Movement 108

the magazine of the student christian movement I 

issue 10Bl spring 2001 

I 

1 

v 

9,t.75 

(where sold) 

Free to 

members 

o cO 

-rt!- -. - 

c. *-- 

' : '- :l:lli- 

l 

.- 

ttl 

HEATH 

Ro9tNsoN

the serpent 

* HUH! 

We live in a Godless 

world! So much so 

that your humble 

columnists 

fearsome 

reputation is 

slipping by 

association. ln 

a recent RS 

exam at an 

established 

church 

school (no 

names, but a 

junior 

government 

minister sends her 

daughter there) 

fewerthan 10 per cent 

of examinees successfully 

identified the tempter of Eve 

I am appalled. What isthe 

point of an existence 

snaking on my belly, 

eating dust if noone 

knows or 

cares why? 

All these 

years of 

0pprobrium 

for nothing. And 

where will it lead 

us? Downhill, thab where. Not 

content with your expulsion from 

Eden, you're claiming credit for it and 

airbrushing me out ofthe picture. 0f 

course, everything was much simpler 

then. A quick chat and a free $ft of an 

apple was all it took to persuade your 

forebears to stray. ln these hedonistic 

times l'd have to come up with 

something really exotic. You wouldn't 

care for a nice kumquat now, would 

you? 

* VIRGIN STUDENTS 

I 

0n the other hand perhaps you're a 

more moral lot than I first thought. A 

recent survey by virginstudent.c0m 

has ievealed that students are not 

geting 'it inthe quantities the rest of 

the nation enviouslyima$nes. 0f over 

2500 students surveyed, 1 in 5 men 

and 1 in 10 women are still virgins. 

We could do with a statistician to 

factor all the variables together to tell 

us who's lost their cherry, how many 

times and with whom. Which courses 

are the most highly sexed could 

become a critical part of 

prospectuses in the future. lfyou're 

concerned about your pulling power, 

don't study politics/economics 

as over a quarter of those students 

stay celibate across their degree 

J 

obviously 

course. No wonder LSE 

students get such 

good grades - just 

like top athletes, 

saving their energies fortheir 

academic pursuits. 

Naturally the government will 

soon include sex in the 

research/ quality 

assessment exercise, 

which might upsetthe 

traditional rankings. So 

you'd better start brushing 

theY're 

) 

up on your transferable skills - they 

could stand you in good stead in the 

world of employment. 

* TOP BANANA 

While still loosely 0n the subject of 

fruit, forbidden or otherwise, I 

slithered across the following vignette 

the other week. APParentlY 

missionaries in a remote Philippino 

communi$ had treat difficultY 

bringing the light 0f the one, true God 

to the noble savages theY were 

aftempting to convert. Wheat is alien 

to the local culture, and if they want 

such an exotic luxurY as bread theY 

have to trek for hours through the 

jungle to the nearest village shop. 

Their dietary starch comes from 

another source: bananas. Showing 

remarkable flexibility of th0ught, the 

missionaries translated the Gospels 

accordingly. That's right, Jesus, the 

Good Shepherd, the True Vine, 

Wonderful Counsellor, Prince of Peace 

and... the Banana of Life. 

* UPTHEANTE 

After the amazing spectacle that was 

Vanessa FelE and Anthea Turner outsobbing 

each other for 'charidy' on 

Celebrity Big Brother, what's the 

next step forthe cruel 

gameshow? I think we should uP 

the stakes for Red Nose Day 

2003 - with BiblicalBig 

Brothen reviving characters 

from the 0Tfrom the days 

when celebrity wasn't so easy 

to come by. 

the format is welFknown by now. 

Here's my dream line-up: Jacob and 

Esau (you can't beat an old grudge 

match), Joseph (think how much he 

annoyed his brothers - this is 

televisual dynamite!) and 

perhaps someone a bit more 

level-headed like Noah, who is 

used to sharing confined sPaces 

with unruly creatures. "l really liked 

Noah in the first few days, but when 

he started pairing us offthen I got 

really annoyed. I nominate him." 

"Bau?" "1 nominate Jacob...." 

But in reality, due to availability 

and budget restrictions, wd 

* I DO NOT LIKE 

end up with a handful of 

minor prophets and 

Anthea Turner. 

TO BANG OR TOOTLE 

lm still sore atthose schoolkidswho 

dont who I am, butafew 

more literacy hours and a dose of 

culture and theyll know.l've just 

found out that American poet 

Theodore Roethke did his bitto 

immortalise me, even if he did have to 

focus on that embarrassing period of 

my career on the cabaret circuit Hes 

got a tendency use random capitals, 

eccentric punctuation and grating 

rhymes that is the habit of the poets 

of that period, but I can forgive that. 

lhanks Ted, you're a sweet guy. 

Iherc was a Serpentwho had to sing. 

There was. Therc was. 

He simply gave uP Serqentin4. 

Eecause. Because. 

He didn't like his Kind ot Life; 

He couldn't find a proPer Wife; 

He was a Serpentwith a Soul; 

He Eot no Pleasure down his Hole. 

And so, of course, he had to SinE. 

And singhe did, like Anything! 

The Bhds, they were, they were Aslounded; 

And various Measures Prcpounded 

Io stop the SetpenB Awful Racket: 

They bou9ht a Dtum. He wouldn't Whack it. 

They sent, - you always sen4 - to CuDa 

And Eot a M ost Co n modiou s Tu ba; 

And got a Hom, they got a Flute, 

But N olhi ng, would su it. 

He'said, "Look, Birds, all this is futile: 

I do notlike to BangorTootle.' 

And then he cutloosewith a Horible Note 

Thatpmctically splitthe top of hisThrcat. 

\ou see," he sar4 Mth a SerPents Leer, 

"l'm Serious about my Sin*ingcareeil" 

And the Woods Resounded with many a Shriek 

As the Birdstlew off to the htd of Ne'd|//eek 

* UNWANTED ADVICE 

I found myself cringing, sniggering 

and gasping all at once at a new book 

the other day. WhatWould JesusSalu 

Io...?, published by lVP, offers 

snippets of life-changing advice for 

celebrities (real or imagined). Are the 

authors really that desperate for a peg 

to hang their evangelical rantings on? 

Has their zeal driven all their friends 

away, leaving them to take pious 

potshots at celebs? Glenn Hoddle 

and Princes Charles get a ticking off 

for dabbling in other religions and 

George Michael is quoted - and 

condemned - as saying, after his 

Los Angeles liaison, "Running 

naked up and down 0xford 

Street, singing 'l am what I 

O 

am'would have 

been a more 

dignified way to 

come out." 

Butthe best is 

surely this: "Sowhatwould 

I 

o' 

Jesus say to Mulder 

and Scully? lthink 

Jesus might start by 

saying Mulder and 

Scully, you're right 

to search forthe 

truth. Don't give uP. 

Keep searching and 

you will find it.Ihe truth 

isout there and can be discovered. lt 

is even more staggeringthan you 

know !" Jess' quiet offer of help would 

seize Mulder and Scully's attention. 

"To discover what there is, look at me. 

I am the truth."

II 

platform 

I 

The dearth of democracy? 

Jaimie Westbrook ur{es us fo get aut and vate - even if 

we can't do it enthusiastically 

WHAT'S THE LABOUR government done for 

you? As a student you'll be most familiar 

with loans and tuition fees which will have 

made more difference to the student 

wallet than the tweaking of tax bands. 

For many students this May will be the first time 

they have been able to vote in a general election, 

foot and mouth notwithstanding. Which way to go? 

As good SCMers we surely can't do anything that 

isn't touchy-feely and left-of-centre. But when we 

look at it, which of those credentials does Labour 

major in? The choice isn't as clear as it was in 

1L997. 

Quick recap of the past few years: the rise and 

fall of the Dome; Peter Scandelson; 'ethical' 

foreign policy; being at the heart of Europe, 

honest; "education, education, education". 

Anything of genuine substance? Well, everyone 

agrees that the economy hasn't rolled over and 

died. Jobless figures are below one million - which 

must be a good thing. Gordon Brown has managed 

to pay back large chunks of our national debt. 

According to the broadsheets, there has been a 

quiet redistribution of wealth, cleverly achieved by 

avoiding the negative press of raising headline 

taxes. 

We live in an age of spin. Given Labour's overwhelming 

mandate their supporters justifiably 

may have expected more action. Not necessarily a 

return to the oppositional class politics of past 

decades, but at least something with a little more 

obvious impact to the person in the street. Labour 

have proved they are no longer a crude tax-andspend 

party but everyone would rather see 

improved social provision, health care, the 

environment, the transport infrastrucure than 

bulging coffers. 

And the national alternatives? Try as we might, 

we can't escape party politics. William Hague and 

the Conservatives have made very little impact on 

the public consciousness, and seem a spent force 

for the moment (as were Labour in the earlylmid- 

1980s). The Lib Dems have the luxury of being so 

far from power that they can afford to be honest 

about their tax and spend policies. The nationalist 

parties in Scotland and Wales are local powers but 

they are seem sidelined at Westminster. ln any 

case they are not an option for English voters, who 

make up the majority of the electorate. 

The upshot? I'm still committed to voting even if 

I'm not enthused by it. People talk about apathy, 

but take comfort in the fact that our general 

election turnout is relatively healthy. Or is it? A 

London-based friend of mine who has been a 

polling clerk at the last few (non general) elections 

says his polling station reached no higher than 30 

per cent turnout, even in the mayoral election 

which surely was of genuine local concern. When 

the choice at a general election is so limited what 

is there to get excited about? 

People across the world, in places like Burma, 

Zimbabwe and Serbia lay their lives on the line in 

the struggle for free and fair voting. We have the 

privilege of such a system, but don't seem to care. 

We are on the brink of killing our democracy by 

boredom. lt may be a hard choice because it 

seems so limited, but there is a moral imperative to 

do so. Too much blood has been invested in the 

vote for those of us lucky enough to have it to make 

abstention a valid choice. 

. Jaimie Westbrook is an 

undergraduate student at Greenwich 

University. 

moiiHrti6iit 

MOVEMENT isthetermly 

magazine of the Sfudent 

Christi an Moveme nt, distributed 

free of charge to members and 

dedicated to an open-minded 

exploration of Christi ani$. 

movement l3

NEWS 

rlJ 

{) }rv J/J C 

Structural adjustment 

FOLLOWING several discussions GC made the following 

decisions. SCM will continue to have three full-time workers: 

the Co-ordinator, the Groups Worker and a new Office 

Administrator post to replace the Fundraiser / Publications 

post. This new arrangement provides a more coherent divislon 

of roles and will enable the Co-ordinator to explore 

opp0rtunities for working in partnership with other 

organisations and to raise SCM's profile by networking 

generally. 

With regards to the Movement's structure, major changes 

have not been necessary. GC are the trustees ofthe Movement 

and are responsible for overseeing the overall running of SCM. 

The Trust Association as a separate charity has its own trustees 

and is responsible forthe Movement's capital investments. 

The constitutional amendments will be voted on atthe EGM 

during the Training Event weekend at the end of March. 

Symon says 

this 

doubled 

lwillbe 

Followingi a 

members have a, 

to be subjected to 

theolo*j/. I'm also 

health issues. From the, 

forward to returning to 

SCM, hopefully 

ata 

THE NEW SCM staff member - Symon Hill 

workin{ towards your finals 

ure's 

's 

myself 

and studying 

of mental 

Oxford, but look 

about working for 

efficiently, and 

members, and hope 

Catholic companion 

THOSE 0F YOU who have phoned the SCM office recently may 

be wondering why you were greeted by "Hello, SCM and CSC" 

(Catholic Student Council). From where has this Catholic 

presence come? Claire Connor, CSC Co-ordinator, has 

unexpectedly ended up running CSC single-handedly - not an 

easy task! Until Symon arrives in June SCM has a Claire-sized 

space in the office and so we thought it sensible and kind to 

offer her a place in our humble sunoundings. As well as making 

planning the forthcoming joint training event and retreat 

simpler, this arrangement should also prevent Claire from 

going completely mad. CSC will be based atthe SCM office till 

some time in the summer. Now that's what I call ecumenism... 

Dropping the Debt 

Drop the Debt in'Genoa, ltaly 

20-22 July 

THE NEXT STAGE of the Drop the Debt campaign is in 

Genoa where the G8 Summit is being held. SCM staff 

are planning to be there. The cheapest package on 

offer is from Christian Aid at t150 - the price 

includes all travel and accommodation in Genoa. 

The SCM office will keep a look out for any cheaper 

options and keep you posted via the SCM website and 

e-mail. Get in touch if you are interested in going to 

Genoa. You can also get info from the Drop the Debt 

website www.d ropthedebt.org. u k. 

Whafs your favourite possession? 

My Bible (not in a super-spiritual way, more 

in a comforting, quasi-idolatrous way). 

What are you reading at the moment? 

Leviticus; lots of theology for college; Iie 

Sins of Father Knox by Josef Skvorecky 

(detective write0 

Whaf s your favourite film/play? 

Gil lnterrupted 

How do you relax? 

Long c0nversations with friends; goingto the 

cinema; reading detective stories; playing 

chess; getting beaten at Scrabble by my 

housemate. Work and relaxation tend to blur 

a lot: when not arguing about theology for 

my course I can often be found arguing 

abouttheology in the pub. 

Whaf s your favourite journey? 

It depends on why I'm golng where I am. 

What do you like most about yourself? 

My commitrnent to what I believe in. 

What do you dislike about yourself? 

Letting others down, difficulty being polite 

(sometimes), my appearance... 

Whafs your favourite word? 

Deutero-canonical 

lf you could be someone else who would it 

be? 

Hugo Chavez (the president 0f Venezuela) 

When did you last cry? 

A few days ago. 

What are you scared oP 

Becoming depressed; going to Hell; poverty; 

capitalism. 

Describe a recurring dream that you have. 

I get into a pulpit to preach and then 

discover I have not prepared my sermon. 

This is probably related to a fear of having 

nothing significant to say. 

What do you never miss on W? 

Morse. But I rarely watch TV. I'm a Radio 4 

comedy freak (l was a big fan of Revolting 

People, which has sadly now finished). 

What music do you listen to most? 

Tom Lehrer 

What pet hates do you have? 

Smoking, American spellings, misplaced 

apostrophes, prejudicial language, 

international capitalist oppression. 

What would your motto for living be? 

"Put your faith in God - and keep your 

powder dry.' (0liver Cromwell, as his troops 

were aboutto cross a river). 

4lmovement

Out with the old. 

Well it's time I was off, wrltes lim Woodcock, editor of 

Movement 101'108. l've had a good innings. I am getting 

nrarried in June and quite possibly moving to the States, 

Those flexi-days of being a student are gone, and I am working 

full-time and finding it hard to find the time such a cherished 

magazine deserves. 

For the past two issues I've shared the edito/s chair (it's a 

tight squeeze) with Steve Collins, who rustled up an amazing 

resource 0n alternative worship, and then Julian Lewis, who 

will become the driving force behind the magazine once I am 

out of here. lt's been a lot of fun working on Movement 108 

together. I'm sure he will experience the same mix of 

mistakes, triumphs, long-held ambitions and quick fixes 

whilst covering new subjects and old chestnuts. Anyway l'll let 

Julian show his face and tell you about himself. 

...and in with the new 

Hi. I'm the new co-editor of Movement. Some of you may know me 

from my previous existence as MethSoc Co-ordinator (student worker 

for the Methodist Church), but for the last few months I've been 

working as Development Officer for Student Volunteering UK, helping 

establish new student community action schemes in London. I really 

enjoy working in the student development world, but the Movement 

post has come along at the right time for me as I do miss the student 

Christian side of things. Having worked alongside SCM for many 

years, and experienced various aspects of the movement while at 

university (Durham, 1991 - 1994, reading law) | hope l'll fit in well 

with the requirements of the post. 

What vignettes about myself can I offer to help you build up a rounded picture of me? I retain 

a childish fascination and obsession with dinosaurs. I am a rnember of Survival, the campaign 

for tribal people around the world. I like cooking and dabble in a variety of arts, particularly 

modelling with plasticine (l specialise in...dinosaurs), Ambitions? To build up a pretentious 

bookcase of arty novels that you've never heard of before, yet be able t0 truthfully claim that I've 

read them all. And once I've become fantastically rich (tips and suggestions welcome) to support 

the redevelopment of Britain's woodland in a big way. 

Ever need to contact me, then try movementmagazine@hotmail.com 

:.:.., 

Summer retreat 

22-24 June 

NEWS 

This Summer's retreat will be truly ecumenical as it 

is being organised jointly by CSC and SCM for the 

first time, A retreat centre in Ludlow, Shropshire has 

been booked. The idea of the summer retreat is 

simply to have some time away to de-stress at the 

end of the summer term. There will be some time for 

worship and reflection but most of the weekend will 

be unstructured time to chat and relax. Booking 

forms with more information will be available soon. 

Contact the SCM office for more details. 

Eternal echoes 

Eternal Echoes - Greenbelt 2OO1 

(24 - 27 August at Cheltenham Racecourse) 

SCM is going to have a stall at this year's Greenbelt 

festival and would like to hear from anyone who is 

interested in going and would be prepared to spend 

some of the time helping out on the stall. Depending 

on how many people express an interest, we should 

be able to help with the costs - or maybe even give 

out a couple of free tickets. For those of you who have 

never been to Greenbelt, we seriously recommend it. 

It is one of the few Christian festivals aimed at young 

people that offers a more open and creative ethos, a 

focus on social justice, an amazing mix of speakers, 

workshops, music, theatre, worship, food.... Contact 

the office asap if you would like to help out on the 

SCM stall. 

Lingua Franca spreads its wings 

LINGUA FRANCA lS A LANGUAGE and leadership training 

program organised by WSCF - the international network of SCMs 

- and a partnership organisation EYCE (Ecumenical Youth 

Council in Europe). lt began nine years in Eastern and Central 

Europe and this year, for the first time, the model is being used 

in Latin America. 

The ethos of Lingua Franca is one of mutual sharing and 

exchange in an intercultural context. There is not rigid scheme of 

work to follow with which the teacher comes prepared. The 

structure of the course is decided in consultation between the 

teacher and learners at the beginning of the course and depends 

on the interests of those involved and the possibilities that a 

particular context provides. The students are encouraged to 

leave their grammar books behind along with preconceived 

ideas of a traditional language course. 

Lingua Franca is looking for energetic young students who are 

fluent in English or another European language, and who are 

willing to help students in Eastern / Central Europe improve their 

foreign language skills. A formal teaching qualification is not 

necessary. 

ln exchange for your time and language teaching, you get a 

unique insigiht into the life, culture and religious traditions of your 

hosts. Students are expected to pay for their own travel but 

accommodation and food will covered by the host movement. 

EASTERN/ CENTRAL EUROPE: The courses last for 2-3 weeks 

(between July and September). For more information contact: 

wscf-linguafranca@hotmail.com or WSCF Lingua Franca, UttOi rit 

24 (Egyetemi), 1085 Budapest, Hungary. 

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN REGION: Students must 

commit for 4-6 weeks. Teaching in Latin America would give the 

student an opportunity to her or his Spanish (s/he should have 

some basic knowledge beforehand). For further information 

contact SilkeLechner@gmx.net or FUMEC Oficina Regional 

Am6rica Latina y el Caribe, Pablo Sudrez E6-15, P.2, Quito, 

Ecuador. 

nrovenrent | 5

J 

NEWS 

Napster of knowledge? 

I HAD A FIERCE DISCUSSI0N THE OTHER day with a colleague - a journalist, but I guess a fairly 

intellectual one - who was appaled t0 discover that he couldn't get into the British Library. You 

can't walk in offthe street, claim a seat and study. You have to be accredited somehow; you 

must have a legitimate research interest, which in effect means a letterfrom a universitytutor. 

I tend to think that if you are sufficiently interested in a subject to want to go to British 

Library, you could harangue someone in authority into writing a note. This conversation about 

access to learning came to mind when I heard aboutwww.boxmind.com, a new service that 

brings top notch lecturers to a wider public by broadcasting their talks over the internet. 

lf you thought your university lecturers were brilliant-but-unapproachable, then this takes 

the idea to new heights. You can - with the right software and computer - experience illustrated 

lectures by the likes of geneticist Richard Dawkins, historian Niall Ferguson and cognitive 

scientist Steven Pinker. These media-friendly academics are the kind of superstars that 

ordinary academics resent because their books have academic credibility and sell in blockbuster 

quantities. 

With E-box the screen is split in four: a talking head delivers the lecture, with synchronised 

slides, a transcript ofthe lecture and web-links. The action can be stopped at any point and you 

can follow the extensive links for background information on specific points. Given that your 

tutor was never going to be the friend, mentor and drinking partner you imagined (a la 

Educating Rita), this is as good a learning experience as any university could offer. The unfairly 

maligned 0pen University 

is an impressive set up 

but with E-box there's no 

need to video programs 

at obscure time slots - in 

principle, you log on when 

you want and get access 

to whatever you need. 

But all is not as it 

seems: the free-for-all 

principle is only for a 

month, by the time you 

receive this magazine the 

opportunity will have 

evaporated. wwwboxmind.com is only a shop window to sell the concept of e-lectures to universities. 

Soon the format will be licensed to individual universities, who can have their own 

lectures broadcast and archived in this way. Access will be denied to the individual web surfer 

- in the same way the passerby can't go in to the British Library - and whether students at 

Wrottesley Poly will have access to Richard Dawkins is unclear. There is a commercial imperative 

behind all this - but it who can blame the producers Boxmind for trying to exploit that? So 

many idealistic web-ventures peter out because no has done the sums. Knowledge is a 

saleable commodity - and this is not the Napster of knowledge that it first seemed but an 

elaborate way of pouring knowledge from one mind to another. 

blnrbi.:+$:r:t: 

-*t*a-*_! 

€ib!+'a,+= 

S*-€G€_ 

**-€*i: 

*_{* 

It will be interestingto see who takes up the idea: a consortium of top universities who will 

share their star players? or perhaps those in emerging subjects at under-resourced universities? 

0r, most likely, no pattern at all, justthose departments with enough mavericks who want 

to explore the potential of online learning.lt might give us some idea about what is really meant 

by 'the academic community'. 

(Tim Woodcock) 

Ecumenism: 

easier said than done 

THE ANGLICAN SOCIETY at the University of 

Leicester and Emmaus (the Methodist, Baptist and 

URC society) have decided to merge. Whilst the 

Christian Union continues to have a large and 

active membership, the denominational societies 

have been finding it hard to carry on. The existence 

of the denominational societies as well as the CU 

has always been justified by the explanation that 

people want to be able to go to a society which 

reflects their faith tradition as well as having the 

opportunity to be part of a larger group of Christian 

students. 

So, why have Angsoc and Emmaus decided to 

merge? Emmaus are already officially an ecumenical 

society, and many regular members of 

Angsoc aren't Anglicans. For several years now the 

Angsoc motto has been "For all shades of Christianity". 

lt is pointless to struggle on separately, 

professing to believe in ecumenism, until we are 

pushed to the point where it becomes inevitable, 

rather than to take a positive step, out of a desire 

to pool the resources of diversity and enthusiasm 

that both groups have to offer. 

Jenny, the Emmaus president, and I have both 

felt sad that we will be the last presidents of our 

respective societies, and a sense of guilt that we 

haven't done enough to preserve our societies. We 

both recognise that we have the opportunity to 

continue with our evening worship in a way that 

reflects our preferences and traditions, whilst 

building something together that will be better and 

stronger than our current arrangements. 

This ideal of being committed to ecumenism, but 

not wanting to merely disband our societies and 

become part of the CU, has brought up some interesting 

issues. The relationship between the CU and 

the denominational societies is much better than it 

has been in the past and it would be a shame to 

throw the improved relations away. lt is contrary to 

the whole concept of ecumenism to damage 

relations with one society to join another. 

There are some very easy and very unhelpful 

answers to the questions about differences 

6lmovement

NEWS 

between the CU and the proposed ecumenical 

society at the University of Leicester. lt is too easy 

to describe ourselves as either Iiberal or evangelical, 

arrd to degenerate fronr there to trading 

insults about a set of aims as opposed to a 

doctrinal basis. lt is essential that our desire for 

ecumenism and mutual respect doesn't stop at the 

door of a CU meeting, and I have no desire to 

create two new denominations. How can we 

describe our differences without merely resorting 

to labels, which will be interpreted incorrectly and 

misunderstood? Whilst our differences will always 

cause a certain amount of tension, the most 

helpful way of looking at our differences is as a 

matter of focus. Evangelism has always been the 

strength of the CU, whereas I see the denominational 

societies as a forum for questions, discussion 

and for different people to present their own 

ideas about what it means to be a Christian. 

Whilst evangelism is certainly not the main focus 

of Angsoc, and will not be the main focus of the 

new society, it is nevertheless important for us to 

think about the way we present ourselves. lt is 

hard to believe that Christianity is an attractive 

prospect when different groups are fighting 

amongst themselves. 

(Helen Mackay, 

President of Leicester University Angsoc) 

HOW TO... COOK A N,IEAI 

(AT SHORT r{oTtcE FOR Ar{ ur{Kr{owN NUMBER OF pEoptE) 

lmagine you've got five people coming round fo, 

there,s twelve of th_em. 

,'- revy,c uurilrrg round tor dinner _ no, make that eight. No, 

That can be the trouble when cooking foran informal group offriends, such as an scM 

i',',l[:[fil ;::[ff ." Tuur u **' untii ,ou un* *, 

'any 

peopre you,ve got 

sop,,or"b,kdp;t;i:iiiil:;,J1,;,:',Jfi 

'#T#.'illT*:*TJtrl 

ff:;ffi::#H about who is about to .*, ti'reh rhe door. And ir a nut-and- 

Let,s say you gJ,,, il:,n!i| ;t'l#;1il:::J. " abre ro reed the; ;;.' 

:'rTi,;:L:. "u0,"*,, *o coor< couro eo wlon;;.H::,?J::lin::ilH:T; 

Boil up sorne pasta. Sti 

cru d e. r f th ere,,,,, in,,r.J 

"liL"lil:-jff 

ff ff ffi ;,,1 ffi,r:l ;:::l[JlJ 

the right order - onions, c'urgeftes, mushrooms. i nrtiuu. they te, you about such 

things on induction courses. Fry it a bit or a tof ., *uo .OO some Unned tomatoes, 

seasoning and as much stock or water as 

", 

,,nr. in* decide if you,re making a 

chunky soup or a conventional pasta oish wiih ,rrlu -n u,, goes down the sarne way _ 

;T;Tffi ,il;X|,ir,*#1.*. 

r, 

" 

t u,u .".o *-.-i,l". o a nd c neese to pa d it o ut if the re 

,ffJI#:l;j.T:j;,"1" might be most uninspiring mear when earen ar'ne 

of bread ..n ou.oru ,1r,, ;:ffiil| And the simple pleasure or'tuine tt e lrst ;unk 

13 - 15 April 

The Critical Mass 

L -2May 

Breaking the Silence... ab0ut Violence 

9 - 10 June 

The Big One - Naked 

An Easter festival of urban art and faith, 

including music, comedy, theatre, 

against women 

A contribution t0 the World Council 0f 

lona Scottish Ecumenical Youth Event 

Contact lona Community. Tel: 0141 445 

installations, experimental worship, 

Churches Decade to Combat Violence 

4562 or website: www.iona.org.uk 

( 

1 

\ 

workshops, discusslons at St Luke's Church 

and the Warehouse, London. For more info 

see www.thecriticalmass.org or e-mail 

i nfo@hecriticalmass.org 

organised by the Women's Co-ordinating 

Group of Churches Together. 

Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, 

Birmingham. Cost: f50. Contact Elspeth at 

CTE for more info. Tel: 020 7332 8232 

22 - 24 June 

SCM and CSC Summer retreat 

Ludlow, Shropshire. A chance t0 get away 

from it all. Contact the SCM office for more 

20 - 22 April 

details. 

LGCM Annual Conference - Swansea 

13 - 20 May 

SCM and YLGC (Young Lesbian and cay 

Christians) are organising a 'Fleshing 0ut 

Faith' day for under 30s to explore body 

theology on the Sunday - f5. Contact SCM 

office for more information. 

4-6May2001 

No Star Wars 

Christian Aid week 

1-3June 

Jubilee and Europe - world Mission 

Conference Swanwick 2001 

Vari0us speakers and a programme for 

young adults. f40 for students (bursaries are 

available) More info from N4eg Bailey tel: 

4-7 July 

Gl0bal Capitalism and the Gospel ofJustice 

Ecumenical Conference at Ushaw College, 

Durham. Details from Tracy l\4aratty Tel: 

0191-373 3499 E mail:T.L.Maratty@ 

durham.ac. uk 

20 - 22 July 

An international conference t0 'Keep Space 

for Peace' in Leeds organised by Yorkshire 

CND. A weekend of events for people 

01,6t 432 3854 or e-mail: 

meg@baileymm.fsnet.co. uk 

Genoa G8 Summit: Drop the Debt 

See information on SCM news pages for 

more info. 

0pposingthe US National lvlissile Defense 

2 June 

and the use of space for war and 

To God Together 

24 -27 August 

exploitation. Programme: Friday - peaceful 

Retreat Day for students and young people to 

Eternal Echoes - Greenbelt 

demonstrati0n at nearby base Menwith Hill; 

explore Focolare's spirituality of unity. 

Annual Christian arts festival, in Cheltenham 

Saturday - speakers, workshops and 

discussion. Cost for students: f5. Book 

0rganised by the Focolare l\4ovement in 

Welwyn Garden City. Cost t4. 

for the third time. 

For more info: www.greenbelt.org.uk 

before 12 April if you need accommodation 

Booking forms available from SCM office or 

Contact Lesley Ellison for further info and 

bookings: 01707 332950 

more info from their website: 

www.gn.apc.orglcndyorks/ gnconf 

nrovenrent | 7

---J 

buffy 

I put a spell on you 

SO YOU WANT TO become a witch? Join the 

queue. Yes, that one stretching as far as 

the eye can see. The latest teenage fad 

sweeping our cultural cousins in the USA is 

af l things Wiccan, as promoted in Buffy the 

Vampire Slayer.l imagine we're not so far 

behind with Buffy's popularity this side of 

the pond. Besides, we're nurturing up-andcoming 

generations of wizardly wannabees 

via Harry Potter. 

'-* 

Harry Potter, concerning earlier childhood, 

concentrates on a more formal process of learning 

and authority. You need to go to school, boy. All is 

not as it seems at Hogwarts though, with intrigue 

around every corner which Harry and co. must 

identify and unravel. As the story develops I 

understand the black and white certainties of the 

first book are revealed as merely partial 

s' 

+ 

How much cool fun is it possible to have running 

around with an old-fashioned tent peg pointed at 

the heart of every hell spawn imaginable by latex or 

CGI? Or zipping hither and yon on a broomstick, 

learning the basics of Quidditch? Count me in. 

Little that either story does is new, but after 

thousands of years of human culture, invention 

and amusement, that's an unfair threshold to 

expect of popular entertainment. Buffy kicks off 

with an intriguing premise (little girl walks down 

a dark alley, is menaced by the supernatural but 

turns out to be the ass-kicker) but the initial fun 

is maintained by the ongoing critique of teen . 

culture and its attendant angst. I could lit crit a 

"perils of becoming an adult" subtext as well, but 

it's obvious so I won't. For all its archness the 

show retains our affections because its 

criticism is gentle. 

Harry Potter is a global 

phenomenon - perhaps it's just 

me, but I don't get it at all. Harry 

Potter and the Philosopherb Stone is 

such a lamentable retread of all our 

childhood entertainments I haven't 

investigated later installments. I'll confess 

to an intellectually precocious infancy but I 

don't think it would have interested or 

engaged me as a ten-year-old either. 

Personal taste aside, what both stories 

preserve is a childlike sense of awe and 

s= =*= 

= 

€ €s 

J 

= 

s 

{lF 

:: 

:.:. 

- 

s 

:: 

wonder, of lostness and exploration. ls 

this what.Jesus meant by his "Unless you 

become like a child ... " statement? lf so 

and we have to trust and be led, who and 

what do we look to? 

s.'=€.' 

8 | nrovenrent

uffu 

Of course this brings us onto the dull perennial 

question: what ean the Church learn from these 

cultural phenomena? Primarily that all our 

ministers should be sassy, blonde minxes. And that 

our children's addresses need to be funl 

The trouble with virtue is that it is never cool - 

just check out the lnitiative in Buffy. Ostensibly on 

the same side as our friendly local Vampire Slayer, 

it is fatally compromised in that X Files manner for 

being an arm of institutional government. Riley, the 

lieutenant of the lnitiative's hit squad, is redeemed 

only by becoming detached from it. And as is 

typically the case, Harry Potter and Buffy confirm 

that villains are much more interesting than 

heroes. 

understanding. ln spite of what he learns from and 

is told by various authority figures, Harry soon 

learns to see angles within angles in a complex 

world. 

Buffy has three sources of authority. There's 

Giles, the Watcher, all-knowing, mature and aloof. 

Remind you of your institutional God? We always 

knew he was an Englishman - now we've got the 

proof. Then there's her peer group. For the 

audience, it forms the backdrop for most of the 

wise cracks and teen point-scorinS which drive the 

show. For Buffy it is the arena where ideas are 

tested and conflict resolved. But the lodestone of 

Buffy's moral world is her feelings and deep down 

awareness of what is right. This third pillar is the 

ultimate secular/media conceit, so ubiquitous in 

Western technological society and to my mind so 

wrong. 

Having jettisoned formal and communal ethical 

pronouncement, Western society is left with a limp 

appeal to human nature which rests on the absurd 

premise that we are basically good. Salvation is 

located in the human, and in the individual. The 

evil in the world is "other" than what we could and 

should be. The whole point of religion, whether you 

take its claims and narratives literally or 

symbolically, is the awareness and admission that 

without assistance humanity leaves a lot to be 

desired. lf you disagree, recall for a moment the 

20th century. Religion is the honesty to say that 

evil, whatevep its manifestations may be, is 

located within us and we need powerful tools to 

dealwith it. 

Surprisingly, Bufr! doesn't duck the issue 

entirely. Feelings are all very well when your 

neighbourhood Slayer is Buffy as guided by Giles 

and friends, but what happens when you end up 

with Faith, the borderline psychotic, rogue Slayer? 

Demons and vampires aren't the only items on her 

hit list. She currently appears to be on a journey 

towards some sort of redemption, but there's been 

a pretty hefty body count along the way. 

She appears to be on a journey towards 

some sort of redemption, but there's been a 

pretty hefty body count along the way 

Bolh Harry and Buffy package the unknown in an 

exciting but ultimately comforting way. Start with a 

threat and find a solution. Throw in heavy 

symbolism, a few archetypes, bolt on a cosy 

salvation at the end and you're more or less there. 

Sounding familiar? I thought so. lf not, try your 

local evangelical church. 

Meanwhile the rest of us, the religious liberals, 

radicals, doubters and other subversives sit 

carping on the sidelines wondering why we've got 

no friends. Whatever the Church's ,.- 

I:::n Tn ":::,':;'"J," 

"LJl: ql 

attention to the style of delivery. I really I 

don't want to end up by saying tnat tne ! 

failings of the Church lie in its PR, but 

that's where the argument is heading. 

That's the advantage of being a 

witch Buffy style - it's limited to what 

is fun. There's no huge historical-moral 

ediflce hanging round your neck - you 

just feel. lf you still genuinely want to become 

a witch, before you take the plunge ponder for a 

moment the merits of going skyclad in winter 

while summoning the beast at Loch Ness 

(people have tried). Buffy's notthat kind of buff, 

more's the pity some would say. Harry and 

Buffy are for kids - religion and spirituality in 

the raw would never do. They're warm, cosy 

and ultimately reassuring. Read Harry if you 

must, but I'm on the sofa in front of the box. 

. Julian Lenris is the former co-ordinator 

of Methsoc and the incoming editorof 

Movenent. 

movement l9

..-< 

:: 

: 

disarming actions I helen steven 

"lf the media came looking for a fight, they went away 

with footage of a quiet and gentle commitment" 

catch up 

Helen Steven works at the 

Scottish Centre for Non- 

Violence, She helped 

organised the Big 

Blockade on February 12 

at Faslane Naval Base, at 

Coulport near Glasgow, to 

disrupt the ongoing work of 

the Trident nuclear 

weapons system, 

ANDREW MCLELLAN, THE Moderator of 

the Church of Scotland, has been 

unusually high-profile recently making 

unequivocal pronouncements on the 

immorality of nuclear weapons in general 

and Trident in particular. What made this 

even more startlin$ for the average person 

in the pews was that his statements were 

made at one of the largest demonstrations 

yet seen at the nuclear submarine 

base at Faslane, and in the background 

there were clear pictures of some of the 

385 demonstrators being arrested and 

dragged away. 

Unworthy of a senior churchman? Unrepresentative 

of the views of the church? Or being in exactly 

the right place at the right time, simply restating the 

official position of the Church of Scotland that 

"nuclear weapons are contrary to the will of God". 

What the nredia did not say was that the Moderator 

was only one church leader represented - others 

included members of the Salvation Army, Congregational 

Union, Methodists, URC and Quakers. At last a 

thoroughly heavyweight representation of the 

churches in Scotland was standing its ground, 

showing solidarity and giving endorsement to the 

hundreds of people (including 18 ministers) who 

were putting their bodies on the line in opposition to 

nuclear weapons. lt meant that the media could no 

longer dismiss the demonstration as a bunch of 

pass6 hippies and trendy lefties, although we were 

that too! 

ln a television interview, Andrew McLellan said 

that his vision was for "passionate people in a gentle 

church". lt is this blend of the anger and love, of 

passion and vulnerability, of confrontation and 

utmost respect for the other that is the mark of the 

engaged church. ln his book Walking on Tharns 

South African Allan Boesak says "We lack a holy 

rage. The recklessness whiclr comes with the 

knowledge of God and humanity. The ability lo rage 

when justice lies prostrate on the streets and when 

the lie rages across the face ofthe earth... To rage at 

the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy 

of destruction 'peace' ..." 

And indeed there is plenty in our world situation at 

the moment io be angry about. Just the sight of one 

of those monstrously expensive death machines 

sliding malevolently up the loch is enough to make 

the blood boil, to say nothing of Bush's cruel sabrerattling 

as the bombers fly over Baghdad, or the 

'impregnable' National Missile Defence system. 

which threatens to plunge the world into a deadly 

new nuclear arms race and makes Fylingdales in 

Yorkshire a top target for a nuclear strike. The 

exploitation of children, whether by forcing them to 

become ehild soldiers or making profits out of their 

sufferings as part of porn-rings. The abuse of women 

by domestic violence or by the use of rape as a 

weapon of war. The untold misery endured by 

ordinary folk every time a "peace process" breaks 

down - whether in Northern lreland, lsraellPalestine 

or the Congo. All of these things n]ust make us angry 

and passionate if we are to remain truly human. 

The question of our full humanity in a Christian 

context has been addressed by Archbishop Rowan 

Williams in a paper for Clergy Against Nuclear Arms. 

On the subject of NMD (Star Wars ll) he poses the 

question whether the pursuit of "absolute security" is 

compatible with the finite human condition. "How far 

is the search for impregnability a withdrawal from the 

risks of conflict and change? The Christian believes 

that the preoccupation of human beings with controlling 

their environment can, at its extreme, be 

fuelled by a dread... it is a refusal of the power of God 

for grace and the hope of re{reation, or rather of the 

rediscovery of one's createdness in the hand of 

God." To be fulty human means being vulnerable, 

open to the other and willing to take risks for peace. 

Which brings us back to the demonstration at 

Faslane in February. Some organisers were apprehensive 

as it became obvious the demo was going to 

be really big, that some elements who were not 

committed to non-violence would come and that 

there might be ugly incidents which could not be controlled. 

Anger yes, but not within bounds. lndeed 

some of the 700 police who were on duty admitted 

that they had come prepared for violence. However 

the whole day of action was a model of non-violence. 

Yes there was anger, shouting of slogans, and a 

steely determination as arms were linked across the 

gate. There was a constant awareness of the evil we 

were up against. There were highly effective lock-ons 

which took many hours of patient unravelling. There 

was sharing of communion, pagan greetings of the 

dawn, singing, weaving of webs, drumming, sharing 

of picnics. Almost all the police stations in Glasgow 

were full up and clogged up. But throughout the 

whole day there was real communication between 

demonstrators and police, no€ne lost their cool, and 

a strong mutual respect was developed. lf the media 

came looking for a fight, what they went away with 

was footage of a quiet and gentle commitment. 

lf Christians should be "without fear, happy, and 

always in trouble" then this was a good beginning. 

1O I ntovenrent

TIPS ON TRIPS 

Jenny Mitchell has 

been to Eastern Europe 

four timei teaching 

English as a foreign 

language.Here she 

offers her wisdom on 

cheap, satisfying 

summers, 

L00K lN ANY MAGMINE and you are bound to see an advertfor 

a holiday. One can go almost anywhere and do almost 

anything: be it walking across glaciers in New Zealand, or 

enjoying the sunshine and club life of lbiza, it should not be too 

difficult to find just what you're looking for. 

0r maybe this year you want to do something different. As a 

student with these long holidays, and somewhat lacking funds, 

the option of voluntary work in an obscure place might have 

more appeal. once again the variety is there - it is just a matter 

of looking. 

I rememberthe firstCU meetingthat I attended at University. 

It was an opportunity for some returning members to relate how 

God had used them on such exotic trips around the world. lt 

was fascinating, and I decided that I wanted to do something 

similar that summer. 

Yet, no matter how sincere my enthusiasm, the idealtrip did 

not wantto present itself. The majority of Christian charities f ind 

their volunteers through word of mouth, and since I quickly 

realised that university presented many m0re opportunities 

than the routine of church services and prayer meetings of my 

schooldays, I was notthe first person to be recommended. 

Finally I came across a small charity that was running an 

English camp in Romania that August. Five years later I can say 

that this trip was a disaster. I was one of a group of fifteen 

people who did not form an effective team, working on a project 

which though a good idea in principle, did not work in practice. 

Yet I was not prepared to admitthis. I had been abroad to serve 

God, therefore it was a brilliant, amazing experience, wasn't it? 

Despite these initial difficulties I have continued making 

English teaching trips into Eastern Europe. My three 

subsequent visits have all been immensely rewarding, and they 

look great on my CV. I have worked in lesser-known places, 

movement I ll

vox pops 

away from the tourist trail. The young people I 

Ihe best summer I ever had, in have met can seldom afford to travel, so it 

fact the best lob l've ever had, was is only when native speakers visit that 

working on a hrm. After I graduated, but before I they have the opportunity to practice 

sladed as SCM Co-ordinator I worked on a friend's their language skills. Although 

onamixedtarmsothere neither linguist nor teacher by 

farm. Itwas good 

was a lot of vaiety. I 

bales of straw 

herded cows, bundled training, I am meeting a need 

doin(,. After finishlng and have found a way of tithing 

my theology degrce have to use my my time that I enjoy. 

brain. lnfactl 

cannowcomment Unfortunately you cannot go 

knowledgeably on 

dim creatures ever 

besomeofthemost into a travel agent and ask for 

have a number of this kind of holiday, and I have 

interesting anecdotes to liven up conversation.,t was so fou nd no comprehensive directory 

muchfunthatlcanevenlookbackandlauthatthe ofsuch projects. lt is often the case 

time I fell bce l?rst into a sea of cow poo, that whichever charity you happen to 

even thouth it was pretty gross af come across dictates where you go. 

thetime. (HD) lt is not necessary t0 go too far to find a 

suitable project: there are many opportunities for 

voluntary work in Britain. I like Eastern Europe because it's 

close, cheap t0 get to and jet lag is not an issue. Going further 

into Asia, Africa or South America has its own rewards, but 

often you will need to commit a minimum of a month to make 

the trip viable. 

Think seriously about what you are volunteering to do. I have 

always avoided projects that involve physical labour, such as 

building a hospital, since I neither enjoy physical exercise nor 

am capable of lifting heavy weight. While we may be called to 

suffer for Christ, I don't believe he calls us to volunteer to do it. 

It is advisable to do some research prior to travelling. If 

visiting a poor country learn why it is poor, and if possible talk 

to other people who have been there. 

/ fhlnk the best s ummer I spent a5 Usua lly the best schemes are the 

a student was when I got an exchange place at visions of local people, so 

a lan*uage schoot in Heidelberg. The colle{e took some assess the support of the 

persuadin! that a mathematician needed to learn German, local community for 

buteventuallyaEreed. 

the work you are 

,t was the frrst time I' d spent a decent lenSth of time abroad , and 

because the course lvas 

Europe - Western and 

devol ution referendum back 

the cafes of the Old Town 

country, what made 

frghtingfor... I guess 

wider culture and 

still being an An(lophone and a Scot. 

were folk there from all over 

lf ryas a/so the summer of the 

of lon{,warm evenin*s in 

about what made a 

from was ever wofth 

seen myse/fas paft of a 

of how to reconcile thatwith 

It' s an experience that !' m still unpacking years later, and t think 

it's something that's especially valuable for those of us for 

whom it isn't a natural paft of our studies or our 

lifdstyle. I just regret ifs so rare to get a 

chance like it. (DP) 

undertaking. Running a project from a Western perspective is 

seldom effective if it does not consider the regional situation. ls 

there a desire locally for the work you seek to do? lt is easy to 

put money and enthusiasm into something for a few weeks, but 

will it last? 

Do you want to go alone, or as part of a team? A group 

normally has a greater impact, and provides much needed 

support for any culture shock you might experience. Travelling 

alone means you need to look to your hosts to provide you with 

companionship. Although this can be lonely this dependence 

often leads to stronger friendships and a deeper 

understanding of the local culture. 

My preference in travelling is t0 stay with locals, living as they 

do without any special treatment. Unf0rtunately this can be 

risky, and many schemes will segregate volunteers for reasons 

of health and personal safety. Visit your GB invest in full health 

insurance and talk to the relevant embassy before you travel. 

The joy of volunteer work is being in the midst of the host 

culture, but this promotes you as a rich Westerner and can 

leave you vulnerable. 

Probably the most important thing to remember is that a lot 

of work goes into organising voluntary schemes. Placing a 

young person in an alien culture demands a great deal from 

your host: you may need accompanying every'where due to 

language or safety considerations. You may be going t0 give, 

but expect to receive far more than you anticipate. 

one thing I have encountered many times on my travels is 

the question "Why are you here?" People are surprised that I 

should want to spend my holidays teaching them English. They 

are encouraged by my interest in them, that someone in the 

affluent West should care and want to help. They often do not 

realise that voluntary work is a cheap, yet stimulating way to 

travel, and in my opinion easily the best. 

Most 

of my summers are spentworking 

voluntarily for a 'Playscheme' system for 

teenage kids. This invotuestaking groups ofyoungsters 

t0 events and on courses and things. Although th,s does not 

involve payment, in the lon{ run I have profited from this as / can 

now ski, windsurf, have 

for and my cricket 

term time, so / can 

I really enjoy 

people and leam 

mini-bus drVefs 

wodtthatbe 

Its not quite 

then again, if I keep my 

qualifrcations paid 

well-paid work during 

to meet interestin{ 

neto getmy 

up to 20 seats - 

leadingto a job, but 

it will be. Sorne of it is 

great fun, some of it relaxing and yet quite a blt is stressful 

and sometimes even unbearably painful! I have 

learned so much ftom my experiences and 

have also profited a lotfrom them. 

(RP) 

12 lmovement

I worked as a tourist guide in the 

Domkerk in lJtrecht, the Nethertands, in 1995 

/ spent most of one summer 

living in a teepee. lfell in with a bunch of 

travellers who went round all the festivals with 

this teepee lashed to the top of avan - you could put 

it up in ,ess than a hour, ff you knew what you were doing. 

A fire in the middle, sleeping bags round the edge. tt was 

britliant. We spent the sumneL&ingto vaious festivals. t'm 

not sure what anyone drd ,br:q!,9=..rt6st of the year - it was just 

after the crusty sceoq the Nsilbury i{rlpass protesfs, and just 

before the Criminal Justice Bill criminalised that whole way of 

life. I met some amazing people who had been on the 

road for years, living in such creative ways. It really 

and Speyer cathedral, Germany in 1997.This was arranged opened my eyes to how a subculture can thrive 

by an internationat voluntary organisation called ARC (Accueit, yet be so cut off from mainstream 

Rencontre, Communaut| -welcome, meeting, communig). ARCstarted society. (RW) 

in the 1970s in France - hence its name - and has groups in a number of 

cathedrals and large churches all over Europe for three to four weeks each 

summer. ARC groups in Britain include Westminster Abbey, St Paul's, Canterbury 

and Salisbury. 

Mainly students and younf people take patt in ARC groups. Each group usually 

consists of one English, one French, one.&rman, and one ttalian or Spanish fuide. 

Each tuide tives tours of the cathednl in his ar her own language, thouth in Speyer I 

often also found myseff giving German tours. Group accommodation is provided 

near the cathedral. You normally have one day a week free fot trips. outings from 

Utrecht included Amsterdam and a yisit to the ARC lroup 

in Antwerp, Belgium. 

this 

ln Speyer we hired bicycles one day and rode all the way to Heidelberg, 

is great fun, but the 

My 

which was hard work! BeinE paft of an ARC troup 

down side is that most cathedrals have a lot of details to 

}ne 

of my favourite summers was 

just after graduation - I rented a rickety 

vox pops 

garden shed-cum-studio that was too small for a 

bble and chairs. When friends came by for a pottuck 

meal w€d eat sprawled outside on a blanket (you can do 

in California!). On weekends fd hanE my laundry up to 

dry in the trees or read at a nearby ca@. 

friends and I alt warked on our old university campus in 

various jobs in our gap year between universig and The Real 

remember,andthatitisvoluntarysoyoudon'tgetpaid. World. I organized titenry events - and coulddt betieve 

You can find out more about ARC on tne website 

www.arc-europe.de. 6n 

someone would pay me to have fun. I was still skint, and 

didn't know what lwanted to do when I grew up, but it 

was my first time with a salary, a house, and 

Themostpotentmemoryrhavefromrastsummercourdnot the streets we saw countless young freetime-lfeltlikelwasplayinghouse' 

have been photographed, recorded on tape oreven pressed people desperately scraping a [ving, s;rring butitwasforreal""(KG) 

between the pages of my diary. lt was a smell. To be more anything from bananas to David Beckham shirts to 

precise, the most powerful, revolting, clinging, solid smell I complete tool kits, all with little success. There were n0 safety 

have everencountered: itwasthe smell offish. Few people can nets. The layers of protection we take for granted in terms of 

boast that they've been to one of the m0st successful fish education, family and state simply didn't operate. Often the 

processing plants in Senegal, but then few people would want voluntary sector provided the only hope of getting a skill, a job, 

to. I shared this honour with a small group from Christian Aid 0r some self-worth and also helped build a strong sense of 

during the two weeks we spent visiting local organisations community. 

whichtheysupport,hearingpeople'sstoriesandobservingthe lhe fish co-operative is a success story butthere are still 

dignity and determination with which they were struggling to many struggles ahead. We had a chance to chat to the fish 

improve their lives. 

workers' president, Adja M'Bathio Niang through a Wolof 

High-tech it certainly $rasn't slabs 0f fish drying in the interpretetwhichhelpedusfindoutabouttheproblemsthese 

blazing sun on huge makeshift tables, women balancing women still face. What knocked me back was the casual and 

buckets on their heads and men squatting over tubs of slimy familiar way that she referred to huge economic issues. 

water where they skinned and chopped the da/s catch with Globalisation and devaluation weren'tjust abstract concepts 

scarily sharp knives. However, in Senegal, 0n the m0st westerly for her: they could grab any control she had over her daily life 

coast 0f Africa. fish aren't small fry, thefre big business. A right out of her hands. When the currency devalued in 1994, 

women's co-operative now runs this plant, but to start up and prices halved, so they had to work doubly hard. When big EU 

grow they needed expertise and financial help to train their trawlers began operating alongthis c0ast, it meant poverty for 

members and market their produce. The women run the show the local fishing industry which had worked in that area for 'Jennv lvlitchell is a member or 

but they can't go it alone. lhis is where Christian Aid's local hundreds of years and threatened these women's livelihoods 

::::{filH:15:;n:ff;i:, 

partner organisations step in, and with their support, the co- and way of life. 

0perative has gone from strength t0 strength. Now it is entirely During my time in Senegal I learned that the answers to 'vox P0PS with thanks to sarah 

self-sufficient, able to use the money it makes for community poverty are a lot more complicated than l'd previously thought, ::ee:l(':1'.:1':1'uth 

wolker with 

devetopment and provide decent wages for its members. tt they still involve rinanciat aid bur atso depend on sorioit1l, lllili$Afi!.il'iil];,..,., 

alsoprovidesamodelandh0peforotherswhowanttosetup self-sufficiency and a fundamental reworking of global 1es4-e6),KatyGordon,Atan 

Yearslev from London, David 

similar schemes. 

systems so that they include the poor. 0h, and I also learned 

only that day we'd seen the alternative. The capital Dakar that the smell of fish never, ever quite comes out of your llj::;fJf#:il:1ff:l; 

hasa40yoyouthunemploymentrate,andjustwalkingthrough clothes! (SH) walacefromNewcastte. 

rnovement | 13

-f 

theology 

tooclever 

byhalf? 

There is such a gulf between what excites 

theologians in academia and what excites people 

in the church. Theolog;y - by which we mean talk 

about God - has become a specialism, a pointscoring 

exercise about who is best read. The 

simple truths are probably the ones that initially 

draw people in to faith' but have they got 

buried? Whatever happened to the passionate 

love affair between humanity and God? 

Sign of the times 

MattButtimoretakes'-:.:I'o'il':;:l'l;r'::';'l,,il"f 

:n"ir!^, 

I RECALL A STAUNCHLY Roman Catholic, 

elderly lady telling me that "living in sin" 

seemed such a good idea. We live in 

changing times. Maybe slowly as far as 

reli$ion goes, but change is constant. 

How have we reached a place where traditional 

norms of Christian theology have been so 

thoroughly deconstructed and challenged? ls the 

process of theological liberalism to blame? Or has 

it nurtured valuable developments? How genuinely 

The traditional norms of Christian theology have 

been thorough ly deconstructed a nd chal lenged. 

What now? 

{ 

*=t 

:r 

a 

a' 

O 

.a 

14 lmovement 

-J 

.g\* 

\at 

tl- 

€ 

successful has liberalism been in appealingto "the 

people in the pews"? 

The tradition we call liberalism is today both 

hated and loved, and this has always been the 

case. ln the late nineteenth century liberalism in 

Britain was becoming a force in its own right. 

Dusty, conservative theologians had been trying to 

brush anything new and interesting under the 

carpet for years. Ihe Origin of Species, published 

in 1859 as part of a general evolutionary trend in 

scholarship, was a typical victim, but the liberal 

movement was gathering strength. The 

controversy surrounding Essays and Reviews, 

1860, was perhaps the f irst major liberal 

"statement". lt now reads as a rather understated 

moderate position (with all the sex appeal of 

Reader's Drges0. But at a time when even table 

legs went covered, its attraction lay in asking new

theology 

questions in the face of theology's complacent 

over-use of conventional set phrases. 

The Anglo-Catholics had a go in 1890 with Lux 

Mundi, which provided a similar manifesto but now 

from the perspective of a group of younger up-andcoming 

church leaders. Liberalism embraced the 

higher criticism of the Bible and was moving 

towards an engagement with the now blossoming 

natural sciences. lt took another thirty years for 

further concerted efforts to push liberalism 

forward. However by the turn of the century 

theological liberalism was around to stay. 

Let us jump to the Swinging Sixties when our 

parents, spliff in one hand and acoustic guitar in 

the other, were battling against the dominant 

ethical norms of society. After two world wars, 

theology was floundering. Unsurprisingly, 

theologians of all descriptions had not dealt well 

with mechanised slaughter. New theologies of 

'crisis' had emerged, but in the pews things had 

begun to fossilise by the 60s. There were 

conservative ripostes to the hedonism of the 

emerging world, and smug cosiness on the 

theological circuit. 

Alec Vidler's Soundings, in 1-962, provided a 

blast of fresh air. One hundred years after Essays 

and Reviews, Vidler took soundings from the 

surrounding world, and again asked if the Church 

was in step. lt was followed shortly by Bishop John 

Robinson's acclaimed, and ridiculed, but 

important Honest to God in 1963. A mixture of 

Bonhoeffer-isms, with some Tillich and a dash of 

Bultmann, it was a manifesto for a disaffected 

Christian community. Robinson was known for 

being a rather conservative Biblical scholar. Yet his 

intervention put into words the feelings of many 

contemporary Christians. Robinson was honest 

enough to ask whether the weak 

anthropomorphisms we had come to expect (Manwith-Beard-in-the-sky) 

and the bourgeois moral 

standards we had inherited were actually 

congruent with a Christian vision, and whether the 

Dad's Army approach to God would endear 

Christianity to anyone outside the Church at all. lt 

took the media by storm and reached the 

aforementioned pews. Some hated it - it was 

nihilistic heresy. Others loved it - it was a voice 

proclaiming salvation in a manner acceptable to a 

modern age. 

The 1970s saw the publication of John Hick's 

The Myth of God lncarnate (1977), about the time 

that yours truly was born (the former with more 

critical acclaim). The proverbial waste hit the fan 

with this one - the title says it all. And then it all 

unravelled in the 1980s. Think of Don Cupitt (the 

radical British theologian, Sea of Faith, creation 

spirituality etc), Jack Spong (renegade bishop of 

Newark, now retired) and Bob Funk (purveyor of 

Biblical criticism to the nth degree). By now oldfashioned 

moderate liberalism had become old 

hat. lt was the radicals at the edge who held the 

attention of the hard-core liberal factions. 

The Sea of Faith movement has since been 

gradually expanding over the years at the same 

time that Cupitt's now voluminous output has 

risen. With Cupitt we are now immersed in the 

morass of language with nothing objective outside. 

We create our own morality, our own selves, and 

our own deities. The liberal agenda is now more 

inspired by Nietzsche than the last musings of an 

incarcerated Lutheran. However, the traditional 

liberals associated with the Liverpool Statement, 

lan Markham and Gareth Jones et a/, are making 

big waves, reclaiming a nuanced, conservative 

liberalism. 

Does liberalism challenge the prevailing 

zeitgeist, creating a new way of seeing the world? 

ls it a radical and revolutionary movement? Or, 

does liberalism represent radicals, in any given 

time, who have seen a new zeitgeist in operation 

and wish to appropriate it and reap its benefits. ls 

it unashamedly parasitic upon an already 

emerging world-view? lf Cupitt is radical, we could 

ask if he is merely reacting against traditional 

theology in the name of something that is actually 

completely at one with present society. Behind 

Cupitt one can see a melange of trendy 

contemporary philosophies, a capitalist privileging 

of choice and rampant individualism. 

movement | 15

theology 

HONEST JOHN AND DON QUIXOTE 

1 

5 

# 

o 

I 

o f, 

d 

n 

=-6 

l 

o 

- 

€ 

o 

=o 

G 

Bishop John Robinson's '1963 book Honest to God became, according to the cuardian, 

"the most talked-about theological work of this century". He saw himself as being a radical 

- and not so much in the popular usage but its derivation, meaning "going to the roots". He 

was an insider not an outsider. 

when he was asked to write a piece for the Sunday Mirror explaining himself, he wrote: 

,,My book seems to have touched people at a point where truth really matters to them. And 

of that I am glad - even if it has meant some pain. For Cod is to be found at the point where 

things really do matter to us. What drove me to write my book was that this is simply not 

true for most people. what matters to them most in life seems to have nothing to do with 

God; and Cod has no connection with what really concerns them day by day." 

ln short, he was saying we need new images of cod. The traditional imagery of cod as a 

Being up There was not only unhelpful, but redundant. But this was nothing new - plenty 

of theologians had argued this before - but the book gained the oxygen of publicity because 

it was penned by Honest John, a doubting bishop. 

Honest John's most obvious successor is Don cupitt a Cambridge theologian who has 

pioneered non-realist theology. ln his ground-breaking book and TV series The Sea of Faith 

Cupitt said God has no objective existence, independent of human language and culture - 

Cod is an enduring symbol not a real Being. 

ilII 

This doesn't necessarily mean we abandon 

faith, but it means we have to rethink what 

it is all about. 

Cupitt's ideas are challenging: it is a 

paradigm shift in theology which has to be 

accepted or rejected. He has his many enemies, who will caricature his work. ln Anger, Sex, Doubt 

and Death Richard Holloway writes: "l do know that for some the level of doubt becomes 

unbearable. 'Cupittism' is a theological methadone treatment for those who find it difficult to kick 

the cod habit immediately. Dr Cupitt, in his white coat, will take you down gradually, though one 

day, if you are honest, you are going to have to get off methadone and go it alone." 

But others see non realism as a great opportunity to rework faith for a post-modern age: "Faith 

systems are man-made, created to fill certain needs at particular times in specific places, we know 

we can remake them for our needs, our times, our place. We can ordain gays - or abolish the 

priesthood; create "green" rituals - or abandon ritual; make God female - or re-fashion him/her as 

'==_:# 

the symbol or imaged incarnation of wholly human values such as mercy, pity, peace and love." 

(Sea of Faith Network) 

. Matt Bullimore is studyingfor 

an MA in theology at 

Manchester UniversitY. 

ls this good or does it have a dark side? ls it not 

that the resurgence of conservative 

fundamentalisms might well be a response to this 

acceptance of wider modern society, in much the 

same way that conservative rightist parties flourish 

in a Third Way Blairite world? Was Robinson saying 

something new, or actually just verbalising what a 

number of politically liberal middle class people 

were wanting to say about religion in the 1960s - 

that there is something out there, big and warm 

but fairly nebulous; that churches all seem staid 

and doddering; that we therefore have to find a 

new mode of religious expression in the world? ls it 

merely coincide that Honest To God came out as 

the same time as The Beatle's 'All You Need is 

Love'? 

Essays and Reviews was unthinkably radical at 

the time, but was lt merely the expression of some 

academics who wanted to go with the times? Does 

this help explain how andlor why the person in the 

pew reacts against, or succumbs to, the charms of 

the liberal suitor? 

Although liberalism has often been denounced 

whenever it has issued a new manifesto, it has 

become more axiomatic within Christian traditions 

with time. lts immediate appeal has always been 

limited to a certain elite - typically an educated, 

middle class individual who wants to question his 

or her faith. This limited appeal goes for most 

academic theology, but nonetheless a moderate 

liberal attitude is unusual in the pews of the 

traditional denominations. We live in a rapidly 

changing world and liberalism offers a means to 

keep up with it, should we so choose. ln that sense 

it is a necessary intervention. lt also seems to deal 

with up to the minute issues (theological CNN), and 

opens a forum to speak against out-moded church 

opinions. Undoubtedly, there are many 

conservatives of all shapes and sizes on all wings 

ofthe churches, but whereas only an educated few 

will be reading Cupitt with smiley, comprehending 

faces, there are not many in the churches who 

would now blanch with horror at Essays and 

Reviews. 

Time will tell whether the Church will be finding 

Cupitt and his ilk axiomatic in another hundred 

years. I think there are ways of moving forward that 

are neither liberal nor postmodern, neither 

uncritically conservative or right-wing, but 

liberalism is a force that is still catching our 

attention, and at least deserves an open, if critical 

ear. 

16 | movement

theology 

Rules of engagement 

Mark Wakelin argues that theology is not abstraction but a 

purposeful struggle of the faith community for truth 

i 

l 

I 

tooclever 

byhaIf? 

lT SEEMS THE FASHION in all parts of the 

Christian Church to heap abuse on the 

study of theologfy and it is easy to stand 

with the crowd and mock its abstractions 

and irrelevancies. Theology, it is argued, 

is for the elite, for those who have not 

much better to do, and who prefer the 

safe world of discussion to the hard 

reality of living. lt throws unhelpful 

questions, uncertainties and bloodless 

academe at us as we struggle to express 

our faith, to be community, and to act 

out our beliefs. 

ln the secular world it is even more ridiculous, 

the uncertain note of a 

people who can't make 

up their mind what 

they believe, who 

practice their 

uncertainty with 

even less conviction, 

and moan that no 

one takes them 

seriously or 

cares 

about 

Church 

decline. 

Som e 

in 

the Church would argue that if only we would return 

to the simple truths of the Gospel, rid ourselves of 

the complexities of modern understandings of 

eternal truths, and get on with it, every one would 

be happier. Others would say that it would even be 

better if we simply absented ourselves from all but 

the more digestible of those simple truths, and 

reduced the impossible things that we are 

expected to believe before our postmodern pick 

and mix breakfast, to a more manageable 

mouthful. All it seems agree that the Church is 

indeed "too clever by half". 

The one cannot see the need to struggle fortruth 

because we already have it in a neat box of 

indisputable, immutable revelation. The other 

cannot see the need because truth is not possible 

in any case. And besides for all of us, it is a selfevident 

argument that because everyone cannot 

understand the esoteric discourse of the world of 

theolos/ and yet they can still be a Christian, then 

no one needs to understand, and furthermore, if 

that discourse causes 'a little one to stumble'then 

we should avoid it all together. 

Where does all this come from? Why the hostility 

to theolog)z Why the anti-intellectualism within the 

Church of today? The dangers of a Church that 

turns its back on a rational and coherent struggle 

to understand God's words for us today are evident 

from history. Tell Barth, Niemrlller or Bonhoeffer 

that the Church in Nazi Germany was "too clever by 

half". These intellectuals were fighting for the soul 

of a nation as they discussed their theology in 

Barmen, trying to lay down some of the signposts 

by which the German Church could steer its course 

in the dark night of the Thirties. Theology surely 

does matter. Tell the victims of apartheid in South 

Africa that it doesn't, for it was rotten theology at 

the heart of the frustrated Dutch settlers' 

Christian Community that led to the racist 

doctrines of the Reformed Church. lt was 

because these settlers rebelled against the 

government and became the Voortrekker 

seeking new farms in the Hinterland that 

they were denied trained ministers. The 

government's resentment of their rebellion 

gave to them what many Christians seek - 

leaders with no theological training. 

The very fact, however, that it is so universally 

movement | 17

theology 

easy to criticise modern theolog/ implies that the objective truth. Theology exists to make us live 

academic world is failing the Church to some better. I am sure she is right. Christian theology is 

extent. The gap between lecture hall and pew is about drawing us closer to God because reason 

huge and the lecture hall must carry some of the demands faith and is not opposed to it' To argue 

blame. Christians are born, live and die without against such a purpose for theology misses the 

opening a book or attending a seminar or starting profound linking of what we know with who we are 

a course more demanding than an Alpha supper' and what we do. lt seems obvious that I behave in 

Theologians must take note of this lamentable a certain way because of the sense I make of 

fact. The Church is theologically illiterate at a time things. But I make sense of things in a particular 

when we are as desperate as German Lutherans way because ofthe kind of person I am' And, I am 

for signposts, and as in peril of rotten theology as this sort of person, because of the life experiences 

the Voortrekker. Our teachers aren't teaching us as that I have gone through. The three link together - 

well as they might and to this extent have failed us a dynamic of knowing, doing and being' Theologl 

- and we must ask 'why?' The following three that doesn't set me moving isn't worth reading' 

sections suggest some of the reasons why this because I won't have understood it or been 

might be the case. They do so in the form of a changed by it. We need theologians who feel 

challenge to the academic world, in the firm belief responsible for the individual Christian's spiritual 

that we need good, accessible theology now as journey and, who in the struggle for truth, draw us 

much as we ever have done in the past' 

closer to God. 

Tneolocv FRoM WHERE? 

THeolocY ron WHovt? 

Where you come from, who you are: your story lf theology occurs within community and for 

affects your theology. Theology fails when it seeks instilling virtue, then the location of knowing is the 

instead the common ground of simple objectivity community and not just the individual, and its 

and philosophy. Here human reason is assumed to purpose is to build community and not simply to 

be an adequate tool to reflect upon the divine' entertain it. The argument that you don't need to 

From such a neutral position we mightthen ask, "ls be an academic genius to be a Christian is true' 

Jesus divine?" How fair this sounds - but such an but it doesn't follow that if you are a genius you 

approach is not the only one; you might say should hang up your brain and grin wildly' Our 

instead, "We know nothing of God' but because we journey as Christians is an accompanied one' ln 

are Christian we believe that God was in Christ the first place it is the call to accompany Christ' ln 

reconciling the world, what can we know of God the second place it is to accompany each other' To 

because of Jesus?" This is a vastly different kind of each is given gifts for the benefit of all' The 

question. The first seems so neutral, objective, and Christian theologian is part of that community - 

rational, the second so clearly positioned, biased they owe love and loyalty to the community, but the 

and exclusive. But is it so? The first also makes community, in its part owes love and loyalty to 

assumptions. lt makes assumptions about the them. The gift that some have been given to 

capacity of the human to make sense of the world struggle at this academic level to make sense of 

by reason. lt makes assumptions about the value Christian faith today is a gift for all the community' 

of language in reasoning the transcendent' The The fact that you are happily ploughing your way 

world is far from neutral; in fact nothing is neutral through this magazine means that you are 

or objective. Your story and community determine academic, and like it or not have a responsibility to 

what you see, how you understand it and how you the community of faith to get your brain into gear 

express it. lt seems both far more honest, and far and make sense of theolog)/. You are given gifts to 

more useful, to approach the big questions from struggle for truth in an age of woolly thinking' 

the particular location in which you find yourself' frightful theology, and a growing plague of 

Christian theoloSians must serve the Christian fundamentalism that at best is of no use to the 

faith community - they cannot both be in it and out wider world and at worst is positively dangerous' 

of it. We need theologians who know they are part We need ordinary articulate Christians who study 

of the faith community, alongside with whom they biology or history or computer programming to 

struggle for truth' 

struggle for truth with every ounce of brain that 

they have been given. 

Theology leads to action, occurs in community' 

Tnrolocv FoR WHAT? 

I am buzzinS at the moment with a book by Ellen and exists as an element in God's purpose to 

Charry, By the Renewing of Your Minds, in which reconcile the world' As such the Church isn't too 

she argues that theology should have a clear clever by half but it is in much greater danger of 

purpose and not simply be the abstract search for simply being half-witted. 

dim and distant Past. 

. Rev MarkWakelin is Dilector ol 

the North Bank Centre in London 

and is an SCMer in the 

18 lmovement

theology 

Indecent exposure 

Eilidh Whiteford is inspire d by a sexual theology grounded in the 

experience of the lemon se//ers of Buenos Aires. 

tooclever 

byhaIf? 

HAS THEOLOGY disappeared up its own 

arse in recent years? We hear this said 

often enough in Christian circles - and 

anyone at all ambivalent about current 

directions of academic discourse or mildly 

bamboozled by trendy jargon mi$ht well be 

drawn to such a conclusion. 

It's a derogatory accusation, just as easily 

thrown at those seriously trying to address big 

ideas and complex realities as at self-absorbed 

navel-gazers who flaunt their erudition while 

remaining oblivious to the realities of the world 

around them. But what if theolory really could be 

up its own arse or, better still, up someone else's? 

Marcella Althaus-Reid doesn't exactly pose this 

question in her new book /ndecent lheorosl, but 

she does demonstrate that all theology is sexual 

theolo$/, theolory written on and through our 

bodies, our ideas, our desires. Writing out of her 

experience as a Latin American woman trained in 

classic liberation theology, Althaus-Reid exposes 

the intrinsic connections between economic, 

sexual and religious practices. She starts from 

what is real (without evading the difficulties of 

identifying and naming reality) and writes about 

the actual lives and experiences of actual people. 

She's not interested in "ideal" human subjects or 

in systematisingtheir behaviours, roles or lifestyles 

into convenient social or ecclesiastical categories; 

quite the reverse. 

Althaus-Reid starts amongst women lemon 

vendors on the streets of her native city of Buenos 

Aires - women who, by not using underwear, 

transgress a powerful social code of feminine 

"decency". The smell of sex and lemons mingling in 

the streets of urban Argentina reminds us 

metaphorically of the links between economic and 

sexual marginalisation; it offers inspiration to a 

woman theologian who wants to work without 

underwear - who wants to tell it like it really is. 

Althaus-Reid redresses what she sees as key 

imbalances and omissions of liberation theologl in 

relation to gender and sexuality; it's a constructive 

critique in that it aims to create a more inclusive, 

more liberating praxis within a specific context. 1t's 

fairly easy for well-intentioned Western readers to 

romanticise the political struggles of the South, to 

construct a fine story with the requisite heroes and 

villains, and yet to remain largely unscarred by the 

realities of exploitation, torture and censorship 

faced by the people on the front line and the 

activists and intellectuals who try to convey their 

stories to the wider world. Nevertheless, lndecent 

Theologlt has things to say that are as strikingly 

relevant here as in Latin American culture. 

For instance, the book makes me acutely aware 

of the ways in which decency and indecency 

regulate behaviour in my own time and place. The 

story of the lemon vendors reminds me that here in 

Glasgow (where I live and work) we have a popular 

saying about women from the rather more wellmovement 

| 19

theology 

heeled capital, Edinburgh (where Marcella Althaus- 

Reid now lives and works). We say, disparagingly' 

"They're a' fur coat and nae knickers!" The 

expression suggests that beneath a veneer of 

respectability and showy affluence, the guidwives 

of Edinburgh are without foundation - in a moral 

and social, as well as in a literal sense. But look 

how we choose to debunk social pretensions with 

recourse to profoundly reactionary concepts of 

feminine decency! We imply that even though 

Glaswegians may not have fancy clothes, unlike 

those flashy whores in Edinburgh we are 

respectable women who wear undergarments and 

know to always keep them on in public. Such a 

discourse exerts a regulatory influence on us all by 

reinforcing not only tribal loyalties, but also a 

powerful sense of sexual propriety. ln Argentina 

and in Scotland the boundaries demarcated by the 

conventional notions of decency keep us all in 

restrictive corsetry, and in the process push 

sexually precocious women, gay, lesbian, bisexual 

and transgendered people (all those most openly 

and obviously indecent) into the 

margins and shadows of 

society. Crucially, Althaus- 

Reid demonstrates that 

those boundaries are 

cripplingly 

restrictive for 

so-ca I I ed 

"decent" 

. Eilidh Whiteford 

lives in Glasgow and 

is a former Chairpetson 

ofwSCF-Europe. 

people as well as for those living in less 

conventional ways. ln this respect the call of 

lndecent Theology is a rallying cry for 

heterosexualists to get off their pedestals, out of 

their closets and start living and loving in honesty 

and freedom. This is long overdue. 

ln upsetting the apple-cart of heterosexual 

monogamy, exposing it as a sham - historically' 

emotionally, ideologically - Althaus-Reid begs the 

question, why did Jesus hang out with sinners' 

prostitutes and social outcasts anyway? Were they 

the only people who would talk to him? Did he 

hope to patronise them into repentance? Or, were 

they his mates, the folk he had most in common 

with, the best laughs with? Were these the people 

who made him feel most human and divine? 

My new word for the week is ami$ovio,/a' lt's a 

new hispanic word which combines the concepts of 

friend and lover. I've been searching for such a 

word for years, but Althaus-Reid assures her 

readers that it has become a familiar term in 

contemporary Argentine culture. Amlgovios love 

each other in undefined ways; they may socialise 

together, eat together, sleep together, they may be 

sexual with each other to variable extents, or not' 

but are rarely bound by traditional relational 

expectations and exclusivities' One of my 

amigovias claims to have coined the phrase 'the 

Platonic shag' in her teens to describe the same 

phenomenon, but I've always objected to this on 

the grounds that I'm in thrall to pedantic rather 

than popular definitions of Platonism' Other 

working definitions I've encountered, like 'friend 

with privileges', sound too much like airline loyalty 

schemes. These Anglo versions put too much focus 

on defining the sexual element of these 

relationships too, whereas amigovio seems to 

leave this dimension more open 

somehow. Anyway, I'm sure ami$ovios 

everywhere will be indebted for this 

useful expansion of our 

vocabularies. 

lf lndecent Theology 

encourages us to bring sex 

- real sex, the sort of sex we 

really want, really share, reallY 

enjoy - out of the closet, and to let 

erotic power transform our lives and 

world, then perhaps we could all do worse 

than take this book to bed. ln fact, I can't 

remember the last time I stayed up half the night 

reading an academic book. Perhaps I'm admitting 

to perverse minority preferences here, buttruth be 

told, it's a bit of a mind-fuck. This is political 

theology at its most intimate, its most joyous, most 

sexy and defiant. Everyone should try it at least 

once. 

20 lmovement

ursting bubbles lsara mellen 

"l'm not shocked that the church shies away from acknowledging 

child abuse and its consequences." 

-' 

CHILD ABUSE REMAINS a depressing constant in our 

news. "The paper is full of every kind of blooming 

horror,o Maya Angelou once said. Anna Climbie, Sarah 

Payne and the North Wales child abuse scandal have 

all been reasons why it hasn't been a good year to be 

a child. 

For lots of us there was no good year. I put my hand up as having 

a personal interest in this issue, as I am one of an estimated 12 

million survivors of abuse in the UK today. lt's been 16 years since 

the abuse stspped for me and time has gone a long way towards 

healing the memories. But I only needed to read a little of Anna 

Ctimbie's story to remember how helpless, how scared, how btoody 

alone I felt. I wondered if she prayed for help? I did. At the time it 

changed nothing. And so my first experience of trusting God fell 

dismally flat. I only had Him to tell, and He'd let me down. 

I don't feel that way now. The memories will never go away but, 

over time, something interesting has happened to my perception of 

the abuse. lt seems that I share this insight with many other 

survivors. Our experiences were aMul, and we all agree that 

nobody should be hurt in this way, but we feel that we would not be 

the people we are today without those experiences. 

My Buddhist friend tells me that we choose our life experiences, 

to learn what we feel we need to know. I baulk at that thought. I 

don't feel anyone chooses the abuse, but I see where she's coming 

from. The theft of childhood forced me to grow in ways I cannot 

think possibte otherwise, and has made into a person that I (finally) 

quite like. 

My one disappointment is still the Church. She seems to know 

what to do with the perpetrators of abuse {move them into a safe 

house within 24 hours, for example, then give them another congregation). 

But she struggles with those left behind, the survivors, 

who desperately need assurance of their place in the Kingdom of 

God. For many people that assurance isn't forthcoming. 

Its no surprise really. Firstly, churches are heavily reliant on the 

superiority of the nuclear family. To acknowledge that 957o of child 

abuse is perpetrated by straight men, whom the child usually 

knows and trusts, is to face the truth that this family unit isn't all ifs 

cracked up to be. Secondly, many Christians have massive 

confusion around what God thinks of all matters sexual. Even 

conventional straight sex between a married couple is a source of 

embarrassment. Look at all that nonsense about the missionary 

positionl 

I'm not shocked then, that the church shies away from acknowledging 

child abuse and its consequences. A lot of survivors are 

people with messy, complicated lives. We might drink or take drugs 

to a destructive level, or hurt ourselves or other people, and can be 

difficult to be around. Most Christians find it hard to cope with such 

obvious pain, which cannot easily be prayed away. lt's much easier 

to pretend that nothing is wrong. 

Then there's all that stuff about forgiveness in the Bible. Although 

I am faced with the reminders of his influence in my life, I decided 

every day to forgive my abuser. lt takes a long time to reach the 

place where even thinking of it is possible. lt is patronising and 

even insulting for survivors to be told that they must forgive before 

anything will change for them. Of course forgiveness is hugely 

important. lt is pointless, even meaningless, however, to offer it 

without knowing the depth of what you are forgiving. Jesus forgave 

people who didn't know what they were doing; we are expected to 

forgive people who (usually) knew exactly what they were up to. We 

have been robbed of something so precious that it cannot be 

replaced. Forgiving such a hurt can't happen overnight. 

So where does this leave us? I've thought a lot about what would 

have made my life easier, and these are some of my answers. 

They're not all of the answers, but it's a start. Firstly, churches need 

to be vigilant in caring for children in their congregations. Just 

because someone has been minister of your church for thirty years 

does not necessarily mean they are a safe person to be around 

children. Next, we need to be seen to be making churches into safe 

places for survivors, offering genuine support and understanding. 

Lastly I would love to belong to a church that recognised that it had 

something to learn from people who have been abused. We were 

weak, yet to survive we had to become strong. lt's a lesson we 

would share, if given the chance. 

z 

J 

llr 

U 

UI 

I 

- 

= 

NEW FOCUS FOR CMT CHRISTIAN NETWORK 

The Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) Christian Network is looking for a new volunteer to work in the 

office one day a week to help coordinate the network. 

Following the gratifying news that the Church of England has reviewed its position, and, for all intents and 

purposes, disinvested from the arms trade, the CAAT Christian Network is undertaking a review of its work. 

Coming events will include a two day seminar entitled A Matter of Life and Death which will include biblical 

reflectionandaction0nthearmstrade.Thiswilltakeplaceduringtheweekendof April2T-29 inLancashire.For 

more information on this event and becoming a volunteer please contact the CAAT office on 020 7281 0297. 

ANARCHIST S WANTED! 

Christianity and Anarchy? lf you want to explore the overlap, 

contact mighty.alan@tesco.net, or at PO Box 1TA, Newcastle NE99 1TA 

nrovenrent | 2l

censorshiP 

Safe$ first 

Justin Moulder and ctiffard sharp af Nimbus Press reflect on 

letting challenging ideas out to the wider public 

'ARE WE SAFE?' seems to be the question 

on everyone's lips at the moment' "Are my 

children safe from paedophiles?" uAm I 

safe eating this meat?" "ls it safe to be in 

downtown Leicester at ni$ht?" 

For our protection we have the trusty British 

Standard kite mark as a sign that the vacuum cleaner 

or plug has been tried and tested and found to be 

safe and of good quality' Cans oftuna have "dolphinfriendly" 

signs on them, films have a certificate indicating 

contenl and Which? is always there to warn us 

about unreliable products. The safety of fairground 

rides and food are something we would all agree on' 

lf a bolt comes loose in the Big Dipper or a new type 

of wheat causes violent allergic reactions, then action 

to enforce better testing should be put in place' 

Agreeing on safety where the media is concerned is 

more difficult. The effect of films or books on our 

minds and spirits is harder to judge' Should lhe 

Exorcist be banned? Should The Daily Ranter or the 

Sunday Hypocrite be removed from the newsagents' 

shelves? But the most important safety issue of all is 

rarely even discussed. lt is the safeguarding and protection 

of the human soul. That may sound a little 

melodramatic but bear with me' 

Soren Kirkegaard, the Danish philosopher' wrote 

about his concern for the soul in his book The 

Sickness Unto Death. "The biggest danger, that of 

losing oneself, can pass off in the world as quietly as 

if it were nothing; every other loss, an arm, a leg' five 

dollars, a wife etc' is bound to be noticed"' The lives 

of millions of people are dominated by the search for 

instant pleasure. Those who can't find satisfaction in 

the real world may seek to escape from it with the 

help of alcohol or other drugs' 

How can we give a wake-up call to our nation to 

discover their lovin$ parent God? How can we help 

them recognise the Creator behind the universe? How 

can we persuade them that real, self-giving love can 

give them the deep, lasting happiness that sex' beer 

or money cannot Provide? 

' 

We are publishers' ln our business, selling Christian 

literature that will help men and women to think 

about the really important issues of life is becoming 

increasingly difficult' Justin does some sales representation 

for various publishers and finds that the 

first criterion for some book shop managers is not 

whether it will sell but whether it is doctrinally sound 

within their narrow limits. Ellie Mensingh was alarmed 

enough to write about this in the last issue of 

Movement. Many Christian bookshops are run by 

earnest, sincere conservative evangelicals' They ban 

all books that, in their opinion, are not Bible-based 

from their shelves. "Biblebased" means accepting 

that every word of the Bible was inspired by God' 

despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary' 

But in practice it involves ignoring all those bits of the 

Bible (like Matthew 25 v.3t'46) that do not fit in with 

conservative theology. Some will not even take 

customers' orders for "banned books"' 

At the root of this Christian world-view then, is a 

belief in an inerrant Bible. lt is this belief that evangelicals 

want to protect and defend with all the money 

and resources at their disposal. But some of us have 

a different view of the Bible. We believe that Jesus 

rejected some Old Testament teaching and that Bible 

stories of God commanding ethnic cleansing and 

genocide (such as in Samuel and Joshua) represent a 

misunderstanding of God by the lsraelites' The 

lsraelites were on a learning curve about their Creator 

and alon$ the way they got a few things wrong' 

It is a terrible thing if we hide away glorious and 

life-changing truths about God in 

jargon-laden unattractive tomes 

ls there a way round this censorship? One option is 

to try to sell to the general book trade instead of solely 

to Christian bookshops. After all, the Christian booksellers 

represent only a fraction of the whole industry' 

You will find publishers like Lion in most general bookstores 

with their well-known Lion Handbook to the 

Bib,e together with other titles that introduce people 

to Christian teaching for the first time' 

We sell Eagle titles to Waterstones' bookshops and 

have found that even where we can't interest the 

Religion section, the Mind, Body, Spirit buyer in the 

store may take some of my new material' This section 

of bookshops on the New Age movement is still 

growing and so it is possible to reach quite a large 

readership if something attractive is offered' New Age 

readers usually have reasonably open minds so there 

is great potential here. With this in mind' we at 

Nimbus Press are currently working on a new series of 

short, popular books aimed at this market that will 

deal with some of the basic questions of life' 

Apart from getting our literature into the 

bookshops, our biggest challenge will be to find and 

use language that is meaningful to this readership' 

Usually being banned is good for publicity' Any music 

lyrics banned by Radio One have always been 

catch u 

ln the last issue of 

Movement Ellie Mensingh' 

SCM's National Coordinator, 

wrote about 

SCM's problems in finding 

Christian bookshoPs will to 

distribute its magazines 

and resources. One ofthe 

reasons given was that 

"SCM publications could 

not be described a 

Christian literature." 

22 lmovement

censorship 

snapped up by school kids eager to see what is considered 

offensive - witness the phenomenal sales of 

US rapper Enrinem. But a book can be banned from 

evangelical bookshelves and still be boring. There are 

many very worthy expositions of the Christian faith 

written by non-evangelicals but none that I've found 

which are likely to be read by the person in the street. 

What evangelical books often have going for them 

is that they look exciting with their colourful cover 

artwork and endorsements from celebrity-status 

evangelical leaders. They have racy titles like Power of 

a PrayingWife, God-chasers, and EndanSered - Your 

Child in a Hosti/e World. fhe language inside also 

conveys the sense of urgency and expectation of God. 

Some liberal writers (or their publishers) make the 

mistake of thinking that their books will sell because 

they are "true". Alas, this is not so. The books must be 

interesting, jargon-free, tell stories if possible, and - 

very importantly - have covers which say READ ME. 

Meanwhile "Christian" booksellers continue to 

believe that it is not safe to allow their customers to 

buy anything more challenging than another 

biography of Sir Cliff Richard or those writing of 

Packer which compel readers to try to believe "six 

impossible things before breakfast." The truths of God 

are by their nature inherently awesome, glorious and 

life-changing. We must find ways of presenting a 

sensible, well-reasoned, logical Christian faith in an 

appealing and accessible nTanner. lt is a terrible thing 

if we hide away such truths in jargon-laden, 

unattractive tomes. 

. Justin Moulder and Clilford Sharp 

work for Nimbus Press, 

a small Christian publishing 

firm based in Leicester. 

ties and binds ljim cotter 

"We talk of falling in love with places that we visit, which means we can't 

get enough of them. I'd like to snuggle up a little closer to France." 

IAM IRRITATED WHEN people talk of 'our relationship 

with Europe". For heaven's sake, we've been part of 

Europe for thousands of years! True, there's a distinction 

between Continental Europe and the offshore 

islands, but in conversation and print it's easy enough 

to refer to our relationship with the rest of Europe. 

What our language reveals is our attitude towards such relationships. 

How separate do we want to be? How connected? Complete 

independence or federal political union? The first shows a fear of a 

loss of identity. the second a fear of a return to periodic wars. 

To someone typical of these islands, with a smattering of French 

and an ability to pronounce German and Welsh reasonably well, 

compounded with a working life which depends on working in the 

English language, the rest of Europe still feels rnore "foreign" than 

the English-speaking countries around the globe. But a trip to 

France not so long ago, and friends who were enthusiastically 

talking of a visit to Bosnia, whetted the appetite for places and 

people that are different. I'd like to snuggle up a bit closer. We talk 

of falling in love with places that we visit, which means we can't get 

enough of them. Living there the whole time would of course be 

rather different. 

It's the same question with our personal relationships - how 

separate, how connected? When friends fall in love you have to 

resign yourself to the reality that at least for a while you are not 

going to be able to prise them apart. You sigh and console yourself 

the best you can. The cost to you of two people conring close is that 

you are more distant. But the difficulties of maintaining such a 

romance will soon appear. One needs more time alone than the 

other. One begins to miss other people and interests more than the 

other. The hard work of the relationship begins. 

We know that too much time alone makes a person lonely and 

crabby. The recluse is the one who hates the company of other 

human beings, unlike the hermit who has found in solitude the 

heart of a vocation and in its depths a solidarity with all creation. 

For such a person hospitality is important, the welcome to the 

guest is gracious, and the perception of what that guest brings, in 

heart and soul, is usually acute. For it is also true that too much 

time together, kangaroo style in each other's pockets, is a recipe for 

conformity and boredom, and sometimes a mutual refusal to grow 

up. Each of us has a singular contribution to make towards the 

common good. and a gruesome twosome can make it impossible 

for that singularity to flower. 

John Berger made a interesting comment on this dynamic, particularly 

when it comes to looking at something that is "over there", 

different from ourselves. "Without distinctions you cannot connect. 

Without closeness you cannot scrutinize." 

Christian faith has struggled with the notion of God as Trinity. 

Well, it is sheer folly to presume that we can possibly have a clue 

into the inner workings of divinity. But monotheism is always in 

danger of placing God on a throne with power over and against 

everything and everyone - and rather lonely. lf you're lonely you 

often start feeling resentful, and grudges turn into thunderbolts. A 

Trinitarian understanding softens and deepens our notion of God. 

There is. sonrehow or other - don't ask me how - both distinction 

and communion within the life of the divine, a distinction and 

communion which is reflected. however partially, in human 

relationships and community. 

When two people or two nations or tws laiths conduct their 

relationship expecting to learn something from each other and to 

grgw in maturity, both scrutiny and connection bring zest and 

consolation. We belong together and our different gifts l:ecome 

more precious to both of us. We can put high walls between us, 

turning us into sects and gangs, zealots and fanatics fighting it out 

to their mutual destruction, each side believing itself to be totally in 

the right. Or we can follow the way of dialogue. each respecting the 

other, each expecting that in the encounter with the other we will go 

deeper into our own convictions and find them strengthened. Eyes 

will be opened and there will be a mutual recognition and 

communion not known before. We will have brought alive between 

us that trust and love which we may believe is in the heart of God. 

nrovenrent 23

celebrity theologian 

small ritual 

steve collins 

Celebrity theologian 

Julian of Norwich 

(c.1342-1415) 

"ls right to talk about the 

'failings' of small child?" 

FOR MY ALTERNATIVE WORSHIP SECIiON 

in Movement 1O7 I solicited the opinions 

of a number of those involved regarding 

the successes and failings of the 

movement. As usual with these things, 

not all replied by the deadline. 

But one late response was so worthwhile that I 

decided to give my next column to it, at the expense 

of naming and shaming the late contributor' lt 

seemed a pity to let it lie unpublished in my inbox. 

ls it right to talk about the 'failings' of a small 

child? To ask it to defend and justify itself? All too 

often the Church has applied th,s pressure and 

prevented new life. A colleague was talking to me 

lust /ast week about how she had been forced to go 

to church as a child. She had tald hq dad that she 

didn't want to. He sai4 "lf you can explain lo$cally 

why you shouldnt ga, then I won't make you"' She 

tried, but he refused ta accept her arguments' 

Naturatly, the moment she left hame she stopped 

goingta chureh. 

My point? lt has often seemed to me that the biS, 

otd brute of the estabtished Church has demanded 

too much iustification from alternative warship 

befare it will 'allaw' it. I am talking partly an the 

small scale where a few people interested in getting 

somethingsta rted have gone to see their leader and 

he (98o/o af the time it is he!) has demanded theo' 

Iagicat explanations etc. It seems ta me that to 

demand this of young; life is a mark of insecurity. 

However, to return ta the question, and flip over 

what l've just said, sne of the things I think alterna' 

tive worship needs to wark on - the positive way af 

saying'failing' perhaps? - is its theologicat underpinnlng. 

I am convinced that what we are doing is 

right, is mare evangieticat than most evangelicals 

cauld dream of, icmore f ult of the essence of God's 

Altemative worship is about answerin9 that very 

serious accusation, 

Thanks to Kester Brewin from London for letting 

me off the hook for this issue. 

Age? 

Coming up to the big 6-0-0 about now. 

Julian was an Anchorite in the late 

fourteenth century, 

An Anchorite? 

The Powers That Be gave you a cell and a 

bunch of books and left you to 

contemplate things, while the local villagers 

would bring you food and firewood. lt was 

a bit like being a student in the seventies 

with the added bonus of your own goat, 

She's best remembered for...? 

Revelations of Divine Love, her meditations 

on a series of visions she received in her 

early thirties which she believed were 

messages for all Christians and spent the 

rest of her life trying to comprehend. ln 

addition, she's the first writer in English 

who can definitely be identified as a 

woman. Most iexts in Julian's time were 

written in Latin and a fair few were also 

anonymous. 

So she's the patron saint of Women's 

Studies students then? 

Not particularly. ln her early twenties Julian 

prayed for three gifts from Cod: (i) a 

greater ability to identify with Christ on the 

cross; (ii) the 'wounds' of contrition, 

compassion and longing for Cod; (iii) bodily 

sickness almost to the point of death, 

When she was about thirty she did indeed 

fall extremely ill. When the parish priest 

brought a crucifix forward for her to kiss 

she saw blood trickling down the face of 

Christ. She then received a series of sixteen 

'showings' in the form of sensorY - 

particularly visual - images and penetrating 

insight, which she recorded along with her 

thoughts on their significance. 

lsn't she supposed to be more radical 

than your average East Anglian saint as 

well? 

Absolutely correct. ln the early days of 

Christianity, Christ had generally been 

portrayed as a mighty warrior figure, an allpowerful 

conqueror who ended up seeming 

pretty remote as far as the everyday serf on 

the street was concerned. Around Julian's 

time though, there was a theological 

movement developing alongside the image 

of the Divine Warrior which emphasised 

Christ's nature as emotional, human and 

generally a lot more cuddly. Julian's visions 

of Christ being crucified are pretty 

harrowing even second-hand, and the 

empathy that she pours into her writing 

suggests that she ended up pretty sorted on 

the 'contrition, compassion and longing for 

Cod' front as well. Her writing 

demonstrates the growing tendency within 

the Church to centralise Christ as a human 

being. She's also extremely readable. lf you 

haven't read Revelations of Divine Love it's 

well worth a look. 

So if Julian's a mystic, whY is she 

appearing in the Celebrity Theologian 

column? 

Details, details. Having written down her 

sixteen visions and her immediate reactions, 

Julian then spent thirty-odd years 

considering what theY meant. She's 

particularly fascinated by the concept of 

God as mother, as well as father. The 

characteristics that this would imply to her 

contemporaries - kindness, gentleness, 

mercy and protectiveness - also underline 

the 'humanness' of Christ. Her vision of 

God also concentrates on creation, love and 

nourishment, rather than authoritarianism 

and the threat of punishment. Using 

parables and imagery taken from everyday 

life she taught that Cod cannot be angry 

with human beings and that no Christian 

would be damned. ln a time when Cod was 

generally believed to be one seriously irate 

dude carrying a big thunderbolt marked 

'humankind', this was a bit of a departure. 

5o she was burned as a heretic? 

Wrong. Julian continued meditating on the 

implications of her visions until the end of 

her natural life, probably some time in the 

142Os. 

Do Say: 

"All manner of things shall be well." 

(Revelations of Divine Love, Chapter 15) 

Don't Say: 

"l'd give the rest of those mushrooms to 

the goat." 

Not to be confused with: 

Julian of Caesarea, Julian of Eclanum, Julian 

of Speyer, Julian of LeYton (the new 

Movement co-editor), a bloke. 

Claire Marie Horsnell 

UniversitY of Toronto 

(formerly of Warwick University 

Christian Focus) 

24 | movement

M USIC 

levtery 

J 

rJ 

t 

Caving in 

lT'S THE KIND 0F self-indulgent 

miserabilist music I used to hate. File 

under: weird shit. But recently Nick 

Cave, along with fellow 'trash can 

singer' Tom Waits, has really got under 

my skin. 

Nick Cave has an elaborate persona. He is the 

crowned Prince of Goth, 

obsessed with outlaws and 

felons, writing about abusive 

relationships, brutal murders and overdoses. lt's 

grisly music that sides with the dregs of humanity. 

The Birthday Party are the band that propelled 

Cave to the big time and remnants of that band 

became the Bad Seeds, the band that he still 

plays with 15 years on. But it was a highly unlikely 

collaboration with Kylie Minogue that produced 

his biggest hit,'Where the Wild Roses Grow'. 

ln the 1988 classic, 'The Mercy Seat', he had a 

man sat in an electric chair, reflecting on his past, 

G.0.0.D. tatt0oed on one knuckle, E.V.l.L. on the 

other. Over the top? Certainly, but it made it clear 

that the iconoclast was prepared to stretch the 

pop song to breaking point, both musically and 

thematically. 

Buried deep in Nick Cave's songs there has 

always been an appreciation of Christian imagery, 

but with the last album, The Boatman's Call,thal 

interest in Christianity didn't seemed buried at all 

He was singing about God explicitly, even if his 

take on it all was typically askew, A man about to 

be executed (yes, that setting again) offers up "an 

idiot prayer of empty words". He sets one song in 

the vault of a church, being overcome by "a 

beauty impossible to endure". Even a seemingly 

throwaway phrase like "People ain't no good" 

becomes loaded with religious significance. 

Elsewhere he croons, "l don't believe in an 

interventionist God/ But I know darling, that you 

do/ ...And if He felt he had to direct you/ Then 

direct you into my arms/ lnto my arms 0 Lord." 

('lnto my arms'). 

That ballad makes you sit up and listen by the 

sheer audacity of the conceit and the sparseness 

of the arrangement 

(a piano and a 

bass guitar), 

There's something 

ofthe 

outrageous 

logic ofJohn 

Donne 

about it - 

A profile of Nick Cave 

using a dazling religious 

argumentto getsomeone into bed - 

and even after repeated listenings it doesn't wear 

thin. 

But Cave is not some decadent rock 'n' roll 

beast who has got religion - he is far more interesting 

than that. I found myself being blown away 

by some of the songs, dissecting the lyrics, being 

in turns enthralled and horrified, and from there 

reading lan Johnston's biography because I 

wanted to know, "What kind of a man produces 

this stuff?" 

lfJohnston is to be believed the trademark of 

the early gigs was attacking the audience with a 

microphone stand. The Bad Seeds crashed cars 

and were banned from venues wherever they 

went. And the heroin habit and chaotic lifestyle 

seemed to fuel the their creativity. The music was 

secondary to how outrageous you could be. But s0 

far, so lggy Pop. What is that makes Cave so 

compelling? 

ln the mid-eighties Cave became absorbed in 

writing a film script. Provingto be unfilmable, it 

metamorphosed into a novel called And Ihe Ass 

Saw The Angel. 

That work and a number of subsequent songs 

are set in Swampland - an imaginary landscape, a 

cross between the Mississippi Delta of the early 

blues musicians and the wilderness of his native 

Australia. The novel is narrated by Euclid Eucrow, 

who is sinking in quicksand, listening to the 

approach of a lynch mob seeking vengeance after 

he has attempted to murder an orphan girl. As he 

slowly sinks he is beset by visions and believes he 

is visited by an angel who absolves him ofthe 

, 

movement 125

ooks 

crime. And if this weren't strange enough a child 

latches on to him believing him to be Christ. 

And Ihe Ass Saw The An$el leant heavily on the 

Bible. "That's the one book that I had by my side 

all the time, that I plagiarised completely," Cave 

said in an interview. "Each day I 'd write for nine 

hours, and more and more lfound myself writing 

for three and reading the Bible for six. When I 

began, I had a sort of intellectual relationship with 

it, but I don't think you can read that book for any 

length of time without being affected by what it's 

saying. I became very affected by a lot of the messages." 

As far as I know Cave has never claimed to 

be a Christian, but he will say he is fascinated and 

inspired by Christ's teachings. 

Cave developed a distinctive voice - often 

bonowing arcane phrases from the KingJames 

Bible and obscure 0ld Testament passages. 

The criticism that he is a misoglnist or would 

rather deal with mythology than the real world still 

stands, and a more sophisticated writing style 

doesn't excuse this. But his 'enlightenment' 

combined with getting offthe heroin and mellowing 

out with age, gave Cave a rare ability to deal with 

both brutality and tenderness in the same breath. 

He gets away with lyrics that would be dismissed 

as pious twaddle if sung by someone who had lived 

a little less, but in Cave's battered voice it works. 

"The starry heavens above me/ The moral law 

within/ ...There is a kingdom/ There is asking/ And 

he lives without/ And he lives within/ And He is 

everything". lncredibly vague, but as meaningful as 

any statement offaith can be. 

But, you wonder, is this a dalliance with 

Christianity, a concept album, a counterpointt0 

1993's Murder Ballads or an extension of 1991 's 

Let Love ln? 

Lastyear, Cave released a CD oftwo lectures he 

had given about love songs. He offered this 

unorthodox but brilliant interpretation of a familiar 

passage: "Jesus said, 'Wherevertwo or more are 

gathered together. I am in your midst.'Jesus said 

this because wherevertwo or more are gathered 

there is a communion, there is language, there is 

imagination. There is God. God is a product of the 

creative imagination and God is that imagination 

taken flight." 

After years 0f cultivating a cult following, Cave is 

edging into the mainstream. Well, as mainstream 

as that sort of artist is ever going to get. He has a 

new album due out in spring 2001 - and quite 

frankly l'm intrigued to see which way it will go. 

(Tim Woodcock) 

Freshening up 

I FOUND RefreshingWorship an 

inspirational book. Having experienced 

God through alternative worship, yet not 

incorporated the power of its creativity 

into my own life, this was the kick up the 

backside I needed. 

RefreshingWorship lBrian and Kevin Draper I 

Bible Reading Fellowship 

The book is easy to read, probably taking a 

couple of hours. lt addresses an audience from 

the sceptical to the radical, gently explaining what 

alternative worship is and isn't, through locating 

the arguments within the context ofthe authors' 

own experiences at Grace and Live on Planet 

Earth. 

RefreshingWorship is a useful resource for both 

small and larger groups wanting to explore 

contextual worship. The focus of the book is about 

creating a sacred space t0 commune with God, 

awayfrom the distraction ofthe pace ofeveryday 

life. The book is not a list of ideas you can incorporate 

into your worship at a moment's notice, but a 

drawing board giving you the opportunity to think 

about what would work well in your group. An 

appendix lists books, music, websites and videos 

which provide further resources and ideas. 

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on prayer. lt 

describes prayer as "voicing our needs and 

concerns, our sonow and repentance, listening 

and contemplating, hearing the silence, waiting for 

the still, small voice of God to speak." lt calls on us 

to use our whole body, physically and spiritually, t0 

allow us to speak to God and God t0 speak to us. 

For example, when a woman caught in the act of 

adultery is broughtto Jesus (John 8), itsuggests 

using a meditation to engage mentally with the 

story as well as physically holding a stone, the 

weapon of death. 

Another example of praying with our whole body 

is through the Labyrinth, a walking meditation 

using a circular path which takes you into the 

centre, the presence of God. 0n the inward journey 

you are encouraged to let go of things which hold 

you back from your relationship with God, s0 that 

by the time you get to the centre you have laid 

down your wonies and are open to God 's 

presence. When you choose to leave the centre 

you return to the world with the confidence of 

having left your problems in the hands of God. 

Ref reshi ng Worship argues that alternative 

worship is not about big budgets, television 

screens or youth culture. Rather, it is an opportunity 

for reflection regardless of age, intellectual 

ability 0r budget capacity. Good worship needs 

good planning, so that whether it's decorating a 

prayer tree, sculpting a pot, writing a poem or 

watching a film, people can reach out for the presence 

of God. This book is not a quick fix for 

unplanned small group meetings. ltwill certainly 

give you the inspiration you need for alternative 

worship, but you will need to allow yourself time to 

incorporate the principles in the book into your 

own individual group. 

(Jo Brain) 

26 lmovement 

I

ooks 

Choice works 

Pluralism is a new fan{led idea for people lackin{their own vision. Rif.ht? 

WronS says Martin Tullett, who finds if $oes back further than you'd think. 

CAUGHT BETWEEN "because the Bible 

says s0..." and "tell me your truth and 

| 'll tell you mine," it is refreshing to 

explore another approach to finding 

ethical standards. 

Both J.P. Wogaman and J.D. Pleins, in their 

respective minings in ourtraditions, explore the 

essentially plural nature of those traditions. 

Wogaman, exploring Church history and Pleins, 

exploring the various traditions that make up the 

Hebrew Bible, both discover communities making 

varied responses to the challenges they faced, 

challenges such as wealth and poverty, warfare, 

exile, crime and disputes over power. These 

various responses have found their way into the 

canon ofthe Hebrew Bible and into the the traditions 

ofthe Church. 

The senior minister of Foundry United 

Methodist Church in Washington DC who taught 

Christian Ethics for many years at Wesley Theological 

Seminary, Wogaman has produced a 

textbook. Like the Woodseal advertthis book does 

exactly what it says 0n the cover, that is it is 'A 

Historical lntroduction." ln the nature of an introduction 

or a textbook it does not play up radical 

newness or controversy. lt is however, a thorough, 

readable, balanced 

ofthe issues as 

they were considered by the Church, quoting 

extensively from those who were there. lssues new 

t0 the Church in any age are placed in tersely 

stated contexts, avoiding both the impression ofa 

contextless church on the one hand and overpowering 

the reader with historical data on the other. 

0ne improvement Wogaman makes compared 

to those who have trod this path 

before is a much greater balance 

ofthe centuries. The early and 

medieval periods receive as much 

attention as the Renaissance 

onwards, thus bringing many 

themes and writers, unjustly little 

known, to the forefront. His writing is a good 

starting place for any deeper investigation (it 

made me go and dip into Clement of Alexandria !) 

and again this is the job of a good textbook. One 

theme that emerges in reading Wogaman's book 

is that the church is a community which makes 

varied responses to any given problem. The 

rightness of any solution is not a perpetual 

rightness but is, to some extent at least, conditioned 

by the context. Wogaman ends by looking 

at issues that face us today such as bio-technology, 

work that is to be done "confident that it is 

responding to one whose love is boundless". 

Pleins rejects the notion thatthe Bible 

primarily tells a single story, The Bible is 

narrative, but it is also law and wisdom and 

prophecy and more besides. 

Pluralig is a key issue prominent in Pleins' 

book. Pleins, who is associate professor in 

Religious Studies at Santa Clara University, 

California, offers us an in depth exploration ofthe 

Old Testament. lt covers the major areas of 

Biblical literature in foursections: Law, Narrative, 

Prophecy and Poetry and Wisdom. But it is not 

merely a textbook. Pleins not only stresses the 

distinct character of each but also the many 

voices within each. Ihroughout the work he shows 

us that the Old Testament, like Church History, 

presents a community wrestling with its inheritance. 

Each new situation produces a variety of 

responses. Pleins clearly rejects the n0tion that 

the Bible primarily tells a single story. Ihe Bible is 

Christian Ethics lJ, Philip Wogaman 

The Social Vision of the Hebrew Bible I David Pleins 

(both WestminsterJohn Knox Press) 

narrative, but it is also law and wisdom and 

various strands of prophecy and more besides. 

What is too radical in one generation is appropriated 

in the next. The marginalised responses of 

one generation might be incorporated into the 

mainstream and retained alongside quite contrary 

responses by succeeding generations. 

But is this not all so hopelessly pluralistic as to 

be of no use? Surely we need a single voice of 

tradition and scripture to guide us? Neither Pleins 

nor Wogaman is offering a vision of a maelstrom 

of arbitrary viewpoints vying for airtime by userfriendly 

soundbite sexiness. The plurality is that of 

communities with much in common but seeking to 

live within specific tough contexts. Pleins stresses 

a plurality of communities claiming one banner 

ratherthan competingviews within one 

community; Wogaman 's story offers us visions of 

various groups and viewpoints within the Church, 

but his understanding of the Church itself is not 

broughtto the fore. We are not into whimsy but 

into conflict and compromise, rejection and 

appropriation around crucial matters. 

lf you want an introduction to Christian ethics 

and/or Biblical ethics then these two books are a 

very fine place to start. Better still, if you are 

aware of the need for a new paradigm in ethical 

formation within the community of faith these two 

surveys will supply a way of viewing that formation 

that sees plurality as part of the purpose of God. 

"Biblical polyvalence remains ancient lsrael's 

lasting legacy to humankind" (Pleins). 

Both books, whilst stressing fluidity and 

change, polyvalence and struggle, are positive 

and confident books. We have in ourtradition(s) 

something very positive to offer a world more full 

of ethical uncertainty than ever before. 

movement | 27

films 

Sickly sweet 

Katy Gordon munches her way throu{h Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche's 

/atest film Chocolat. How sweet. 

THWARTED lN MY recent attempt to 

convince a friend to take me to Cadbury 

World (he pointedly isnored the leaflets I 

taped to his bulletin board), I have had to 

settle for the next best thing: seeing the 

film Chocolat. 

Chocolat ldir. Lasse Hallstrom 

Based on the novel of the same title by Joanne 

Hanis, this Lasse Hallestrom film explores how one 

woman and her chocolaterie transform a sleepy 

French town in the late 1950s. Choco/at combines 

some of the magical elements of a Tim Burton film - 

the opening music, in fact, recalls the soundtrack to 

Edward Scissorhands - with a pinch of Mary 

Poppins, a dash of fairytale, and a handful of 

archetypal images that might send a bored Jungian 

into an interpretative whirl. Unlike Edward 

Sclssorhands, though, this film fails to make a 

definitive impression on the viewer for all its 

sumptuous shots of sweets and scenery. 

The film's attempts t0 dramatize the struggles 

between passion and self-denial and acceptance 

and prejudice falter because the characters 

become mere caricatures. The independently 

minded, creative single mother, the fanciful lrish 

traveller she befriends, the repressed Comte who 

attacks her, and the host of village characters 

whose lives she changes are too simplistic to be 

effective. 

The film begins as Vianne (Juliet Binoche, with an 

astonishing amount of blusher) and her daughter 

Anouk arrive in the town during a windstorm at the 

start of LenU in crimson cloaks, the two clearly do 

not belong in the monochromatic village where the 

populace is preparing for the season of denial and 

abstinence. Vianne opens her chocolaterie against 

the will of the repressive mayor and proceeds to win 

villagers over with her apparently magical gift of 

picking their favourite chocolate. The camera gazes 

lovingly at chocolate seashells, cocoa nibs, pots of 

hot chocolate, and delicately wrapped boxes of rose 

truffles. The recipes are a family secret with Mayan 

(and hence pre-Christian) roots and are passed 

down the maternal line. lndulging in chocolate 

becomes a device that enables the villagers t0 

unleash their pent-up passions: it reunites 

estranged family members, brings together shy 

lovers, and gives one woman the courage to leave 

her abusive husband. lt also gives the mayor 

something to do - abandoned by his wife, he makes 

it his personal mission t0 drive the profligate Vianne 

out of business. 

Despite the mayo/s efforts, Vianne has just 

settled into a relatively secure existence when the 

village is thrown into turmoil by the appearance of 

the 'river rats' - lrish travellers - who appear on the 

town shores. They're 'rootless' and therefore 

'Godless'to the villagers. The mayo/s minions begin 

a campaign to exclude the travellers from their 

community. Thus when Vianne employs Roux, one of 

the travellers (played by Johnny Depp - be still my 

beating heart), to fix her shop door, the showdown 

begins. (But the fact that Roux is an ingredient used 

to hold a sauce together should tell you that he will 

eventually bring the two sides ofthe town togetheO. 

There is nothing subtle about the tensions in the 

narrative - Hallestrom uses bright colours, light, and 

music to depict Vianne's world of the chocolaterie, 

in contrast t0 the monotone interi0rs of the Comte 

de Reynaud's office and the church. Vianne wears 

!i;\irti 

iii '\illl i-r\ 

i r, \..ii. \l 

ffi 

28 lmovement

films 

red high-heels, the 'other 

mothers' wear black. The 

townspeople who try Vianne's 

delicacies shift from pale, 

miserable people to radiant 

and fulfilled individuals, all 

pink with success (and 

perhaps some of Binoche's 

blusher). The story is simple but without the 

haunting clarity of a fairytale, and without the 

resonance of a good fable. lt polarizes issues too 

distinctly: the men in the film are largely'bad' (with 

the exception of Johnny Depp, but he's a guitar 

playing, pony-tail wearing sensitive man so he 

doesn't count), the women 'good'; the efforts of 

Vianne are exemplary, while those of her rival the 

Comte are foolish, self-deceiving, and unforgiving; 

the townspeople who are not Vianne's customers 

are small-minded; the fringe-dwellers like Armande, 

Roux, and Vianne are creative. There's just not 

much room for negotiation. 

Depp 

is sufficiently smouldering 

as the free-spirited 

traveller, and Binoche 

injects some charm into 

Vianne; Judi Dench is as 

good as always as the 

curmudgeonly Armande and 

others in the movie shine through the faulty script by 

force of personality. Butthe script is faulty - the lrish 

travellers are all singing, all dancing cardboard 

mock-ups of characters, as are the abstemious 

(and therefore sexually repressed) Comte and 

his widow secretary Caroline. The accents are 

all over the place - some of the villagers sound 

American, some English, some faux French. The 

boyish priest looks like an extra from FatherTed but 

is meant to look French (an effect achieved, I guess, 

by making his mouth into a little 'o'). 

The film fails on several points, but it is amusing 

however briefly. The repeated shots of molten 

chocolate do make one salivate, as do 

the luminous presences of Depp and 

Binoche. Go see it on a rainy 

Saturday afternoon but go with a 

box of chocolates to share. Who 

knows, that chocolate magic may 

work on you after all. 

The unkindness of strangers 

Marie Pattisan watched Living by the Book, C4's entertaining laok at self-help 

books. The advice was flowing freely. But did she buy it? 

CHANNEL 4'S SERIES Livin{by the Book 

offered a look at a different self-help for 

each stage of my life. lf I want nothing 

more than to be Mrs 2.4 Children, then 

what better way than to get some advice 

and start planning? 

Living bythe Book I Channel Four 

the heart of Mr Right. once l've found and 

Ru/es will tell 

how to capture 

captured one I can turn lo Men are from Mars, 

Women are from yenus in order to discover how to 

relate to the alien being I have lured into my life. 

Later (if l'm following convention) I will no doubt 

need Toddler Taming to help me control my child. A 

few toddlers later, I'll be down to the shops to buy 

Seven Habits of 

Effective Families in order 

Are we becoming a society that gets its 

rules for living from the pages of cheap 

paperbacks and from stran$ers? 

t0 create the kind of domestic bliss Mrs Walton 

only dreamed about. lfthat sounds lovely to you 

then maybe you would have done well to watch the 

series before going off down to the bookshop. lf 

you missed it, then I'll tell you what lthought, 

Seyen Habits was an adaptation of Seyen 

Habits of Hithly Effective Businesses, an American 

best seller. My instinct was to think, "Well, if ever I 

think running my family like an American business 

is a good idea and I need a flipchart in my living 

room in 0rder to communicate with my loved ones 

then I really will need help!" While one of the 

guinea pig families had some success it was all 

very cold. I can't imagine buyingthis one. And I'm 

notjoking about the flipchart suggestion. 

ToddlerTamin{,was the least offensive of all the 

books. The author had his emphasis more on 

enabling parents with advice than laying down the 

law. Not having a toddlerto tame I can'ttellyou 

much about the book's effectiveness. But of all the 

books featured in the series, it seemed to be the 

most genuinely useful t0 those trying it out. lt 

certainly made a difference in the life of Harry's 

mum. After finally managing to get hyperactive 

Harry to sleep at a reasonable hour s0 she could 

spend time with her husband, she discovered they 

had nothing to say to each other. Between making 

the programme and going on air, she's now 

divorced ! She seemed happy though - good luck 

to her. 

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus 

enraged me so much I don't want to talk about it. 

It is a peculiar common thread running through 

movement 129

television 

this and the next book that men are cavemen and 

Women shouldn't expect t0 understand them. 

Sorry, but I have a few male friends who I like and 

respect and believe to be my equals. lhey are 

human beings and I have no problems relatingto 

them as such. 

So lturn my attention to Ihe Ru/es. Might I have 

more in common with the twentysomething girls 

who are testing the book as they look for love? 

Karen, Sylvia and Jo are looking for a husband and 

Ellen Fein and Shenie Schneider, authors of lhe 

Rules are going to aid them in this quest. 

Karen has known David for four weeks and 

cooks him a special meal, Ellen and Sherrie are 

shocked, appaled and horrified. Rules girls only 

cooks for a man when she's been seeing him a 

while, only on his birthday and definitely not on 

Monday nights. they make dates, they get picked 

up, they go out, they are courted until that magical 

day when he says "l do'. Until that ring is on her 

finger, a rules girl concentrates on being a 

"creature unlike any other", al00f and mysterious. 

one mysterious trait is that they do nothing with 

their man on a Monday night. 

the theory follows thus: a man see a woman in 

a crowd, he thinks 'l want that one" and then 

pursues her till he gets her. Making this easy for 

him is a mistake as he loves a challenge. That is 

why he plays sport. To win the heart of Mr Right a 

challenge must be presented. Why we would wish 

to capture the heart of such a man is not questioned. 

They are all like that - it goes back to 

caveman days. Presenting a challenge involves 

committing to a set of rules including not calling 

him and never staying on the phone more than ten 

minutes. 'But if a girl doesn't return my calls I 

presume she doesn't like me and I go away,' says 

my flatrnate's boyfriend, staring perplexedly at the 

TV. Aww. He is one ofthe good guys. then, on 

screen, Jo opens a book to show a picture ofthe makingthe man think he isn'tthe centre of your 

church where she h0pes to get married. Flatmate's life. But in actual fact it's all for his benefit. 

boyfriend is scared now. He agrees that that is too The girls are encouraged to expect respect 

keen. 

which can only be a good thing. But I wonder how 

The three girls try to follow the rules for a month. much respect will be earned when it isn't mutual. 

Jo commits the sin 0f accepting a date for later the Remember girls, we are dealing with caveman to 

same evening - Rules Girls do not accept a 

be manipulated, not equal partners in loving, 

Saturday night date after Wednesday. One ofthe giving, receiving, respectful relationships. lt 

rules is "Join Everything. Go, Go. Go." Sylvia goes saddens me that people look to the authors, who 

"Good," she shrills, "it should be against your 

grain, your grain is lousy. This is self-esteem, 

this is boundaries, this is how to have 

a respectful relationship." 

out t0 places where there may be available men are strangers to them, for advice on projecting an 

but has to remember that Rules Girls do not make image of self-esteem. Whatever happened to 

the first move. lf a man asks you for your number talking it over with your mates in a bar or settling 

you must make him find a pen. lf he can't find one, down with a cuppa and giving your mum a ring? 

no number. 

Are we becoming a society that gets its rules for 

Not all the relationships stood the strain. 

living from the pages of cheap paperbacks and 

To be honest, I just don't like rules. I don't like from strangers? Does no one have real friends any 

the idea of living my life by what it says in a book more? ls this why we have to poect an image 0f 

and not what feels right t0 me. Behind the ridiculously 

arbitrary things Ihe Ru/es was saying, there have? 

self-esteem and worth that we don't actually 

lurked a basic message. Make sure you have a life. I hope the book authors will excuse me if, when 

Don't make your man (or any man) think he can be l'm feeling low, I go back to those who love and 

the centre of what you do. Expect to be respected. value me, those I have honest human relationships 

with and allow myself to rememberwhy 

The authors refuse to understand why the book 

is so against the grain of what Jo et al think. 

those people like me. I think this might be more 

"Good," they shrill, "it should be against your effective than buying a book which will teach me t0 

grain. Your grain is lousy ...this is self-esteem, this project a false image of self-esteem in order t0 win 

is boundaries, this is how to have a respectful relationship." 

But the authors and the girls were 

the crowd and says "l want that one". 

the heart of the kind of man who sees a woman in 

missing something. Ihe Rules are supposedly 

about projecting an image of self-esteem, about 

. Marle Pattison is SCM's Groups'Worker, 

based in Birmlngham but forevertravelling. 

3O I movement

Eternal Echoes 

I I 

Cheltenham Racecourse 

Book before April 30th 

and save pounds 

Student ticket 940.00 

confirmed: Dum Dums, 

Courtney Pine, Rowan Williams, 

Tony Campolo, John Bell, 

Simon Thomas [Blue Peter], 

wwwgreenbelt.org.uk 

q cd;f3"ii5nliaio @ wu @

Movement 108

Transform your PDFs into Flipbooks and boost your revenue!

Delete template?

Save as template ?