ministers should<br />

be nice and polite', with no mention of Jesus's commitment to peace and non-violence. Perfect for a lazy<br />

Sunday afternoon, but it really is two stars at best.<br />

LIZZIE GAWEN<br />

40 MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong> MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

41


THE PRACTICAL<br />

PROPHET<br />

There are two kinds of prophets:<br />

those who foretell the future and<br />

those who confront their own<br />

generation with the will of God.<br />

Moira Chan-Yeung’s biography<br />

of Bishop Ronald Hall, using new<br />

material that she has gleaned<br />

from personal and institutional<br />

archives, reveals Bishop Hall as<br />

a prophet who confronted and<br />

challenged both Christians in and<br />

the Community of Hong Kong and<br />

Macau.<br />

For many who know Bishop’s Hall’s<br />

name, it will be associated with the<br />

ordination of the first woman priest<br />

in the Anglican Communion,<br />

Li Tim Oi. It was an action which<br />

was pragmatic in circumstances<br />

where there were no male priests,<br />

but it was also to be personally<br />

costly.<br />

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that<br />

being a Christian involves two<br />

things: prayer and righteous action.<br />

Bishop Hall’s understanding was<br />

similar, describing it as prayer<br />

and love-in-action. A major focus<br />

of his episcopal ministry was<br />

concerned with Social Welfare, and<br />

in particular housing and education<br />

The Practical Prophet:<br />

Bishop Ronald O. Hall of<br />

Hong Kong and His Legacies<br />

Moira M. W. Chan-Yeung<br />

Hardback<br />

ISBN: 9789888208777<br />

for the poorest in society. On<br />

Bishop Hall’s retirement the Hong<br />

Kong government recognised the<br />

enormous contribution he had<br />

made to the development of their<br />

entrepreneurial society. Moira<br />

Chan-Yeung recounts how Bishop<br />

Hall organised provision of one<br />

decent meal a day for the poorest<br />

children, with the result that their<br />

academic results improved. Much<br />

of his vision was inspired by the<br />

writings of the Victorian Christian<br />

Socialist F. D. Maurice.<br />

Perhaps his most important legacy<br />

was to work for the embedding<br />

of Christianity in Chinese culture,<br />

a culture which recognised the<br />

contribution of the elderly and the<br />

family. His ministry bequeathed the<br />

foundations for a truly indigenous<br />

Church.<br />

This is a book which ought to be<br />

given to and read by, amongst<br />

others, all those who have<br />

leadership roles in Christian<br />

communities.<br />

THE RIGHT REVD BARRY<br />

ROGERSON<br />

GROOVEMENT<br />

<strong>154</strong> CROSSWORD CLUES<br />

Across<br />

1. Occasions for an insect’s madness (9)<br />

6. Signs of extreme boredom on backwards tin road (5)<br />

9. Low, endless feeling (3)<br />

10. Compression point bone turns me around (7)<br />

11. French one half-tilted before (5)<br />

12. Partly back-slapping mate (3)<br />

13. Accident ruined 75% of pashmina (6)<br />

14. Business degree inserted into ear hole causes back<br />

pain! (7)<br />

16. Dodgy headless moment (4)<br />

17. Chorus on roll... er, it’s not right (9)<br />

20. see 3 down<br />

22. Like I failed? Yeah, right! (2,2)<br />

25. Imaginary she-monster (7)<br />

26. It’s instrumental, mostly loving one awkwardly (6)<br />

27. Sit back for old-fashioned affirmation (3)<br />

29. see 24 down<br />

30. Wicked CIA lies to take power away from clergy (7)<br />

31. A party with trouble (3)<br />

32, 5. Love’s limits call badly in last SCM 3 20 (5,5,5)<br />

33. Guides heard railway-builder by entrances (9)<br />

Down<br />

1. Broken man is icon - one who perpetually 6? (9)<br />

2, 15. A tree of bliss, one I’d sown at legendary 1970s SCM<br />

3 20? (5,2,10)<br />

3, 20. Sufi birds gathering every year? (6,10)<br />

4. A kitsch place to stay? (4)<br />

5. see 32 across<br />

6. see 7 down<br />

7, 6. A dour hymn, it will surprisingly be the next SCM 3<br />

20 (4,3,4,4)<br />

8. Even parts of US had love of simultaneous gunfire<br />

(5)<br />

15. see 2 down<br />

18. Guilty parties finish with suggestions around... (9)<br />

19. Plinth impedes tall section (8)<br />

21. North American - I steal one in capital (7)<br />

23. Lone saint takes imaginary number - might be playing<br />

26 (7)<br />

24, 32. Open LGBT lifestyle choice in SCM 3 20 (6,2,3)<br />

25. Names for money (5)<br />

28. Maybe Ukrainian in second toilet (4)<br />

153 CROSSWORD ANSWERS<br />

Across: 6 Reprise, 7 Maestra, 9,15 Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, 10<br />

Orchestra, 11 Tabloid, 19 Crisps, 20 Allowed, 23 Aggregate,<br />

24,13 Simon Rattle, 26 Ovation, 27 Ivories.<br />

Down: 1 Spar, 2 Mikado, 3 Recording, 4 Relevant, 5 Statute<br />

law, 6 Remote, 7 Mock, 8 Awaken, 12 Birmingham, 14<br />

Strategic, 16 Zeppelin, 17 Octavo, 18 Adonis, 21 Lesson,<br />

22 Earn, 25 Main.<br />

42<br />

MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

MOVEMENT Issue <strong>154</strong><br />

43


scm_britain<br />

student christian movement<br />

Grays Court, 3 Nursery Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3JX<br />

t: 0121 426 4918 e: scm@movement.org.uk w: www.movement.org.uk

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