If there is any national characteristic we English have, it is the habit of give and take. We like to get on with our neighbours. We like working arrangements that work. We are not so sure about ideologies. We don’t much like extremes. We are happy to see a certain amount of give and take in life. And that applies to religion. We agree we are, in some sense, and with some qualifications, a Christian country. We also believe that a Church must be kept in its place. People have always been fairly clear that ultimate authority in the state rests with the Crown.
Given that, we haves accepted a society with a monarch and a house of lords and a workaday level of holy days, Sunday observance and monogamy. When we are reminded of the need for a level playing-field and we find that our festivals do not coincide with those of newcomers, we exercise the English habit of compromise.
Meeting others halfway is a generous instinct and one that has served us well over the centuries. It has not been without its problems but it has made England a place comfortable with itself and ready to see the best in others. Coming from this background, we may well read the New Testament with some dismay as we find an emphasis on the unique nature of the Christian faith and its insistence on its sovereign truth. We are driven back to its title-deeds, (as well as finding confirmation for our own beliefs we may well find ourselves developing a readiness to concede that others may have the same kind of claims as we have – i.e. to possess the final truth and documentary authority to back up their claims.
Stiff and unbending as we may find St Paul to be, we have to consider two occasions when he bent his principles, as it may seem to us, to ward off criticism in this matter. Twice he had a hair-cut to demonstrate his respect for and adherence to the ancestral customs of his forebears. In Acts 1818 and 21.23 he went through a purificatory procedure to end a temporary Nazirite vow. This involved a hair-cut (probably an all-over shave of the head). Nazirites were as high-profile as any medieval monks and Paul’s conformity would be noticed.
ARGUABLY
Christopher Hitchens takes up a host of issues in ‘Arguably’ published by Atlantic Books. He is essential reading for those who wish to hear another side of the argument on underlying issues. The book runs to nearly 800 pages and is, as they say, a page-turner. To go half-way with our non-believing friends we have to understand their points of view. Hitchens, who died in 2011, helps us do so.
WHITE HORSE TEAM
The White Horse Team ministry in Wiltshire led by Rebecca Harris has a collection of churches worth visiting. One of the, Holy Trinity, is a Romanesque-style building with a domed nave. Modernised in 2001, it welcomes newcomers, particularly with its book corner. Amongst its reviews and recommendations is a classic: ‘The Practice of the Presence of God’.
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