EDIBLE THOUGHTS &

INTO THE WORD:

___________________________________

Catherine Sider-Hamilton:  On a Communion Crisis: Taking the Windsor Report seriously

Our reluctance to part decisively suggests that the way forward is more complex than the ‘either/or’ choice allows; because it suggests that truth and unity may in fact necessarily belong together; because it reveals a surprising depth of affection for this church that is in such a mess.

Ron Dart: Poets who loved the Church  It is rare when studying the High Romantics at many universities to linger long over their commitment to the Anglican tradition.  This prejudice has done much to distort, dim and diminish the full-orbed thinking and vision of the High Romantics.

Chris VanBuskirk:  In Defence of Small Churches An apologia for struggling parishes in the Brave New World of mega-everything.

Murray Henderson:  The City of David

David was capable of great sin – adultery and murder. Here in the Second Book of Samuel the story is told with brutal honesty. Nonetheless, David yearned to see God’s drama of salvation unfold, even when he was the one most in need of that salvation.

Joseph Walker:  Forget the myths

Modern science now offers parents a prenatal diagnosis for many physical and mental disabilities. With the diagnosis comes the option of abortion.  Joseph Walker knows first-hand that there is a better way.

ON THE FRONTLINE:

___________________________________

Churches Ordinary and Extraordinary:  Church of the Ascension, Port Perry, Ontario

Photo: Karen Stiller

They are ordinary churches, full of struggles and victories. Some of them are growing in numbers, others just in faith. Each of them has something to teach the rest. Karen Stiller contributes the first in this special TAP series on some great ordinary parishes in Canada.

OCTOBER EDITORIAL TAP:

___________________________________

Discerning the Mind of God   

God the Holy Spirit is active in many more ways than we dare to imagine. If we want to be able to discern the will of God in particular situations we must begin by approaching Scripture, the Church, history and those in authority over us with humility, wisdom and a genuine openness of mind.

TAP INTERVIEW:

___________________________________

  Photo: Peter Molloy  

Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh 

By C. PETER MOLLOY

Besides running his own diocese, Bishop Duncan has taken on the onerous task of leading Episcopal conservatives into the very unpredictable future of life in the Anglican  Communion.

                         By DAVID A. HARRIS

Quadriga: A way of understanding the meaning of the Bible, stemming from the 3rd century Alexandrian distinction between the “literal” and “spiritual” senses of Scripture.  The quadriga understanding is rooted in the theological virtues (1 Cor.  13): “What does a particular text in the Bible say about faith, hope and love?” The quadriga was used widely in the medieval church for centuries by both theologians and preachers.  The four senses of the quadriga are: 1.Sensus historicus/ literalis: the literal-historical sense of a passage; 2.Sensus allegoricus: the doctrinal sense, i.e., what does this part of the Bible say about what is to be believed?  3.Sensus anagogicus: the eschatological message of a text, i.e., what is to be hoped?  4.Sensus moralis/tropologicus: the moral message, i.e., what is to be done; what does the text show us about we are to live?  Though the Reformers were somewhat sceptical about the quadriga, in practice it was not entirely discarded at the time of the Reformation. 

                         By DAVID A. HARRIS

Does God suffer?

The orthodox Christian answer to this question is a simple “Absolutely not.”  But maybe we need to flesh this out a bit.  If by “suffer” we mean “does God experience any lack, or need?” then no, God does not suffer.  If by “suffer” we mean, “does God feel pain?” then once again we say “no,absolutely not.”  As Thomas G. Weinandy argues (in his latest book reviewed in this issue of TAP), God “cannot experience emotional changes of state due to his relationship to and interaction with human beings and the created order.”  But insofar as God became human in the person of Jesus Christ, as God the Son, he knows what it means to suffer in a human sense.  In Christ, God knows what it means to suffer hunger, thirst, physical pain, and emotional distress, and even death.  Taking things further, in Christ God even knows the suffering present in the distance between himself and his alienated creation: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

INTERNATIONAL NEWS:

_______________________________

Photo: ACNS / Rosenthal

Declaration by Canterbury & Jewish leaders  (ACNS) The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Shlomo Amar and Yonah Metzger, signed a joint Declaration which sets out a framework for continuing dialogue between them.    

‘Not everything is negotiable’ says Abp Williams  By ED BEAVEN  After years of ambiguity and countless elusive statements, Rowan Williams has finally talked frankly to the press about the crisis facing the Communion.

Photo: Lise Beaudry/ IAP     

AIDS conference: Behind the anti-abstinence backlash By SABITRI GHOSH

His use of the word ‘abstinence’ raised boos for Bill Gates at the AIDS conference in Toronto. But what was behind this vehement protest?

Photo: Hugh Egerton 

City of apartheid-resistance is place of much spiritual renewal By HUGH EGERTON

Despite its initial raison d’etre and
history of suffering and injustice (or
perhaps because of them), Soweto is the only city in the world to produce
two Nobel-prize winners: Nelson
Mandela and Archbishop Desmond
Tutu lived on the same street.

International TAP Briefs

•  APA president supports therapy

   treating “unwanted homosexual

   tendencies”

•  Fishermen survive 9 months with

   Bible

•  China jails blind activist

•  American made Nigerian bishop

•  Popular Aussie Bible

•  Update: Connecticut Six

•  Anglican Priest a Hindu

CANADIAN NEWS:     

_______________________________

As you sow, so shall you reap.  The life of Sunday School in the 21st century  By ALEX NEWMAN

Sunday Schools were first started at the end of the eighteenth century (by Anglicans even!), and over 200 years later they’re still going strong. Here’s how things look on the Canadian front of this worldwide, trans-denominational phenomenon.

Pope Benedict warns Ontario bishops

By SUE CARELESS

Bishop of Rome critical of Canadian politicians who yield “to ephemeral social trends and the spurious demands of opinion polls.”

Photo: Sue Careless 

Study: 5052 homeless in Toronto

(Staff) Toronto’s first count of its homeless population has revealed a clearer picture of the community’s needs in Canada’s most populous city.

2006 Atlantic Theological
Conference ‘a great success’ again By JASON HUMBLE

The 26th annual Atlantic Theological Conference was held this summer with over fifty clergy, scholars, students and laity in attendance. This year’s theme was Reform and
Renewal in Contemporary Christianity.

Canadian TAP Briefs

• Jewish Observance and Hockey

• Mysticism and MRIs

BOOKREVIEW:

_______________________________

Confronting an age old

heresy...again

Reviewed by

CRAIG O'BRIEN

Does God Suffer?
By Thomas G. Weinandy, O.F.M.,Cap. 

In the 19th and 20th centuries there was an alarmingly widespread and even commonplace re-conception of God as acting and suffering from within the created order he redeems. ...this view has been taken on by many, if not most, contemporary theologians, liturgists and preachers... Such is the critique of 20th century theology made by Thomas G. Weinandy O.F.M. Cap., Provost of Greyfriars, Oxford, in his lucid and vigorously argued defense of the ancient, biblical and patristic doctrine of divine impassibility, Does God Suffer?.
 

_______________________________

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan.  And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?  There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 

St. Luke 17:15-18

The Harvest Moon George Mason, 1872