Telling a story when words don’t get through

I believe in words. I believe in the importance of words. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I believe in the primacy of words. But words can never be exclusive media of truth, understanding and communication. Please note: they are the primary (i.e. supreme) means, not the only means. I’ve touched on this issue before. Words are still essential.

As I mentioned then, the great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov attacked the myth of the image by saying:

Pursuing Byron at The Temple of Poseidon, Cape Sounion

It has been a schoolboy dream to visit this place (yeah, I know; I was, and am still, a bit of a classics geek): the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion (the southern tip of Attica, just below Athens). There’s not a lot of it left sadly. But it is one of the most spectacular spots for any building, let alone one of such antiquity and distinction. Having had an action-packed but positive few days doing some Langham teaching in Athens, it was a joy to get out to the cape for Monday morning, followed by a great seafood lunch with good friends overlooking the Aegean.

Et in arcadia essemus: a visit to Wilton

With both children away on camp, Rachel & I ventured out on rather a road trip from Wiltshire along the South Downs and up. Marvellous.

At the start of the week, we had a chance to visit the original Arcadia of Sir Philip Sidney’s imagination (see right for poet pic) – Wilton House near Salisbury, home of the Earls of Pembroke.

Towards an Integrated Christian Imagination

It was a joy to be able to spend a couple of hours with members of the CU at London’s University of the Arts on Thursday evening, giving a talk on this subject. Sarah Dargue has already done a really good job at summarising the key points over at the Interface Arts page (if you’re an arts student, definitely worth keeping an eye on that blog). But here is my talk outline, so that you can get some of the key quotes and references, plus my slides.

A journey from Perga to the Lycus Valley

I had one day to sightsee in Turkey last week which was fabulous. I even came back a bit sunburnt (much to the chagrin of every rain-drenched colleague on my return). Quite fun to be able to say that I got a tan at Laodicea. So here are a few photographic highlights. For the full Flickr set, click here. Having been based in Antalya (ancient Attalia) had a chance to visit Perga and Aspendos (along the coast to the east), and then travelled inland to the north west to the Lycus Valley (where Hierapolis, Laodicea and Colossae are).

First a general map and few panoramas from the trip… Click on each image for a closer view.

From Attalia, Paul sailed back to Antioch…

It is a privilege to spend time with friends in Antalya – right on the south Mediterranean coast of Turkey. (Incidentally, and quite interestingly, in Turkish, the Med is called ‘Akdeniz’ which means ‘the white sea’ in symmetry to ’Karadeniz’ (The Black Sea) at the other end of the Bosphorus). And Antalya was of course the ancient port city of Attalia in the apostle Paul’s day.

Corinthian Caption Competition: the Crunchie Winners

So at last, the time has come. The time for the announcement of the prizes. The Virtual Crunchie can be printed off and enjoyed at your leisure.

There were some excellent entries. And so I felt duty-bound to aware a number of prizes in two categories: Topical and Exegetical. Runners up are honour-bound to share their crunchie with someone else. I’ll know if you eat the whole thing yourself.

Friday Fun 16: Corinthian Caption Competition

Am in Greece this weekend for the launch of Langham Greece. It’s gone really well so far – lots of great discussion. Around 35 attending the conference and around 15-20 watching streaming of it online. REALLY encouraging.

But yesterday we had a free morning and so headed off to Corinth (obviously). I’d no idea that it was only an hour or so from Athens, which was great. We clambered up the Akrocorinth, and wandered around the remains of Ancient Corinth – which are extensive but in parts hard to imagine as intact buildings. You can see the snaps here.

“Whatever…” – a mission statement or a social condition?

It’s not every day that one gets to sit around the same table as representatives of Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Christian and Humanist networks with the chance to pick brains and question of the most senior leaders of the BBC. But that is exactly what happened today, as I’d been invited to attend a small group that meets twice a year on Religion and Belief in broadcasting. I certainly felt both out of my depth and a fish out of water (if that’s possible) – still, it was very interesting indeed (not least because the BBC is our next door neighbour) and a privilege to be present.

A few days in Paris

Having taken my son Joshua to Rome for 3 nights when he was 10, my daughter decided she wanted to go to Paris for her 10th year Dad & Daughter time. So off we toddled last week for a few days to see the sights. And a fab time was had by all.

Jerusalem – the city with its very own book.

I really don’t think this book lives up to its hype, but I did work my way through roughly 3/4 of Simon Sebag-Montefiore’s epic Jerusalem, The Biography. It is a very uneven and, at times, curiously flat read. It is also (perhaps inevitably)  littered with sweeping statements and an over-reliance on just a few partisan scholarly perspectives. This was especially frustrating when it came to plumbing the huge depths and breadths of biblical and archaeological scholarship. But there were clearly some gems and insights. And so thought I’d share just one or two.

Scale and Detail: the twin peaks of Jean Francois Rauzier’s “Hyperphotos”

Thanks to a brief profile in Wired last month, I’ve been mesmerised by the ‘hyperphotos’ of French photographic artist Jean-Francois Rauzier. It is definitely worth spending some time exploring his worlds. And they are worlds – each image is deceptively simple but like all great art, draws you in with a summons to contemplate and wonder.

The Soviet Utopia and the assimilation of Biblical Imagery

I was very struck by this fascinating article (“Building Blocks” from the latest Royal Academy magazine) about post-revolution architecture and art in the Soviet Union. Never having visited Russia itself (despite having travelled fairly extensively through its former cold war satellites), my presumption was that architecture in that era was full of monolithic, brutalising and depersonalised buildings. But it seems was that this was primarily the result of Stalinist totalitarianism and did not characterise the confidence of the brand new revolutionary state that held (to some extent) its ideals intact.

Istanbul’s Golden Glow

Just 3 nights in Istanbul hasn’t given a huge amount of time to see sights but I’ve had a few hours in between meetings. Managed to get to the old Chora Monastery (the most important remaining Byzantine church in the city, after the Hagia Sophia) and the vast Basilica Cisterns.

Swedish sculptural surprises amidst Lund’s mediaeval grandeur

I’ve been in Lund, Sweden since Wednesday, as a guest of Teofil to speak for Langham at 2 conferences this week. It is a real thrill to be here for the first time, since my late Grandmother was Swedish and the country has always been part of our family’s folklore.

Lund is a lovely, ancient University town right in the south (only 40 mins by train, in fact, from Danish Copenhagen). It is dominated by the magnificent cathedral, which dates from AD1080. So with a couple of hours to spare before things kicked off on Thursday, I was able to go for a wander. It is an impressive building – I was especially taken with the wonderfully atmospheric crypt, the extraordinary astronomical clock and the severe grandeur of the original Romanesque architecture.

But a nice surprise was a temporary sculpture exhibition in a lady chapel of contemporary Swedish sculptress Lena Lervik. There were no explanations in English so I can’t be 100% sure what they were all seeking to suggest – but it was possible to make a pretty good stab. The photo above shows 2 installations – one in the foreground is clearly a pregnant Mary – it is stunning because the back is covered in gold leaf which shimmers in the subdued mediaeval light. But facing her is what I can only assume is the bronze serpent of Numbers 21 and John 3:14, observed in the shadows by a number of penitent believers. It’s a fascinating juxtaposition – for of course, John’s use of the serpent imagery points to the lifting up of the Son of Man on the cross (and probably also the resurrection). In other words, the suffering of the Christ. And the way these pieces were installed (who knows if it was intentional – I’m inclined to think it was) Mary looks on, bearing the child who will suffer in this way. There is a profound poignancy here.

Here are a few other snaps from around the building (to see the whole set, click here).

Finally, I encountered this curiosity on the choir stalls. What can it mean?! 2 earnest pilgrims seeking God – only find that he’s a squirrel…?!? Or what? Not exactly the sort of piety you’d expect from a devout mediaeval carpenter… Any suggestions?

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 29 (February 2011)

Sacred Treasure

• Interesting article by Mark Dever on staying in pastoral ministry for the long haul – citing the example of the 3 bachelor Cambridge men, Sibbes, Simeon and Stott.
• Neil Powell has some useful tips on having a digital detox. His is a great blog BTW and definitely worth following…
• Brian Godawa has written my favourite book on movies, Hollywood Worldviews – he’s just produced his interesting paper on a History of the Dramatic Arts.
• In case you missed it, EA has produced a Survey of UK Evangelicalism. Kouya has some questions about its usefulness…
• Q regulars will know that we have an occasional series at ASLP on Christians Facing Issues – a few months back we had one on Euthanasia, at which a powerful testimony on video from Sarah Meagher. Well she has now courageously spoken on Channel 4′s recent 4Thought.tv.

Topical Treasure

• If each US state was a country – the equivalent GDPs of different states (from the Economist).
• Wonderful new monthly photo-essay magazine online – and it’s free! LifeForce magazine
• While we’re on photography, check out JR’s building size portraits in Wrinkles of the City in Shanghai – I especially love the way the honour the special place and memories of the old
• Boris is right on the money about the changed nature of journalism because of online interaction.
• What an extraordinary legacy that Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre has…

Quirky Treasure

• Want to know how to design a cool Olympic logo? Don’t look to London 2012. Check out Rio 2016 – now THAT is an Olympic logo.
• Beautiful modern stained glass structure in Copenhagen (HT the guys from KoreUK)
• Wow. Weird. Gosh. An Italian man sneezes out the bullet that shot him.
• This is fantastic – at a US convention for seniors’ carers, Mary Maxwell shows she has the timing of a professional comic, with some wonderfully wry observations about old age (HT Nancy H)
• What if the Axis powers had invaded the US in the 2WW – another cracker from Strange Maps
• How do colours affect our purchases?
• What Colonel Gadaffi thinks about the Internet!
• Check out some amazing pencil sculptures, the like of which you’ve never seen. Here are a couple of examples:

A wander back in time from the Agora to the Acropolis

After a really successful 48 hours in Sofia in the first half of the week, have been in Athens for similar meetings for the last few days. In between meetings with various church leaders, we had a free morning yesterday so my fantastic host Constantinos showed me the ancient sites. We did all the A’s – Agora, Areopagus and the Acropolis. Fantastic. I’ve waited decades for the chance to come here – ever since being at one of those completely weird establishments that insists on 9 year olds learning classical Greek. A dream come true.

Here are some happy snaps. Click here for the whole set.

180° View of Athens from the top of the Areopagus (Mars Hill)

The Erechtheion on the Acropolis

The Parthenon & Theatre of Dionysus

The view back from the wonderful, new Acropolis Museum

 

Experiments in black and white in Norfolk

We celebrated 5th November en famille early – and here was a jammy shot from above of everyone watching a rocket head out.

Yesterday we visited Langley Abbey – a family-run farm built up around a pre-Reformation Abbey, dissolved by Hank 8. There’s now a cafe and you can wander round the remaining buildings and ruins. Lovely. These shots are in the Abbot’s cellars, the second being the breathtakingly beautiful brick roof:

Then this was quite a fun shadow shot – Joshua was standing in a window, which was then reflected on a glass balcony wall:

Rob Pepper draws All Souls… with a red phonebox

A few months ago, while working on the All Souls history/tourist guide, I came across an interesting artist online, Rob Pepper. He’s done some beautiful line drawings of various London and other landmarks, as well as paintings and a daily sketch blog. So i thought it would be fun to get him to do All Souls. After various impediments (such as minor distractions like getting married), he’s come up with this. A fantastic job. And it is now available to buy in 3 different versions:

• Postcards: 50p each (available from the All Souls Welcome Desk)

Then there is the chance to get one of only 2 sets of 10 limited edition prints

• All Souls & The Red Telephone Box - Framed Edition of 10 (30cm x 40cm): Print with hand-finished red phone box = £300
• All Souls & The Red Telephone Box (Gold) – Framed Edition of 10 (30cm x 40cm): Print with hand-finished red phone box and 22ct gold leaf = £395

You can contact Rob directly, or come through me if you would like to purchase one. Click on the relevant image or link above for more information

Are you not entertained?! Durrës Roman Amphitheatre unearthed

It was just a few years ago. 1966 in fact. An Albanian (Vangjel Toçi) living in Durrës (the country’s largest port and site of the ancient Roman city of Dyrrachium), noticed that a fig tree in his garden had suddenly sunk a few feet into the ground. All very weird.