Articles
Thomas Paine – the Forgotten Radical, Barbara Burfoot
The Christ Epic as a Vision of Human Quality, Dinah Livingstone
Credo, Dominic Kirkham
Reflections of a Missionaries' Son, John Cragg
Slaves or Children of God?, Michael Hell
Poetry
The French Revolution As It Appeared to Enthusiasts at Its Commencement, William Wordsworth
Underground Railroad, Jane Duran
Reviews
Carol Palfrey reviews Spirituality: A Guide for the Perplexed by Philip Sheldrake, Carol Palfrey
David Paterson reviews An Idol Unmasked by Peter Selby, David Paterson
Hugh Dawes reviews Reimagining God by Lloyd Geering, Hugh Dawes
Kathryn Southworth reviews Collected and New Poems by William Oxley, Kathryn Southworth
Regulars
SOF Sift: It's the Story That Matters, Graham Shipley
As I Please: John Pearson Visits the Lizard, John Pearson
Mayday Notes: Autumn Festivals, Dinah Livingstone
Editorial: Human Rights and Possibilities
This issue of Sofia, entitled Human Rights and Possibilities, begins with Barbara Burfoot's article on Thomas Paine, his involvement in both the American and French Revolutions and his three great works: Common Sense (1776), The Rights of Man (1791–2) and The Age of Reason (1794). The article is a follow-on from Barbara's very popular workshop at the SOF annual conference in July. The French Revolution excited a ferment of radical ideas in England ('bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,' wrote Wordsworth) and Paine was familiar with the circle of radicals often gathered for dinners by the publisher Joseph Johnson. There he would have met Mary Wollstonecraft (whose Rights of Woman was published in 1792) and, perhaps occasionally, William Blake. As Burfoot records, it was Blake who warned Paine to escape to France when he was in danger of being arrested on a capital charge for publishing part 2 of his Rights of Man.
Paine was a sort of Deist and Burfoot quotes from his Age of Reason: 'I believe in one God and no more and I hope for some happiness beyond this life. I believe in the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy and endeavouring to make our fellow creatures happy.' William Blake also strongly supported the radical cause. He wore the 'red cap of liberty' openly in the streets of London, but laid it aside when news came in 1793 of the Terror in France: Burfoot tells us how Paine himself was arrested in France at that time. But Blake was no Deist. He believed 'all deities reside in the human breast', created by the human poetic genius, and at the same time he engaged with what he called the 'Everlasting Gospel'. In his highly recommended book, Witness against the Beast, E. P. Thompson describes how Blake grapples with the 'true God and true man' in the theology of the Incarnation to convey a poetic truth:
But a contradiction of thought, which derives from an acute tension of contrasting values, neither of which can be abandoned, can be wholly creative. If we will neither deny Christ's divinity nor elevate it above that of mortal creation which shares in the same divine essence, then we have an intense and mystic humanism. If God exists in Men and nowhere else, the whole cosmic conflict between darkness and light, things corporeal and spiritual, must be enacted within oneself and one's fellow men and nowhere else.
As Wordsworth put it at the end of his poem on the French Revolution, we are called upon to exercise our skill 'in the very world, which is the world / Of all of us – the place where in the end / We find our happiness, or not at all!'
Although Christianity, especially when in power, has often acted as a repressive force, the 'Everlasting Gospel' made a substantial contribution to humanism and we have a strong image of that, in their revolutionary time, with William Blake warning Thomas Paine to escape when his life was in danger (which is why this Sofia has a Blake painting on both the front and back cover). After Burfoot's article on Paine, there follows part 1 of the talk your editor gave recently to the Barcelona-based Centre for the Study of Wisdom Traditions at their conference on 'Human Quality'. The talk is entitled The Christ Epic as a Vision of Human Quality and offers a humanist reading of the Epic.
Next we have a Credo from Sofia stalwart Dominic Kirkham, a SOF Sift from Graham Shipley and Reflections of a Missionaries' Son by John Cragg, who recalls: 'Dad was religious and strict and this had unfortunate consequences for me, his eldest son'. We have Michael Hell's response to the articles on the Christian liturgy by Windross and Freeman in Sofia 112, followed by letters, reviews, Mayday Notes. The last page has a poem by Jane Duran, in which she revisits a 'safe house' on the Underground Railroad, which helped slaves escaping from the South during the American Civil War (1861–5).
St Paul wrote that in Christ there is neither slave nor free but slaves continued for centuries after that. The long, chequered history of the abolition of slavery (not yet complete) is part of the struggle for 'a sane and kindly humanism that sees the liberation and flowering of humanity as the chief object of culture', the struggle in which Thomas Paine played such a noble part.
Dinah Livingstone
Letters
SOF Annual Conference 2014
I am sorry that Helen Bellamy found the 2014 Conference so disappointing, but I must correct her complaint about the lack of comfortable seating for those choosing to spend their evenings in informal conversation. The Planning Group was aware of the problem with the seating in the hospitality area and they set aside Saxby, one of the breakout rooms, specifically for use as somewhere for a quiet drink and conversation except when it was in use for workshops during the day on Saturday. This was noted under 'Sitting Room' on page 3 of the Conference Handbook. It is a pity that Helen was not aware of this.
Barbara Burfoot, 2014 Conference Planning Co-ordinator
Sofia 113
Thanks for the latest Sofia and the free publicity for the Friends of Debdale. By coincidence, last Sunday, we had our local Carnival in the park which attracted over 10,000 people and, helped by the perfect weather, was a tremendous success. There was a great atmosphere of happiness and people said it was the best community event they had ever been too. What helped to make this so was the tremendous variety of groups and activities involved and the feeling that there was something for everyone. This in turn reflected the ongoing work of building up connections between local groups and mutual support.
For me a park is a unique and often underrated example of a secular space where people from whatever background or walk of life can come together and find peace and contentment. Its also radically socialist in that it's free and its facilities can be enjoyed by all. It stands in defiant contrast to the culture of greed and self serving exploitation which seems now to dominate our society: where are the great philanthropists of today who would pay for a park?
The greatest challenge these unique assets face today is from cuts in public services and neglect, as one of many people has said to me, 'It's as if our heritage was being squandered'. It's a heritage which, in this year of remembrance of the centenary of the Great War, it is worth remembering that many gave everything that we might enjoy it. The real challenge of remembrance today is: 'What are we doing to preserve this heritage for future generations?'
Fortunately, voluntary groups like the Friends can make a tremendous difference simply by making connections, helping to create a different sort of society to the omnivorous marketplace. I like to think of it as following that primal dream of creating a little bit of paradise on earth, for was not paradise also a garden/park of delights for all?
Dominic Kirkham, Manchester
Sofia 113
Thank you for another stimulating number. I would comment on two points:
Page 19: As Geza Vermes pointed out, the parable of the Good Samaritan does not answer the question 'Who is my neighbour?' This is a loaded question in its Jewish context. So Jesus taught what it means to be a neighbour, elegantly summarised by Tolstoy in one of his Twenty Three Tales: 'The most important time is now, the most important person is the one you are with, and the most important action is to do that person good.'
Page 21: Bob Booth appears to imply that our morality is unchanging, the same for each successive generation. But morality is a social phenomenon and develops according to the needs and practices of the time and society. This creates problems for those who believe that God's word has been revealed once for ever, especially the Roman Catholic Church and most Muslims. But the fact remains that we can none of us escape the responsibility of deciding for ourselves what is the correct moral action in the circumstances in which we find ourselves. There have been huge developments in the last two centuries, won in the face of steadfast resistance from bodies immured in the past.
Incidentally, 'reciprocal altruism' is an oxymoron. Giving in expectation of return is not altruism. Altruism is giving without expectation of return, but possibly in the hope that the recipient will pass the giving on to the next person in need. I like to call this a transitive relation. To understand how The Righteous Mind works, I strongly recommend the Pelican book of that title by Professor Jonathan Haidt. 90% of our morality is by instinct and social conditioning: the remaining rational 10% is mostly devoted to justifying the 90%!
Michael Hell, michael.h@orange.net