Articles

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Time for Church? Evangelicals, Scripture and Conversational Hermeneutics

John B. Thomson is currently Director of Ministry, Diocese of Sheffield. He was formerly vicar of St Mary's, Doncaster and before this tutored at St Paul 's College, Grahamstown , South Africa .

In this paper John Thomson invites evangelicals to recognise more explicitly the role of the church in the interpretation of Scripture. He argues that the narrative shape of the Scriptures and their relationship to God's story invites ecclesial hermeneutics. Using Gen. 1 as a case study, he suggests that the way ancient redactors went about their task reflects this sort of approach. Using the metaphor of conversation he challenges Anglican evangelicals to practice ecclesial hermeneutics within their Communion aware that such conversations will involve not only sharing but also learning new insights and, on occasion revising existing convictions in the process.

Liturgy and Imagination

Dr Bridget Nichols is Lay Chaplain to the Bishop of Ely .

This article is based on the Fifth Annual Michael Vasey Memorial Lecture, given at St John's College, Durham, on 29th October 2003 . It takes up some of the preoccupations of current discussions of liturgical formation, and proposes that these should be extended beyond competence in recognition and technical arrangement of forms, to take account of imagination and memory. Liturgical formation in this guise would not demand the teaching of more skills; instead, it would seek to reopen the access to skills which are already latent in the tradition of worship. Such a process would enlist faculties customarily associated with Prayer Book practice and apply them to contemporary texts and structures. Its aim would be to refashion the whole being of the worshipper rather than simply to teach greater agility in manipulating a wide range of resources. In other words, it would claim the heart as well as the mind in worship.

The Spiritual Enemy: The Response of the Church to Spiritual Pressure

The Revd Craig Smith teaches Greek and New Testament Studies at Trinity College Bristol

This is the third article in the Love Your Enemies series. Here Craig Smith considers the challenge of the 'Spiritual Enemy'. He begins by describing ritual deaths that accompany black magic and satanic rituals in some parts of the world. These acts reveal particular examples of spiritual enemies. Resisting some recent attempts to demythologize the present reality of spiritual enemies, he examines the New Testament view of Satan and demons finding them a real force for evil. He concludes by looking at the challenge to love those aligned with evil in situations where violence is done to Christians today.

Easter in Durham ?

N. T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God

The Revd Dr Steve Walton is Senior Lecturer in Greek and New Testament Studies at London School of Theology and chairs the Anvil Editorial Board.

Steve Walton offers this extended review of N T Wright's important book The Resurrection of the Son of God . The book has two main aims: to reassert that the authors of the New Testament believed that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead and to clarify the same authors' understanding of resurrection for those who believe in Jesus. Wright examines the writings of St Paul , especially in the letters to the Corinthians, and of the gospel writers. Although the length of the book might be daunting for most readers, lay or ordained, it is well written and will clarify thinking about resurrection in both academy and church.

Editorial by Anne Dyer on The Da Vinci Code and the rise of neo-gnosticism, with its challenge to the divinity and uniqueness of Christ.


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