INSIGHT by Matt Adcock

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

Welcome to the new look INSIGHT. We’ve worked hard to create an accessible theological magazine that is packed with thought provoking articles and reviews, from across the spectrum of LST faculty and associates. In this issue we look at, and have taken our theme from, where contemporary culture meets theology head on in the stunning ‘Tree of Life’ film. We also explore issues such as morality, counselling and living out faith in the world.

Where’s the news? For the latest news about LST we’re developing a regular news sheet. If your copy of INSIGHT doesn’t have a news sheet in it and you’d like one, just let us know or you can download it from the website.

INSIGHT is a magazine to be read and reacted to, reviewing media that can fuel your relationship with God. We’d love you to get involved – get in touch with feedback and your ideas for further features or topics you’d like to see covered.

The future is yet to be written – walk with us as we prepare people to change the world.

Great things are happening at the London School of Theology. We’re almost 70 years old and excited as God challenges us to move forward with him in new ways at the forefront of delivering effective, Bible based, academically rigorous theological education.

Matt Adcock Editor

Matt Adcock Insight Editor & Director of Communications

Mark Beaumont Senior Lecturer in Islam & Mission

Anna Robbins Senior Lecturer in Theology and Contemporary Culture

nerv interactive (nerv.co.uk) Designers

William Atkinson Vice-Principal (Academic)

Steve Motyer Theology & Counselling Course Leader

Robert Willoughby New Testament Lecturer

Richard Pickles Theology & Counselling Diploma Level Tutor

Tom Wade Religious Educator

Special thanks to... Review authors: Sheila Green (retired LST Teacher & current LST student), Graham McFarlane (LST BA Course Leader/ Senior Lecturer), Chloe Lynch (Leader of LifeGiving Church and Open Learning (BA) Tutor, LST) Tony Lane (LST Professor of Historical Theology), Sam Hargreaves (LST Lecturer in Music & Worship); as well as a big thanks to YouthWork magazine for use of their content.

Email editor@lst.ac.uk

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Web www.lst.ac.uk

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he fallout from the bombing of the twin towers in New York ten years ago has been truly global. But especially in the UK, the copycat 7/7 attacks in London added to 9/11 a deeper gloom which today still casts a heavy shadow over society. Commentators tend to point out that relations between Muslims in Britain and the rest of society have taken serious hits from these events, and that confidence still needs to develop to a level reached before September 2001. Both devastatingly cruel bombings of civilians were undergirded by Muslims who claimed to be retaliating against the US and the UK for their military intervention in Muslim territory. In the chilling video made by the mastermind of the London carnage, Sadiq Khan, a twenty something British Muslim from Yorkshire, proclaimed that British society was corporately guilty of interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign Muslim state, and that he was bringing the retribution of God to bear on his viewers for such a crime.

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‘roughly one in four young British Muslim men (agree) that British society has supported ‘illegal’ military intervention in Iraq & Afghanistan.’ What was very disturbing about the aftermath of 7/7 was the agreement of roughly one in four young British Muslim men with Khan’s view that British society has supported ‘illegal’ military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that Muslims have the right to resist such non-Muslim aggression. The recent three-part life of the Prophet Muhammad screened by the BBC showed the Khan video in which he had claimed to be following the example of the Prophet and then asked whether Muhammad would have supported the killing of civilians in battle. A series of scholars appeared on camera to argue that Muhammad only used military force as a last resort and in selfdefense, and that he explicitly ruled out attacks on

civilians. The fact that a serious historical documentary gave so much room to a twenty first century suicide bomber who passionately believed that he was fulfilling the will of God is eloquent testimony to the impact of the latter on the public consciousness. What has Christian theology to say in this context? First of all, Christians should recognise that some claiming to defend Christendom have used violence against innocent Muslims in recent times and not just during the Crusades. In the year 2000, I was giving some teaching on Islam for missionaries to Bosnian Muslims in Mostar, and will never forget being taken to the local park, which was now completely filled with gravestones.

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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Christians need to promote and uphold democratic values that make allowance for personal faith and practice but prevent coercion of any kind.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

I read the dates on a number of them and was struck by the often young lives of Muslim citizens taken out by Serbian artillery that had been blessed by church leaders as a means to preserving Serbian Christian culture.

Second, Christians need to promote and uphold democratic values that make allowance for personal faith and practice but prevent coercion of any kind. The British tradition of tolerance for individual expression of belief needs to be vigorously argued for and defended. For example, the recent outlawing of the public wearing of Muslim female face coverings by the French parliament should not be followed elsewhere, and Christians ought to be the first to protect the right of a Muslim to wear personally chosen clothing in public. The best British approach is exemplified by a girls secondary school near where I lived in Birmingham that has designed headscarves for Muslim pupils in the forest green colour of the school uniform.

Third, Christians must at the same time use this freedom of personal expression in our culture to confess their faith in Christ as the incarnate Word of God in conversations with Muslims. There is no need for us to cower in the corner in silence for fear of offending Muslims who hold only that Jesus is a messenger of God. Another story from Birmingham might illustrate this. I was asked by a church leader to visit the home of a Muslim GP he had befriended to explain the Trinity. I gave the GP my Bible and suggested he read Colossians

1:15-22, which he did, and then he sat back in the sofa and breathed out, ‘Now I understand what Christians think of Jesus’. It was not too difficult to explain Father, Son and Spirit from that point. Naturally, he was not necessarily convinced that Colossians was telling the truth, but I believe that Scripture speaks first before our own witness to what is said there. After all, that GP now knows that Christians hold to the incarnation of the Son of God as a result of the clear teaching of the Bible, and that this doctrine is not a later development from the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325 as some Muslim polemicists have argued. There have been liberal Christian voices urging conservative Christians to play down the incarnation in order that Christians might get along with their Muslim neighbours. But the fact that this Muslim GP was glad that someone took the time to explain why the incarnation is so central to Christian faith demonstrates that we can respect Muslims without needing to apologise for what we believe God has revealed in Christ.

Finally, the message of the peacemaking Christ of Colossians 1:22 should be the very heart of our lifestyle as Christians in relation to Muslims. Just as he sacrificed his blood on the cross to bring all things back to God so we ought to seek to represent him in the same spirit of sacrifice, encouraging Muslims too to be at peace with God. Mark Beaumont Senior Lecturer in Islam and Mission and a council member of Arab World Ministries UK.

‘The message of the peacemaking Christ of Colossians 1:22 should be the very heart of our lifestyle as Christians in relation to Muslims.’ LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

‘The wise man built his house upon the rock’, ...we gaily sang, ‘the wise man built his house upon the rock’, eagerly looking forward to the last line, ‘the foolish man built his house upon the sand, and the house on the sand FELL FLAT!!’ accompanied by all sorts of collapsing sound effects and actions. It certainly rubbed the point home to us seven-year-olds, as we picked ourselves up from the floor. Build your life on the Rock that is Jesus, and you’re secure. Ignore his words and build on the sand, and you’ll be swept away by the storm.

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his is why I feel passionate about the ‘Theology’ in ‘Theology and Counselling’. For nine very privileged years I’ve been the Programme Leader for Theology and Counselling at LST. During that time there’s been a remarkable growth in Christian Counselling agencies and training programmes across the UK – and no wonder. Christians want to get involved in ministry to an estranged and hurting society, in all sorts of ways, and counselling is one of them. Our Theology and Counselling programme is run in partnership with CWR, one of the UK’s leading providers of Christian counselling training. They do a great job. I’m really glad that Selwyn Hughes (the founder of CWR) saw the vision of a partnership with LST, because under the umbrella of our joint venture with CWR we’ve been able to give depth, and solidity, to the ‘Christian’ in ‘Christian counselling’. I think that was part of Selwyn’s vision. Yes – theology is the Rock on which Christian counselling can be really well built. So what do Christian counsellors gain, through having studied theology as well? The gain is priceless, in my view, as I reflect on my years of working with T&C at LST, and talk to students and colleagues about it. Everyone has a slightly different take on the blessings, but blessings they certainly are, and I think I can summarise them like this:

A solidly founded world-view. God leaves mystery clouding round the edges, when it comes to the big questions, but that’s all part of the deal, as we share with clients their perplexity about the world. Theology helps us to know how to live with uncertainty, and to know where the solid ground is. We don’t offer false hope or reassurance, because we’ve looked closely at the big issues of creation, humanity, sin, and salvation, and built biblical foundations for our world-view. And that means...

A well-rooted spirituality. It’s not easy, finding out why life is so tough for so many people, and discovering a spirituality which copes with that. Bringing theology into counselling training gives plenty of space for this, so that when the storms hit our lives, we know well how to distinguish between trite, ill-thought theological responses and others which go deep into Scripture and bear nourishing spiritual fruit. And that means...

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Counselling practice founded in clear selfknowledge, knowledge of ourselves in Christ. All good counselling courses aim at fostering selfawareness in their trainees. This is why trainees are usually required to undergo their own therapy. If we don’t know ourselves, we’ll have blind spots that will intrude on the work with clients. But for Christians there’s a whole extra realm to self-knowledge – knowing who we are in Christ. Can we truly take on board the love he has for us? The shape and depth of his grace? How our bodies relate to our spiritual life in him? Do we know what spiritual gifts he has given us, and how to exercise them? Do we know how to walk in the Spirit, and what that means for our life on planet Earth? – and how this will impact our client work? If we’re growing in this, it will mean...

‘we can set our students off on a lifetime journey of reflection’ Protection against disastrous legalism. Jesus kept very bad company, and gave huge offence by welcoming sinners and partying with them – because he knew (and shows us) how grace changes lives. Do we know him

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well enough to be as radical as he is? Good theology leads us in his footsteps, and makes us signs of the Kingdom. Bad theology gives out sets of prescriptions, rules for living, just based on human church tradition: and counsellors with bad theology will be inwardly wanting to shift their clients in the direction of their particular set of rules. Good theology subjects all this to biblical critique, and delivers us from legalism. And this kind of theology also gives...

A capacity for deep personal and theological reflection. We notice this in our students. They go deeper. Theology requires it. We can’t do everything on our course, but we can set our students off on a lifetime journey of reflection, giving them a taste and a growing capacity for plumbing personal, biblical, theological, psychological and spiritual depths, discovering something of the integration between these areas. It’s a wonderful journey, an awesome calling. I think that theology and counselling together create holy ground, a sacred space where we find the presence of the one who is the Wonderful Counsellor. And people who are beginning to experience this also develop...

‘theology helps us to be comfortable in our skins while feeling the pain of these questions’ Fluency in talking about spiritual things. Counsellors with good theology aren’t stuck with fixed, Christian language in talking about the things of the Spirit. When you’ve gone into something deeply, you can begin to find new words that communicate freshly. You’re not bound to the old formulations (or wineskins), because you see clearly what it’s really all about. You’ve got the new wine. And a great side-effect of this study and growth is that you gain...

questions – but theology helps us to be comfortable in our skins while feeling the pain of these questions, because we know that there are good biblical responses. What a blessing. Yes – blessings. Seven of them. Feels like a perfect recipe. Seven precious minerals glinting in the Rock on which a well-founded, firmly built Christian counselling ministry can rest. Wise counsellors will build on it, because ‘the house on the Rock STOOD FIRM!’ Steve Motyer

Reliable insight into the tough questions clients bring. Clients don’t spare us. They bring their anxious questions – where was God when I was abused? Why do good people suffer so much? Have I committed the unforgivable sin Jesus mentioned? Is it OK to be homosexual? Can God forgive me, if I can’t forgive the person who abused my child? It probably won’t be right to become an ‘expert’ and start answering our clients’

Theology & Counselling Course Leader and Lecturer in New Testament and Hermeneutics

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THEOLOGY as tears in action

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cry a lot. I never used to. Tears for me have always and continue to be mysterious; a mixture of emotion and experience that represent an overwhelming of the person. There was a time where I was known as always detached, distant, intellectually sensitive, awkward and preferring discussions around anything abstract rather than anything personal. Tears then were beyond me. They represented something mysterious because I could not allow them or what they represented to be part of my experience; they were unknown, whilst I stuck within the lines that I drew my world within. The shift that occurred and continues to occur within me involved the constant movement between what is known and unknown; a constant stepping towards something other than me in hope that in doing so I would know something of the mystery of Christ. Tears in a sense seem to bridge that space between, allowing me to enter into a newness of being.

To be asked to write an article on how theology engages with counselling seems to involve discussing the process of change that I continue to go through between thought, emotions, knowingness, and the experience of knowing others in a way that impacts every part of me. I’ve found that there has been for me a sea change in how I engage with myself, the world, and the various overwhelmings of life that come my way. This journey seems to be rooted in who I am, especially the shadow side of my being, as I have sought to follow Jesus. It has been as I have owned the impulses, drives and deeply illusional ways of who I am that I have found new ways of relating to others, less bound by that which I used to disown. I came to faith whilst at a residential rehabilitation centre for drug users for my heroin addiction. This one experience has shaped me beyond what I thought possible.

What I gathered from what I had read and experienced of people whose outworking of their faith captivated me, was that life as a Christian is one of entering fully into the pain of others’ existence with the hope of Christ and an open mind. This was a simple but powerful vision which has remained core to me. It has impacted my life whether through my family, my Church life, my own therapy, in my education, and with working with those excluded from the norms of societal expectations. I studied theology and counselling between 2001 – 2003, which I found allowed me to begin to face myself and know something of what it is to step into the unknown of relationships. I found that the same theology that spoke of the complexities in interpreting scripture, that allowed me to engage with theologians, psychoanalysts and psychologists and helped me to enter into the inherent subjectivity of being me and relating to existence, also spoke to me of seeking God in the face of the excluded. When I left studying I found a job in a needle exchange working with injecting drug users; it seemed to fit something of what I knew enough of for me to feel safe, whilst being a space where I felt my faith could be explored. The first time one of my clients died I collapsed. I remember sitting idly in a coffee shop numb from crying and not knowing or wanting to know anything anymore. Death had been around in my past when friends had overdosed, but death, such needless death in the light of what could have been, seemed more real now, more deadly even. I didn’t really notice the tears that day and the experience was anything but meaningful. Hard and absent reality seemed to crush in like darkness that tore at me and took my happiness as it stole my connection to my client. It was overwhelming, and I raged against everything.

‘IT WAS THEOLOGY, BROKEN, BUT STILL BELIEVING THAT IN JESUS THE CHARACTER Of GOD IS TRULY REVEALED’

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It was theology, broken, but still believing that in Jesus the character of God is truly revealed and that in the face of Jesus there was space for profound loss and tears which allowed me to cry and try to be present to the friends and family of my client. Over the years many have died and many have incredibly found new ways of making sense of the world without the felt need of destructive patterns of living. I have found myself during a work day often sitting alone and crying, texting a friend for some sense of someone being there in those moments, unable to communicate as fully as I would want but needing some sense of connection. The counselling world involves helpful ways of being open to being open to others regularly through peer groups, supervision and personal counselling. A community of people seeking to engage as deeply as they are able so they have space for the brokenness they seek to work within. And I have also found myself praying. They feel half thought prayers often, almost an unwelcome interruption to the sorrow, isolation and need for ongoing work on my own character formation as each person shows me more of myself. Cries of lament, born out of a place where I find the cross to be meaningful in a way that books don’t seem to get to the heart of despite their good attempts. I find increasingly that poetry allows me to enter into the edges of my experience of life, reminding me of all that I miss of the world and of my faith. In the poem Return Journey, Rowan Williams writes, Grace yes, but damnation too dissolves In place, so it is not the future But the past we know to be incredible, Eluding the imagination: unmoved mover Of uncomprehending souls, shaping the mind (2003: 16)

‘from him, through him, and in him we have our being’ mind the creation of space for the connections between peoples’ broken relationships and within peoples’ broken selves to reconnect and find fresh meaning in God. And in this I find ways to begin to make my own connections with others and myself too; as if in a community formed by love there is space for profound and destabilised people who allow the overhwhelming of the passion of God to enter into their being overwhelmed by the horrors and complexities of life and themselves.

As the Apostle Paul says, ‘from him, through him, and in him we have our being’ (Romans 11: 36). And this is why the place of counselling in the broad sense of the word in the Church matters to me. It matters because the Church is a network of broken beings attempting to reflect Jesus by loving one another with a love that allows Christ’s love to be seen, and those outside the Church to experience the very fragrance of God. Tears, counselling, theology and the very character of God in the face of Jesus. The metaphor of faith as a journey can mean many things, but I find that the journey involves moving paradoxically towards the unknowingness of God in the face of Jesus. This involves every way that we live, breathe and have our being being constantly reflected back to us by our brothers and sisters as we are gifted by one another, allowing us to re-enter the world as gift to those around us. RICHARD PICKLES

The words strike me of that utter beyondness of that which Christians refer to as God. The one that casts the imagination in new light, constantly destabilising any stable sense of self in the light of an utter beyondness and intimacy that is present in Christ. The unmoved mover that Rowan Williams speaks of, to me calls to

Theology and Counselling Diploma Level Tutor and an accredited counsellor with the British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists. (Williams, R. (2003) The poems of Rowan Williams, Oxford: The Perpetua Press).

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hether expressed or unexpressed, this sentiment reigns unchallenged in many Christian hearts. There even seems to be a certain pride at times, as if, astonishingly, Christian spirituality could be measured in terms of one’s avoidance of theology! Bible seminaries get called ‘Bible cemeteries’ and some dare to suggest, ‘Don’t try to understand it—don’t try to think it through; just believe it!’ What’s going on here? Well, there may be several factors at work. Of course, anti-intellectualism plays its part. We all know what Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:20-21), don’t we?! But when Paul wrote this, and when Tertullian asked, ‘What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?’ they were not being anti-intellectual. They had other concerns to pursue. We need, in contrast, to think through what Jesus actually meant when he charged us with the need to love God with our whole minds (Mark 12:30).

can draw nearer to God!’ It may surprise you to read that there were moments while I researched for my PhD in theology that were for me profound worship experiences. I came closer to God through this research - I understood something of God’s mysterious ways that I had not encountered before. And I adored.

I love theology - precisely because I love God. I love thinking about the one I adore. Theology is not the study of a topic. It is gazing at a Person. Theologians real theologians - love God.

‘I love theology - precisely because I love God. I love thinking about the one I adore. Theology is not the study of a topic. It is gazing at a Person.’

Sometimes the culprit is a pragmatism that sees theology simply as a means to an end: ‘I need to study theology so that I can . . .’ But Moltmann has told us, loud and clear, to avoid that folly. Theology is about wonder, about worship, as much as it is about practice (The Trinity and the Kingdom, pp. 5-9). There is the danger, too, of a pneumatism that says, ‘We need to learn truth by the Spirit. What place does the mind hold in that process? Aren’t God’s ways often profoundly contrary to merely human wisdom?” However, the Spirit is no enemy to the sanctified mind. A mind saturated by the truth of God will be open to the things of the Spirit, and vice versa. In direct contrast to cries of ‘God, please, but no theology,’ I want to cry, ‘Give me theology so I

WILLIAM ATKINSON Introducing new faculty member, William Atkinson. William has recently joined LST faculty as Vice-Principal (Academic) and Director of Research. He is also LST’s first Senior Lecturer in Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies. He became a Christian in his teens and has never looked back. Describing himself as ‘someone who simply adores God,’ William is deeply committed to Jesus Christ and his kingdom, and wants this to shape all his values and priorities. Though he started adult life working for the National Health Service as a junior doctor, he soon went to Bible college and prepared for churchbased ministry. He now has over twenty years’ experience in church leadership and theological education, serving for many years as a minister at Kensington Temple in London and then as Principal at Regents Theological College. He arrives at LST with a passion to see God’s kingdom expressed in all that LST stands for and pursues. He has no time for dry intellectualism or empty theories. LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

t was on a typical summer’s evening at a typical Christian youth festival. Young people of all varieties were gathered together to hear the evening preach, some more reluctantly than others, myself included. We awkwardly stood around during the energetic worship and laughed with each other at the extravagant dancing that was taking place in front of the screen where the words were projected. We then sat and rolled our eyes as the preacher took to the stage

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in an effort to get us all to convert, even though the previous 3 evenings had tried a similar thing with little effect. Instead, I started to scan the room to see if there were any ladies around that I was yet to introduce myself to. 40 minutes later, however, I was an emotional wreck. Standing at the front of the room near the stage, I looked around to see many others, possibly hundreds doing the same, many of the people I’d previously been laughing with, looking around with the same sort of expression my face no doubt conveyed. We’d been converted. We were in the family. We were Christians. Or were we? For half an hour we’d sat through the preacher doing a routine of highly amusing personal stories, mixed with heart tugging emotional points and with some biblical application. Interesting stuff, but nothing too revolutionary. Then with time running out, the preacher reached his crescendo.

‘My conversion came from a complete place of fear. A fear that if I didn’t become a Christian I faced an eternity of fiery damnation in the pits of hell’ ‘What happens tonight when you leave here? What happens if when on your way home you are hit by a bus? Do you know where you are going? Do you know that you are saved? Do you know that you’re not going to hell? It’s not too late to change that. You can stop yourself going to hell by becoming a Christian right now!’ Deafening silence, quickly followed by a stampede towards the stage, an event rarely seen elsewhere other than a Justin Bieber gig, and within moments I was a Christian.

My conversion, and I fully realise this now, came from a complete place of fear. A fear that if I didn’t become a Christian I faced an eternity of fiery damnation in the pits of hell while my friends played harps and sat on clouds mocking me from afar. Now we could spend a long time debating the ‘turn or burn’ attitude of preaching, but more interesting is how the idea of hell has become a prominent idea in Christianity recently. For many it all started with Rob Bell and his (now infamous) book, Love Wins. Described by LST’s very own Professor of Historical Theology, Tony Lane as ‘a mediocre book that was brilliantly marketed,’ Love Wins asked lots of questions and got the debate rolling on whether Bell was perhaps a Universalist, and what actually hell is in the first place. Perhaps as a direct response to this we’ve also had Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle’s Erasing Hell, where ‘Chan and Sprinkle emphasise the need to submit to the teaching of Scripture even where

that most offends our modern sensibilities’ (see review on page 30), meaning that not everyone is saved, and therefore for some hell does indeed wait.

Popular culture has not been immune to discussing hell either, and it’s usually the atheists who live best by the mantra ‘theology is everything’ in their writing. Phillip Pullman crafted an engaging and unique spin on hell in his Dark Materials trilogy while more recently; Iain M. Banks has produced Surface Detail where hell is at the forefront and driving force behind his novel. Banks novel is set firmly in a well realised future where many civilisations are able to record ‘mindstates’, places to where old minds can find new bodies and disembodied minds can inhabit virtual environments. Banks suggests that in the future, some civilisations would create afterlives. And inevitably, some civilizations would create hells as well as heavens. At first this may seem rather shocking, but Bank’s conclusion is pretty persuasive. The suggestion that some cultures with enough resources would therefore create places of torment with which to threaten their populations as a moral deterrent feels all too possible. What follows is an explosive all out war over the fate of these various hells where the needs of individuals and the needs of the many are in constant conflict. It’s an excellent read and prompts some really interesting questions to go away and ponder, and then to discuss relentlessly.

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So where do we stand? Where does the debate head to next? Part of it will lie in what your current understanding of hell is. Are we simply moral people, and indeed, are we only moral Christians because of the fear of spending eternity in hell? There are a number of theories about what hell actually is and what we have to do to avoid getting there - or indeed whether hell even exists in the first place. There are many theories about hell out there seemingly pointing to the fact that Christians don’t agree on the subject. Annihilationist theory argues that God will eventually destroy or annihilate the bad, leaving others to live on in immortality. Other apologists argue that hell exists because of free will, and that hell is a choice we make rather than a punishment inflicted on us. Apologist Jonathan L. Kvanvig wrote: ‘CS Lewis believes that the doors of hell are locked from the inside rather than from the outside. Thus, according to Lewis, if escape from hell never happens, it is not because God is not willing that it should happen. Instead, residence in hell is eternal because that is just what persons in hell have chosen for themselves.’

Responding to the idea that some may never hear the gospel and therefore have a chance to be a Christian, apologist Dave Hunt argues: ‘We may rest assured that no one will suffer in hell who could by any means have been won to Christ in this life. God leaves no stone unturned to rescue all who would respond to the convicting and wooing of the Holy Spirit.’ How does the idea of somebody, lets say someone who has led a particularly immoral life, converting on their death bed to Christianity fully and thus avoiding hell, stand in our understanding of our faith? Is this

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fair, and if so, why believe right now? Add into the mix the idea of universalism, brought to the forefront of the argument via Bell’s recent book and the idea that perhaps hell is a construct to keep us acting obediently, and we are left with a spicy cocktail that many would struggle to drink. Perhaps you find yourself agreeing with Blaise Pascal who, in a theory termed ‘Pascal’s wager,’ offered that it’s in our best interest to believe in a God for ‘If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing.’ Do we believe in hell just in case? Is this enough to start building a faith on, is it an inescapable part of the Christian faith, or is it time we reconsidered everything?

So where do we go from here? If it’s reading material you require then you’re in luck as there is plenty out there. Read Bell and Chan’s new material, engross yourself in Iain M. Banks, Surface Detail, and get the conversation started. Theology is everything; our culture is embedded in it. Plato once quoted Socrates as saying ‘the unexamined life isn’t worth living.’ Perhaps it’s about time we started examining our faith as part of the culture we live in - after all, it may just stop us from going to hell. Happy reading – and debating… Tom Wade Tom is a religious educator who is immersed in contemporary culture - he speaks at GreenBelt and writes for several publications including YouthWork Magazine.

ction by action, we build our character. Whether in public, or in private, what we do is both a revelation and a construction of who we are. In a mediarich world, there seems to be a feeling that we can hide behind the illusion of anonymity, and be different people in different places and times. Our actions are without consequence. Here I’m a ruthless business tycoon; there I am a gentle lover. Here I hack into your private information, but there I would never ask you to tell me something that is none of my business. I can do some calculating things, but I am a good person at the end of the day. The notion of a world free of responsibility, free of consequences doesn’t square with the best of human reasoning, let alone with a Christian understanding of ethics. In one Aesop fable, the birds are warned by the swallow to eat the hemp seeds before the seeds grow up into plants that are woven into nets that will be used to catch them: Destroy the seeds of destruction or they will destroy you. Oscar Wilde, at the end of his life, noted his experience of this reality: ‘I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber one has some day to cry aloud on the housetops.’ I hope none of those caught up in the current scandal are genuinely surprised that their actions have come back to haunt them. Even business leaders over recent years have been calling for more ethical teaching in MBA programmes because graduates were failing not to exhibit appropriate

business skills, but failed to grasp the importance of honesty and integrity. Yet it takes more than knowledge of ethics to make an ethical person. It takes the tough discipline of subjecting every action to a standard that is higher than yourself. It takes more than a decision, though certainly not less; it takes the very formation of a person. And so we really do reap what we sow. Maybe that is why the apostle Paul encouraged the Galatians not to grow weary in doing what is right. Perhaps he knew how frustrated people might become when they constantly finish last because the more ruthless players fix the rules to their own advantage. Perhaps he knew the temptation to give in, just once or twice, just a little. But instead, he challenges us to forget about selfinterest, and persist in helping everyone as we have opportunity. Because in time, perhaps after a long, long time, and well out of sight, we will reap a good, enduring harvest. This is the potential of a good character, well formed. The long term reward comes from doing the right thing in secret as well as in the open, rather than using your power and influence for personal or professional gain: Now that’s a number worth hacking into. Sadly, the temptations of power are usually too great. Number by number, call-by-call, character is corrupted. And everyone loses. Anna Robbins Senior Lecturer in Theology and Contemporary Culture.

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

Can you lose your salvation? Does a one-time commitment count even when people consciously turn against it or can people actually lose their salvation?

he debate over the loss of salvation is not simple. It feeds on a variety of deeper theological interpretations like those on predestination and free will. Those in a sturdy ‘predestination camp’ believe that if God has saved us there is nothing we can do to change that. Those who lean towards the scriptural emphasis on free will tend instead to leave room for the possibility of man ‘letting go’ of the saving hand of God. Differing views on the role of faith and works also come into play. Views on the seriousness of sin and the extent of grace are also important. Those with a larger vision of sin are more ready to entertain the possibility of losing salvation than those who see nothing but grace.

blessing, being discarded for service or being punished. Second, if there is no fruit, there is no life. Jesus was very severe with fruitless trees (Mark 11:14) and warned against building houses on sand (Matthew 7:2427). Those who are lax in their lifestyle and live close to the edge need to beware! Third, unbalanced gospels of cheap grace, blessing and prosperity, signs and wonders, or even the ‘simple sinner’s prayer gospel’, take sin lightly and leave the door open for backsliders. Where repentance and the fear of God are included as vital a part of the salvation process, they are more likely to be seen in the daily walk as well. Marvin Oxenham

We can be clear on a few important points. First, we must be careful in applying to salvation biblical narratives that have to do with losing out on

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

Theology and Education Course Leader and Lecturer in Philosophy, Education and Applied Theology.

Each month Youthwork magazine endeavours to answer some of the tough theological questions. LST is often the source of those answers as this page demonstrates. We believe that theology should be put into practical use. To read the full version of these responses visit: http://youthwork-magazine.co.uk/

cAN MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS BE EXPLAINED AS A RESULT OF DEMONIC INFLUENCE?

here are plenty of examples in the Bible of what we would tend to think of broadly as mental health issues. Jesus’ ministry clearly provoked incidents of huge psychic disturbance. Mark alone has four individual accounts of exorcism (e.g. Mark 1:21-28; 5:1-20; 7:24-30; 9:14-29). The people concerned manifested a number of different symptoms ranging from convulsions, foaming at the mouth, grinding teeth, terror, shouting and screaming, to inability to speak, multiple personality disorder, self-abuse and abnormal strength. Sometimes these symptoms, though not all, look to us like some form of epilepsy, though the language used in Mark is that of ‘having an unclean spirit’ or being ‘demonised’. Often the response of Jesus is to drive out the unclean spirit, often with a word of command, but also less dramatically and even at a distance. There doesn’t seem to be a blueprint for how He did it… the picture is complex both in terms of symptoms and in terms

of Jesus’ actions. It seems, though, that the possibility of demonic influence is almost always acknowledged. This is in marked contrast to today when the secular western worldview doesn’t allow for the demonic and tends to be largely built upon a closed system of cause and effect. For Christians the denial of any spiritual dimension is inadequate. It rules out huge areas of human spiritual experience which most of the rest of the world still acknowledge. What Christian leaders need to do is to study the art of discernment as to the real cause of the illness and to ensure an openness to the possibility of demonic influence whilst not insisting that this is the only possibility. Robert Willoughby Programme leader of the MA course in Transformation and Lecturer in New Testament.

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

here were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? ...while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38). GRACE: ‘Grace doesn’t try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries.’ NATURE: ‘Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things.’ Terrence Malick’s Palme d’Or winner, starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, is his first film in six years, The Tree of Life is a hymn to life, excavating answers to the most haunting and personal human questions through a kaleidoscope of the intimate and the cosmic. Certainly the most theologically charged film for a long time, read on to see the various reactions to this film from the faculty and students of LST… And your chance to win a copy to watch and consider for yourself.

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

‘...lacks the penetrating and heart-rending chapters which precede god’s utterance in the biblical account of job’

Now here is a film which will bring joy to the hearts of most Christians. A genuinely first class director in Terrence Malick, with some first class credits to his portfolio (Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line), decides to shoot a gorgeous film, winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, which traces the whole biblical narrative in a more or less modern (1950s Texas) context. And superbly shot it is. The initial impact, which continues throughout the film, is the sheer visual beauty of the filming. Colours seem brighter and sharper, composition is clearly wonderfully thought through. And so on. It is visually exquisite.

But the first thing that jars is the dinosaurs. What on earth is all that about? Frankly it looks absurd, and even more so when we move seamlessly to the small domestic drama which dominates the rest of the film. Is this Jurassic Park with class? Having said that, I must admit that the succession of family dramas are also beautifully done, though in the sort of way that you would expect of a series of chocolate or coffee ads. The central relationships are between father (Brad Pitt), mother (Jessica Chastain) and their young son Jack (wonderfully played by Hunter McCracken). Father seems to represent the dog-eat-dog world of Darwinian natural selection, attenuated strangely by his disappointed failure as a musician. Father attempts to make a man out of his son i.e. make him tough enough to beat the others in the race of life. Mother floats about slightly dislocated from reality and is an object of boyhood devotion. The son becomes surly and aggressive (no surprises there). Father fails in the high stakes business world and an elder son dies at the age of 19. Towards the end Jack (now played by Sean Penn) seems to become an architect, stuck in meetings and walking about the concrete and glass city – all to little meaningful effect …

The actual narrative hardly pulsates and only if you are beginning to suspect a grander narrative intention would you begin to piece together the frankly heavy-handed allusions to Eden, the Fall and hence the breakdown in relationships on all levels. What seems to have happened is that the creative artist begins with those foundational biblical stories and asks ‘Now how can I illustrate this in a modern guise?’ rather than starting with a real family narrative and asking how this is made sense of by the biblical story and stories. Perhaps the key moment of the film comes when we are all (characters and film-goers alike) asking ‘Why is this all happening?’ The answer comes from Job – ‘Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?’ This, of course, is intended to link with the shots of dinosaurs mentioned above, and by the strange and gratuitous outpourings of lava, oceans and shots of earth from outer space. Get it? Sadly the film lacks the penetrating and heart-rending chapters which precede God’s utterance in the biblical account of Job and which give it heft and depth.

Sadly even the positive first impressions become much less certain. Floaty colours and shapes become frankly meaningless. The clarity of the visual imagery is made to convey a version of heaven where all is redeemed. All the suffering of the past gives way to the reunion of the main protagonists on a brightly lit beach. Kitsch. Robert Willoughby Programme leader of the MA course in Transformation and Lecturer in New Testament.

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

LST students give their reactions...

WIN A COPY OF THE TREE OF LIFE ON BLU-RAY!

INSIGHT has 5 copies of The Tree of Life on Blu-ray for readers to win... In order to enter the competition simply email your name and address to editor@lst.ac.uk or call: 01923 456240. The winners will be drawn at random from entries (one at the end of each month) until March ‘12.

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

Steve Parker The Tree of Life is not an easy film to watch, we’re not sure what’s real and what’s imagined sometimes. We feel the grief of the loss of a child, the overly assertive parenting of the father and the son’s search for meaning within the framework of the universe. I’m glad it was made. It’s not just visual and audio stimulation, it’s fuel for the soul.

Taurai Bandawa We are nature. Nature is not a separate force that influences our life; no, we are part of nature, we are a component that completes the puzzle. Without us nature would not be nature, for it would be missing a segment of its identity. Grace is the otherworldly force that is independent of us. Grace is that which comes from God. Grace does not contrast nature but rather grace engages with nature in an attempt to better it. Nature possesses a scar that only grace can mend.

Eve Connolly In a time where so many poignant questions are being raised about who God and where God is in a world marred with suffering and grief, the producers and the famous cast of The Tree Of Life had an amazing opportunity to really engage with these questions.

Dirk Hoffman The movie starts off with a quote from Job 38, God’s answer to Job’s question for the reason for his suffering. Instead of a clear answer with several causes, there is simply a counter-question: ‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? ...while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?’ (Job 38:4,7 NIV). As in the case of Job, there won’t always be answers to our questions but the way of grace, the knowledge of someone who is higher than me but still allows me to live a life which is not permanently consumed by the struggle of nature. Rebekka Ziemann I can only think of it as a stunning piece of art, using all the available resources: from music-rich and dramatic to simple and monotone, silence, light-effects. All that film, drama, music and art have to offer. Steve Creamer The film’s brilliance is found not in complex plot developments or detailed dialogue but in the raw expression of life’s journey and the profound questions that arise from our realities.

Sarah Pillow The Tree of Life will no doubt divide its audience. The big questions addressed throughout of ‘where are you God?’ and ‘why God?’, amidst the pains and struggles of life (with reference to the biblical story of Job), are ones that most Christians can relate to, and is indeed a biblical theme.

Andy Kench This is a brave, exciting and mind-boggling film of epic proportions with the big questions of life all addressed through narrative, poetry, Christian doctrine and some very conspicuous scenes taking us through the depths of time and space. Read more online at: http://www.lst.ac.uk/hot-topics/the-tree-of-life

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

Erasing Hell: What God said about eternity, and the things we’ve made up Francis Chan & Preston Sprinkle David C Cook 2011, £8.99 ISBN 978-0-7814-0725-0

Will all be saved? If not, who is saved? Is there an opportunity to accept salvation after death - either for those who have had no previous opportunity or perhaps also for those who have previously rejected it? If some are lost, what is the nature of hell? Does it involve endless conscious suffering? These are some of the questions asked by Rob Bell in his, by now infamous, Love Wins - a mediocre book that was brilliantly marketed. Half of the Evangelical world in the USA and elsewhere were debating it before it was even published and the secular media devoted significant attention to it. Just as Steve Chalke’s comments on the atonement provoked a flood of responses, so also to a lesser extent has Love Wins. One of these is this present book, for which most of the research Preston Sprinkle did,

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

while the actual writing was done by Francis Chan. They set out their views in a positive way, while also engaging along the way with Rob Bell. They quote extensively from Bell and seek to represent him fairly, though I think they portray him as more unequivocally universalist than he is. The problem is that ‘Love Wins’ asks lots of questions (350 according to one reviewer!) and presents a variety of views, but Bell is sometimes coy about what he actually believes. What is the positive view that Chan and Sprinkle present? What are answers to the questions listed above? 1) Not all will be saved. 2) It is those who put their trust in Christ who are saved. 3) There is no further opportunity after death. So what about those who have never heard the Gospel? This issue is covered briefly in an Appendix of FAQs. The answer is that, ‘there’s nothing in Scripture that says that anyone will be saved apart from faith in Jesus’ (p159); though there is the

concession that God may occasionally reveal himself through dreams, visions, etc. The trouble with the quoted statement is that it would imply that all those living BC are lost, as are all dying in infancy. This is an issue that needs more careful attention. 4) What is the nature of Hell? Here they offer a more nuanced view. They incline towards the view that Hell involves unending conscious suffering, though they acknowledge

that the teaching of Jesus and Paul can also, with integrity, be read as teaching that the ultimate fate of the lost is annihilation. As they illustrate, both views were current in Judaism at that time. It is in the Book of Revelation that they see the strongest indication that hell is not annihilation. At what level is the book written? The main text is written in a fairly accessible way, which should not cause problems for anyone with a reasonable education. At the same time, the authors have made good use of up-to-date scholarship. The endnotes draw attention to this, where appropriate, as does the Bibliography. So, how does Erasing Hell compare with Love Wins? As an exercise in marketing, the latter wins hands down.

I doubt if Time Magazine will pursue Francis Chan for an interview. Again, as an exercise in communication, Rob Bell has skills that are hard to beat, reminding one of Dan Brown. Perhaps we should call him Dan Bell or … In terms of approach, Rob Bell asks lots of questions, snipes at established orthodoxies and suggests answers without always pinning himself down. Chan and Sprinkle, by contrast, state very clearly what they believe and why. No one could reasonably mistake what they are saying, while Bell’s elusive style invites uncertainty, with as much controversy over what he says as whether he is right. Erasing Hell is a restatement of orthodoxy (with a recognition of the ambiguity of the New Testament on the issue of annihilation); Love Wins sets out

Lucy’s Rainbow: A Journey of Hope. Judy Hopkins (with Helen Porter)

challenges with which he confronts us. Judy Hopkins was at LST/LBC between 1983 and 1985, at which time she was Judy Huckle, and current students might like to locate her among her contemporaries in an earlier incarnation on the photographs which adorn the faculty corridor. Judy’s book is a well-written account of finding direction, a life-partner, a much-loved family, bereavement and subsequent hope - not a complete life but quite a saga nonetheless. It’s worth reading especially for the immensely real and deeply felt engagement in the realities of life’s challenges which any one of us can appreciate and identify with.

Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2011

What happens to people after they leave LST/LBC? Perhaps it’s especially appropriate for us as church to abandon the ‘great lives’ approach to history writing and embrace a narrative relating more to ‘real people’. A history of the school which focused on the lives of real people would throw up an incredibly rich tapestry of experience lived before God and in the face of the joys and

to challenge orthodoxies. Rob Bell’s concern is to speak to post-modern doubters while Chan and Sprinkle emphasise the need to submit to the teaching of Scripture, even where that most offends our modern sensibilities. For a passionate restatement of the traditional orthodox view, this book has much to commend it. Reviewed by Tony Lane, Professor of Historical Theology. A pastor, international speaker and church planter, Francis Chan is the author of Crazy Love and Forgotten God. Preston Sprinkle is a professor and writer.

Reviewed by Robert Willoughby, Programme leader of the MA course in Transformation and Lecturer in New Testament. LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

The One Big Question: The God Of Love In A World Of Suffering Michael Baughen CWR 2010, £7.99 ISBN 978-1-85345-572-8

To be asked to review this book in the aftermath of the recent riots - the cause of much suffering for innocent people - whilst also experiencing personal tragedy within my own family, felt somewhat opportune. Suffering has played a big part in my life through multiple loss and emotional trauma, so I have often puzzled over this big question of, ‘Why is there suffering if there is a God of love?’ Also, the presence of suffering in the world seems to have increased in frequency and intensity. Yet again I am hearing the sirens of emergency vehicles in the streets close by and through the immediacy of the media, our lives are constantly impacted with tragedy and suffering, for which we can feel impotent. Michael Baughen’s book helps us to understand the whole issue of suffering. It seems to me to be very much a ‘now book’. This One Big Question of a God of love in a world of suffering has been around for as long as I can remember (and that’s a long time!) and it is often used as an excuse to not believe in God. Baughen’s biblical understanding and pastoral experience enable him to approach the subject in an accessible and masterly combination of theory, and practice. Baughen skilfully uses Scripture by way of explanation, combined with examples of personal stories of suffering. The book has two parts. The

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

first part tackles the big ‘Why?’ question by considering other ‘why?’ questions about suffering, such as, ‘Why doesn’t God stop such things as wars, crimes, injustice, ‘natural’ disasters and illness? After all, He is omnipotent, isn’t He? Oh, and ‘What have I done to deserve this?’ Basically, there are no easy answers, but there are ways to handle suffering and the second part of the book looks at these, through the ‘How?’ question. Essentially this concerns learning from the life of Jesus about the love of God. The Cross, which silences all questions about suffering, is central. I was particularly struck by an anonymous quote, ’Suffering is not a question that demands an answer; it is not a problem that demands a solution; it is a mystery which demands a presence’ (p.19). This for me sums up the book, in that although there may not be answers to satisfy us - at least this side of heaven - there is something about suffering that demands a presence and Baughen has effectively demonstrated through his book that it is through knowing God that it is possible to handle suffering. Coincidentally, I read through this review again on the anniversary of 9/11: a tragic reminder of the mystery surrounding suffering and made all the more poignant for me hearing the powerful testimony of Cheryl McGuinness, on Radio 2’s, Good Morning Sunday programme. Her husband was one of the pilots made to fly into one of the Twin Towers. Cheryl spoke of knowing the presence of God with her through her suffering. Interestingly, she said that on going to Ground Zero for the first time after eight months had elapsed,

demonstrating the depth of grief which kept her away, the sight of the fallen metal frames in the shape of a cross was a very powerful, healing image for her. The intention of Baughen’s book is to provoke thought in those switched off from God and to equip believers to be more informed about this important issue. I highly recommend this very readable book as an excellent resource for anyone perplexed by suffering that they might be comforted, be a comfort to others and that in so doing, their relationship with God might be deepened. Reviewed by Sheila Green (LBC 1972-74; LST 2007-2011) Retired teacher; BA(Hons) Theology & Counselling and currently student of MA in Integrative Psychotherapy. Bishop Michael Baughen (LST 1953-1955) although retired remains active as an assistant Bishop, author and speaker.

As Good As It Gets: Love, Life and Relationships: Fifty Days in the Song of Songs

Stephen M. Clark Eugene: Wipf & Stock 2011, £23.50, ISBN 13: 978-1-60899-623-0

In As Good As It Gets, Stephen Clark invites his reader to journey with him through the Song of Songs, a book which he considers best read as ‘a collage of pictures’ of love, life and relationships (xiv). His focus is not, however, confined to the marriage relationship as might be assumed based on the main content of the Song: Clark emphasises the significance of the friends/community in the Song and draws implications not only for marriages but also for friendships, family and wider community life today, as well as an individual’s relationship with God. He presents his reflections on the Biblical text in the form of fifty daily devotionals which are well-written and engaging. Each daily portion is usually somewhere between three and eight pages of text in length and follows the same pattern: after a quotation of several verses from the Song, some devotional commentary is offered; sections entitled ‘reflection’, ‘meditation’ then follow, before the daily reading closes with a written prayer for the reader’s use. The author’s tone is perfect and the level of depth ideal for the believer who wants a little more content than might usually be offered by a daily devotional. But this book must also come with a small health warning: these devotionals contain some academic footnoting and thus many of us may not consider it suitable for consumption before 8 a.m.! Whenever you may choose to read it, however, you will find within

the pages of this book an interesting mix of the academic thinker and the experienced pastor. Clark engages with a panoply of scholarly commentaries and other works throughout the devotionals, tackling the Song verse by verse and chapter by chapter. He even includes two appendices on the absence of God’s name from the Song and on identifying redemption’s presence in the text. His thinking is rigorous and yet this rigour does not translate into heavy prose. Rather, his writing sparkles as he reflects upon and applies the insights derived from the Song, illustrating them from pastoral experience. Yet Clark does not do all of the reflective work for the reader. The meditation sections, which appear in every daily portion, consist of several Scripture passages quoted in full with references but without further comment. My thoughts on these sections were initially mixed. In part, this ambivalence was due to the absence of commentary regarding why these other verses had been selected. Some brief explanation would have been helpful, as it was not always apparent how Clark felt that his selection of passages was connected with the discussion which had preceded them. And yet, as I continued my readings, it was this element of Clark’s format which came to resonate with me the most. For it was these verses which seemed to return to my mind some hours and days later, drawing me back to the subject of Clark’s focus in that day’s devotional and encouraging me to ‘chew’ over God’s Word. It seems to me that it is Clark’s skill in combining the academic with praxis, causing his reader to wrestle

not only with Scripture but also with its pastoral application, which makes As Good As It Gets stand out. Despite its academic rigour, it is not, per se, an expository commentary and I would not choose to use it as a foundational study resource for preparing a preaching series. But then that is not how the author intends this book to be received. Rather, he expresses a desire to contribute to the recovery of Scripture’s central place in the life and worship of God’s people. Accessible to a wide range of readers and brimming with passion for the application of solid Biblical scholarship to pastoral praxis, As Good As It Gets goes some way indeed towards its author’s goal. Definitely one to read for your own benefit, whether you are pastor, academic theologian or minister in the workplace or home! Reviewed by Chloe Lynch, (LST 2007-Present) Part-time research student at LST, Leader of LifeGiving Church and Open Learning (BA) Tutor. Stephen M. Clark (LST 1969-1972) is Senior Pastor of Old Cutler Presbyterian Church in Miami, Florida. LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

The Forgotten Jesus And The Trinity You Never Knew Damon W. K. So WIPF & STOCK Publishers 2010, £20.00 - ISBN 978-1-60899-631-5

This is an intelligent book on the story and meaning of Jesus. It is the kind of book you would want to give to someone not only searching for the truth of the Christian faith but who can also carry a good read. It is the overflow of the author’s PhD thesis but it is not an academic tome. Rather, it embodies what the late John Stott demonstrated in his own teaching ministry - deep thinking in order to produce simple teaching. As the author reminds us, his desire is not to produce abstract and propositional thinking but a narrative, a story, about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is located in the here and now - of 21st century discrimination baked in the furnace of human selfishness and self-interest - and the need for a solution. That solution is Jesus, the one sent by the Father and empowered by the Spirit. As such, then, the story of Jesus is inextricably connected with the identity of the Father who sent him and the Spirit who enabled him. What is so refreshing about this book is that the missional imperative of the gospel is brought back into its proper setting - not surprising given that So is Research Tutor at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. The book falls into four clear sections. Three centre on Jesus with a final look at the Trinity and human society. We are firstly introduced to Jesus the Teacher. Here, So unpacks a series of antitheses concerning human

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

life, sexuality, marriage, truth and peace. With these he demonstrates the radical and uncompromising nature of Jesus’ teaching. What I liked specially about this section was the fact that So ties the content of Jesus’ teaching with the question of authority: Jesus can teach with authority because he is sent from, and by, the Father. However, and very helpfully, So takes the reader further - to Jesus the Practitioner. Here the reader is exposed to several aspects of the practical dimension of Jesus’ teaching, whether in healing, the kind of people he mixed with, his view of Sabbath, how he related to the outsiders and children. Again, So does not pull any punches about the radical nature of Jesus’ praxis – put bluntly, it offends the religious, and especially those in religious leadership. Little has changed. Next, So develops the character of Jesus. He is the Humble Servant. Here the reader is taken through the inner motivation and character of Jesus. First, we look at Jesus and his temptations and his identification with a needy humanity around him. Then we move into a very clear and helpful presentation of the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Again, what makes So a good read is the fact that he makes all this meaningful and direct. Anyone looking for a good resource for a series of group studies would be hard pushed to find a better place to look - think ahead - Lent groups! This book will be a great help. Finally, the book ends on an exploration of the identity of the God whom Jesus reveals. What I particularly appreciated about this section is the way in which Damon sets the story of God, the Trinity, in

the human need he unpacks in his introduction. It is a humanity that needs to be freed - freed from its own moral referencing, its insatiable selfinterest, its disregard for the poor, and its constant conflicts. This is the mess in which the gospel takes root and shape. This is the context of mission. This is what church is all about. And this book is a timely and helpful push for those concerned enough to read it that there is indeed a Jesus who has been forgotten in today’s pluralistic and relativistic world and a Trinity that has definitely never been known by many. Reviewed by Graham McFarlane, BA Course Leader / Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology. Damon W. K. So (LST 1993) is Research Tutor in theology at Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. Visit www.jesus-trinity.co.uk where you can read extracts from the book for free and purchase it at a discount.

I was away during the summer (and frankly, even if I’m in the country I’m usually behind on the hip new songs), so I put out a message on the usual social networks - ‘What songs have been popular at this year’s festivals?’ The overwhelming response surprised me - ‘Matt Redman’s latest album.‘ Matt has continued to resource the church with some fantastic material over the last few years - Never Let Go on 2006’s Beautiful News, You Alone Can Rescue in 2009 on We Shall Not Be Shaken - but his presence at UK festivals and events has been minimal. It was a good few years ago that a teenager told me he thought Matt was getting ‘a bit old’ (how uncool did I feel!), but this year he has been back leading at the Soul Survivor summer camps, and his brand of thoughtful, engaging and God-focused guitar-led worship is back on the radar of our teens. If your church is anything like mine, your youth group has probably emerged back from their summer bursting to play some of these songs. The problem is, often what works in a tent with thousands of young people, a fantastic band and a PA that could shake a tower block doesn’t quite have the same impact in your local church with Gladys on the piano. And after a while all of those summeranthem albums begin to sound the same, with predictable guitar riffs, lyrics and dynamics.

So I was intrigued to put on Matt’s new album and see what translated to an ‘average’ local church context. The first track lays its ‘festival’ cards on the table, with the congregation at this live recording joining in the seemingly ubiquitous ‘Whoa, ho, whoa-a’ intro - it’s going to sound great in Shepton Mallet, but perhaps not so hot with Gladys. The song continues in a familiar anthemic rock direction, with some fairly confident lyrics that ‘Our passion will not die’ (can we really be sure in promising God that?). The next track, Here for you takes us on a more interesting and usable path. It is a slow-growing call-toworship song, with an atmospheric opening leading into a majestic climax, and lyrics committing the time of worship to God. I could see this being used as a service opener. The only variation from the anthemic-rock sound comes in the title track, which has a more celtic feel and some strong lyrics as we sing, ‘Bless the Lord O my soul’. This became something of an anthem for our LST Worship Connect summer school. One health warning - if you plan to sing it in church, drop the key from G to E if you want to avoid a top F#! This song and Never Once acknowledge the difficulties of life ‘Kneeling on this battleground... Scars and struggles on the way’, which is good to hear in contemporary worship. Meanwhile Magnificent and Holy are powerful declarations of God’s hugeness - ‘Your glory God revealed from distant galaxies/to here beneath our skin.’ Overall, it is a fine album within the familiar contemporary worship genre, and many will continue to

worship along to it when the festivals have packed up. I was looking for some more innovation in themes and music, and didn’t find them here. It would be interesting to hear Matt lead some songs in a more stripped down setting, pushing in to some of the gap areas that contemporary worship usually avoids. Reviewed by Sam Hargreaves, Lecturer in Music & Worship. A published songwriter, Sam co-leads RESOUNDworship.org, a new expression of contemporary worship song-writing and, with his wife Sara, co-leads the ministry engageworship.org. Matt Redman is a Christian worship leader, songwriter and author. He was one of the main worship leaders associated with the Soul Survivor youth organisation. Matt has authored and edited multiple books on Christian worship, including The Unquenchable Worshipper and the book Facedown, which accompanied the album of the same name. His latest book Mirror Ball relays his thoughts and experiences of ‘living boldly and shining brightly for the glory of God’.

LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

Ghosts Upon the Earth Gungor Label - Brash Music , £12.99 ASIN: B005DZMQA4

If you’re looking for something to re-enchant you with the possibilities of mainstream Christian music, you need to listen to Ghosts Upon the Earth. Michael Gungor began his journey as a worship leader, planing a church called Bloom in Denver and travelling with his band. This has morphed into what they call ‘liturgical post-rock’(!), a happy collision of eclectic music styles with some deep theology and a healthy refusal to conform to industry conventions.

Gungor trade in a different currency to most Christianbased music: wide varieties of instrumentation, time signatures, and harmonic textures paint a broad canvas of God, life and worship. Influences are fairly obviously rooted in Icelandic post-rockers Sigur Ros and US Episcopalian lo-fi folky Sufjan

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Stevens, but you’ll find plenty of originality in their use of nylon-strung guitar, choirs, banjo, orchestra, and some great fuzzy synth on Wake Up Sleeper!

Lyrically they mix familiar Biblical phrases and themes with some unexpected, challenging yet helpful insights: ‘Breath and sex and sight/all things made for good/in love divine’ in You Are The Beauty, or ‘Let children sing/even if they don’t know why/ why drown their joy/just because you’ve lost yours?’ in Church Bells. The first few tracks of the album lead you on an evocative journey through the chaos of pre-creation, through God’s speech-act ‘Let there be light’, and on into celebrations of our place in the created order. This shifts into a darker tone with The Fall, Wake Up Sleeper and Ezekiel, before picking up into some resurrection themes as the album closes. Michael Gungor has said this material was written for congregational worship. I’d love to see him lead it, because I think I’d struggle! Perhaps our models are too

narrow, our notions of participation too restricting, our dreams too small. These songs are certainly not going to fly next week in your local church without some serious preparation, but I’d recommend this album to anyone who wants to be inspired, challenged and touched by God in a fresh way. It is an album that grabs you on first listen but really rewards repeated plays, and challenges other Christian musicians to consider pushing their boundaries to even a fraction of where this band has gone. Reviewed by Sam Hargreaves, Lecturer in Music & Worship. A published songwriter, Sam co-leads RESOUNDworship.org, a new expression of contemporary worship song-writing and, with his wife Sara, co-leads the ministry engageworship.org. Michael Gungor is a singer/ song writer living in Denver, Colorado United States. He leads the musical collective called Gungor that tours around the world performing and leading worship experiences in both mainstream and religious venues. Gungor grew up in Wisconsin as the son of Pastor Ed Gungor. He has been playing music since he was a child. He began leading the music in his children’s church, and grew up with his music and his spirituality hand in hand. Gungor studied jazz at both Western Michigan University and the University of North Texas, while working as a worship leader in local churches.

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London School of Theology Green Lane, Northwood, HA6 2UW tel: 01923 456000 email: enquires@lst.ac.uk Registered Charity No. 312778 LST INSIGHT - The Tree of Life issue

London School of Theology Green Lane, Northwood, HA6 2UW tel: 01923 456000 email: enquires@lst.ac.uk Registered Charity No. 312778