"And I will war, at least in words (and - should
My chance so happen - deeds) with all who war
With Thought;- and of Thought's foes by far most rude
Tyrants and Sycophants have been and are.
I know not who may conquer: if I could
Have such a prescience, it should be no bar
To this my plain, sworn, downright detestation
Of every despotism in every nation."
- Byron, Don Juan, Canto 9.24
Further to my last post on here, actually both of my grandfathers were Methodist ministers: & my maternal grandfather, his father was a Methodist minister too. So I've got Protestantism running deep in my blood.
This Protestant heritage in me manifests itself in the following ways, among others:
The primary importance of the text.
The focus is on the text at hand, the attempt to understand as far as I can what the text is saying, including the context of its composition -
& then, if this understanding is something that applies to my own conduct or outlook, applying it.
Text has consequences in real life.
This understanding of the text is reached by reference to authorities on the subject if appropriate, but emphatically NOT in slavish subjection to them.
I am happy to hear what the priest* has to say, but I do not require the priest as an intermediary between me & God, or between me & the truth as I see it after due study & reflection.
If the views I arrive at displease the priest, or contradict the authority he represents, then that is the problem of the priest & the said authority, not mine.
In other words, I have the right, & in fact the duty, to make up my own mind on any questions whatsoever.
The more important the question is, the more this applies
e.g. the existence of otherwise of God, the meaning or the lack of it in human life & the Universe.
This Protestant legacy makes me suspicious of authority & of hierarchy - suspicious that they are based essentially on imposture. In my case this applies especially to academic & cultural orthodoxies.
However, I don't oppose for the sake of opposing, & insist on decrying everything. If I think some element of an orthodoxy is correct, I am happy to admit it.
The point is that there is nothing - NOTHING - which is exempt from my critical scrutiny, neither in me nor in the world.
My search is for the truth as I see it: & I don't rule out any potential sources, & I'm not bothered who else agrees or disagrees with my conclusions; often conclusions which are likely to be temporary & subject to revision, abandonment, inversion.
As my experience increases, my point of view changes: & if it stays the same on the surface, it deepens below that surface.
Having discovered some fragment of the truth by patient & detailed research & reflection, it is part of my Protestant heritage to then feel the requirement to proclaim it: however popular of unpopular it proves to be, however palatable or bitter to the taste. This is the Protestant imperative to preach, & bear personal witness.
The hero-figure of this urge is surely John the Baptist:
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."
(- Mark. 1.3)
My urge to preach finds one of its expressions in this blog, in Bulletins.
*The figure of the priest is introduced here in a synecdochical capacity, evidemment.
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Tom Meadley: The Congregation Must Play Its Part Too
The following is a quote from a pamphlet written by my grandfather, Tom Meadley, who was a Methodist minister, called Attending a Service (Epworth Press, 1965). It is taken from a booklet which is a compilation of extracts from his writings called Speaking for Himself (Cliff College Publishing, 1999). [The emphasis in this passage is mine.]
"An essential element in the effectiveness of preaching is in the attitude of the congregation. The folk are not meant to be huddled in pews to absorb passively from a solo performer in the pulpit. Preaching is a corporate business. The preacher is not just imparting a privately received message; he is the appointed mouthpiece of the Church reminding the Christian community of its essential convictions. There is an element in the preacher's effectiveness which only the congregation can supply. No preacher expects to preach perfectly, or to be above criticism, but every Christian preacher has a right to expect considerate & prayerful hearing when he proclaims God's Word to God's People. If someone says that he has got nothing from a service, it is usually a self-condemnation: 'To him that hath shall be given, & from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath !' Our spiritual attitude is reflected & affected by our posture as we settle to listen. Some folk slump in the pew as if to let the preachers know that they do not expect very much from him, & intend to be critical or indifferent towards his mouthings. Others adjust themselves comfortably for a spell of sermon-tasting, sometimes with the help of a sweet - a reprehensible habit, more appropriate to the cinema. Sometimes a preacher can feel a hindrance to effectiveness as he mounts the pulpit steps. Alexander Whyte remarked of a certain congregation: 'It took me two years to get the chill out of my bones'."
The key proposition here is that the congregation as a whole, & its individual members, have a vital part to play in creating the experience of the service. This is surely true also for an audience, be it at a concert, a play, an opera, an exhibition, a film, wherever.
"An essential element in the effectiveness of preaching is in the attitude of the congregation. The folk are not meant to be huddled in pews to absorb passively from a solo performer in the pulpit. Preaching is a corporate business. The preacher is not just imparting a privately received message; he is the appointed mouthpiece of the Church reminding the Christian community of its essential convictions. There is an element in the preacher's effectiveness which only the congregation can supply. No preacher expects to preach perfectly, or to be above criticism, but every Christian preacher has a right to expect considerate & prayerful hearing when he proclaims God's Word to God's People. If someone says that he has got nothing from a service, it is usually a self-condemnation: 'To him that hath shall be given, & from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath !' Our spiritual attitude is reflected & affected by our posture as we settle to listen. Some folk slump in the pew as if to let the preachers know that they do not expect very much from him, & intend to be critical or indifferent towards his mouthings. Others adjust themselves comfortably for a spell of sermon-tasting, sometimes with the help of a sweet - a reprehensible habit, more appropriate to the cinema. Sometimes a preacher can feel a hindrance to effectiveness as he mounts the pulpit steps. Alexander Whyte remarked of a certain congregation: 'It took me two years to get the chill out of my bones'."
The key proposition here is that the congregation as a whole, & its individual members, have a vital part to play in creating the experience of the service. This is surely true also for an audience, be it at a concert, a play, an opera, an exhibition, a film, wherever.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
The Dawn of Sherlock Holmes
The following is an extract from the beginning of A Study in Scarlet, which is both the first Sherlock Holmes novel & also the first story; it is in fact the debut both of Dr John Watson, who is the narrator of the parts of the novel which involve Holmes directly, & of Sherlock Holmes himself. Watson has returned to England to recuperate after his involvement as a military doctor in the 2nd Afghan War - 1878-80 - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Afghan_War), where he was wounded at the Battle of Maiwand - 1880 - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maiwand), & subsequently suffered a very severe attack of what Conan Doyle calls enteric fever, which nowadays we call typhoid fever.
This exchange takes place during the very first conversation between Watson & Holmes, when they meet for the first time in the chemical laboratory at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. They have been introduced by a mutual acquaintance called Stamford, because Stamford knows that Holmes is looking for someone to share the rent of lodgings he has his eye on in Baker St., which he cannot afford to live in alone, & Watson has just told Stamford that he too is looking for somewhere cheap to live, or cheaper than a hotel at any rate.
The first speaker here is Holmes, the second Watson. Holmes is extremely excited because he has just discovered something he had been seeking, a reliable test for the presence of blood on an object:
" 'Criminal cases are continually hinging upon that one point. A man is suspected of a crime months perhaps after it has been committed. His linen or clothes are examined and brownish stains discovered upon them. Are they blood stains, or mud stains, or rust stains, or fruit stains, or what are they ? That is a question which has puzzled many an expert, and why ? Because there was no reliable test. Now we have the Sherlock Holmes test, and there will no longer be any difficulty.'
His eyes fairly glittered as he spoke, and he put his hand over his heart and bowed as if to some applauding crowd conjured up by his imagination.
'You are to be congratulated', I remarked, considerably surprised at his enthusiasm."
This exchange takes place during the very first conversation between Watson & Holmes, when they meet for the first time in the chemical laboratory at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. They have been introduced by a mutual acquaintance called Stamford, because Stamford knows that Holmes is looking for someone to share the rent of lodgings he has his eye on in Baker St., which he cannot afford to live in alone, & Watson has just told Stamford that he too is looking for somewhere cheap to live, or cheaper than a hotel at any rate.
The first speaker here is Holmes, the second Watson. Holmes is extremely excited because he has just discovered something he had been seeking, a reliable test for the presence of blood on an object:
" 'Criminal cases are continually hinging upon that one point. A man is suspected of a crime months perhaps after it has been committed. His linen or clothes are examined and brownish stains discovered upon them. Are they blood stains, or mud stains, or rust stains, or fruit stains, or what are they ? That is a question which has puzzled many an expert, and why ? Because there was no reliable test. Now we have the Sherlock Holmes test, and there will no longer be any difficulty.'
His eyes fairly glittered as he spoke, and he put his hand over his heart and bowed as if to some applauding crowd conjured up by his imagination.
'You are to be congratulated', I remarked, considerably surprised at his enthusiasm."
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