I went to Archbishop Coleridge’s first session in a series called “Living Biblically in a Secular World” last Wednesday night. I figured if it was lousy it could be my Lenten penance. It wasn’t.
There were some problems, although not of Coleridge’s making. The crowd was too big for the planned venue so it was moved to the Cathedral. Apart from the long echo, it did not make for an interactive session but it is certainly worth listening to the talk here. There was altogether too much deference shown by the overawed young people running the session and certainly no-one was going to engage the archbishop if there were problems with his presentation.
I had heard that he was at his best as a teacher and he certainly seems more comfortable in that role rather than a pastoral one.
Coleridge has some baggage as a a churchman and a scholar. His support for the revised missal was embarrassing in its support of its dreadful English. Some of his messages that get played at Mass for Lent etc are just patronising. He has been pinged for plagiarism in the past and has been known to go on the attack inappropriately when crossed.
That said the lecture was rather good. I was disappointed at him putting history and myth at odds and saying that Myth was not involved in the Bible. Myth is story that shows us the truth and whether it happened or not is irrelevant. His exposition of living in the story of Exodus is an example of how myth works, but he seems unwilling to take that step. It would have been a good conversation to have, but these lectures are not conversations.
There was music before the talk: “Here I Am to Worship”, “Refiner’s Fire” and “10 000 Reasons”, and well played and sung too. I’ve blogged the first two but not the latter, which was written by Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin.
The text is here. The sheet music is available to purchase at musicnotes.
The tune seems very familiar but I can’t place it – is there a traditional tune like it?