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Review of Frances Young, God’s Presence: A Contemporary Recapitulation of Early Christianity (Cambridge University Press, 2012). The final book on the Michael Ramsey Prize shortlist for 2016 is a work of systematic theology.   Frances Young is a very distinguished theologian.   Her writing on the New Testament and early Christian theology is well known and is part of a corpus of writing that dates back to the 1970s.   This book is an integration of all the different concerns of her theological life, as an academic, a theologian of both the New Testament and the early church, a Methodist, a preacher and the mother of a profoundly disabled child, Arthur.   All of these different aspects to Young’s work and writing inform and shape this book. That theme of integration is also the way in which Young approaches the topics of her theology in this book.   In each chapter she offers a prelude of snapshots, showing the way the subjec...

A Sermon for the First Eucharist of Sarah Dawson Habakkuk 2.1-4; Ephesians 2.19-end; John 20.24-29   It is a great pleasure and an enormous privilege to be here this morning.   I bring you greetings from Derby Cathedral, where I minister.   Thank you to Joabe for the invitation.   Thank you also to Sarah.   I’ve known Sarah since I was 11.   She and I have laughed, cried and gossiped our way together through our lives for a long time now.     It is a real joy and delight to be here when she presides at the Eucharist for the first time. Some words from the Gospel this morning: ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’   Today we gather to celebrate with Sarah, to share bread and wine, which are for us the body and blood of Christ.   And we also gather to thank God for St Thomas, one of Jesus’ first disciples and an apostle of the church.   In the midst of all of this, we...

Luke 7.36-8.3 Some words from the Gospel reading this morning:   Jesus ‘went on through cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.   The twelve were with him, as well as some women’. It’s a great pleasure to be with you this morning.   My thanks to Simon for his invitation, and to you all for your welcome.   I bring greetings to the Cathedral of the Peak from your Cathedral Church in Derby, where we pray for you regularly.   I’m here, I think, because one of the roles I have is as the Director of Curate Training in the Diocese.   So I have been involved with Sue, not least as she prepares to be ordained priest at the end of the month.   I want to say a few things this morning to help us all prepare for that new ministry.   At the end of the Gospel reading this morning we hear that Jesus ‘went on through cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom...

A sermon for Maundy Thursday. Exodus 12.1-14 ; John 13.1-17,31b-35 “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another”. Tonight we gather to remember the Passover – the time when God freed his people from slavery in Egypt and led them to freedom in the Promised Land. Tonight we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, given to his disciples at the last supper he shared with them before his death. Tonight we gather to begin our journey through the three days of the Passion of our Lord, his death and resurrection. Tonight we gather to do all these things. But above all these things, tonight we gather to take our shoes off and then to put them on again. So let me ask you now to take off your shoes. Shoes off and shoes on – that is what tonight is all about. Shoes off – shoes on. We find it in the Gospel reading. It is an insight into the very being and nature of God. It is our calling as disciples of Jesus. Shoes off. Shoes on. So let me expla...

Review of Sarah Coakley, The New Asceticism: Sexuality, Gender and the Quest for God (Bloomsbury, 2015). This is the best and most challenging book I read in the whole of 2015 (at the time of writing there are 16 days left in which I might read something better!).   It is not always easy to read, but that is not a reflection on the excellent writing.   Rather it is because the subject matter is important, and because it makes the reader engage with things within their own lives.   It tackles issues that are dividing the church with a spiritual seriousness and depth that is all too often lacking.   Whilst it will, inevitably, be read as a contribution to the debates that afflict the church, it should be read as a significant work of spiritual theology in its own right.   In her Introduction, Coakley tells us that she wants to retrieve asceticism as a vital part of Christian life and theology.   This has implications for the...

A Sermon for Trinity 12. Matthew 18.15-20 Let me start with a little quiz.   It’s very easy, simply try and tell whether these statements are true or false.   1.      Christianity is about following the teaching of Jesus. 2.      Christianity is based on God’s love for us, seen in Jesus, overflowing into how we treat other people. 3.      For the whole history of Christianity, Christians have never disagreed with one another. I’m glad you laughed! Christians do, in fact, disagree.   They have done since the very beginning of the Church.   The first major disagreement comes at the beginning of the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, although there are lies creeping already at the beginning of the fifth chapter.   And of course, there are many stories in the Gospels of the 12 disciples, the pillars of the church, disagreeing with one another (normally about...

Review of Rowan Williams, Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer (SPCK, 2014) There are those who complain about Rowan Williams’ writing and suggest that he can’t write simply. Mostly those people are journalists, lazy, reading the wrong stuff, or some combination of these.   This book decisively gives the lie to the complaint.   It is a model of clarity and something to put in the hand of those beginning to explore what it is to be Christian.   I plan to give it to someone being confirmed this Easter. The four chapters each tackle a basic element of Christian life, just as the subtitle has it.   From their origins in talks at Canterbury Cathedral, these chapters have been edited for the page and retain most of their freshness and clarity.   They are full of enlightenment and practical insight. For me the opening and closing chapters (on baptism and prayer respectively) are the best moments of the book.  ...

A Sermon for Trinity 20 2 Kings 5.1-3,7-15c ; Luke 17.11-19 Our Old Testament reading this morning has something of a Hollywood blockbuster about it.  You can imagine the trailer: Naaman, commander of the most powerful army in the world, yet afflicted with an incurable disease. How will he rid himself of this dreadful illness?  A tale of passion, of strength and of wonder.  Naaman, coming to a cinema near you, certificate 15. So let me ask you to imagine the story we heard this morning as a Hollywood film.  It begins with an introduction to Naaman, a great man, a mighty warrior, in high favour with the king, commander of the army.  A force to be reckoned with.  And then the great tragedy of his life – his leprosy.  Cut then to a quiet timid servant girl, the spoils of one of Naaman’s great triumphs.  ‘There is a prophet in Israel who could heal you,’ she tells him.  Cut again (the bit this morning’s reading ...