Contents
Articles
- Taking Soundings, Clive D. Richards, Adrian Worsfold
- Let's Not Be Total (Christian) Women, Aileen La Tourette
- Radical Christian Worship and the Decade of Evangelism, A.A. Harrison
- Ronald Pearse & Liturgical Language, Ivor Davies
- Steps Towards a Radical Green Ethic, Mark Stubbs
- Radicals and Divorce: A Practical Christian Ethic, Elizabeth Burns
- What is to be Done?, John Mann
- Updating God, John MacDonald Smith
- Roll Over Beethoven..., Stephen Mitchell
- Christmas Comes but Once a Year?, James Green
Always, only and everywhere nurturing, available and overflowing ? To quote Mrs Thatcher, "No, no, no." LETTERS TO THE EDITOR WHEN REASON IS NOT ENOUGH from Joanna Clarke (West Wickham) This was the best SOF Magazine so far (Autumn 1990) because it had some articles in it which, while being intelligent and thought-provoking, did not have over-long words and jargon in them. Elizabeth Burns' clear explanation of what she means by 'Radical Christianity' was particularly welcome.
My trouble with Radical Christianity is this : while I am well, and all is going well for those around me I am a non-realist with the best of them. Of course there is no external Being who can (or rather should !) interfere with events to bring about the right results.
Of course intercessory prayer is not going to achieve any good - unless we tell the people interceded for that we are praying for them, and then they will feel better because they know that people are concerned for them.
As I said - that is fine and reasonable until reason is not enough.
When disaster strikes then I, and I guess many of my generation with a traditional personal loving Father as part of our religious ABC in childhood, find ourselves needing more than mere human reason. I was very impressed by the lady who had a mastectomy and was able to stick to her non-realist faith. It takes a lot of courage to face trouble with no possibility of any help from anything but the NHS.
But there is more to this than merely a childish desire to run to traditional religion for my safety blanket. I know that my experience has been that good has occurred when people pray. Just as a beautiful picture is more than the sum total of canvas and paint, so the results of humans caring for one another is more than could be expected. A power seems to be created that does have effect.
Radical Christianity is, at the moment, so closely tied up with philosophical notions that reason seems to be the dominant theme. We Radicals (for so I call myself) need to explore the other dimensions of human living too. The Alister Hardy Research Unit could maybe offer us useful material, for they have found a great deal of evidence that people who have little traditional religious affiliation have nevertheless had experiences which they have interpreted for themselves as 'religious'. Why ? What is there in the human make-up that makes us see 'the other' in the ordinary ?
I don't want to return - I could not return - to the traditional God that I was taught to believe in, for the notion holds too many contradictions to be of any use to me now, but I would like to find a Radical approach to the religious dimension that undoubtedly exists among humans.
I look forward to reading other people's comments on these points.
— Joanna Clarke, West Wickham