Michael J. Leyden

It has been a long time since I blogged anything here - but I have had a very busy few months. I was ordained to the Dioconate on 3rd July and have moved the whole family a hundred miles north to serve in Liverpool Diocese for the next three to four years. Thus reading and thinking has been somewhat replaced by removal vans and boxes, clerical robes and school assemblies -- all of which I love! As a new pattern starts to emerge for us here I have found time to begin reading and thinking again. Today is my official research day, so I shall be working on my PhD, but I've just enough time to blog a few thoughts about a book I've just started reading hot off the presses. It is Rod Garner's On Being Saved: The Roots of Redemption (DLT, 2011). I was there at the book launch last week and picked up a copy. The book is short and pithy, in places quite poetic, and makes an interesting argument (though I hasten to add not a new one and certainly not with the depth of scholarship one...

Ian Paul at Psephizo has posted a copy of Bishop Tom's reflections on the recent events surrounding bin Laden's death here . In a short but thought provoking piece, Bishop Tom asks some important questions about the way we think about justice and the relationship between the gospel and the political manifestation of justice we have witnessed this week. The discussion following, in which I have ventured a few reflections about Reinhold Niebhur's influence on all this, is also quite good. Go and take a look if you have minute or two...

I woke this morning to the news that Osama bin Laden is dead: killed in a fire fight in Pakistan, when US troops stormed the mansion where he was holed up with his closest friends and one or two members of his family. The rhetoric from around the world, including our own Prime Minister, was of justice having been served on the man who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in New York almost a decade ago, and who has masterminded God-only-knows how many more Al Qaeda attrocities since. I confess I was quite relieved when I heard the news, maybe even glad he is dead. Though I have not lived in fear of bin Laden, nor been put off travelling for fear of bombs, I have (as I imagine most people have) bought into the natural unrest that accompanies national events like the Royal Wedding and the ongoing thoughts that something like 9/11 or 7/7 may happen again. More than that I have prayed for and tried to empathise with those who suffered loss because of bin Laden, and I have ...

My short review of Keith Clements' SPCK Introduction to Bonhoeffer appears in the Evangelical Quarterly for April 2011. If you're into Bonhoeffer this is a good short introductory work, and well worth picking up - it only takes an afternoon to read. Established readers of Bonhoeffer could live without it, after all it is introductory, but would, should they choose to read it, nonetheless find a master Bonhoeffer scholar's introduction to the field engaging and informative. Go read it, or at least read my review of it...

I saw this great clip and thought it was worth sharing...my particular favourite is the Trinitarian implications of such a clear and biblical theological metaphor (hmmmm...)

I think the answer should be "an argument", but perhaps that's unfair. I can test my theory this next week, which sees the start of the annual Society for the Study of Theology (UK) conference on the theme of Holy Writ? (The question mark is very suggestive). It looks really good, and the list of plenary speakers is great: Alex Samely (Manchester); Morwenna Ludlow (Exeter); Henk van den Belt (Amsterdam); Walter Moberly (Durham); Anthony Thiselton (Nottingham); Hugh Pyper (Sheffield). The conference lasts several days and is convening this year at York University. I hope to be able to blog a few thoughts from the conference and some info about the plenary sessions, but I shall be presenting a paper at one of the themed seminars on Wednesday afternoon on the interpretation of Barth's ethics of responsibility so may be a bit distracted until then. So watch this space for more info...

The video I mentioned in my last post: my interview with Professor Tom Greggs on Dietrich Bonhoeffer (once again with my questions cut out!). This is a YouTube clip from a much bigger project being undertaken by Rev. Dr Tim Hull at St John's College Nottingham UK. Click here for more info.