07.01.2013
Certificates Presented for Archbishop’s Course in Theology
Participants in the Archbishop’s Course in Theology were presented with their certificates yesterday, January 6, in the Church of Ireland College of Education. The presentations took place following a service at which the sermon was preached by Archbishop Michael Jackson.
Dr Jackson suggested that too often theology was seen as the preserve of experts. While he acknowledged that there would always be a need for professional theologians, he said theology could not be professionalised “in such a way as to be put in a glass case, shut behind closed doors and allowed to tick on in eccentric abstraction, with the sound off”.
The Archbishop said that too often theology which was badly handled gave “authorisation and ventilation” to extreme positions. “And extreme positions erode those who, with very little thanks, seek to hold the ring of the middle ground for others. They also destroy those whose voice cannot ever be heard. Too often churches silence those with genuine theological voices also,” he stated.
He added that the primary role of theology was not to enable us to polish our private treasure or to admire our personal righteousness. “Its primary role is to disclose the integrity of God as a deeply loving concern for the whole of creation,” he said.
The Archbishop stated that Anglicans needed Biblical authorisation for what they think and do but have never been required to conform to an exclusive Biblical template as the Bible is not an exclusive template. “It is a witness to talking with God, to theology as a world–wide conversation. And this gives all of you here today who have, in your own time and with your own talent, completed The Archbishop’s Course in Theology permission and encouragement to take your own insights with you and to respond with the knowledge and the perceptions you now have to everything which happens around you – theologically,” he said.
He added: “Scripture, tradition and reason are the hallmarks of the Anglican theological way of thinking, of praying, of acting. There is an interplay and, what I might call, an amoeba–like quality about these three parts. And it remains our stubborn conviction as Anglicans that what we teach is to be found first and foremost in our worship.”
The Archbishop concluded by congratulating the participants and thanking Dr Anne Lodge, principal of CICE, for devising and coordinating the course.
The Archbishop’s sermon is reproduced in full below:
Epiphany, January 6 2013
Presentation of Certificates for the Archbishop’s Course in Theology, Dublin and Glendalough Dioceses.
Sermon preached by the Archbishop in The Church of Ireland College of Education.
Readings: Isaiah 60.1–6; Ephesians 3.1–12; St Matthew 2.1–12; psalm 72
You may well wonder why you would explore theology. I would ask you the very same question the other way around: Why would you not explore theology? Theology, at its most engaging and exciting, is talking about God, letting God talk to us and letting God talk through us. Too often, theology has been seen as the preserve of experts. There always is and always will be the need for professional theologians. But theology cannot be professionalized, in such a way as to be put in a glass case, shut behind closed doors and allowed to tick on in eccentric abstraction, with the sound OFF. Too often in the history of the world – and our own time is no exception to this – theology, badly handled, gives authorization and ventilation to extreme positions. And extreme positions erode those who, with very little thanks, seek to hold the ring of the middle ground for others. They also destroy those whose voice cannot ever be heard. Too often churches silence those with genuine theological voices also.
Because theology is about God, theology is about others. Its primary role is not to enable us to polish our private treasure or to admire our personal righteousness. Its primary role is to disclose the integrity of God as a deeply loving concern for the whole of creation. The creation sings God’s song, however dismal the harmony may be at any given time. And so those big–band words like: revelation and incarnation and, indeed, salvation and atonement have flesh and blood for two reasons. The first is that God took flesh and blood to meet us in our own place, in our own time and on our own terms. The second is that the Risen and Ascended God who loves the creation beyond death itself is sensed – with all five senses – through the Holy Spirit in the people around us for themselves, and not simply in what we think we can do for them. One rather glaring example is: children. Too frequently our perception of children’s ministry is ministry to children. I should like the people of these United Dioceses, in a structured way, to explore theologically and practically the ministry of children as the ministry of God itself, in all of their interactions with the world around them. Another example is: the poor. Most people to whom you or I might speak will talk at this time of year, a time of goodwill, about ministry to the poor. Hardly anyone will talk about ministry of the poor. Gregory the Great, who was the bishop of Rome in the years when the Empire had collapsed and what we call The Dark Ages were descending, repeatedly described the poor as: The Gospel. Go back, if you like, into the New Testament accounts of healing by Jesus Christ and by the disciples in the unfolding life of the early church. Those who were healed had absolutely nothing. They had been outcast by their families and communities. They had been given back what they craved most and their life started again as: the poor. We cannot ever romanticize or indeed idealize the children or the poor, but we do need to respect them theologically because there is quite a body of evidence that God in human form did just that. As Anglicans, we require Biblical authorization for what we think and what we do. We have never been required to conform to an exclusive Biblical template. Why? It is precisely because the Bible itself is not an exclusive template of any sort. It is a witness to talking with God, to theology as a world–wide conversation. And this gives all of you here today who have, in your own time and with your own talent, completed The Archbishop’s Course in Theology permission and encouragement to take your own insights with you and to respond with the knowledge and the perceptions you now have to everything which happens around you – theologically.
I have a friend who reads the Manchester Guardian daily. I was having breakfast with him one morning in his house and he looked at me and said: ‘Michael, how can people say that theology is dead? On leafing through this newspaper, there are six articles where religion and theology are the central part of every one of those articles.’ Read your newspaper theologically; watch the television theologically; listen to your I–pod theologically. Relax and let God disclose to and through you.
Epiphany discloses to us something of vital importance in terms of theology. It throws me right into Acts chapter 10 and to the recognition by Peter that all foods, by virtue of their being God’s creation, are clean. Why? It is because the Western Christmas is still very, very Jewish in its range. It is the Eastern Christmas which opens the doors and the windows on the Gentiles in a very clear and definite way. Acts chapter 10 shows us how theological cultures can change – this we need to know and to cherish. Scripture, tradition and reason are the hallmarks of the Anglican theological way of thinking, of praying, of acting. There is an interplay and, what I might call, an amoeba–like quality about these three parts. And it remains our stubborn conviction as Anglicans that what we teach is to be found first and foremost in our worship.
The word: epiphany itself means: disclosure or unfolding, always with an element of sparkle. And Epiphany has to do with what the Wise from the East came to Jerusalem to see – incarnation. It also has to do with the grammar and vocabulary of the story of theology – artefact and symbol. The gold symbolizes kingship; the frankincense symbolizes worship; and the myrrh symbolizes burial. This remains the puzzle of theology and the jigsaw of God. How do these pieces fit together? Why can you not have the one and forget the others? They all together draw us back into the purpose of God in loving a creation which is not subjected to futility but is obedient to finitude in the world as we know it. For this reason theology – talking of God – has to do with loving God and loving our neighbour and with putting at the service of others whatever understanding and insight we have gained about who we are as children of this limitless God.
I want to congratulate each one of you. I want to thank Dr Lodge who has devised and co–ordinated this broad–ranging and exciting Course. I want to encourage all of you to keep exploring and, like the Wise from the East, never to be fooled by contemporary Herod–s and to have the common sense from time to time to depart by another route!
St Matthew 2.6: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.