The Bible does not claim to be true beyond question; it claims to be ‘inspired by God’ (2 Timothy 3:16). It certainly refers to things that happened in history, but it does not give us straightforwardly historical truth. It may indeed tell us truths we can rely on, but these truths are of a distinctively religious character. They are not like logical axioms: cool, detached and neutral. Rather, the foundational convictions of the Bible involve us, change us, subvert us. ‘The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow ….’ (Hebrews 4:12) This second issue of The Way for 2005 explores the different ways in which the Word of God nourishes our Christian lives.
Bonnie Thurston, ‘Words and the Word: Reflections on Scripture, Prayer and Poetry’, 7–20
A practising poet and scripture scholar reflects on how imagination and metaphor open us to the unseen God.
Peter Edmonds, ‘The ‘History’ in Ignatian Contemplation: From the Last Supper to the Garden’, 21–36
Ignatius’ presentation of the ‘history’ in each contemplation is, for good reasons, often sketchy. Peter Edmonds explores how modern scholarship on the Gospels can enrich our practice of scriptural prayer.
Helmut Gabel, ‘Ignatian Contemplation and Modern Biblical Studies’, 37–49
What Ignatius says about imaginative prayer converges impressively with newer approaches to the Bible stressing the active role of the reader.
Diego Alvarez de Paz, ‘On Preparing Affective Movements in Prayer’, 50–56
A seventeenth-century Jesuit writer from Peru on how our desires should shape the use we make of Scripture in prayer.
Nicholas King, ‘The New Testament as Holy Ground’, 57–69
The biblical text is inspired, somehow more than the sum of its parts. Nicholas King explores some different ways in which modern theologians are trying to explain and express this conviction.
Gerard J. Hughes, ‘Matteo Ricci in Post-Christian Europe’, 71–82
Missionaries in the conventional sense have always argued about how and how far they should temper their message to the indigenous culture. But these problems are occurring now in Europe, as we confront the phenomenon of post-Christianity.
Róisín Pye, ‘Sacred Space and Online Communities’, 83–92
One of the most striking expressions of Ignatian spirituality in recent years has been Sacred Space, the prayer website originally developed by the Irish Jesuits, and now published in a wide variety of languages. One of the staff closely involved with the project explores what the Sacred Space phenomenon may be saying about the Church of the future.
David Goodall, ‘Diplomacy with Benedict’, 93–104
A retired ambassador explores connections between Benedict's RULE and the practice of diplomacy.
Brian Noble, ‘Tradition, Spiritual Direction and Supervisions’, 105–112
Supervision in spiritual direction is a relatively new practice, and raises many questions. The chair of the English and Welsh bishops’ spirituality committee reflects on the implicit form of supervision latent in any religious tradition.
J. Matthew Ashley, ‘Óscar Romero, Religion and Spirituality’, 113–133
The witness of Óscar Romero, martyred in 1980, shows how scripture and tradition can nourish a healthy, prophetic spirituality, and challenges the easy and increasingly common tendency to develop a spirituality independently from a religious tradition.