Irish Times Notes28 Oct 17

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

New Earth Bible Commentary published

Next Tuesday evening a new book by the theologian, Dr Margaret Daly–Denton, will be launched in the Trinity Long Room Hub at 6pm by the Revd Dr Wilfrid Harrington OP. The launch will be preceded by a public lecture on ‘Plant Ethics and the Future of Food Production’ by Professor Angela Kallhoff, from the Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna.

Supposing Him to be the Gardener:  John – An Earth Bible Commentary is part of an effort by all world religions to mine their scriptures for resources that will inspire people of faith to respond imaginatively and generously to the ecological crisis.

This volume suggests how John’s Gospel might motivate and resource a Christian response to the ecological crisis. It shows how aptly Mary Magdalene recognized the risen Jesus as ‘the gardener’ completing his day’s work in the ‘garden’ of the Earth. The Johannine story of Jesus offers his present day followers a paradigm with considerable potential to inspire Earth care, sustainable living and commitment to eco–justice. The Fourth Evangelist believes that Jesus fulfils the Jewish hope for a restoration envisaged as a return of humankind to Eden. Keeping this theme continually in mind, Margaret reads the gospel with sensitivity to the role of the more–than–human world in the narrative and with particular attention to the scriptural underlay that repeatedly brings this world into the foreground. Each chapter concludes by asking how believers might do God’s work in today’s ecologically damaged world and by offering practical suggestions indicative of the reflection that readers of the commentary will be able to do in their own setting.

Following on the Episcopal Church of Scotland’s vote earlier this year to allow, under certain conditions, the marriage of same–sex couples in its churches, Changing Attitude Ireland has invited the Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, the Very Revd Kelvin Holdsworth, to address its AGM on the subject “Full LGBT acceptance in the Church? – Charting a way forward in Scotland and Ireland”. The lecture will take place tomorrow (Saturday) in St Ann’s church, Dublin, at 2.30pm. Provost Holdsworth will also preach at the 11am Sung Eucharist in Christ Church cathedral tomorrow (Sunday).

This evening (Saturday) at 5pm the Archbishop of Dublin will preside at a celebration of the Eucharist to mark the centenary of the consecration of Killiskey parish church, Co. Wicklow.

Tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 11am RTE 1 will broadcast a televised service from St Fin Barre’s cathedral, Cork, to mark 500 years since the Reformation. In Croghan parish church, Co, Tipperary, the Very Revd Dr Robert MacCarthy will preach at the Harvest Festival during which a memorial tablet to the MacCarthy family, who have worshipped there since the building of the church in 1886, will be dedicated.

Tomorrow (Sunday) Dr Kerry Houston will deliver a speech at the 110th anniversary celebrations at the Fuzhou Foreign Language School which was founded by Dublin University Fukien Mission in 1907. Dr Houston, who will be accompanied by Dr Eimhin Walsh, will meet Revd Dr Philip Wiceerki, curator of the archives of the Anglican Province of Sheng Kung Hu to assess Irish connections in that archive. While they are in Hong Kong, Dr Maurice Elliott, Director of CITI, will deliver a lecture at Ming Hua Theological College. They will all attend the ordination of Walter Lau to the diaconate in St John’s Cathedral Hong Kong on All Saints’ Day. Walter spent a full term studying at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute as part of his training.