Volume 11, Number 02 Nov 1981

Personal And Liturgical prayer in a Time of Disintegration

Ross Mackenzie

The sixth Centenary Lecture of the Society, January 1981. The human need to celebrate, to deal with chaos and darkness – prayer as what life may become, and the need for empowerment. The author notes three modes of disintegration that pertain to today: personal, pastoral, congregational. Three consequences are that prayer is seen is neurosis, people turn to other providers such as yoga, and the gospel criticism of society is missing. Exploring the idea of communion with God as Trinity, the author finds that the eucharistic action is celebration of participation in creation, a sign and reminder of God's acts of salvation, an empowering to become salt and light. The loss of a sense of the 'holy day'. The spirituality of Antony (the desert tradition): place of solitude, place of truth, place of vision; this tradition is being recovered in our time. The author advises the occasional recovery of the rite in its traditional form.

The Necessity of Creeds for Common Affirmation - With Special Reference to the Nicene Creed

Alasdair Heron

Paper given to the Scottish Church Theology Society, Crieff, January 1981 and to a joint conference of the Church Service Society and Scottish Church Society, Edinburgh, March 1981. The original Greek used the plural, 'We believe', and is like entering a medieval cathedral, a faith which surrounds our personal belief. The origins of the Creed in the Arian controversy. The filioque clause. The later prominence of the Apostles' Creed in the West, also the Athanasian. The seventeenth century revolt against the Creeds, the modern ecumenical movement recovering their importance. The paper asks, what do we mean by 'creeds', are they necessary, what is the nature of a 'common affirmation'.

The Marriage Service in the Church of England: Some Liturgical Considerations

Bryan D Spinks

The article begins by reviewing marriage rites in the centuries leading up to the 1662 rite. Cranmer's order is closely examined, and connections made with other developments of the time. The 1928 rite is compared. The paper finds that the 1662 rite has a completeness about it and there is less desire to return to earlier forms when renewal is believed to be required. However, theological reflection raises some questions. The issue of remarriage after divorce is considered, and the liturgical implications of this. The Series 3 rite was authorised in 1977, and this is examined. This did not seek to learn from other branches of the church, and the paper shows what might have been learned. The paper ends with some positive suggestions for change.

Book Reviews

Multiple Authors

New Ways to Worship (Saint Andrew Press, 1980) by Ross Mackenzie; A Book of Services (Saint Andrew Press, 1980), by David Beckett; Art in Action, Toward a Christian Aesthetic, Nicholas Wolsterstorff (Eerdmans, 1980), by Gordon Strachan, The Gospel at Infant Baptism, Frederick Levison (Saint Andrew Press, 1980), by Douglas Murray.