Wesley has been dubbed a 'reasonable enthusiast.'  You have to know what 'reasonable' and 'enthusiast' are meant to mean in that context to know what is intended, unless of course you are so thoroughly postmodern that any plausible reading is fine since we cannot possibly know the original intention.  In good Ronnie Corbett tradition, I digress.

I am now working my way through my little heap of books on historical method/historiography and beginning to see the vaguest glimmer of how I can work within practical theology under the suggested banner of 'congregational studies' when my focus is, intuitively, more aligned towards 'church history.'  Actually, it is somewhere vaguely where (wait for it) ecclesiology, congregational studies, church history, historiography and hermeneutics (plus undoubtedly a but of doctrine and pastoral theology, if I could only work out what!) meet/overlap/collide.  This all sounds rather vague and woolly (pace, Sean) but it is progress, honestly!

Anyway, Georg Iggers in his snappily titled book Historiography in the Twentieth Century offers the following observation (page 16)

The postmodern critique of tradtional science and traditional historiography has offered important correctives to historical thought and practice.  It has not destroyed the historian's commitment to recapturing reality or his or her belief in a logic of enquiry, but it has demonstrated the complexity of both.  Perhaps we can see in the history of historiography an ongoing dialogue that, while it never reaches finality, contributes to the broadening of perspective.

I'd say that, in their generally understood meanings, Iggers is reasonably enthusiastic about the benefits of postmodern thinking, but not blindly committed to them.

One of the interesting things he observes right from the outset is the importance of the academic community in all of this: modernists and postmodernists live and work within a community which has some shared values, aims and aspirations.  The 'scientific' method of traceability, repeatability and referencing is essential whichever of these perpsectives one claims to aspire to - how else can the position adopted be defended?  Unlike the more cynical, sceptical, scholars, Iggers (and others) hold fast to many 'traditional' values in the doing of history.  They are keen to work within their discipline refining and reflecting on their methods and presuppositions as they go along.

To be a reasonable (one who uses reason) enthusiast (one who is given special, spiritual, insights) is a bold claim.  To be modestly encouraged, a more contemporary interpretation of the same words, by something feels more appropriate for 21st century students.  Intuitively, I feel Igger's comments could be readily transferred to thinking about theology (or maybe other fields of enquiry) recognising that it, too, is only ever partial and provisional.

First 'normal' Sunday of the year, and I decided to have a looking back/looking forward kind of theme using the beginning of Mark's gospel (Baptism to call of first disciples) and Luke's 'Nazareth Manifesto' example of Jesus' early preaching.  It was a pretty interactive service, ended up quite long (1.5 hours, no communion) and I got picked upon my decision not to include a song with what I felt unhelpful military/war/triumphalist imagery from which I quoted a line or two that were helpful.  Even so, it was, I think, a good service.  Part of it was to get the congregation to do a quick SWOT analysis (which I explained, it was new for some) as we begin the next stage of our 'adventure with God.'

Overall I was proud of them, and impressed with what they came up with (though I'd love to unpack some of the words and discuss the intent of those who said a few of the things)

Our Strengths...

Our Weaknesses...

Our Opportunities

Our Threats

God turns our Weaknesses into Opportunities

So that the glory goes to God

Next week is a united service for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and then our Covenant Service when we will commit to 'walk together with God and with one another in ways known and to be made known.'  After that it is Five Core Values 2007 style.  Somehow I need to keep in my mind the things we charted - and offered to God - and the various intiatives we have planned as I reflect afresh on being a 21st century Gospel People.

It's a lousy pun, and most of the lyrics of the song by Keane don't really relate, but the title "Everbody's Changing" and a few of the sentiments I perceive it to contain maybe do.

I am wanting to research how Baptists approached change in the past to inform my/our present and affect/infleunce our future.

But

History is particular, in just about every conceivable meaning of the word, and its methods and aims have changed over time

And

Theology is likewise particular and contingent (at least I think that's the word)

And the purpose of this research according to an email from my professor is one

"where new academic knowledge is generated in order to effect change, in terms of perosnal develpment or understanding best practice etc.'

So

I am a student of change (I am studying it) I am a subject of change (I get changed in the process of doing the study) and I am an agent of change (I seek to effect change by what I do)

This makes any pretence of objectivity nonsensical since it is impossible to define an absolute starting point within myself

But

I can find discrete historical case studies where traces of the past may be discernible and it is feasible to say 'practice was X and is now Y' even if interpretation of the 'how' is largely conjecture.

As of this moment, I am quite enjoying understanding the confusion, but as the song says...

So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same

The quest for truth is everlasting, and when I think too hard it is easy to end up feeling like it is all shifting stand.  I haven't a clue as yet how I reconcile the complexity of these changes upon changes, but maybe it'll be fun trying?

(Oh, and by the way, my name is Catriona, I can remember that much!)

This is my conclusion every time I read another book or encounter another idea!  This week having managed to maintain the new regime, and enjoying it, is no exception.  I read stuff on spirituality and it sparks ideas on historiography; I read a book on historical methods and postmodernity and neurons start firing to remind of stuff by Paul Fiddes and Walter Wink.  Every answer conceals a dozen questions and the whole of a conceiveable eternity would be too short to work through them all (yes, I know, a conceiveable eternity would not be eternity).

In Spirituality and Theology, I have just read the chapter on Julian of Norwich and realise how partial/distorted a presentation of her I gleaned from my spirituality courses.  Women mystics always did my head in with their endless headaches and illogical approach, but here I found a more helpful look at some of Julian's writings.  In particular, her reference to God as Mother; part of her expression of trinity as 'Father, Mother, Lord.'  It is not that God is 'like a mother', more that our experience of 'mother' is a reflection of that aspect of God's Godness (btw, I invented the word Godness, even if anyone else did before me!).  Although our experience of the earthly points us towards God, it is actually the reflection of God that we see.  Does this make sense to anyone else?  I see echoes of it in one the funeral prayers in the Baptist Brick (Gathering for Worship, great book but too big to fit in your pocket/bag) which says 'We thank you for the ways in which N’s life has shown us your goodness, mercy and love.'  I have used this prayer for some time and can now do so with new insight.

My research is trying to look at Baptists thinking about change (even if I feel I am being pushed/pulled/coerced into other directions) and my reading about historiogrpahy/historical method has kind of touched on some of this - though what follows may be incoherent!  Historical method/historiography has changed over time, as have the ways in in which people think, but I think my overarching question 'how does studying the past affect present and future' remains valid, i.e. by studying how people in the past approached change, in so far as it is possible to reconstruct this, what lessons can be learned that can affect our present and shape our future?  Although history (both as recorded and as understood) is itself a subject of change, it remains an agent of change.  Maybe I have too many variables here, but in the search for truth, a provisional, demonstrable and defensible argument may be the best that is achieveable and presents a 'practical realist' (thanks Appleby et al, Telling the Turth about History) response drawing on the strengths of the 'modern'/'scientific' methods of the past and the 'post-modern'/'contextual' insights of the present.

One interesting challenge, I think, is that a lot of church and Christian history is written in an 'Enlightenment' fashion, i.e. the God-factor is omitted in the quest for objectivity.  In a so-called Postmodern age, is there now permission to write this back in, albeit in a more tentative, provisional way that might have been done when Queen Elizabeth I allegedly saw the hand of God defeating the Spanish Armada?

Please God, can I have a bigger brain - or at least a processor upgrade on the one I have?

No my child, my strength is made perfect in weakness, the one you have will do fine.

 

Ah well, plod on!

OK, so you need to understand the language games to make sense of this question (post modern) but I think it is a fair question to ask.

Having (finally) found a real attempt by a serious writer to explain what they understand by both Modernism and Post-modernism, I am left with the question of whether the latter is really an example of the former.  If modernity sought absolutes and was the product of a white, male-dominated, Euro-centric context, then Postmodernism is actually thoroughly modern, isn't it?  Its overarching absolute is that there is no absolute and most of its thinkers, seemingly, are French men.

OK, so this is over simplistic but the slide from modernity to post-modernity, like that from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment is exactly that - a slide not a sudden paradigm shift.  As a child of modernity, post modernity carries with it the taint of its forebears and expresses itself through the very structures and norms it resents.  The way it is described and critiqued (is that subtly different from problematised, a, seemingly, Postmodern word?) in the book I'm reading leaves me thinking that it is as yet in a kind of 'adolesence' where it is more concerned at kicking against its forebears than becoming a self-reflective 'adult.'  Again, I'm sure this is over simplified and next week I'll read something that answers my questions - we'll see.