Mid-faith Crisis

Joe and Nick have been visiting lots of old churches, making one of us very happy. We discuss our different ideas of sacred spaces. Then tacklesome moving and challenging feedback – thank you for trusting us with your stories! Oh and there's a truly angelic musical moment at the end.

• Medieval graffiti in churches
• St Botolphs Church
• Coombes Church
• Christ in the trenches

An episode in which Nick explains his aversion to the idea of Celtic spirituality. Following on from last week's interview, we talk about whether new theologies have to appeal to ancient roots. Also we discuss ‘deep knowing’ and how we put it into action, and there is helpful feedback from listeners on coping with the endless deluge of bad news. 

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• Chicken Tikka Masala
• Ian Bradley, Following the Celtic Way
• Positive news on the environment
• Harry Chapin - When in doubt, do something
• Economist
• Delayed Gratification
• Tim Harford, How to Make the World Add Up

We are joined by John Philip Newell, who talks about his new book Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul. In a wide-ranging interview, John Philip talks about the sacredness of the earth and of every human being, the concept of original sin, and giving expression to what the soul already knows. 

• John Philip Newel- Earth and Soul

And we're back. Interesting questions in the feedback this week. Is there is a one-size-fits-all salvation? Are we good citizens of the Kingdom of God or are we yobs? Is church just a good behaviour club for the anxious middle classes? And how can we live in a genuinely authentic way? Also, Nick has had a transcendent experience on Lindisfarne, Joe is anxious about the background noise and both of us hate bindweed.

• Episode 123 What is the Good News (Part One)
• Episode 124. What is the Good News (Part Two)
• Episode 125 What is the good news? (Part Three)
• Episode Episode 13: Values, not vision

• Mid-faith Explorers Group in Manchester

Among this week’s topics, we discuss renaming the Old Testament, speaking in tongues, and whether Joe is a druid. Also there is more feedback from the interview with Dave Tomlinson including ideas about original goodness as well as original sin, and the relationship of faith to salvation. Easy stuff, then.

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• Time, Jimmy McGovern
• Episode 50: The Scandal of The Cross
• Episode 51: The Mystery of the Cross
• Episode 162: Dave Tomlinson

Joe is back from holiday and has encountered a very angry version of the Lord’s Prayer. As well as the usual fascinating feedback, we talk about the interview with Dave Tomlinson, about the relationship between mid-faith crisis and rational enquiry, the gravitational pull towards uniformity and about what salvation might mean in practice. Normal levels of uselessness were achieved.

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• Mark Cavendish wins stage 4 of the Tour de France
• Mary Chrnalogar, Twisted Scriptures
• Stina Kielsmeier-Cook, Blessed are the Nones

This week we have an interview with Dave Tomlinson. Dave talks about Christian humanism, our ‘common origin in goodness’, the importance of holding your nerve, the absolute importance of rational enquiry and the empathy of apes. So, lots of stuff, then. We’ll be back in two weeks.

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• YouTube: The Holy Shed
• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
• Alfred Delp: Committed to Christ

Nick’s been listening to God and God, appropriately enough, has been telling him to listen. So this week, helped by some great feedback on the power of deep listening, we talk more about spiritual direction, about the conviction that God is active and present in every area of our lives and how we can help others hear from God. Also, Joe takes us through his quite boring pre-holiday ritual and we introduce a new part of the show consisting of Nick’s more thought-through responses.

• Stevie Wonder: Isn’t She Lovely
• Renovaré Seminar - Learning to Listen: Exploring the What, Why, and How of Spiritual Direction
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This week’s feedback leads us to think about whether church is like a running club, how to use our stories and memories as soul places, and how mid-faithers should read the Bible. We talk about reading big chunks quickly, and small chunks slowly. But can we inhabit the text? And what happens if instead of wrestling with the text, we decide to dance with it. Meanwhile, Joe has suffered from a gas shortage and Nick thinks it's weird being 60.

• Five steps to mental well-being
• Midfaith Crisis Episode 36 (has stuff about children)

Some interesting alternative Bible translations

• Mary Phil Korsak, At the Start: Genesis Made New
• Mary Phil Korsak, Glad News from Mark
• Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible (also available as separate volumes)
• David Bentley Hart, The New Testament
• N.T.Wright, The New Testament for Everyone

Joe has been traumatised by the dentist. Nick has had spiritual speech therapy. But apart from that we continue our discussion of soul places. What is it that makes something a soul place rather than just a ‘place’? Are there spiritual practices we need to renew? How do we rediscover the ancient paths that lead to rest for our souls? And has anyone got a 10,000 year plan?

• Jenni Talks Podcast: Faith and Doubt with Joe Davis
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