A sermon preached by Peter S Heslam at St John the Evangelist Church, Hills Road, Cambridge, on Bible Sunday (23^rd October 2022).

Readings: Psalm 119.129-136 and Luke 4.16-24.

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

‘The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. With open mouth I pant, because I long for your commandments’, words from our reading from Psalm 119.130-131).

The Bible Society conducted a survey recently, in which it asked randomly selected people what they thought was the world’s bestselling book. Responses included The Lord of the Rings, Fifty Shades of Grey, The Da Vinci Code, and the Harry Potter novels.

Some of the people involved in the survey had agreed to be filmed when the correct answer was put to them. In this film, respondents were visibly shocked on hearing the correct answer. Would one of our younger members like to suggest what is the correct answer?

Yes, that’s correct – the Bible!

In fact, the Bible has been the world’s bestselling book ever since it was first printed in English by Cambridge University Press around 400 years ago.

Because of this, it has deeply affected our daily language – words like ‘busy-body’, ‘beautiful’, even ‘sex’. And phrases such as ‘by the skin of your teeth’ and ‘eat, drink and be merry’. Many of us get our names from bible characters.

The Bible has also shaped our calendars, seasons, and holidays. We say that we are in the 21^st century. Surely that depends on at what point you start counting the centuries, as there have of course been many more centuries than twenty-one. This is the 21 century because it is twenty-one centuries since the birth of the central character in the Bible – Jesus.

How about music? The Bible has inspired some of the world’s most famous composers and performers. This includes classical maestros like Bach, Handel and Mozart, but also more contemporary figures like U2, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Katy Perry, Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley, The Spice Girls, Leonard Cohen, Mumford & Sons, and Stormzy.

We could go on to note the impact of the Bible on sport, film, theatre, healthcare, business and banking, politics, and protest movements – such as the abolitionist movement against slavery; the civil rights movement and the anti-apartheid movement against racial segregation; and the feminist movement against various forms of patriarchy.

When I worked in central London, I was reminded when I went to meet with MPs, that inscribed in the stone floor of the Central Lobby of our Houses of Parliament are the words ‘Except the Lord build the House, they labour in vain that build it’ (Psalm 127:1). And when I met with bankers, I often passed by the Royal Exchange. It has these words inscribed in stone above the grand portico entrance: ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof’ (Psalm 24.1).

Words from the Bible are embedded and inscribed in the very fabric of our so-called ‘secular’ society.

Less remarkable is that words from scripture are also inscribed in our great cathedrals. During my London years, I would also frequently pass by St Paul’s Cathedral. And this cathedral can help us think about the relationship between God and the Bible. So, here’s another question: who built St Paul’s Cathedral?

True – it was Sir Christopher Wren. But, did he really build it? Did he help to lift those massive stones on top of each other? As far as we know, he did not lift a finger to move any of its stones. It took dozens of labourers around three and a half decades to build the cathedral.

Likewise, the Bible was not actually written by God – even though we call it ‘God’s word’, or ‘the Holy Bible’. As with St Paul’s Cathedral, dozens of people were involved. It is actually a collection of sixty-six books, written over around 1500 years by a wide range of authors living in different places and circumstances. But God is the ‘architect’ of the bible – he inspired it. As the person after whom St Paul’s Cathedral is named wrote to Timothy, ‘All scripture is God-breathed’ (2 Tim 3.16a).

As a multi-authored God-breathed book that has had deep impact on the fabric of societies all over the world, I hope I have said enough this morning to convince us that the Bible is worth hearing, reading, knowing, studying and living – when we are together like we are this morning, and when we are dispersed in the world throughout the week.

But I want to suggest that Psalm 119 can teach us something even more important. The fact that it is the longest Psalm, and the Bible’s longest chapter, should perhaps indicate that this Psalm has a crucial message.

I think we can learn from this Psalm that the Bible is certainly to be heard, read, known, studied and lived. But above all, the bible is to be loved.

Just listen to some examples from Psalm 119 of the Psalmist’s love God’s word:

I find my delight in your commandments
    because I love them;

I revere your commandments, which I love,
    and I will meditate on your statutes (v. 47-8).

Oh, how I love your law!
    It is my meditation all day long (v. 97).

Truly I love your commandments
    more than gold, more than fine gold (v. 127).

Your promise is well tried,
    and your servant loves it (v. 140).

I hate and abhor falsehood,
    but I love your law (v. 163).

Great peace have those who love your law (v. 165).

My soul keeps your decrees;
    I love them exceedingly (v. 167).

That love of the Psalmist for God’s word is not just love for a book, which in those days would of course have been scrolls. It is a love for the God who is speaking to the Psalmist, and transforming his thoughts and actions, through the book. That is why the Bible can and should be an object of our love. In loving the Bible, we love God. And in loving God, we grow in our love for the Bible.

I think this may explain why, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sales of the Bible in Ukraine have risen sharply. The people’s acute awareness of their need for God in the face of destruction and terror has driven them to the Bible. Just think what comfort, Jesus’ words in our gospel reading, would mean to Ukrainian people made poor and oppressed by their aggressive Russian invaders:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me (…)
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives (…)
        to set free those who are oppressed (Luke 4.18-19).

When I read these words while imagining I am a Ukrainian who has been bereaved, made homeless, jobless, and violated in every other way by my oppressors, I feel a love rising within me – a love like that of the Psalmist for the life-giving, faith-inspiring, hope-infusing scriptures. I find that rising love urging me to go beyond the way I often come to scripture, which is shaped by rational academic study. I find myself wanting to read it more like a lover reads their beloved.

Let me end with words from the seventeenth century poet George Herbert, from two of his poems. For me his poem ‘The Holy Scriptures’ echoes in a very similar way to Psalm 119 the poet’s ardent love for God’s word. Some of its language and imagery (and spelling) is antiquated and obscure. And it is unusual to hear someone to speak to scripture, rather than to speak about scripture. But hear the passionate love with which Herbert speaks to the Bible:

Oh Book! infinite sweetnesse! let my heart

             Suck ev’ry letter, and a hony gain,

             Precious for any grief in any part;

To cleare the breast, to mollifie all pain.

Thou art all health (…) thou art a masse

             Of strange delights (…)

Who can indeare Thy praise too much?

(From ‘The Holy Scriptures’, in The Temple (1633), by George Herbert)

This is not a love for the Bible that goes beyond love for God. It is true that Herbert speaks to the Bible almost as if he is addressing God. But Herbert would not be the wonderful Christian poet that he is if his love of scripture exceeded his love for God – as can be true as much for atheists and agnostics as for fundamentalists. Herbert understood, I think, that God and God’s word cannot be separated if the Bible really is God breathed; and if Christ is the ultimate fulfilment and meaning (‘hermeneutic’) of scripture; and if Christ is, in Christ’s self, the very Word of God.

The second Herbert poem, which we sang this morning, demonstrates that his love for the Bible does not supersede his love for the God of the Bible:

King of Glorie, King of Peace,

                I will love thee (…)

Wherefore with my utmost art

                I will sing thee,

And the cream of all my heart

                I will bring thee.

We only need to look a little further in this poem/hymn to see what loving scripture and loving the God of scripture means for living scripture in ordinary everyday life:

Sev’n whole dayes, not one in seven,

                I will praise thee.

So I want to conclude that living the Bible every day – not just on Sundays – only really happens if and when we love the bible. As we know from the lives of many of the people around is, human beings can live reasonably upright lives without loving the Bible. But humans cannot live for God in their ordinary everyday lives in response to the good news of God’s loving liberation from sin without loving the bible. Human lives are shaped by human loves. Our ‘essential self’ emerges and evolves throughout our lives in keeping with where we place our affections.

We need to hear the Bible, read the Bible, know the Bible, study the Bible, and live the Bible. But all of that springs from love for the Bible – a love for the Bible that is one and the same as our love for the God of the Bible, supremely revealed in Jesus Christ, who in his very essence is the Word of God.

May we say with the Psalmist on this Bible Sunday, ‘The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. With open mouth I pant, because I long for your commandments’ (Psalm 119.130-131).

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Yesterday (3 Nov 2022), CCCW was delighted to welcome Dr Naomi Richman, JRF in Anthropology at Trinity College, to discuss her ethnographic research amongst the Nigerian Pentecostals. The talk was hybrid and Naomi spoke to a full room in Cambridge, as well as others joining from across the world.

In her talk, Naomi explored how Nigerian Pentecostal Christians seek repair and renewal in their lives, after their efforts to rupture with the past and become born again. She considered the ways that a group of Nigerian Pentecostals who belong to a deliverance church re‐narrativise their lives by constructing and entering into new timelines of history after their attempts to break with the past. She argued that this tells us something about the theological way these Christians reframe their role in history, including how their understanding of a collective past shapes their vision of who they are in the present and will be in the future. In conclusion, Naomi argued that more attention needs to be given to processes of repair, repositioning and realignment in discussions about how conversion to Pentecostalism can generate efforts to break away from what becomes conceptualised as ‘the past’.

This fascinating talk prompted a plethora of questions, ranging from discussions of diverse understandings of ‘the past’ and ‘rupture’, to how deliverance churches understand the role of the spiritual and physical realm in their medical engagement.

Naomi’s research on rupture and repair is explored in her recently released article for The Australian Journal of Anthropology (TAJA), which is part of a forthcoming special issue called ‘Anthropologies of Religious Change’ that she has co-edited with Derrick Lemons.

The article can be found here: Richman, N. (2022). After rupture: Visions of history, African spirituality and theological repair in Nigerian Pentecostalism. Australian Journal of Anthropology.

Following Naomi’s talk, the CCCW looks forward to the next seminar talk in the series, which will be given by the Centre’s own, Dr Pavlina Kasparova, on ‘Art Practice as Interfaith Dialogue’ at 4pm (GMT) on the 30^th of November.

Written by Susie Triffitt

Just two weeks earlier than his official “slot” in the Anglican Lectionary (19^th October), right at the beginning of the Michaelmas Term, here at CCCW in Cambridge, UK, we launched our inaugural Henry Martyn Day celebration with an inspiring seminar, “in conversation” and reception. It seemed so fitting to have Professor Paul Williams, CEO of the British and Foreign Bible Society talking about the distinctive mission of the Bible Society; how the pioneering spirit of the 18^th Century is being transformed and actualised in the technologically driven 21^st Century. The Bible Society’s brief has always been taking the words of scripture from the page, to the mind, to the heart, to the life transformed! The connection between the search for truth in our postmodern world and the Bible is as relevant as ever even if the ways of doing that have to change.

Emeritus Regius Professor of Divinity, David Ford (himself a Vice President of the Bible Society Board) then engaged his friend Paul in a wonderfully rich and far-ranging conversation drawing out more themes and ideas.  You can watch it all on our Youtube channel. Link here:

The Collect for 19 October is this:

O God of the nations, who gave to your servant Henry Martyn a longing to share your Gospel with all peoples; Inspire the church in our own day with that said desire, that we may be eager to commit both life and talents to you who gave them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

One of the texts for the day is from Isaiah 49:6

“The Lord says, ‘Is it too small a thing for you to be my servant

To restore the tribes of Jacob

And bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,

That you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth’

It was indeed a smashing event and it was wonderful to connect meaningfully with many of our local supporters.  Paul and his wife Sarah (from Oxford) seemed to really appreciate the stimulating fellowship and scholarship of the centre and of those they met. I admit I have a wonderful new appreciation of Henry Martyn and his faith.

Almost 30 people joined us in person and 50 more online and my prayer is that they were as challenged and inspired as I was by all that I heard about “God and All Reality” and that maybe some will follow in Martyn’s footsteps (or encourage others to) in the expansion of the Kingdom of God…?

Queen Elizabeth II, 1926-2022

The Cambridge Centre for Christianity is deeply saddened to hear of the death of Her Majesty The Queen.

An Anthem

‘Elizabeth the Gracious’

You set a crown of pure gold on her head.

She asked for life of you 

and you gave her long life.

You shall give her

everlasting felicity

and make her glad 

with the joy of your countenance.

(Written by Rt Revd Dr Graham Kings, Research Associate at CCCW, and Honorary Assistant Bishop, Diocese of Ely. Music by Tristan Latchford. The world premiere of the anthem is on Sunday 18 Sept at the 5pm Vigil Service at St Bartholomew-the-Great, London).

Here is the link to the live stream of the Vigil:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYArGJR7248

)

CCCW is thrilled to announce that Dominican Sister Pavlina Kasparova is starting her part time role as our Academic Coordinator on 1st September. Pavlina is a well known member of CTF and has already worn several hats! She has more than ten years of experience as a teacher and mentor, has lectured, arranged events and much more. She is committed to lifelong learning and this spring she defended her PhD “Fine Art and Theology” at Anglia Ruskin University.

Pavlina is a great “federator” and we are sure that her presence with us will be a blessing to our students and all within CTF. Please do join us in welcoming her warmly to her new and strategic role. In her own words:

I’m happy and grateful to become part of such a dedicated team of CCCW. I’m sure we will have many opportunities to enrich one another and all people who join us on this shared journey.

One of our research associates, Hadje Cresencio Sadje, has just published a booklet: Theology at the Border: Community Peacemaker Teams and the Refugee Crisis in Europe.

In this new volume, Hadje explores the role of Community Peacemaker Teams in Europe in responding to the needs of refugees through theologically-informed political, economic, and public policy advocacy.

This booklet explores how CPT Europe’s work can inform a contextually sensitive, socially relevant, and liberating form of Christian faith that is immersed in the everyday lives of people, especially refugee lives. Although it is not solely a Christian organisation, the work of CPT rests on a strong theological affirmation of immersion as a concrete approach to doing theology at the borders of this world. The work of CPT Europe shows how theological reflection at the borderland should not remain academic exercise, but instead it ought to emerge in the context of common people, especially the poor, the vulnerable, and the oppressed.

In brief, this booklet argues that theology cannot be done without taking lived realities into account, and it demonstrates this conclusion by showing how CPT Europe provides a paradigm for doing theology – seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching God – at the borderland.

The booklet is available here.

A fuller description is below:

‘When the EU refugee crisis broke up in 2015, the large influx of refugees shocks the European countries (Poushter 2016). Like America, many Europeans depicted refugees as a “dark cloud” that moved slowly and cover entire Europe, especially extreme right-wing parties (Poushter 2016; Ames 2019). They regarded refugees as a potential source of domestic terrorism and social-economic burden (Poushter 2016; Barder and Ritchie 2017; Ames 2019). Beverly Crawford Ames, a DAAD/AICGS Research Fellow and former Director of Berkeley’s Center for German and European Studies observed how extreme right-wing in Western societies used dehumanizing, demeaning, and defamatory words to described migrants and refugees. For instance, Ames writes, “…Migrants, e.g., human beings who were born across their borders, are called “congenital criminals, lepers, thieves, unclean,” “garbage,” “animals,” “predators,” “testosterone bombs,” and worse” (Ames 2019). Consequently, Ames further argues that these dehumanizing words can cause real damage, especially in policymaking. She writes, “Dehumanizing language pollutes the debate, blocks solutions to social problems, and can relax our instinctive aversion to aggression and violence (Ames 2019). In a similar vein, Christine Goodall describes, “…nearly a decade ago that Western democracies were becoming increasingly unwelcoming, and talked of a ‘tragic conflict in much secular ethics today as applicable to asylum seekers’ and refugees, and that ‘action based on humanitarian principles’ appeared to be becoming ‘increasingly difficult to sell to electorates’” (Goodall UNCHR 2015).

However, many Christian communities and individuals uniquely positioned to stand up against the dehumanization of refugees in Europe (Goodall UNCHR 2015). They are refusing to be intimidated into silence. On November 5, for example, Bishop Ignatius of Metropolis of Dimitriados and Almyros Greece, publicly stated that “…he who doesn’t help refugees & migrants ’is not a Christian’” (2019). He criticized the Greek government for using Greek Orthodox religion to demonize migrants and justify their actions against refugees. He further argues, “…refugees and migrants are Christ today. We teach this Christ … We will be held accountable, if we do not receive him. Only with this Christ, we can truly celebrate Resurrection at Easter” (2019). Like Bishop Ignatius, several Christian groups joined for a common purpose, like Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe and World Council of Churches, to protect and fulfill the human rights of all refugees, regardless of their status (Jackson and Passarelli CCME 2016). Aside from CCME and WCC, however, one of the most active Christian organizations have responded to protect and promote the rights and dignity of refugees is the Community Peacemaker Team (CPT). Inspired by the theology of accompaniment and advocacy (EAPPI-WCC 2019; Lamberty 2012: Bosch1991; Goizueta 1995; Braaten 1985), CPT Europe seeks to follow God’s Spirit as it works through local peacemakers to confront systems of violence and oppression (CPT Europe 2016). 

Hence, this booklet explores how CPT Europe’s work can inform a contextually sensitive, socially relevant, and liberating form of Christian faith that is immersed in the everyday lives of people, especially refugee lives. Although it is not solely a Christian organization, the work of CPT Europe rests on a strong theological affirmation of immersion as a concrete approach to doing theology at the borders of this world. It shows how theological reflection at the borderland should not remain an academic exercise, but instead, it ought to emerge in the context of common people, especially the poor, the vulnerable, and the oppressed. In brief, this booklet argues that theology cannot be done without taking lived realities into account, and it demonstrates this conclusion by showing how CPT Europe provides a paradigm for doing theology – seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching God – at the borderland.’

Wednesday 20 July 2022

“Grief, Resilience and hope Amid the Pandemic“

5.30pm in the Runcie Room at the Divinity Faculty, West Road.

A public lecture by Prof. Charlotte Summers, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

Followed by drinks.

All welcome!

Click here for more information.

Wednesday 8 June 2022 4.00pm BST in the Lightfoot Room at the Divinity Faculty.

“A New Christianity: Native Elites Between Esotericism, Science and African Tradition in Late C19th Nigeria”

Abstract: Christianity in Africa is often perceived as a challenge to its European equivalent. In face of the exponentially growing influence of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement, scholars have spoken of a “re-enchantment of Christianity”. This trend is often seen as a reaction to economic and political crises as well as US-American influences of the second half of the 20th century. The paper will reflect on this European bewilderment with large sections of African Christianity and will attempt to draw a different trajectory, one where this new Christianity is actually rooted in global entanglements and theological positions at the fin-de-siècle. Native Christian elites in what would later be called Nigeria, were very much interested in the debates about science and religion in Europe and other parts of the world. The paper will especially focus on John Augustus Abayomi Cole who is best known for his later career in Liberia but less for his many lectures on African religious practices and science as well as his connections to the Theosophical Society. These lectures were printed in local newspapers and even though Abayomi Cole is a more extravagant figure in this context, the descriptions of his lectures, the people in attendance and the articles in the same newspapers before and after his lectures show that his topics were very relevant for the native Christian elites in general. These elites were looking for a way to found a new Christianity, the Native Church, not only independent in practice but also in thought from the missionary example.
Esoteric ideas on science and religion served as inspiration in this process.

Dr.Judith Bachmann is a teaching and research fellow in the Department of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology, University of Heidelberg. She has published on Pentecostalism and traditional practices, witchcraft between Christianity, Islam and traditional practices as well as gender dynamics and witchcraft in Nigeria.

From Henry Martyn to World Christianity: Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide/ Ian Randall, Muthuraj Swamy and Graham Kings. Published by CCCW, 2022.

Our new book will be launched on Wednesday May 25th at 4.00pm (BST) in The Shasha Suite of The Woolf Building (behind CCCW).

Please do come. For registration (and a Zoom Link if you can’t be with us but want to join in), please get in touch with Rachel, our Coordinator, at centre[at]cccw.cam.ac.uk

It would be wonderful to see as many friends and supporters of the Centre as possible. Drinks on the lawn afterwards, sunshine permitting!