Exploring Ecumenism

The Ethics of the City

This photo, taken by Charlie Phillips, shows the fallen statue of King Ramses II, mistakenly thought to be a mythical king called Ozymandias, immortalised by the 19th century English poet Percy Shelley. 

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

Shelley's poem highlights the illusory nature of power.  Illusory but at its greatest, power can be anything but illusory.  It infiltrates all our lives to the extent that we believe this type of power is the only reality.

On Being Born Again

If we are to take a radical approach to ethics, we need to understand what Christians mean by conversion.  Let us start with the story of Nicodemus at John chapter 3:1.  The most significant thing about Nicodemus is that he comes by night.

Righteousness, Justification and Faith in Jesus

Today I want to follow up yesterday's post by asking how Paul understood faith and belief.  The photo, by Niall McAuley, is from SS Peter and Paul's church, Athlone, completed in 1937. This window is in the porch.  It shows Paul's letter to the Romans.  (His other letters are under his cloak.)

My argument is based upon a passage in John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L Reed's In Search of Paul, page 381 onwards.  In this passage they discuss Romans 3:26:

... it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.  (NRSV)

Using the Pastoral Cycle

I first encountered the pastoral cycle during my study year, 1981-2, at the Urban Theology Unit.  In those days theology was still seen as something studied at university and the idea of 'doing theology', as an activity available to all, was new and exciting.  Central to this was the idea of praxis, that interaction  between action and reflection at the heart of the pastoral cycle.

Faith as Conversation

However did we get into this situation?  Yesterday, I started to open up the question of belief and I stated that belief drives out faith.  Doubt creates room for faith.  Today I'll explore this a bit further.

How Belief Undermines Faith

When I first became a Christian in 1978, I was running the bath.  I decided to argue for Jesus rather than against him.  After the bath, I went to see a Methodist minister and asked him, 'what must I believe?' to which he replied, 'Nothing'.  We studied the Nicene creed together and then called it a day.