All in update
The School of Theology is pleased to announce our return to regular posting. The Web Editor has been on extended parental leave, made even longer by the pandemic.
In the coming months, we will feature reflections on faith and ministry during lockdown, followed by a supplement to our series on Christian vocation, about the daily lives of clergy in different contexts.
Fr Simon Cuff’s new book Only God will Save Us: The Nature of God and the Christian Life is released at the end of June and is now available to pre-order.
On Match 17, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York called for a hold on public worship. This is a sensible move as a means of containing the spread of COVID-19 and therefore of protecting those most vulnerable to infection . However, it also brings us great sadness: we Christians who regularly gather around the Lord’s table especially on the Lord’s day, come to share a sacrificial meal in which we are indeed united with the risen Christ. In looking around for what to say about this, we found this brief and moving reflection by Canon Dr Grant Bayliss over at the Cathedral: https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/blog/thoughts-cloistered-house
Regular programming will resume on the Epiphany, with more hymns and carols. Till then, here are two images of the nativity.
School of Theology is now on summer break and will resume regular posts on October 16th.
Jean Vanier—philosopher and founder of the L’Arche community—has died, aged 90. Just after his 90th birthday in September last year, he posted this video about his “10 rules for life to become more human”.
We are still on a short break here at the School of Theology. Last week, we posted this year’s sermons; this week, here are the Holy Week sermons from 2017 and 2018 too. Regular programming resumes next week.
In lieu of a regular post this Easter Octave, the School of Theology is pleased to present the parish church’s Holy Week homilies, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, including the Three Hours Devotion.
Contributors to The School of Theology have been busy. Fr Simon Cuff’s book Love in Action: Catholic Social Teaching for Every Church is out tomorrow.
The St Mary Magdalen School of Theology’s first book—Love Makes No Sense: An Invitation to Christian Theology is now out with SCM Press.
Catholic Social Teaching has been described as the Catholic Church’s best kept secret, the fruit of carefully applying the demands of the Gospel in ever-changing social and political contexts. […]
On June 28 the School of Theology in partnership with Living Church and Pusey House will be exploring a holistic vision of catechesis, by examining its relationship to Christian worship and liturgy, the teaching of doctrine, mission and social action, and evangelism. […]
The audio recordings of the Holy Week homilies at St Mary Magdalen's is now available on our Mixcloud page, including sermons for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, the Three Hours' Devotion, the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion, and Easter Sunday. Find them all in a single playlist here.
For the next few weeks, we will be posting a series of short essays on the fundamentals of Christian faith, including Jesus and the Incarnation, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, Scripture, Baptism, and the Eucharist. These pieces began life as homilies at St Mary Magdalen, Oxford.
Downloadable resources from our Learning to Pray series are now available. There are introductions and instructions to the Lord's Prayer, praying the psalms, the Jesus Prayer, Lectio Divina, and the Rosary.
