132 – Spirit and Creation

Author: Dinah Livingstone. Published June 2019 in issue 132 of Sofia.

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Contents

Articles
Reviews
Poetry
Regulars and Occasionals

Editorial

Spirit and Crea on This Sofia begins with Clem Cook’s account of the SOF Network. He was surprised that there was nothing about Don Cupitt or the SOFN in the recent book Religion and Atheism: Beyond the Divide and wrote an article in two parts suggesting what might have been in the book.

His Part I on Don Cupitt was published in the March Sofia and now here is Part 2, his account of the SOFN. He stresses that it is a personal account.

This Sofia, entitled Spirit and Creation, is published just before Pentecost, which this year falls on June 9th. Edward Walker looks at Luke’s Ascension and Pentecost story in the light of the Hebrew scriptures, particularly the ascension of the prophet Elijah. In ‘Not your Usual Sermon’ Ben Whitney continues his series of online reflections on the Christian year which, he says, are ‘intended to support those who are still hanging on to attending (or even leading) Christian worship, if only just! I also hope they will be an encouragement to those, like me, who hadn’t darkened the doors for years, to give it another try, if they can find a welcome somewhere.’ Next we have James Dunstone contending with the story of Job and concluding with his poem ‘Satan’s Answer to the Daughters of Job’.

The two other poems in this issue, ‘Sound’ by A.C. Jacobs and ‘Let there be Commerce between us’ by Kathleen McPhilemy, each relates in a different way to our theme – which encompasses creation by us, and spirit as communion, love, with some of its difficulties.

My ‘thinkpiece’ this time is also on the theme of ‘Spirit and Creation’.

Margaret Connolly revisits the Iliad. She discusses Browning’s sense of betrayal as he learned that an ancient text he had been taught to regard as historically accurate was in fact a product of human creativity and how this relates to SOF. She says that she herself ‘was never particularly aware of any difference between the Greek gods and heroes, the Knights of the Round Table, Jesus and the Old Testament prophets, and the old women little Tom met in The Water Babies. All belonged to a glorious world of creative imagination, that conveyed some truths…’ Tony Carroll, who spoke at last year’s SOF Conference, reviews God Value and Nature by Fiona Ellis. Fiona will be one of the speakers at the Progressive Christianity Network’s London Conference on Saturday June 8th 2019 at the French Protestant Church, Soho Square, London W1D 3QD.– pcnbritain.org.uk/events or telephone 01594 516528. Tony Carroll and Richard Norman are organising a day conference on Human Flourishing at the Mirfield Centre (Yorkshire) on Monday June 3rd – mirfield.org.uk .Telephone: 01924 481920.

Pauline Pearson reviews Diarmaid MacCulloch’s substantial biography of Thomas Cromwell. Canon John Fellows reviews A Field Guide to the Clergy of the Church of England A Compendium of Diverse, Eccentrics, Pirates, Prelates and Adventurers; All Anglican, Some even Practising by Fergus Butler-Gallie. Kathleen McPhilemy reviews Nameless Country: Selected Poems by A.C Jacobs. John Pearson’s As I Please, with which you may disagree, is on the great fire of Notre Dame in Paris.

A WORLD WITH ROOM FOR ALL THE WORLDS ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE Sacrifice Why keep on killing animals to please a god?’ asks Dinah Livingstone (Sofia 131). I would like to offer an explanation. The ancient Israelites lived with their animals, watching them give birth, feeding and protecting them. They killed their animals for necessary food and clothing and they acknowledged the seriousness of this – animals have life-blood in them (Genesis 9:4:

Leviticus 19:26). The sacrifice of animals to the LORD and the observance of laws for the consumption of animals were ways of solemnly recognising the value of animal life.

I think that the ancient Israelites would be disgusted by us – our greedy consumption of animals we have never met, killed in slaughterhouses in ways that are at least as terrifying and far more flippant than anything the Israelites would have allowed in their homes or in their Temple.

— James Priestman, London

James Priestman London Capitalist Excess Looking over Sofia 131 at the breakfast table I was struck by how well the articles hang together, particularly the article by Ben Whitney which finished up at exactly the same place as I did – serendipitously! Then Dinah Livingstone picked up and ran with the liberation mantra in an excellent and appropriate reflection on our times.

I am continually puzzled by what can only be called ‘Aztec Capitalism’, which seems to have no other thought than profit motivated by greed indifferent to all the consequences – think Carillion, the proposed Asda-Sainsbury merger, and Persimmon which has just announced a billion pound profit this year from ripping off the Right to Buy scheme. You may remember that last year the Chief Executive. Jeff Fairburn was awarded a bonus of £110m ( the largest in British corporate history) for basically doing nothing other than building substandard houses for the Right to Buy programme. He subsequently lost his job and Persimmon looks like being stripped of its right to participate in the programme.

Amongst the many puzzling features of all this is not only do people never have enough but feel constantly insecure about it – the four senior managers from Barclay’s, currently on trial for fraud during the 2008 crisis, spoke of sleepless nights worrying that they might loose their £46m bonus if they accepted government bail-out, which would mean a cap to earnings. One doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry!

Apart from this, it is impossible to spend billions of pounds other than to squander it, like the hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, who last week spent £95m on a London flat having only the week before spent £100m on a house overlooking Regent’s Park. He already has fourteen others! Yet in the light of all this, another remarkable statistic came to light recently that the average charitable giving of the superrich millionaires is – wait for it! – £240 a year.

Staggering!

Particularly in the light of another current media topic on what makes us truly happy, which is giving.

— Dominic Kirkham, Manchester