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  • Unreconciled?: Exploring Mission in an Imperfect World
    Unreconciled?: Exploring Mission in an Imperfect World
    by Ann Richards, Mission Theology Advisory Group

    This book is the reference resource for the 2012 Lent courses at All Saints Ealing and St Martins West Acton. The focus is about making our theology of reconcilaition personal not just a matter of Christian duty. It is all too easy to pray for reconciliation for war torn countries "out there". But what about the reconciliation needed "in here"? What about the Unreconciled in our homes or on our doorsteps who feel left out, unheard, wounded or ignored? How can the local church offer the gift of Christ's reconciliation to those whose problems we are not even aware of?

  • Why Sacraments?
    Why Sacraments?
    by Andrew Davison

    A very thorough overview of the 7 sacraments and their relationship to the doctrine of the incarnation. Davison's writing is accessible, scholarly and succinct. 

  • Elements of Rite: A Handbook of Liturgical Style
    Elements of Rite: A Handbook of Liturgical Style
    by Aidan Kavanagh

    Essential source book for any liturgist. Kavanagh unpacks basic very profound principles informing healthy Echaristic worship.

  • Why Go to Church?: The Drama of the Eucharist
    Why Go to Church?: The Drama of the Eucharist
    by Timothy Radcliffe

    How the Eucharist brings us into slow work of faith, hope and love.

  • Creating Uncommon Worship: Transforming the Liturgy of the Eucharist
    Creating Uncommon Worship: Transforming the Liturgy of the Eucharist
    by Richard Giles

    This book highlights the great richness, variety and imaginitive potential of modern sacramental worship. A must read for liturgists.

  • The Art of Worship: Paintings, Prayers, and Readings for Meditation (National Gallery London)
    The Art of Worship: Paintings, Prayers, and Readings for Meditation (National Gallery London)
    by Nicholas Holtam

    An excellent collection of spiritual reflecions on selected artwork in the National Gallery. This is Nicholas Holtam (one time Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields and now Bishop Salisbury) at his best.

  • Difficult Gospel: The Theology of Rowan Williams
    Difficult Gospel: The Theology of Rowan Williams
    by Mike Higton

    A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the fundamental principles behind Rowan Williams' theology.

  • The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
    The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
    by Richard Wilkinson, Kate Pickett

    A compelling statistical study about equal societies and the broad based social benefits enjoyed in these nations. The numbers are easy and so is the read; but the implications are hard to swallow.

  • The Shattered Lantern: Rediscovering a Felt Presence of God
    The Shattered Lantern: Rediscovering a Felt Presence of God
    by Ronald Rolheiser

    What does authentic Christian spirituality look and feel like? This book explores these very relevant themes and will leave you deeply enriched.

  • Tradition and Imagination: Revelation and Change
    Tradition and Imagination: Revelation and Change
    by David Brown
  • Discipleship and Imagination: Christian Tradition and Truth
    Discipleship and Imagination: Christian Tradition and Truth
    by David Brown
  • God and Enchantment of Place: Reclaiming Human Experience
    God and Enchantment of Place: Reclaiming Human Experience
    by David Brown
  • God and Grace of Body: Sacrament in Ordinary
    God and Grace of Body: Sacrament in Ordinary
    by David Brown
  • God and Mystery in Words: Experience through Metaphor and Drama
    God and Mystery in Words: Experience through Metaphor and Drama
    by David Brown
  • Poet and Peasant: Literary-cultural Approach to the Parables in Luke
    Poet and Peasant: Literary-cultural Approach to the Parables in Luke
    by Kenneth E. Bailey

    An outstanding study of the parables. Kenneth Bailey's profound insights into the Middle-Eastern culture of Jesus' day will revolutionise the way you see the parables. 

Entries in equality (1)

Tuesday
Aug172010

Sing we a song of high revolt

You may have already come across the book The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone. In essence, it is an accessible academic study which draws on statistical analysis from 23 rich countries and 50 US states. The conclusions only confirm what we knew to be rationally true: the most pressing health and social problems of wealthy states are anything from 3 to 10 times more acute in unequal societies. There are a number of explanations for this including the profound psychological effects of inequality. It makes for compelling reading.

But how has this work by acclaimed academics Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pritckett been greeted? Initially, the mood was one of great excitement across the political spectrum. The Spirit Level has sold more than 36000 copies in the UK alone and has been read and praised by David Cameron, Michael Gove, Jack Straw and David Milliband to name but a few. This early bipartisan reception was very encouraging for Wilkinson and Pickett who had intended for the analysis to transcend the “leftwing ghetto”. Alas, it was not to last. The first assault came from the Taxpayers Alliance who labeled it “flimsy” and “absurd”. Next to weigh in was the thinktank Policy Exchange with a report entitled “Beware false prophets.” Right-leaning columnists from the Spectator and the Daily Telegraph offered their poisoned arrows including the catchy description “junk food for the brain.”  

Christian communities should be disappointed but not entirely surprised by this series of events. In the marketplace of ideas, equality has always been deeply threatening. It is not something we instinctively strive for as human beings given that it strikes at the very heart of self-preservation. The Spirit Level and its mixed reception is a reminder to us of the urgency of authentic Christian witness in our time. Proclaiming the life-giving power of “love your neighbour as yourself” is an obligation that will sadly never leave us.

 

 The Christian Gospel is not one of complacency or cultural complicity. It is driven by a revolution of intuition. Jesus’ message and actions subvert the social norms of his culture as well as the illusion of absolute self-preservation. He heals on the Sabbath, eats with tax collectors and prostitutes, identifies with an unclean culture (the Samaritans), encourages the rich man to sell all he has in order to find true salvation and preaches “blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5) from a mountain top.

It is apt that this debate reached intensity in the month we celebrate the feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary (15 August). Congregations across the nation would no doubt have heard the highly recognisable Magnificat or Song of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) during worship.  Though, how many of us would even have registered the radical content of this clarion call for equality. A prayer of the early church, the writer of Luke’s gospel literally puts words into the mouth of Mary. Words that are intended to incite a painful cultural shift and remind the disciples of Jesus that they should constantly strive to incarnate these values.  Perhaps the more modern interpretation of the Magnificat in a hymn by Fred Kaan will help unseat our familiarity:

Sing we a song of high revolt;
Make great the Lord, his name exalt:
Sing we the song that Mary sang
Of God at war with human wrong.
Sing we of him who deeply cares
And still with us our burden bears;
He, who with strength the proud disowns,
Brings down the mighty from their thrones.

By him the poor are lifted up:
He satisfies with bread and cup
The hungry folk of many lands;
The rich are left with empty hands.
He calls us to revolt and fight
With him for what is just and right
To sing and live Magnificat
In crowded street and council flat.