Movement 124

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diary upcoming events of interest: conferences, meetin$s, retreats... for a fuller list of events and more details, see oul online diary (www. movement. org.uk/ diary) Oct.06 I1- I 5 Octolter, Birnting,han.t ng of 18 30- fr.onr Englancl ancl Wales. 0870 879 I 006 . booking.sro'or:t0(r. org. u k . wwtu.oct06.org. u k Week of Prayer for World Peace 22-29 October An inter.faith event. A leaflet with prayer topics ancl prayers for eacl.t clay is availabler, ancl there rvill be a gathering in Lonclon on 22 October. Co/rtact Nlrs Leslel, D;tiseley,, \M PW P Acl nt i 11 i striltot, Lon clon I nter Faith Centre, I )5 Salusltury Roacl, Lonclon NW6 arRC. 020 7601 30!t.i Called to Be Peacemakers )7 )!) ()ctober, Contntunity of Recrttr:i I i ;ttion near Bi r rn i ngh ant A yor-rth conierenc.e to exprlore Cl-rristian qreace-nraking ancl rvhat it nreans to be an active peat-errraker in the worlcl toclay. Contact N4arth,t Bea/e at the Fellott,shi p oi Reconcilialion : 0 1 86.5 71B 796 or ntartharilfor.r'trg.uk Building a Progressive Christian Spirituality 2tJ ()cbbe r, Sheiiielc! A conference at St Mark's Centre for Raclical Christianity r,r,ith Robert Beckforrl ancl Corclon Lynch. Exltlore nen, possilrilities for,t pr'rgressive Christianity in Britain. Revr/ Canon t\clriitn AIker, 1 St Mark's Crescent, Shefiielcl SI0 )SC . 0I l1 267 0.i6) corrl-erertce.ir'.s tnt a r ks s h eifi e I c l. co. u k t,rrt vr,rt.stntatk.scrc. co. uk MEDSIN annual conference 2B-29 October Annual conferenc'e for healthcare str-rclents. w,vt,tu.ntedsin.org SCM autumn gathering 2 4-2 6 N oventber, Clasgot t, SCM's termly gatherirrg. More cletails belorr,. (sc*1n", C,ltrittiaD stsdert Gap Year Retreat 5-l) Decentber, Merseysicle A retreat organisecl by the Jesuit Spirituality Centre for anyone taking a year out. f 156 (f. lO0 cortces.slonsl Lo1t6l;, 4 r11, W;trringtot't Roacl Rain Hill, Prescot, Merseysirle L.i5 6NZ 0l5l 126 -4 l-17 . wv,tv.k'tyolahall. cr-l. uk . nt ai lr?t' I oyol ah ;t I L co. u k Soundcheck and Day of Action 2-i )5 Fehruttt)/ )007 SPEAK's annual conference for 2007. wwr,rr-speak.org. uk Together for Europe l0- l ) May )007, Cernt,tny A gathering of Christians fronr all over Europe kr celebrate Europe's Christian heritage. Celia Blackden, StLtttgart 2007, l6 Pa r kii e k I s, Wel w1, 11 C a rcle n Ci ty,, H ertforc! sh i re r\LB 6 E D European Ecumenical Assembly J-Q J6-11fp111/r1. | :()();, Rortt,uti i An assernbll, to gather Christians fronr various clenominational backgror-rncls. tvtr,,w.eea3 .ot'g €et involvedl SCM autumn gathering Glasgow 2+26 November Come to the termly $et-toSether for all SCM members and groups, and: . have your say - help to plan events and decide SCM's policy and actions; . be part of a nationwide community - make new friends, share stories and ideas, and join together in worship and prayer; . broaden your horizons with challenging and exciting speakers and workshops; . have some fun with plenty of time for socialising, games, music, and a ceilidh! S c l;ti,?:- lA ftevener!t To find out more, see your members' news/etter or contact the office: Unit 308F The Big Peg, 72O Vyse Street, The Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham B18 6NF O12t 2OO 3355 . scm@movement.org.uk wvw. movement. org. u ly'gatheri ng F,eAe SGM annual iNG" conferenee BIBL€ 2oo7 Pioneer Centre, Shropshire 7G18 February The spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor . Keynote speeches from prominent theologians Lisa lsherwood and Morna Hooker . Workshops on Bible study, meditation, spirituality, freedom and slavery, and more . Time to share ideas and make friends . Beautiful surroundings, good food and comfortable accommodation Come and join us fot the biSest event in the SGM calendar! More details wiII be maited out in November, or watch wvw.movement,olg,. uUbible to tind out more 8 movement
steve collins on alternative worship and emerging church a fuzzy canon small ritual I I I .l I have a feeling that the wrong people do biblical criticism. The Bible, at its heart, eludes academic approaches. As an artist I have no problem in holding together human authorship and divine inspiration. As a writer I have no problem with different styles of writing issuing, apparently, from the same pen. (l wonder if anyone has applied textual criticism to a living author and found that they were two people?) ln our best moments of production, as in prayer, the human and the divine are one. Conservatives treat the present-day book-bound Bible as if it were dropped out of the sky in paperback and hardback, without process or human involvement. They misunderstand (or are ignorant ofl its history and the kinds of literature it contains. Liberal approaches treat the texts as a rag-bag of historical accidents and human propaganda, a buffet of doubtful provenance which we can pick over for the bits we like. In other words, conservatives downplay human involvement, and liberals downplay divine involvement. Both sides fall into an either-or trap, choosing one side of a pair of apparent polarities. But I think there's a middle way - middle as in complex, not compromised - in which the chaos and accidents of human authorship don't prevent divine inspiration and purpose (any more than in, say, art or evolution); and in which canon by committee doesn't miss the fact that this text, though crap, hits the spot and that text, cleverer and better written, just doesn't. l'd like to propose the fuzzy canon. Which is to say, we can put the texts of the Bible (not books, necessarily) into a series of concentric circles. ln the centre are the texts that pretty much everyone through the ages has found normative and essential for the Christian faith: Cospels, Romans, lsaiah (however many people he may be), Cenesis, Psalms, etc. - you know. Then there is a circle outside that, of stuff that is important but not central - back-up or sidelight material. Then there's a circle of stuff that is interesting, still inspired maybe but no-one's faith stands or falls by it. And the next circle doesn't really connect with the central texts. And then we're into historically associated material and tall tales. So the canon fades out from an intense centre as inspiration, authenticity, relevance get diluted. Such a fuzzy canon is how we all operate, in practice. Only fundamentalists or atheists ascribe equal importance to all parts of the Bible, and look where it gets them. Afuzzy canon still allows that the unregarded text on the outer circle may have something that is suddenly of vital importance as our circumstances and needs change. lt may be the key to interpret a central text, under circumstances we have not yet reached. A little seed of something God-breathed still lies dormant. And so there is a boundary of sorts in the fuzzy edge, between the baggage that we take with us even though it seems useless, and the stuff we leave behind. ln the end the canon is the stuff we can't quite bring ourselves to throw out, even though keeping it causes domestic arguments. Like the stuff in the attic, it's part of who we are, part of how we got here, even if it doesn't fit or doesn't ryork. I Steve Collins is an architect and member of Crace alternative worship group in Ealing, west London. He has written extensively about alternative worship and was one of the design team for the Labyrinth, www.labyrinth.org.uk. He runs the websites www.alternativeworship.org, www. sm al lfi re.org, an d www. sm al I ritu al. org. Only fundamentalists or atheists ascribe equal importance to all parts of the Bible, and look where it $ets them Want to ask Steve a question, or comment on the column? Go to www. movement. or$.uk/ forum. movement 9
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Page 23 and 24: wood ingham's tales from the world
Page 25 and 26: who were inspired by self-governing
Page 27 and 28: writing about culture (popular and
Page 29 and 30: the latest series of the a0prentice
Page 31 and 32: Da Vinci consPiracY? Well, this sum

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