In Praise of the Wrong Side of History
What we can learn from More and Fisher
This is a shorter post than normal as lots of my time is taken up with meetings in the run up to General Synod.
If I had more time, I’d write about Thomas More this week. He is commemorated by the Church of England on 6th July along with John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. Both men were executed on that day in 1535 for refusing to swear The Oath of Supremacy.
Whilst I wouldn’t agree with either of these men on some finer points of theology, I respect their refusal to swear an oath when they believed it would be a sin so to do. The King required them to say something about his supremacy over the Church of England, and they would not. They did not bow to all kinds of pressure, intimidation and accusations of being on ‘the wrong side of history’. I respect that.
It’s part of the ‘saying no’ theme that’s emerged on this blog over the last few posts. St Alban was an example of someone who did not rebel, but refused dishonour the name of the Lord by sacrificing to any other god.
This is worth bearing in mind as hundreds of Anglicans - myself included - head to York for the General Synod to thrash out further details connected to Prayers of Love and Faith.
I won’t burden you with the details but essentially many of us are being invited to get on the right side of history and approve changes which we believe to be deeply flawed theologically and with regard to the integrity of Canon Law.
The frustration main is this: in the last few debates, almost every amendment has been blocked by the House of Bishops. It gives one the sense that resistance is futile. But it doesn’t matter whether resistance is successful or not. The only measure of true success is faithfulness.
Would that more bishops, like Fisher, would refuse to go along with those who are proposing reckless and irresponsible changes. In our current times, what’s the worst that can happen? They do not stand, at least, to be beheaded.
Is the Book of Job so tragic that it’s funny?
I ask this question to Ellie Wiener, a PhD Cambridge student studying the Book of Job at Tyndale House. Ellie and I have a fascinating conversation about this strange and puzzlingly long book. That’s on the Cooper and Cary Have Words podcast. You can listen to that here:
The Gospel According to a Sitcom Writer
Talking of Job being funny, I’m often finding comedy in the Bible. I pointed out the funny bits in the Gospel of John in my book The Gospel According to a Sitcom Writer. You can buy it via Amazon here, but if you’re a listener rather than a reader, you can still hear the audio version of my book. It’s coming down soon so if you want to listen, now is your chance. It’s free and it’s funny.
One more thing…
And lastly, here’s a fascinating video of Andrew Wilson talking about his book Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West.
That’s an interesting idea; something can be so tragic that it’s funny. I wonder where the idea comes from. Yes, I know. Go and listen to that episode of your podcast and I’ll be sure to learn all about it.
On a different path to what you were talking about, but still in your comedic line, I was listening to a re-release of the podcast from Tyndale House and the Bible Society this week. I now can’t remember which episode it was, Andrew Ollerton was discussing with his guest some comedy in the First Testament. (If it was the episode with Daniel Block, then he has made the case for not calling the Old Testament by that name. I thought that I should give him some credit by calling it the same.)
They have re-released the first two series and now added a third one. I’m about to start that new one. I’ve found the first two really interesting so I’m going back for the third. I’m happy to give you the link if you’re interested and can’t find it.