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AndyGoodliff
baptist minister and PhD student
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T & T Clark Handbook of Colin Gunton
Posted Feb 11, 2021 at andygoodliff
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Renewing a Modern Denomination Now Available
Posted Jan 25, 2021 at andygoodliff
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An Interrupted Christmas: A Sermon
I wonder when was the last time you were interrupted? It might have been someone cutting across you as you were speaking. It might have been a happening that interrupted the way you thought your day was going to go. It was almost definitely the way you thought your Christmas was going to go. The emergence of the virus has interrupted nearly the whole of this year. The Christmas story is a story of interruptions. We begin with Mary. Mary’s busy at home, and is interrupted by an angel, to tell her that her life is going to be interrupted by God and a pregnancy. We turn to Joseph. He’s excited to be getting married, then everything gets interrupted by news that Mary is pregnant, but before he can end things, his dreams get interrupted by an angel again, telling him to hold fast to the marriage. Having barely got to grips with the pregnancy and the marriage, both Mary and Joseph lives get interrupted by Caesar and his census, and a journey they now have to make to Bethlehem. Once at Bethlehem, the baby is born, and then as they are dealing with these first few hours, they get... Continue reading
Posted Dec 25, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Reading Jim McClendon 6 with Stanley Hauerwas
The latest McClendon Reading Group was on the final chapter of Ethics on Narrative Ethics. We were privileged to have Stanley Hauerwas join us to talk about McClendon's work and connections with his own work. The conversation look at the place of narrative, the differences between McClendon's and Robert Jenson's systematic theologies, the Baptist Vision and more. We start next month with the second volume of McClendon's Systematic Theology on Doctrine. Continue reading
Posted Nov 18, 2020 at andygoodliff
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A Prayer inspired by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
A prayer inspired by Rabbi Sacks on the news of his death: God of Mercy and Peace we pray with the Persistence of Faith for You to Heal a Fractured World. Grow in us the grace that sees the Dignity of Difference. Teach us that the Home we Build Together should always embody the Politics of Hope, should always be Celebrating Life, and live for the Restoring of the Common Good. In Your Holy Name Amen. Continue reading
Posted Nov 8, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Reading Jim McClendon's Systematic Theology 4 & 5
A small group continues to read Jim McClendon's Ethics (volume 1 of his Systematic Theology). Here's the videos for the last two sessions. We will meet in November to reflect on the final chapter of Ethics and the book as a whole, before in December moving on to begin to read volume 2: Doctrine. Continue reading
Posted Oct 15, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Reading Jim McClendon's Systematic Theology 3
The latest gathering of McClendon readers saw us engage with Part One of Ethics, which McClendon calls Embodied Witness, chapters on Body Ethics, Sarah and Jonathan Edwards and Eros: Towards an Ethic of Sexual Love. A few folk we're saying this was the bit of Ethics they struggled with most, some skipping over, but it was interesting to read it nearly 35 years after it was first published. In the chapter on Body Ethics, McClendon turns to what he calls black religion as embodied ethics. In the first of narrative chapters he uses Sarah Edwards, wife of the theologian and pastor Jonathan as another example of an embodied love. And in chapter 5 on Eros, he explores a theology of eros against the backdrop of the myth of romantic love. There is a sense perhaps McClendon was pioneering some of where theology as a discipline has gone in the last thirty years and while there are questions to ask in terms of his presentation of black religion and female narrative, he was doing something that few others were doing at the time. Amy Chilton and Mike Broadway offer brief engagements with this part of the book and this is followed... Continue reading
Posted Aug 20, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Reading Jim McClendon's Systematic Theology 2
Here's the latest videos that picks up some discussion of chapter 2 of McClendon's volume on Ethics in his Systematic Theology. Curtis Freeman, Lina Toth and Julian Gotobed give some responses to the chapter in the first video. The second video picks up some wider discussion following smaller zoom breakout groups. Continue reading
Posted Jul 15, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Reconciling Rites: Essays in Honour of Myra Blyth
Posted Jun 19, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Reading Jim McClendon's Systematic Theology 1
36 (from US, Canada, UK, Netherlands and Ukraine) joined the first session looking at Jim McClendon's Systematic Theology, starting with volume 1: Ethics and its first's chapter: 'How Theology Matters'. Some are season McClendon readers and some of us are reading him (properly) for the first time. Responses were given by Andy Goodliff, Beth Newman and Curtis Freeman. Some good conversation in the zoom chat, which spilled over into the conversation, around the importance of McClendon's listening tour of (American) Baptists institutions ahead of writing the first volume (which probably shaped his account of the Baptist vision); the reception history of McClendon in America, Europe and UK; the meaning of 'this is that' and 'then is now' (McClendon's claim for a baptistic hermeneutical principle) and a brief possible commonality between McClendon and Ephraim Radner on figural readings of scripture. We will gathering on zoom again on 14 July to look at Ethics, chapter 2: 'What Sort of Ethics?' (The first two chapters are crucial to understanding McClendon's project) and then again on 19 August to look at Ethics, Part 1: Embodies Witness (ch.3-5). For an invite contact me at andrew [dot] goodliff [at] regents [dot] ox [dot] ac [dot] uk... Continue reading
Posted Jun 19, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Sources of Light: Resources for Baptist Churches Practicing Theology
Posted Jun 1, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Making Connections: A Pentecost Sermon
I once read that ‘Christianity is connections’ [i] and it's a sentence that has lingered in my mind ever since. I’ve found it helpful to talk about the church as a people and a place centred on making connections. There’s always something more to discover, another connection to be made. This way of seeing the church is founded on abundance. That can be a surprising way of describing the church, because more often than not what we can see in church is what we lack, where we’re short, what we don’t have. And so to say the church is founded on abundance is to learn to see the church differently, to look what we have been given, what are the gifts among us and that is to make connections again, to draw every person into the picture, to stop suggesting that some of us are givers and others of us are receivers, but instead all are of us are giving and receiving sharing in the cascade of grace from God through Jesus and the joy of the church is the work of making connections. Why am I talking about making connections on Pentecost Sunday? Because I believe making connections is... Continue reading
Posted May 31, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Reading James McClendon's Systematic Theology
Posted May 18, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Motherhood: A Confession by Natalie Carnes
Posted May 17, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Together: a sermon for 4th Sunday of Easter
If we read Acts 2.43–47 I wonder what word is most important after God. This is a short description of the church or perhaps we might say this is a short prescription for the church. It’s full of important words. Here are some potential ones: devoted, teaching, fellowship, bread, prayer, awe, signs, believers, give, home, praising, added. We might say what’s most important is being devoted, its about being committed, being dedicated, being faithful. Your heart’s got to be in it, your body’s got to turn up. We might say what’s most important is teaching. The most important thing is the Bible, reading and understanding it. This is the source of our faith, this is where we find truth and wisdom. We might say what's most important is fellowship, lives being shared, supported, friendships being made and strengthened. We pray for the fellowship found, received and shared in the Holy Spirit. We might say what’s most important is bread, the bread of Communion, the receiving of the bread broken for us. Jesus is the living bread who feeds our faith and nourishes our hope. We might say what’s most important is prayer, the most important thing is a people who... Continue reading
Posted May 3, 2020 at andygoodliff
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6 Words: A message from Emmaus
We had hoped. We had hoped that we would be married next month. We had hoped that she would rally and get better. We had hoped that I wouldn’t lose my job. We had hoped that there might have been a way to forgive. We had hoped that the move meant a fresh start. We had hoped that it would be all over by now. We had hope that he was the one to redeem Israel. We had hoped. Three words that capture a truthfulness about our lives at some point, perhaps today. There’s an honesty in these words, there’s no pretence; there’s a facing up to the reality that we are people who invest hope in things, in each other, in God. We invest hope that everything will come together, that we will find a way to overcome a problem, and when it doesn’t, we know the bitterness of hope lost, dashed. We had hoped. When hope gets lost, we head home. Two sad companions are heading home to Emmaus. Stay with us. Stay with us for lunch, for dinner, or for a few days. Stay with us, let’s enjoy time together. Stay with us or in the language... Continue reading
Posted Apr 26, 2020 at andygoodliff
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A Short Word for Easter Sunday 2
I wonder what kind of week you have had. I wonder how quickly the songs of Easter joy died away in your household. I wonder if Easter itself has felt like no more than a brief interlude in the present difficulty. Easter is a season and yet we often treat it as if it was only a day. The shops start selling off their Easter Eggs and we go back to whatever is normal and carry on as if nothing remarkable happened. Except this year of course for lots of us we don't. In the Easter narrative there are 50 days during which the risen Jesus appears to his followers. And 50 days are only the beginning for these disciples working out how the world has changed and their lives have changed. But we can tick it off in a day. In the church the Sunday after Easter is traditionally called Low Sunday. The exact reason for this is unclear but it seems in part to be a recognition that the highs of Easter celebration couldn't last. It probably fits very well with where we are at the moment. We are still in Easter, we are still a people who... Continue reading
Posted Apr 19, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Seeing the Other Side: A message for Easter
I wonder if you can remember a time when you were not tall enough to see. In front of you is a wall, and perhaps a parent or an older sibling is able to see over it, they can see what’s on the other side, they can tell you about it, but you want of course to see for yourself, so you say, hey can you lift me up, I’d like to see too? Our lives might be thought of as a series of walls that at one point or another we can’t see over, and either we need someone to help lift us up, or we just have to be patient, never easy, and wait until we grow tall enough. Some of us perhaps feel like we’re still waiting! As we get to see over each wall, we find we can get to a point that we can climb over, and then at some point there is another wall and we’re back needing help or having to wait. Some of us find some walls impossible, some of us will always need help, and so sometimes we have to find another way round. Eventually we all meet a very big... Continue reading
Posted Apr 12, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Reflections for Holy Week & Easter
The Baptist Times are hosting a series of reflections for Holy Week and Easter Week in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which I've co-ordinated. These are the ones currently posted, and I'll add the others as they appear. Holy Week — Let us follow Jesus Scattered yet gathered Clanging gongs: the perils of cheap talk Broken and poured out Waiting Footwashing and love Christ died for our sins The day of nothingness Silence in the face of mystery Covid 19: Lazarus or Jesus? Resurrection in the time of coronavirus What difference does Easter make? Continue reading
Posted Apr 8, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Measuring Time with Jesus: A Homily for Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday 5th April 2020 Belle Vue Baptist We are living in strange times, unique times. Some might even suggest apocalyptic times. Time is different at the moment. For some time feels slower, for others there is new busyness. We are trapped by this time, we can’t go backwards, we can’t go forwards, all we can do is dwell in the moment. We are waiting for it all to be over. We are waiting for the next news bulletin, the next announcement of the number of those who had died. We are waiting to see how close this virus might come to us and to those we love. We are consumed, overwhelmed, plagued by COVID-19. We measure our days in terms of the lockdown. Listen to the Psalmist: ‘Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning.’ (Ps 31) We recognise what he is feeling. Today is Palm Sunday and just by calling it Palm Sunday it is a reminder that our lives are also measured by a different time, God’s time, and we are the... Continue reading
Posted Apr 5, 2020 at andygoodliff
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A sermon on John 11
John 11 5th Sunday in Lent 29 March 2020 Belle Vue Baptist Our mortality has been brought home to us. Our fragility is right before us. Our helplessness is all around us. This has always been true, but the veil that covered our eyes has been lifted in these last weeks, and now we know. Some of us have always known, some of us have lived with the reality of mortality, fragility, helplessness on a daily basis and now the rest of us are sharing in your sense of what is to live with the possibility of death lingering at the door. We are all living on the edge, and we want to be back in the safety of the centre, but there is no way back at the moment, everything is on hold, everything is in flux, everything and everyone is at risk. The Psalmist says ‘out of the depths I cry to you’ (Ps 130.1). We are in the depths. Like Mary and Martha, we are in the depths, knowing our morality, recognising our fragility, feeling our helplessness. And it is here that Jesus comes. ‘Jesus said that if I’m lost, he will come to me.’ And the... Continue reading
Posted Mar 29, 2020 at andygoodliff
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New Journal of Baptist Theology in Context
Pleased to announce the first issue of the Journal of Baptist Theology in Context is now live. Website and link to first issue here. This is something we've been working for the last 12 months as a way of disseminating some of the papers from Theology Live and encouraging Baptist pastor–theologians to share their work more widely. There are a small group of British Baptists pastor-theologians engaged in doctoral research, most working part-time on their thesis alongside serving churches. Theology Live and the Journal is about encouraging them, supporting them and offering their work to the British Baptist constituency as an example that Baptists can (and must) do theology. Continue reading
Posted Feb 8, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Pauline Dogmatics by Douglas Campbell (Eerdmans, 2020)
Posted Feb 6, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Why Geoff Would Make a Good Baptist Union President
Baptists in England have a tradition of a choosing a 'president of the Baptist Union' for one year. They are appointed by the churches in a vote, with accredited ministers also being able to vote as well. Within that there has been a tradition those who have given long service to the Union and a tradition of appointing the charismatic speaker. The president within the Union has become a less profile position, but they still travel the country for a year with a theme and a message to share with churches and associations, something that encourages and challenges. We are currently able to vote for the 2021 President. I suggest we would be well served by Geoff Colmer, currently Regional Minister Team Leader of the Central Baptist Association. Why? — Geoff offers us no answers, he doesn't come with a big vision or a programme of activities. — Geoff offers us instead an invitation to seek to be attentive to God and for Baptists who are so good at doing and activity, paying some attention to God would be a helpful thing. Especially when our shared Baptist life is currently fairly fragile. — Geoff offers us someone who has done... Continue reading
Posted Jan 31, 2020 at andygoodliff
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Ladder: A Christmas Sermon
How can I explain Christmas this year? This is my tenth year in attempting to help you get this story again. I enjoy the challenge of seeing if I can find something different to say. The story of Christmas does not change, but it's a story which we can never exhaust its meaning, because the story is of the Incarnation, of God becoming human; of the invisible, almighty, transcendent, creator God being born in the same way you and I were born. How on earth does God become human and yet remain God? Why on earth would God subject himself to the fragility and vulnerability of being born? What on earth does God think He is doing coming close to a humanity that is so hostile, indifferent, and full of their own importance? These are questions that are begged when we say that in Jesus we see God in the flesh. What have I got to say to you this year? It’s this: think of the Christmas story like a ladder. At the top of the ladder is heaven and at the bottom of the ladder is earth. Up the ladder to heaven, down the ladder to earth. In the... Continue reading
Posted Dec 25, 2019 at andygoodliff
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