The recent annual SOF Conference was held in London in July 2024. Its title was Looking Back – Facing Forward. This Conference issue of Sofia begins with the talks given by the three speakers.
153 – Looking Back – Facing Forward
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Surveying
When I wake upfrom my window I see gullsflapping across the sky.I call them seagullsthough London is far from the sea.I wonder what they gatheras they survey the land below. Coming home by plane and looking down,when the Channel reaches the coastI see the white cliffs...
Finzi at Malmesbury Abbey
There were those ambiguous faces!Medieval masons had put themin the ceiling of that ancient Abbey church.We were amused, me and the childrenthat the faces those ancient men had hiddenfrom their masters were visiblein the big, uncouth modern mirror. And thenthe light...
Avarice and Prayer (1)
Avarice Money, thou bane of bliss and source of woe,whence com'st thou, that thou art so fresh and fine?I know thy parentage is base and low;man found thee poor and dirty in a mine.Surely thou did'st so little contributeto this great kingdom, which thou now hast...
Review: Passions of the Soul by Rowan Williams
Passions of the Soul by Rowan WilliamsBloomsbury (London 2024) Pbk. 121 pages. Passions of the Soul is a collection of addresses and essays from Rowan Williams describing early Eastern Christian mystic thinking about the human 'passions' – the origin of what are...
Review: A Century of Poetry: 100 poems for searching the heart, edited by Rowan Williams
A Century of Poetry: 100 poems for searching the heartedited by Rowan WilliamsSPCK (London 2022) Hbk. 375 pages. Rowan Williams, for ten years Archbishop of Canterbury, is learned and remarkable; academic theologian, literary critic, linguist and poet. He is also...
A Penn’orth. Fear
Penny Mawdsley writes about Fear. Idly reminiscing recently, I remembered how my sister and I dared Granny to climb a tree in her garden. She had already won our bet to skip 100 times over my skipping rope without stopping (she was then 76) but, very sensibly, she...
Going Green. Looking Back – Facing Forward
John Pearson writes about this Sofia's theme: Looking Back – Facing Forward. 'Its not that easy bein' Green'… so sang Kermit the Frog in one episode of The Muppet Show. This, a joke song written over 50 years ago, could just as well have been, more significantly, the...
A Life-Changing Event
Talk given to the 2024 SOF Conference by Anthony Freeman. Inevitably this will be a personal account, if only because (apart from Don himself) I had my life changed more dramatically than anyone else as a result of the Sea of Faith. Put briefly, I lost my income, my...
Ordained as a Result of Sea of Faith
Talk given by Tony Windross to the SOF Conference in London, July 2024. Whilst (like me) there are plenty of people who can't get their heads around religious claims – unlike me, pretty well all of them are outside the Church (and remain outside the Church). As one of...