The T & T Clark Blog

What can we learn from the Early Church I: Andrew Gregory

 

Constructing Modern Theological Thinking: What can we learn from the Early Church?

It is just over a century since H B Swete published a small book called Patristic Study (Longmans,1904), one of a number of volumes in a series entitled Handbooks for the Clergy. The aim of his little book, wrote Swete, was ‘to draw the attention of the younger clergy of the Church of England to the vast store of wisdom which has been bequeathed to them by the ancient Catholic Church.’

Reading the Fathers, Swete tells us, is not only stimulating but also of great practical value, for ‘the parish priest of the twentieth century will find in the greater writers of the Ancient Church much direct help for his daily work; sermons, catechises, pastoral intercourse, personal life will be enriched by converse with the pastors and teachers of other times.’ Indeed, he tells us, ‘There are few departments of theological research in which the Fathers can fail to render valuable help to those who know how to make yield up their treasure’, and he gives as examples biblical textual criticism, the history of the canon, the history of biblical interpretation, the progress of Christian thought and the study of liturgy.

‘Nor’, he continues, ‘is it only to students in the stricter sense that the Fathers can render service; they may be turned to practical account by the working parish priest. The preacher will find in their pages the grand models of ancient pulpit oratory; the pastor may look to them for guidance in problems which are common to all ages of the Church.’ Thus the benefits of patristic study to which Swete directs his readers are practical as well as academic, if such a distinction may be sustained: ‘If a knowledge of the Fathers may be of value to the clergy in forming an opinion on disputed points of ritual and Church order, it will help them even more surely on the side of pastoralia -- the practical conduct of the parish priest’s life and work. The majority of the Fathers were not only writers and preachers, but diligent and experienced guides of souls.’

What can we learn from the Early Church?

 

A few weeks ago we celebrated the launch of Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski's book on the Apostles' Creed in Piotr's Parish in Richmond (London). Piotr has done a wonderful job in inviting other scholars and friends to give a short paper each on the importance of the Early Church for us doing theology today.

To be frank - I was amazed not only by the quality and wide range of the responses, but also by the large number of people from the Parish and beyond who came to take part in this inspiring afternoon! 

The speakers were:

Revd Dr Andrew Gregory, University College, Oxford

Dr Marcus G. Plested, Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge

Revd Dr Paul Collins, University of Chichester

Martin Warner, University of Warwick

Revd Dr Darrell Hannah, Ascot

 

We have asked the contributors to send us their papers to be published here on the blog. So watch out for a mini-series of posts on the relevance of the Early Church!

 

 

SBL

Just a quick shout-out to the blogosphere. I will be at SBL in New Orleans this year, so if any of you have book ideas you'd like to discuss do drop me a line to set up an appointment.

I'm particularly looking for ideas for coursebooks and introductory texts, but monographs are always good too!

Email me: dmattos 'at' continuumbooks.com

The relics of St Therese of Lisieux

Slightly off topic, but interesting I hope. I apologise for the lack of accents on 'Therese' throughout this post. I cannot work out how to do them.

As many of you will know the relics of St Therese of Lisieux are currently touring the country with rock-star-like reception wherever they go. I went to venerate them in Oxford, along with 5,999 other people.

The Oxford Oratory has been preparing for the visit for many months, and as I spend roughly half my weekends in Oxford I have sporadically been hearing about the visit at Mass on Sunday, rejoicing at how the visit of the relics has provided such a grace simply in the way it has drawn the community together (not that it was apart of course) in preparation and prayer, and in a very successful play about St T's life which was performed by the youth of the parish.

My encounter with the relics began on Wednesday amidst a downpour of rain. I arrived at 5.30pm in time for Vespers at 6pm hoping I might get into the church. No such luck. There was a queue stretching 50 yards down the road and the church was already full. Once the relics arrived (see picture right) they let  more people in - two nuns pushed in front of me in the rush, but I suppose they have a right to - and I eventually got in for Vespers. After Vespers people were able to venerate the relics, people had brought rose petals and rosaries, and whilst it was very crowded indeed the atmosphere was very prayerful.

It was wonderful to see such a great public witness of faith in our very secular times. I stayed on for the sung Mass in Latin, and Bishop Kenney gave a little story which amused me. He said that on the way the bus driver said to him 'where are you going?' and when told responded 'you'll never get in, it's packed'. Obviously he would - he was the bishop arriving to offer Mass. But the bus-driver's next line was apparently; 'but people don't queue up for religion'.  But of course here in England, in 2009, they do - it's somewhat rare to see it happening in a catholic church nowadays, but how wonderful that it still can. How wonderful that in such grim times St Therese's 'little way' is able to inspire, that her presence makes people take note. The general shock that this is happening is not restricted to Oxford bus-drivers - the media in general is in a bit of a tizzy about it. Even more wonderful was the fact that it was by no means a solely Roman occasion.

Obviously we publish many of St Therese's writings and books on St Therese, but in this post I'll forego the vulgarity of including a web-link. I do however urge you to read about St Therese, and about the tour of the relics - which are in Westminster Cathedral from the 12th - 15th October if you still want to venerate them. 

And to finish with the words of St. Therese herself:

"In spite of my littleness, I would like to enlighten souls as did the Prophets and the Doctors. I have the vocation of the Apostle. I would like to travel over the whole earth to preach Your Name and to plant Your glorious Cross on infidel soil. But O my Beloved, one mission alone would not be sufficient for me, I would want to preach the Gospel on all the five continents simultaneously and even to the most remote isles" St Therese, Story of a Soul, ch. 9

New Perspectives on the Nativity - Order Now for Christmas!

I am delighted to announce the publication of a new book on the infancy narratives.

So few books have been published in the last ten years on these most evocative of New Testament texts and this new volume goes a long way to fill this much needed gap.

The contributors include Warren Carter, John Kaltner, Ann Loades, Henry Wansbrough, Ian Boxall and Benedict Viviano - who address not only the state of play in New Testament studies since Raymond E. Brown's magisterial 'Birth of the Messiah' but also the virgin Mary in Islamic belief, and depictions of the nativity in modern poetry and film. This is a collection of truly diverse essays and in my opinion it is a book which every NT academic (and many non-specialists) will read voraciously and enjoy. I am delighted that we have been able to publish it.

Get buying it now from all the usual places or visit our website