In the upcoming issue of Guidelines
Further information about Guidelines - September to December 2012:
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The Editor writes...
'A personal God' is a phrase some Christians often use to capture the sense that God is not just a 'force' - a distant omni-potent being - but someone they relate to as individuals. It speaks of God's love, compassion and care for them.
Many of our readings in this edition bring out aspects of this idea of God encountered as 'person'. We start with 'Retreat to focus on God', in which Tim Blewett encourages us to deepen our relationship with God. Then Andrew Angel continues his studies in Mark's Gospel, in which we are pressed to grasp both who Jesus really is and 'the heart of God' seen in his desire to bring salvation. Then Jeremy Duff tackles the Song of Songs, a text whose place in the Bible encourages us to use human experience of love as a pointer to our relationship to God. Juxtaposed with this, we find the cross. Here Graham Tomlin helps us engage with this most stark aspect of Christian belief - suffering and death mixed with love and sacrifice in a brew that is nothing if not emotional and personal.
Next comes our regular foray into the Psalms with Henry Wansbrough, this time with psalms expressing much about what God is really like. After this, Jill Duff, a pioneer minister in Liverpool, gives her 'Reflections of a pioneer'. This is part of our continued commitment to engaging with mission. It also fits with our theme, for it begins and ends with the idea of God's compassion and speaks of how we can be sustained through our closeness to God. Deuteronomy 11 - 22 follows, where Matthew Firth helps us ponder what it means to be 'the people of God'. If this is what God is like, what does that mean for those who claim to be his people? Finally Jenny Hellyer gives us much to reflect upon at Christmas - the moment when God indeed 'came to us', shockingly taking on human nature, to speak to us person to person.
Jeremy Duff
Lisa Cherrett writes:
With this issue we say 'goodbye' and a very big 'thank you' to the Revd Dr Jeremy Duff as Commissioning Editor of Guidelines. Jeremy has been engaged in this role since 2004, and we have appreciated his commitment and vision in steering Guidelines through several changes over those years. We hope that he will continue to write for the notes. From the May 2013 issue on, Guidelines will be commissioned by the Revd Dr David Spriggs, of Bible Society, who will be familiar to many readers as a contributor in earlier issues.
In this issue:
Retreat to focus on God
Tim Blewett
3-16 September
Mark 6 - 8
Andrew Angel
17 September-7 October
The Song of Songs
Jeremy Duff
8-21 October
The cross
Graham Tomlin
22 October-4 November
Psalms 89 - 100
Henry Wansbrough
5-18 November
Reflections of a pioneer
Jill Duff
19 November-2 December
Deuteronomy 11 - 22
Matthew Firth
3-16 December
Christmas
Jenny Hellyer
17-30 December
About the contributors in this issue:
Andrew Angel lectures at St John's College, Nottingham and is an Anglican priest. In addition to parish ministry, he has taught in secondary schools and higher education. He has published articles in theological journals and written Chaos and the Son of Man (LSTS 60; T&T Clark, 2006). Andrew is married to Carol Fabiola and they have two sons.
Tim Blewett has been the Warden of Launde Abbey since 2004 and Spirituality Adviser to the Bishop of Leicester since 2010. Previously he was Canon Residentiary of St Asaph Cathedral. He was mobilised by the Army to serve as a military chaplain in Iraq from December 2003 to June 2004, having previously served as a military chaplain in Bosnia in 1997 to 1998.
Jeremy Duff is a vicar in Widnes with a teaching and writing ministry, which has included posts at Liverpool Cathedral and within Oxford University. His writings include Meeting Jesus: Human Responses to a Yearning God (SPCK, 2006) and The Elements of New Testament Greek (CUP, 2005).
Jill Duff is currently working on a research project for the Diocese of Liverpool on what encourages young people to consider ordination in the Church of England. Previously she has been a pioneer minister in Liverpool City Centre and in parish ministry in a deprived part of Liverpool.
Matthew Firth read Natural Sciences at Cambridge and Theology at Oxford. He is chaplain to the Carlisle campuses of the University of Cumbria and is also a pioneer minister for the planting of a new church aimed at people in the 18-30 age-group. He has a particular interest in bringing the Hebrew scriptures to life in today’s context.
Alec Gilmore is a Baptist minister, author, lecturer and Senior Research Fellow at the International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague. His most recent book is A Concise Dictionary of Bible Origins and Interpretation (T&T Clark/Continuum, 2007).
Jenny Hellyer is a spiritual director, musician, clergy wife and mother based in Oxford. After teaching and theological study, she was part of the Lee Abbey Community in Devon for seven years.
Graham Tomlin is Dean of St Mellitus College, based in London and Chelmsford. He taught theology in Oxford University for many years and is the author of several books, including The Provocative Church (SPCK, 2002) and, most recently, The Prodigal Spirit (Alpha International, 2011).
Henry Wansbrough OSB is a monk at Ampleforth Abbey in Yorkshire. He is Executive Secretary of the International Commission for Producing an English-Language Lectionary (ICPEL) for the Roman Catholic Church, and lectures frequently across the globe.