The Holy Spirit - a conference theme?!

It makes me smile to say it, both good humouredly and also a little sardonically, but yes - the Holy Spirit is the theme of an academic conference this year: I'm sure He'll be pleased to know. The Society for the Study of Theology (UK) starts its annual conference tomorrow at the university of York and runs until thursday morning. Yours truly will be there and will hopefully blog a few thoughts (I said that last year but was so overwhelmed by offering my first conference paper that I never got round to it). Plenary speakers include Rachel Muers, Graham Ward, Alan Sell, and Amos Yong on issues such as envorinmentalism, pentecostalism, santification and various other topics. I'm really looking forward to it! Perhaps see some of you there?

p.s. Yes. I know I haven't blogged for a little while - it's been really busy in parish for various reasons and Ihaven't had time. But I have been reading some interesting books, including John Piper and Don Carson on ministry and academia, Nigel Biggar on behaving in public, and Ellen Charry on happiness. Will blog reviews in the future.

p.p.s. For those of you following a little bit of my career and what I get up to, I have recently become a member of the Grove Ethics Group responsible for the commissioning and editorial work for Grove Ethics booklets in the UK. This is a good move for me and I hope for the Group (that at least I can bring some ministerial experience if not as much scholarly rigour as some of the members), and having been to my first meeting I really enjoyed it and was amazed at the level of thoughtfulness and academic rigour that goes into the ethics group. SO, if you don't already look at Grove Ethics, then do think about a subscription. It's good value and high quality.

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Godpod and theological resources

I have had a great evening listening to a whole stack of theological podcasts from St Paul's Theological Centre, London, UK. There are over 60 podcasts available from the St Paul's website or on iTunes that cover a whole range of topics in Christian ethics, spirituality, systematic theology, history, Christian biography etc.with experts from across UK. The format is pretty simple: a three way discussion between Dr Jane Williams, Revd Dr Mike Lloyd, Revd Dr Graham Tomlin and a special guest or two each session (I've listenind to Prof. Nigel Biggar, Prof. NT Wright, Dr David Hilborn, Prof. Andrew Walker, Prof. Alister McGrath, and a hosts of others so far). Each lasts a bit less than an hour, but there's plenty to think about and chew over. If you're looking for some really good input, and some fun theological discussion from leading evangelical thinkers, then head over to St Paul's Centre and their Godpod page.

Floor tiles, theology, and divine interruption

Today I have had quite a cultured day: we had a family trip down to the Tate Gallery at Liverpool's Albert Dock. It was a welcome relief after a long and difficult week. One of the exhibits at the gallery got me thinking - as I guess art should - and also got me chuckling. Finally it got me theologizing. The exhibit was this: It is, as you can see, a series of floor tiles laid out in a square pattern. It's called "144 Magnesium Square" by American artist Carl Andre (b.1935). If you are thinking that there must be more to it, you are wrong. That's it. Tiles laid out and cemented to the floor (not exactly very well either - my dad, who is a professional tiler, would not be pleased). And that's what got me thinking and chuckling. The inevitable question to ask when you witness something as plain and ordinary as floor tiles is "is this art?" For many people viewing the exhibit alongside me today, it plainly wasn't: they were saying so quite aud...

On Having a Blackened Halo...

This is a photograph of the East window above the altar-table at Church. It is a piece of religious art I both love and hate. I hate it because I'm not very keen on Victorian depictions of the last supper, on the whole, because they tend to be quite miserable and Jesus is always pale and English-looking. The disciples are all bearded men, dressed wholly inappropriately, and are also pale and English-looking. But, there's always a "but" with this sort of thing for me: I love this stained glass window because it is quite unusual. It's a bit small to see the full detail in the photograph, but one of the disciples has a blackened halo. Often on a Sunday morning when I look at Judas I feel quite sorry for him in this image: permanently marked out by the artists as the betrayer, one whose holiness and faithfulness is called into question so very publicly every week. As if to make it more obvious, the artist has represented Judas facing away from Jesus, and away fro...

Michael J. Leyden

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