James Woodward

It has taken me some time to digest this book and so commend it to others for both reflection and action. Laurie Green has established a well-deserved reputation for his ministry amongst the poor and voiceless but also for his ability to think theologically. The book took me backwards into my story but also catapulted me forwards ainto imagining what kind of society we are building.   Within the tension between history and the future lies the key element in Greens persuasive, compelling and radical…

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Here at Sarum College our aspirational strapline is Learning to nourish the human spirit ( see something of our work  at www.sarum.ac.uk) and as I complete the first year of my presence, engagement and leadership of the College I have been much intrigued about what it is that enables such nourishment and learning to take place. Over the course of August we have attracted many varied individuals and groups into the College. At the moment we are busy recruiting to…

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A Learning Guide by Elizabeth MacKinlay and Corrine Trevitt Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2015 I have recently experienced the hospitalisation of a close relative and, once again, have been surprised by the culture of care in our Hospitals. There is a kind of functionalism that serves to depersonalise an individual, their family and their well-being. This was highlighted with an inadequate discharge note which is full of inaccuracies. Even in this task focused culture someone took little care over getting the…

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From the early Middle Ages, Salisbury was an important centre for theological training, its great cathedral and Close attracting students and scholars from the whole of Europe. The history of theological study begins with St Osmund and the completion of the first cathedral at Old Sarum in 1092. After Old Sarum was abandoned in favour of New Sarum (or Salisbury, as it came to be known) and the new cathedral was built in the 1220s, several colleges were established as…

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  Crucible : The Journal of Christian Social Ethics April 2016 Editorial What kind of Leadership?   The four articles that follow in this edition of Crucible all take leadership as a starting point to reflect upon the nature of the Church and its exercise of power and authority in changing and complex times. This area of discourse is hugely contested. Each of us will have a range of experiences of the way others exercise of leadership which may or…

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The Sarum lectures have a long and distinguished history in the life of the Cathedral Close. They are a partnership between Sarum College and the Cathedral and this year we are looking forward to four lectures from our Diocesan Bishop, the Right Rev Nicholas Holtham. Here is an outline of the lectures.   Renewing Hope – Pray, Serve, Grow. The one thing the bishop cannot delegate is the ethos and culture of the diocese. My concern in the Diocese of Salisbury…

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  Ministry in an Urban Context. The photograph above is one of the many aerial views of the city of Southampton available via Google images. A large group of our ministry students have just left the College after a weekend exploring the context and challenge of urban ministry. We gathered on Friday and looked at city from a biblical perspective and then spent much of Saturday in Southampton with some trusted and enlightening guides. We first made our way to…

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TO SEE THE FLOWERS   Don’t go outside your house to see flowers. My friend, don’t bother with that excursion. Inside your body there are flowers. One flower has a thousand petals. That will do for a place to sit. Sitting there you will have a glimpse of beauty inside the body and out of it, before gardens and after gardens.   (Robert Bly, The Kabir Book)    

Sarum College is now almost empty with our third-year students from our Ministry programme having returned back to their homes and families. I have to say a rather wonderful silence has fallen over the building! This has been a busy and demanding weekend for all of us – but I’m glad of some space to think and reflect on what has emerged as we have engaged with formation and learning. MA students have had some research seminars and are beginning to…

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‘Middle age starts much later than previously thought – at the age of 55, research suggests’ – this is the rather helpful advice sent to me by a friend on this my 55th birthday. Born on 23 February 1961 is no arguing any more with the realities of time and age and numbers. For the record I didn’t really see the point of some of the other milestones that I have (obviously) passed : 30 and 40 and even 50…

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  opening   The Opening and the Close Of Being, are alike Or differ, if they do, As Bloom upon a Stalk. That from an equal Seed Unto an equal Bud Go parallel, perfected In that they have decayed.   Emily Dickinson, The opening and the close

Late August, given heavy rain and sunFor a full week, the blackberries would ripen.At first, just one, a glossy purple clotAmong others, red, green, hard as a knot.You ate that first one and its flesh was sweetLike thickened wine: summer’s blood was in itLeaving stains upon the tongue and lust forPicking. Then red ones inked up and that hungerSent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-potsWhere briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drillsWe trekked…

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Windsor Great Park welcomes over two and a half million people every year. Windsor Great Park, the only Royal Park managed by The Crown Estate, was once part of a vast Norman hunting forest which was enclosed in the late 13th century. The 2,020 hectares (5,000 acres) of parkland, which includes a Deer Park, is a varied landscape of formal avenues, gardens, woodland and open grassland. The antiquity of the landscape is enhanced by the scattering of great ancient oaks…

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The dawn was apple-green, The sky was green wine held up in the sun, The moon was a golden petal between. She opened her eyes, and green They shone, clear like flowers undone For the first time, now for the first time seen. D. H. Lawrence, Green