Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
Summer Reading
The summer months are, for many, an opportunity to catch on some serious reading. With the current travel restrictions most will be holidaying at home or elsewhere in Ireland and given the vagaries of the Irish weather, there may be more indoor time than usual and so more of a chance to sit down with a good book.
Irish Anglicanism, 1969-2019, edited by Kenneth Milne and Paul Harron, which was a book of essays in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Disestablishment has been a welcome publishing success. The hard back edition sold out quickly at the end of last year and a paperback edition was swiftly issued by Four Courts Press.
Anglicanism is, of course, one of the distinctive features of the Church of Ireland which is both catholic and reformed. However, the necessary fluidity of Anglicanism in matters of faith and practice frequently confuses and seems to defy definition. The Promise of Anglicanism, by Robert Heaney and William Sachs, from SCM, seeks to address these issues. Robert Heaney was ordained in the Church of Ireland and is now Director of the Centre for Anglican Communion Studies and Professor of Theology and Mission in Virginia Theological Seminary. He is also the author of Post Colonial Theology: Finding God and Each Other Amidst the Hate, (Cascade Books) which draws in part on his experience of life in Northern Ireland.
For those interested in the bigger picture, the new book by John C Lennox, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics in Oxford and also one who has written on the intellectual defence of Christianity, should be a stimulating tread. 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity has been published by Zondervan.
Closer to home the current booklet in the Braemor Studies series is the intriguingly titled The Hermeneutics of Humour: A Serious Look at the Lighter Side of Faith by Ian Mills, curate of Larne and Inver in the Diocese of Connor, which is published by Church of Ireland Publishing. Also from CIP are two booklets by Canon John Bartlett which, in an innovative approach to biblical study, render the Sunday Gospel readings in Iambic verse. The introductory booklet, Meet the Apostles, has been followed by The Gospels in Iambic Verse (Revised Common Lectionary Year A). All three titles are available from store.ireland.anglican.org
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 11am a Church’s Ministry of Healing service will be broadcast on RTÉ 1 television and RTÉ Radio 1 Extra. It will also be available on RTÉ player the next day for two weeks. The service will be a celebration of Wholeness and Healing from the Book of Common Prayer. The celebrant will be the Revd Lesley Robinson, Rector of Clontarf and a CMH:I Board member, and Dr Iva Beranek will lead a prayerful reflection based on the Gospel reading. There will be input from the Chapel of Christ the Healer in Cork University Hospital, where the Chairman of CMH:I, the Revd Dr Daniel Nuzum, is a Healthcare Chaplain. David O’Shea and a small number of singers from the Sandford and St Philip's Choral Scholars will supply the music for the service.
The Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is offering recorded sermons as a Sunday resource for parishes. The sermon for tomorrow (Sunday) has been recorded by the Canon Patrick Comerford of Rathkeale group of parishes, who is a Trustee of USPG, and marks the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. This sermon can be ordered from gwenm@uspg.org.uk
Published in the Saturday edition of The Irish Times