Critic Cal

Cf. Like leaven Like mildew Like wildfire Like plague Like a rash Like a rumour Like rot Like a swarm Like an army Like sickness Like termites Like lice Like a stench Like dementia Like damp Like a yawn Like a snake bite Like gangrene Like cancer Like muck Like moths Like an oil spill Like acid Like rust Like infection Like locusts Like bindweed Like mould Like decay It is coming Unstoppable: Life. Carolyn Whitnall, 2016. So, I've been reading Leviticus lately, with some help from John Goldingay [1]. In case you're unfamiliar, it's the one with all the obscure and problematic rules and rituals that Christians like to pretend don't exist and that  Richard Dawkins et al.  like to quote . The book collects together a set of sometimes seemingly-absurdly specific instructions for the Levitical priests and for Israel as a Yahweh-worshipping community. On closer inspection, it is interesting to notice the effect of the practices ...

Like many Brits (and not just the 16.1 million who voted as I did), I am sad for my country right now. I am sad because I believe that Brexit spells economic disaster which will hit the poorest hardest, isolation from a wider community which I consider myself a part of, and the probable eventual break-up of the UK. But aside from the actual outcome of the referendum, I am sad at the deep divisions that the campaign process uncovered, exploited and exacerbated; the "tribalization and polarization of Britain, a bruising clash of two narratives that pitted London against the regions, Scotland against England, the young against the elderly, and the lower middle-class against the metropolitan elites" (Austen Ivereigh writing for ABC Religion and Ethics ). I am appalled at the hostility, mistrust, deceit and turmoil; the upsurge in racist abuse and the reflection that it is only the outward manifestation of something pre-existent, erstwhile latent. Even if the departure goes ah...

I danced, the other day ... on the roof of a multi-storey carpark, in the rain, at bedtime. With relative abandon. It feels like a world away and an epoch ago but it really happened. I didn't go there to dance. I went there to watch –  Of Riders and Running Horses , part of Bristol's marvellous  Mayfest . Ooh, it were good. All exuberance and intensity and graceful, skillful, womanly  inelegance  for want of a better description. All set to all this live, pounding, alt-J-esque electronic indie music. I don't know what they meant  for it to be about but what I saw was a profound reclamation of the human body ... from shame, objectification and violence ... for personhood and personal connection. Normally, I would consider a finale which evolved into an invite to the audience as the perfect opportunity for an unhindered escape. "Aha!" some flat, lifeless part of me indeed piped up – "I can get me a clear run on the narrow stairwell before it jams with c...

I will worship ( I will worship ) With all of my heart ( with all of my heart ) I will praise You ( I will praise You ) With all of my strength ( all my strength )  I will seek You ( I will seek You ) All of my days ( all of my days ) And I will follow ( I will follow ) All of Your ways ( all Your ways )...  David Ruis, Maranatha Praise, Inc., 1991 For the uninitiated, this here's a song that the medium-to-considerably happy-clappy sing in church. And in case you're wondering, the bits in brackets are an echo 'traditionally' sung by the female members of the congregation. The pattern is not ubiquitous, but neither is it rare (and never, to my knowledge, is it inverted). The other day, I had the rare joy of standing next to my sister in church, and I noticed that she was singing, not the 'response', as prescribed, but the 'call'. In a momentary pang of vicarious embarrassment I nearly nudged her – much as I would intervene if she was accid...

A revised version [1] of a sonnet which originally appeared on the Sophia Network blog  in February 2016: ANTIPHON “No” for a thousand tongues resounds unheard As men in every corner wield might And will, surmising that the sum gives right, Against the impotence of Tamar's word. The image jointly borne is two-ways marred: A brutal face to face a veil of fright, As “love” dissatisfied engenders hate, Faith fails, and hope seems hopelessly deferred. But One of strength eclipsing any man's Waits for a yes and, with Mary’s consent, Conceives to turn the tables, overthrow The proud and raise the powerless with hands Outstretched; a Word within a womb, intent On answering each disregarded no. Carolyn Whitnall, 2015/2019. It happened that I spent much of December 2015 grappling in new ways with Luke's Annunciation account. I'd not long since been reading 2 Samuel, and the story of Tamar's rape by her brother Amnon had resonated painfully with...

early one morning Life surprised us, as promised; a second first day. The occurrence of the Resurrection ‘on the first day of the week’ (see, e.g., Matthew 28 ) suggests a parallel with the Genesis 1 creation account. Many Christians understand it as the beginning of New Creation, the ‘now and not yet’ fulfilment of God’s promise to deliver Israel and, ultimately, humankind. But although the promise can be traced throughout the Hebrew scriptures (which have been retrospectively interpreted with Jesus’ life and death and life in mind), that first Easter morning was not necessarily what those hoping and waiting had thought they were hoping and waiting for. Even Jesus’ disciples — whom he had explicitly prepared for the event (see, e.g.,  Mark 8:31 ) – were taken by surprise. As for me … Lent is never long enough, or I am never quite intentional enough in observing it, so that Easter always seems to come ‘too early’. Then again, I’m not sure that I ever could (or am supposed...

nothing could be done; it was too late, or too soon. unrestful Sabbath. Holy Saturday ... or 'Liminal Saturday', as Mr. W and I have taken to calling it in recent years. Surely the oddest day in the church calendar ... and perhaps the one that resonates with me the most. Jesus is dead. He told his disciples this would happen. He also told them he would rise again ... but that's a lot to take in at the best of times and, right now, all they know is ... he is dead. And Jewish law obliges them to do ... precisely nothing: it is the Sabbath. ( Luke 23 :56b). And so they wait ... for what? To carry out the usual burial rites, and move on with their lives? ( Luke 24 :1) Gear themselves up for fishing for fish again like they used to? ( Matthew 4 :18-20) With hindsight, we glibly reassure them (and ourselves) that everything is about to change, for the better and forever ... they stand on the threshold of God's New Creation! But they, that weary, crushing Sabbath, ...