book reviews
The Parish – People, Place and Ministry: A Theological and Practical Exploration
Edited by Malcolm Torry Canterbury Press, 2004 ISBN 1-85311-586-X £14.99
Not for the first time, lessons learnt in inner- city ministry can be applicable to rural situations. This collection of essays by members of the Woolwich Area Theology Group all of them Anglican clergy in SE London – has much to offer those engaged in rural ministry, irrespective of denomination. The writing springs out of theological reflection on years of committed ministry in challenging parishes. It’s a good read!
The opening essay by Malcolm Torry strongly affirms the territorial understanding of parish. “[The parish] should be valued as a theological reality. The theological order is God – created order – church – ministry: God has created a world, has redeemed it, and by the Spirit has given birth to the Church to be a servant of the Kingdom of God. To that Church God has given gifts of ministry. So the order is territory – community – congregation – minister.”
So Shall We Reap
Colin Tudge, Penguin, 2004 ISBN 0-141-00950-0 £8.99
This book is so packed with facts and information that it makes intense, slow reading, but it can be dipped into frequently. It looks at farming and food from the dawn of time to the present day, showing where dubious assumptions and reasoning have crept in and been allowed to become dominant. It finishes with a comprehensive plan of action for the future.
Sacred Places
Crispin Paine , National Trust, 2004 ISBN 0707803721 £14.99
Crispin is a friend of Church Tourism and the 29 places round Britain show how a wide view of sacredness offers a wider range of experiences from pre-history to more modern times. The introductory essay is an excellent exposition of sacredness and calls the National Trust back to its roots. Crispin identifies six types of sacred place: places to which spiritual meaning is attributed;
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places of memory; places of immanent energy; places created specifically to convey spiritual feelings; places formally set apart by an institution; and places made holy by the presence of a holy object. The book, like the places shared with the reader, is beautiful in layout, text and photographs. There is a challenge inherent in this book to all those who care for churches – not to inhibit the sacredness in the intentions of the first builders of those churches. n
Jeremy Martineau
www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk
Science, money and power have combined to enforce a worldwide farming structure that is all too obviously unsustainable and yet economic thinking prescribes more of the same. As farming affects us all (we all need food) we all need to understand the facts and not the hype. I thoroughly recommend this book and feel it is one that anyone who wants to develop their knowledge about farming and the environment, here and elsewhere, should try to read.. n
Susan Atkinson
There is helpful teasing out of the Church of England’s responsibility for all who live in the parish and the sense of ownership and belonging that some of those who don’t attend nevertheless feel for their parish church. Both of these are more significant in rural than in urban settings.
Other chapters affirm the practice of walking through the parish – not just to be seen but to see what is going on. There is an analysis of the substantial experience of formal ecumenical partnership in many of the parishes which underlines the importance of establishing and maintaining trusting personal relationships.
The statement made by the church building is emphasized by a lovely quote from the late Bishop John Robinson: “what the building says so often shouts something completely contrary to all that we are seeking to express through the liturgy. And the building will always win – unless and until we can make it say something else.” Rural Christians can all echo that! n Jenny Carpenter
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