The New Testament and The Church : Essays in Honour of John Muddiman

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Somewhere near the end of most of Charles Dickens' novels comes the passage we've all been waiting for where the plot is explained, or, if not explained, at least dealt with in a summary fashion which allows Dickens to complete his text before the deadline. We emerge from these chapters thinking 'Ah yes, so she's his half-sister'. 'So what the lawyers were looking for was the deeds of the house. Or was it?' We've coped pretty well with the story so far actually without the explanation, but it helps to have that last chapter, those loose threads tied up. And Trinity Sunday is Charles Dickens Sunday. We look back on the story of the Christian year. We look back on the very nature of the Church in its ministry. We look back on the shape of Christian practice and teaching as it has come alive and we think 'Ah yes, so that's it. It's because God is this kind of God.' We look back and say 'God does that sort of thing'. And more, 'We are growing to be that sort of person'. We look back to Christmas and think, 'Yes of course, this is a God who from all eternity to all eternity, lives by giving life, a God who for all eternity is joyful in giving joy'. And so, when this life comes alive in the world, we think, 'Yes, this is eternal life. This is the life, the everlasting gift, everlasting joy coming alive in the life of the earth.' And we look back perhaps on Holy Week and Easter, and think, 'Yes of course, this is a life whose bonds of generosity and intimacy are so strong that nothing our sin and betrayal does can actually fracture it. The New Testament and the Church 1 Jesus and the one to whom he prays, the one to whom he gives his life in love, are so bound together, that the cross cannot breach that unity. It is that unity of love and communion that blazes forth on Easter Morning.' And we look back at Pentecost and we think 'Yes, of course, because that love gives and receives and over ows eternally, when its unity blazes forth on Easter Morning what is breathed into us is God's everlasting life as Spirit. Yes, of course, faith makes sense because God is this kind of God, our story is this kind of story, our hope is this kind of hope, our community is this kind of community, because God is a God who lives in giving life, who is joyful in giving joy, whose unity is unbreakable, whose faithfulness unshakeable; this kind of God.' And so also, this kind of humanity into which we're introduced, a humanity that has somehow been drawn into an everlasting faithfulness, a pledge of love to God and to one another that can't be broken by sin and betrayal. This is the life that must live in us, by giving life, by giving joy. A life grounded in a sense of our belonging together as human children of God, that nothing can fracture, a life, therefore, passionate for justice, passionate for the joy of all. Why is it that in our understanding of the Christian life and Christian morality, what we identify as sin and betrayal is injustice, inequality of resource, the wilful hoarding of what will give joy and life to the other, the sense that my interest and my future can be divorced from those of everyone else? We identify that sin and that betrayal equally in terms of the suspicion and hatred that we are tempted to show towards the stranger. We realise that because our God is this kind of God, justice and hospitality are the heart of the humanity that's come to birth through the mysteries of God's action in us. And of course, we broaden it out and we think, 'Yes, that's why it's this kind of Church, this kind of community'. The Church is not a Jesus of Nazareth Appreciation Society with monthly talks and perhaps a yearly excursion to Nazareth. It's not a community that looks back on a great hero and a great teacher, but a community that is here and now constituted in sharing. That's why the sacraments of the Church are what they are; you don't simply ll in a registration form when somebody becomes a part of the Church, we don't have an annual general meeting (well, we do, but it's not of enormous theological signi cance...). People come into the church by being brought into the place where Jesus stands, the place where the waterfall of God's love descends upon us, drowning us and forcing up from our lungs the cry 'Abba', the cry of intimacy towards the source of all things, prompted, generated by the Holy Spirit. The New Testament and the Church 1 without quite knowing the explanation, but then when we turn the pages again, depths begin to open and we understand that there's more and more to discover; and next Trinity Sunday, it will still be surprising and dif cult, amazing and enriching, and the year after, and the year after that, and by the time we've stopped counting the years, when and if we get to heaven, it will still go on unfolding and unfolding and unfolding. Unlike Charles Dickens, God does not have a deadline to meet, and God always has more to say, more to show, more to be, in our lives, here on earth, and eternally. In fact, the 'more' that God constantly seeks to show in us and for us is what drives us on in our prayer, in our search for justice in the world, our search for one another, our longing to see one another's true faces, our exploration of ourselves and God's world. God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, has shown us what kind of God God is, what is going on at the heart of every act throughout the history of cosmos, what goes on at every baptism and Eucharist, what goes on in the life of every one of us -ministers, baptised persons, ordained persons of the Church. We say yes, that's it. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents Preface Abbreviations Contributors Chapter 1. Dickensian Theology and Trinitarian Priesthood: Sermon for Trinity Sunday 2013, the Fortieth Anniversary of John Muddiman’s Ordination to the Priesthood Chapter 2. Old and New Endings for Mark Chapter 3. Signs and Syncriseis in John and the Wisdom of Solomon Chapter 4. Prophecy Historicized or Tradition Scripturalized? Reflections on the Origins of the Passion Narrative Chapter 5. Apart from God: Hebrews 2.9 and the Soteriological Journey of the Son in the Ecclesiology of Hebrews Chapter 6. To Err Is Human, to Correct Divine: A Recessive Gene in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Religiosity? Chapter 7. The Future of Biblical Studies in Higher Education Chapter 8. ‘Before this they had been enemies’: Studying the Bible and Preaching the Scriptures Chapter 9. What Happens When Catholics Read the Bible? A Dialogue with John Muddiman Chapter 10. Church Scholarship, Ecumenism and Politics: Archbishop Harry McAdoo and the Work of ARCIC-I Chapter 11. ‘Saying the same thing by saying something different’: Ephesians, the Church and Vatican II Chapter 12. Austin Farrer: Anglican Genius Chapter 13. Austin Farrer’s Sermons Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors Dickensian theology and trinitarian priesthood: sermon for Trinity Sunday 2013, the fortieth anniversary of John Muddiman's ordination to the priesthood -- Rowan Williams Old and new endings for Mark -- Robert Morgan Signs and syncriseis in John and the Wisdom of Solomon -- Eric Eve Prophecy historicized or tradition scripturalized?: reflections on the origins of the Passion Narrative -- Mark Goodacre Apart from God: Hebrews 2.9 and the soteriological journey of the son in the ecclesiology of Hebrews -- Richard J. Ounsworth To err is human, to correct divine: a recessive gene in ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern religiosity? -- Teresa Morgan The future of biblical studies in higher education -- Christopher Rowland 'Before this they had been enemies': studying the Bible and preaching the scriptures -- Peter Groves What happens when Catholics read the Bible?: a dialogue with John Muddiman -- Nicholas King Church scholarship, ecumenism and politics: Archbishop Harry McAdoo and the work of ARCIC-I -- Christopher Hill 'Saying the same thing by saying something different': Ephesians, the church and Vatican II -- Philip Kennedy Austin Farrer: Anglican genius -- Mark Edwards Austin Farrer's sermons -- John Barton. John Barton and Peter Groves present a range of chapters by leading scholarly voices from the worlds of biblical studies and the Church, looking at the study of the New Testament within and around the Church and the impact it has had and can have on Christian theology. The essays in the volume adopt a style of critical engagement with biblical texts, through the prism of a modern and living Church. The focus of the volume is thus not only upon the New Testament itself, but upon how reading the New Testament is important for dialogue within the Church and within Christian denominations. Among the highly distinguished contributors are John Barton, Eric Eve, Mark Goodacre, Christopher Rowland, and Rowan Williams.