Hi Heather. Thanks for the link to the interview about your (and other people's) conversion. Fascinating to learn that you worked at the Guardian (with all that means about politics, identity, activism etc) and found yourself on the path to conversion (and beyond) from that starting point. I don't mean it as a cheap point, but I did find myself recalling that old aphorism about 'if you are not a socialist by the time you are 20 you have no heart. If you are still one at the age of 40 you have no brain"(!) (I speak as someone who describes himself as non-party political, yet intensely political in outlook).
Without trying to downplay the 'event-ness' of any particular conversion, I think it is valuable to assert that the beginnings of faith (as far as we are aware of them self-reflectively) are better described as an introduction to a lifelong process of being converted, as opposed to a completed re-invention of the person in question. I know you wouldn't deny this, but I think the 'being made more like Christ every day' is a better way of putting it. I completely agree with you that love must be at the heart of it all, and that 'God is love', when seen from the perspective of faith in Christ, is as different a proposition about God, and about love, as it is possible to have when held up alongside secular ideas about love (feelings, needs, romance etc) and the 'spiritual' (feelings again, yearnings for the 'other', anxiety about the future, frustration with the hollow promises of materialism etc).
I am reading 'Biblical Critical Theory' (How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture) by Christopher Watkin (Zondervan Academic, 2022). It is excellent. A very thoughtful but accessible engagement with politics, culture and faith through the prism of the Bible. He is particularly good on the way in which both Left and Right have some of the truth about the issues they are passionate about, while a thoroughly Biblical approach takes those issues to a level that neither of the antagonists can do in and of themselves. It's over 600 pages long (!), partly because it attempts (pretty successfully) to combine history, anthropology, politics, philosophy, and theology into an honest appraisal of the human condition from a distinctively Christian standpoint. I am not aware of anything else out there that would rival it (as yet). Highly recommended.
Hi Paul, thanks for your comment. When I was at uni I remember a Tory peer quote "If you're not a socialist..." about me, and I scoffed. But there's some truth in it. Interestingly that trend seems to have weakened, and boomers are more inclined to stick with their leftish leanings. But it was certainly true for me.
Watkin has written some interesting-looking books. He seems more sympathetic to postmodern thinking than many Christians would be, though I confess I've not read them so I can't offer a more informed opinion. Have you read Neil Shenvi's book on critical theory?
Hi Heather. I think you are right about the boomers and the persistence of 'student purity leftism' in the British context - although, according to a number of studies and reports, in continental Europe the young appear to be embracing (rediscovering?) 'traditionalism' and the political right. Evidence perhaps of the creeping advance of polarisation in the body politic of the West.
I haven't read Neil Shenvi, but will. I suspect Watkin's book title might be a deliberate echo of the term 'Critical Theory' - offering us the Bible's version of what a universal lens of understanding might look like. Interestingly, and somewhat contradictorily, a big part of Watkin's thesis is that the Bible does not in fact offer a single 'one size fits all' interpretive tool for reality and our experience of it. Instead, it functions more like a choir than a soloist (all the different genres, authors etc). No such thing as a 'silver bullet'!
It certainly seems to be a trend in continental Europe and the US, though I've seen fewer signs here? I suspect that will be the trajectory though. Though I'm conservative myself, I'm concerned it will turn into something nasty.
Hi Heather. Thanks for the link to the interview about your (and other people's) conversion. Fascinating to learn that you worked at the Guardian (with all that means about politics, identity, activism etc) and found yourself on the path to conversion (and beyond) from that starting point. I don't mean it as a cheap point, but I did find myself recalling that old aphorism about 'if you are not a socialist by the time you are 20 you have no heart. If you are still one at the age of 40 you have no brain"(!) (I speak as someone who describes himself as non-party political, yet intensely political in outlook).
Without trying to downplay the 'event-ness' of any particular conversion, I think it is valuable to assert that the beginnings of faith (as far as we are aware of them self-reflectively) are better described as an introduction to a lifelong process of being converted, as opposed to a completed re-invention of the person in question. I know you wouldn't deny this, but I think the 'being made more like Christ every day' is a better way of putting it. I completely agree with you that love must be at the heart of it all, and that 'God is love', when seen from the perspective of faith in Christ, is as different a proposition about God, and about love, as it is possible to have when held up alongside secular ideas about love (feelings, needs, romance etc) and the 'spiritual' (feelings again, yearnings for the 'other', anxiety about the future, frustration with the hollow promises of materialism etc).
I am reading 'Biblical Critical Theory' (How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture) by Christopher Watkin (Zondervan Academic, 2022). It is excellent. A very thoughtful but accessible engagement with politics, culture and faith through the prism of the Bible. He is particularly good on the way in which both Left and Right have some of the truth about the issues they are passionate about, while a thoroughly Biblical approach takes those issues to a level that neither of the antagonists can do in and of themselves. It's over 600 pages long (!), partly because it attempts (pretty successfully) to combine history, anthropology, politics, philosophy, and theology into an honest appraisal of the human condition from a distinctively Christian standpoint. I am not aware of anything else out there that would rival it (as yet). Highly recommended.
Hi Paul, thanks for your comment. When I was at uni I remember a Tory peer quote "If you're not a socialist..." about me, and I scoffed. But there's some truth in it. Interestingly that trend seems to have weakened, and boomers are more inclined to stick with their leftish leanings. But it was certainly true for me.
Watkin has written some interesting-looking books. He seems more sympathetic to postmodern thinking than many Christians would be, though I confess I've not read them so I can't offer a more informed opinion. Have you read Neil Shenvi's book on critical theory?
Hi Heather. I think you are right about the boomers and the persistence of 'student purity leftism' in the British context - although, according to a number of studies and reports, in continental Europe the young appear to be embracing (rediscovering?) 'traditionalism' and the political right. Evidence perhaps of the creeping advance of polarisation in the body politic of the West.
I haven't read Neil Shenvi, but will. I suspect Watkin's book title might be a deliberate echo of the term 'Critical Theory' - offering us the Bible's version of what a universal lens of understanding might look like. Interestingly, and somewhat contradictorily, a big part of Watkin's thesis is that the Bible does not in fact offer a single 'one size fits all' interpretive tool for reality and our experience of it. Instead, it functions more like a choir than a soloist (all the different genres, authors etc). No such thing as a 'silver bullet'!
It certainly seems to be a trend in continental Europe and the US, though I've seen fewer signs here? I suspect that will be the trajectory though. Though I'm conservative myself, I'm concerned it will turn into something nasty.