Jaye – yes indeed and that’s a great supplementary question.
It is significant, I think, that some of us in leadership at St Mary’s have been influenced by Paolo Freire and Ivan Illich, never mind some early experiment in omni-centred theological learning across Scotland. We talk about these things in the office when we are designing processes. How exciting it is to find good examples breaking out in other parts of cathedral life like this where we’ve not planned it.
Although the handwriting suggests a single scribe, I suspect source criticism may point to more than one contributor. And instead of leaping (with those who ‘spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new’) straight to the final question, I’m rather reassured to see that the remaining questioners’ interest is more in church history or how things work.
One could combine the first and last questions as ‘Has what happens when you die changed?’. (possible answer: ‘Once you didn’t die at all, but that was before the Fall and a long time ago. Then you went either to a place of torment or to Abraham’s bosom. Then some time in the Dark Ages the options of Limbo and Purgatory became available, but these were closed to new protestant applicants at or soon after the Reformation. For a while after hell was abolished, everyone went to Abraham’s bosom; but now there seems to be the alternative future of total oblivion.’)
A truly heutagogical approach. Now ask them *how* they might go about finding the answers to their questions…
September 10, 2013 at 10:32 am (Edit)
Jaye – yes indeed and that’s a great supplementary question.
It is significant, I think, that some of us in leadership at St Mary’s have been influenced by Paolo Freire and Ivan Illich, never mind some early experiment in omni-centred theological learning across Scotland. We talk about these things in the office when we are designing processes. How exciting it is to find good examples breaking out in other parts of cathedral life like this where we’ve not planned it.
That’s what is supposed to happen.
I imagine a talk about the bells could be arranged.
Um, I imagine they want a bit more bell than a talk about bells.
Although the handwriting suggests a single scribe, I suspect source criticism may point to more than one contributor. And instead of leaping (with those who ‘spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new’) straight to the final question, I’m rather reassured to see that the remaining questioners’ interest is more in church history or how things work.
One could combine the first and last questions as ‘Has what happens when you die changed?’. (possible answer: ‘Once you didn’t die at all, but that was before the Fall and a long time ago. Then you went either to a place of torment or to Abraham’s bosom. Then some time in the Dark Ages the options of Limbo and Purgatory became available, but these were closed to new protestant applicants at or soon after the Reformation. For a while after hell was abolished, everyone went to Abraham’s bosom; but now there seems to be the alternative future of total oblivion.’)