martinbrown

My RSV Bible of 25 years has become just a mite worn, to say the least. The spine is not broken ..... yet, but the book block is splitting off from the board binding and becoming progressively more fragile. Hardly surprising given it is read every day, and has been my Bible of first choice over many years of pulpit ministry. So I began looking for a replacement. Oh my, who would have thunk it ..... it is almost impossible to replace! The publisher (Oxford University press) no longer print it, so I have to look to the second hand market. Now maybe, just maybe I'm being too choosy, looking for a specific edition as I am. All I want is a leather bound, plain text with centre references and a concordance at the back end. I don't want a "Catholic" edition (?? What's with this, is it blessed by the HF or summat??), nor am I seeking an "Annotated" Bible. It seems that I want the impossible! Why is this edition of the RSV so hard to find? Is it too hard reading for today's infantile Christian? Too well translated for the Fundamentalist KJV waving public? Or .... is there a conspiracy to "ban" the RSV and force everyone into reading such translations as the NRSV, and ESV (with its pc wording, and ridiculous book introductions ~ Moses wrote Genesis, don't you know, let alone the misleading section headings ~Yuk)? So, is this a conspiracy? Or am I just looking in the wrong places? If anyone knows where I might come by such a RSV Bible, I'd be tickled indeed, and very grateful. But I have to say, I spy ..... a conspiracy!

Thanks, chaps! Tariki, you have summarised beautifully the position I have reached. The practice of the presence, is what I aim at. Illuminating. Thank you And seasons greetings to one and all!

Having traversed from Fundamentalist Calvinism (all 5 points thereof) to Radical Liberal Theology, I find myslef asking, What of Prayer? If God be dead, as an out-there, Up-There, Being beyond being, kind of "Ground of all Being" (thanks to Tillich et al) manner, how does one pray? I haven't prayed, in the usual "Dear God..." kind of way in over 25 years. For how can one truly adress the Mysterium that defies all definition, and which vanishes so soon as we try and use words themselves? As for "Worship", same applies? How do we talk of God to ordinary people, and how do ordinary folk talk to "God"?? Anyone care to unravel this unholy mess of ideas in my head? For I would like to pray, BUT...... Who or What do I address myself to? And what should I ask, without asking Whoever to meddle in history, which cannot be done? I'm confused.

Funny you should mention this now, as I am nearly through giving it a re-read, aftre first reading it some 30 years ago! Over here in the UK, it is a foundational read for liberal (= "Progressive") Christians, especially Anglicans. He really rocked the boat! Traditionalists went beserk! Edit to add: Its a quite dense read, although the chapter entitled "The man for others" is not only very lucid, but stunningly brilliant and ahead of its time.

Thank you, I hope that I will be able to contribute fruitfully to this forum. Indeed it is I who am lucky to have landed here.

Hello folks. My name is Martin and I live in one of the most rundown and deprived parts of Northern England ~ Hull. For many years I was a dedicated fundamentalist, wedded to Reformed theology, a proud Calvinist and true to all five points flowing from the synod of Dort. I was also, and still am, an ordained priest in the Church of England. Some twenty years ago a crisis of faith took place. I had attended a lecture by the well known Australian Evangelical Phil Jensen. He was urging us all to be truly radical in our ministry. The word "Radical" stuck in my mind. It comes from the Latin "Radix", meaning "Root". I examined my roots. I assumed my true Root was the inerrant Bible. But I was in for a shock. For I realised then and there that I was worshiping an idol, for the truth was that my real Root went beyond words, let alone any inerrant fantasy. My Root was and is Jesus. Boom! The shock wave of this realisation blew me into a spiritual wilderness. My Theological castle, made of sand, crumbled to dust. I resigned from active ministry and gave up reading and study. I shrugged off the clothing of religion. I roamed a mental wilderness, but could not bring myself to deny the call of Jesus. The Hound of Heaven, unperturbed, stayed on my track. Slowly He ran me down. Eventually I stopped running. Then I began to show symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, amongst them was an awful, mind crushing inability to read anything but the most simple detective novels. This, in a man who once devoured Calvin's "Institutes", John Owen's multi volume Works, not forgetting the thunderous words of Jonathan Edwards. This went on for years. Then I heard rumours about using very small doses of "Magic Mushrooms" to counter the symptoms of Parkinsons. Doses well beneath anything psychoactive. I began to dose myself. Within weeks I was reading serious books again. I began to read Spong, who's words began to draw me back from the wilderness. I became a "Believer in exile". And thus it is I came to this place. Still Heaven's Hound bays at my heel. But now no idol intervenes. Empty, I await the future. What God (?) has in store, I know not. Hello!