I heard this morning that there was a pope of the Roman church who was kidknapped and because he wouldn't agree with his kidnappers about the nature of Christ (whether Christ was like a letter-in-an-envelope as God in the body of man - meaning that He wasn't fully human - or not)he had his tongue ripped out. He still didn't change his mind so his right hand was cut off! All this over details which are blurred in Mission Praise in a way which would make the authors worthy of the same fate had they the misfortune to live 15oo year ago and make their views know publicly. I think that all churches should have classes for the congregation (perhaps offered as an alternative to frittering the afternoon in somnambulance)every Sunday, on the subject of church history, paying particular attention to the heresies of history - so we can avoid succumbing to them. Well, as Timothy said, 'there's more to life than theology', yes, but if our theology is dodgy, our view of God will be correspondingly dodgy, and how can THAT be to the good of the church. On the other hand, of course, we COULD spend so much time polishing our theology, showing it to others, setting it up in a display cabinet alongside the medals for sports, and using it as a basis for alienating ourselves increasingly from fellow pilgrims, that it is literally the death of us (as we would also see demonstrated in Church history of a more recent date) - and that too would be wrong. Still, James tells us 'if any man lacks wisdom let him ask of God' (I know, that is taken out of context!) and a study of Church history, if nothing else, highlights the fact that even the wisest of men in the past have had much need of wisdom - how much more will we.
I started to read 'the city of God' by Augustine. He writes even longer sentences than Dickens, from what I have read so far. He also asks lots of questions (now I see how aggravating *I* must be when I do that in conversation....) mostly to try and get us to THINK I suppose.
I've rounded up my business accounts this mornign so I think I shall go out in the sunshine, with Augustine, and enjoy the tranquility which is reigning in the absence of the 'collective sale' delegation and the plant-delivery delegation.