Sgiath Chuil & Meall Glas

Once again, the summer in Scotland has been moved back from its traditional point in the fixture list in June-August, to its new location March-April. Whether the schools will eventually follow-suit and move the long summer break to the Easter holiday remains to be seen. What is certain though is that even the slightest glimmer of fine weather sends Scotland's hillwalkers scurrying for their boots and rucksacks and making for the mountains.

One of my neighbours is a Munro-bagger like me, and the happy co-incidence of the prospect of sunshine and his need to 'use or lose' annual leave before the end of the month - saw us heading West from Perth towards Killin. 

Sgiath Chuil & Meall Glas are two hills which lie between Glens Dochart and Lochay, between Killin and Crianlarich, in an area known as the Mamlorn Deer Forest. "Forest" is an interesting word to use to describe Mamlorn - an area now completely deforested, but still technically a "hunting forest" apparently. The Mamlorn hills have received a less-than-enthusiastic reception from the writers of hill-walking guides, who routinely describe them as uninspiring, or lacking character. 

I suppose if you went looking for the rugged grandeur of The Cairngorms, the Tolkeinesque intrigue of Assynt, or the rugged spectacle of An Teallach - Mamlorn would indeed disappoint. However, if appreciated on their own terms, Mamlorn's hills are full of interest. For a start they are big. While not the highest of Scotland's hills by any means, the long walk-ins required and the distance between Munro's means that long-days out are required to appreciate them.

While some ranges, like The Mamores, pack a huge number of peaks and ridges into a comparatively small area, the areas around Sgiath Chuil & Meall Glas provide wide panoramas up long glens to distant peaks. While there is undoubtedly a thrill in clambering across splintered rock, there is also a joy to be found in striding across springy fresh grass on high ridges, which Sgiath Chuil provides in abundance.  

These hills can be climbed from Auchessan in Glen Dochart from the South, or from the end of the single-track road up Glen Lochay to the North. There are issues with access from either side. At the main road in Dochart, parking is limited to a few spaces only, which might rule this out on a sunny Saturday or Sunday, unless you were prepared to arrive early. In Glen Lochay, while the estate has provided a free car-park for many vehicles, they have also restricted access further up the glen, and you can no longer drive as far as Kenknock farm as suggested in older guidebooks. Heading in from this car-park at Glen Lochay, it took us half and hour to make the start of the climb at the newly refurbished cottage at Lubchurran. A landrover track strikes southwards into the hills above the Lubcharran Burn, which we followed for a kilometre or so, before bearing Eastwards, across the stream by tiny a Hydo-board  dam, and up onto the long, long  ridge and then summit of Sgiath Chuil, via two subsidiary tops.

The descent between these two hills is steep and awkward. The dry weather meant that the grass was grippy and crunchy, the descent in the wet would have been a slippery affair. There seems to be no obvious line of descent, other than to avoid the steepest section in the centre of the cleft between the peaks. The climb from this pass, the Lairig an Currain, up to Beinn Cheathaich (a top) is steep, and required navigating around some snow-fields lying high in the corries. In the absence of rain, these great sheets of ice were feeding the streams and rivers below as they gently sweated in the afternoon sun. The undulating ridge between Beinn Cheathaich and Meall Glass is a lovely piece of mountain scenery and provided us with a path - for perhaps the only time in the day.

Cameron McNeish recommends the ascent of these hills from the North, but suggests descending the NW ridge back to Glen Lochay. This seemed like an unnecessary addition to an already lengthy day, so we opted to retrace our steps, but descend/traverse round underneath Beinn Cheathach, towards a track we had previously seen above the Lubcharran Burn, which is on the 1:25,000 OS map, but not on the 1:50,000 version. We hit the track without much difficulty which led us back down to the cottage, the road and our walk back (through herds of cows) to the car.

These hills may not be the prettiest in Scotland, but the views were quite magnificent. They also provide the walker with a real sense of achievement, my aching knees confirming that the mapping software's estimate of 19.5km/1300m of ascent is about right! My other achievement of the day was to reach 200 Munro's again. I say again, as I had reached 200 last year before they declassified one in Glen Carron which I had been up the year before! 

Glen Lednock's Circular Walk

The "Glen Lednock Circular Walk" is (for the pedants amongst you), far closer to being rectangular than resembling a circle. Nevertheless, this pretty waymarked route is an easy afternoon out for a young family, which offers a bit of everything, to keep the smaller members of the family interested. The walk begins at a little roadside car-park just North of the village of Comrie, where space and earthquake permitting, the car can be left. From the car park a small track winds away from the road and over to the River Lednock, whose charming course (pictured above) it follows for a couple of kilometres to the various viewpoints over the series of waterfalls known as The Deil's Cauldron, no less!

The path rejoins the road just above the falls and gives the walkers the opportunity to branch off from the circular route, to climb the steep 130m up Dun More to the impressive viewpoint at Lord Melville's Monument. Like countless other walkers I have no idea who Lord Melville was, or indeed why he needed such an inordinately enormous monument to commemorate him. Whoever he was, given the size and shape of his monument he clearly had enormous confidence in his own munificence -albeit in an oddly Freudian manner... Nevertheless, his monument provides an excellent place for a rewarding the children who managed the climb with some hard-earned snacks and drinks, and a few moments to sit and soak in the panoramic view.

Once back down the steep path to the road, the road is followed a little way Northwards, until a signpost which directs walkers down to a wooden bridge over the broad river. On the other side of the river a very attractive path leads all the way back to the east side of Comrie, where the trackbed of a former railway line leads back to within a hundred metres of the car.

Our six year old managed the walk with no difficulty, and it provided a constantly varying landscape with rivers, waterfalls, veiwpoints, a climb, a village, and easy safe walking. An ideal family afternoon out!

Book Notes: Gunning for God, Why the New Atheists are Missing the Target by John C. Lennox

Gunning for God is John Lennox' reply to the critique of religion in general and Christianity in particular which has been so loudly and trenchantly offered by writers such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and the late Christopher Hitchens. In chapter after chapter, analysing different aspects of their work, he finds their arguments flawed, their understanding of Christian belief skewed, and their use of evidence faulty. Lennox' most significant claim, however is that the New Atheists fail to live up to their own much-vaunted standards of objective enquiry, when it comes to matters of faith. Because they are led by a mistrust of religion which has spilled over into distaste and then blind-hatred, the New Atheist literature if filled with misquotations, misrepresentations and unsupported assertions, which Lennox exposes and dismantled with some relish.

For his part, John Lennox is a Professor of Mathematics at The University of Oxford, sometime lecturer in the Philosophy of Science, and someone who has publicly debated these issues with Dawkins and Hitchens. He also writes from distinctly Christian convictions - and wishes the reader to know why (contrary to the New Atheist assertions to the contrary) these form part of a seamless worldview with his science - and not in contrast or contradiction to it. This is where the book begins, but soon moves forward to consider things such as Hitchens' 'religion poisons everything' argument. Lennox ably demonstrates the historical silliness of this argument - and counters with the record of atheism, both in government and in the "wildly intemperate" statements about curtailing the freedom of belief and conscience that atheist writers such as a Sam Harris have made.

The latter half of the book focuses more on the Christian faith in particular, and deals in detail with some of the critiques of Christian theology which have been raised, such as the morality of the Bible and the doctrine of the Atonement (: Jesus died in our place to reconcile us to God). Here Lennox finds countless examples of (wilful?) misunderstanding of what Christians believe, and the construction and subsequent demolition of paper-tigers instead of careful argument, especially in the works of Dawkins, which he lambasts. Finally the book ends with a defence of the historically credibility of the central Christian claim that miracles occurred in Christ's life (engaging with Hume's argument), culminating in his resurrection from the dead.

This remarkably combative book pulls no punches, and demonstrates many of the flaws in the writings of Dawkins and co. concisely and aggressively. While no doubt Lennox would listen attentively if Dawkins were to be lecturing in his area of biological research, it soon becomes apparent that he takes a very dim view of Dawkins ability to comment meaningfully in the areas of philosophy or theology. 

Gunning for God, makes a strong contribution to this debate which has dominated so much public discourse about faith over the last decade. No doubt believers will be heartened by this book, and followers of Dawkins et al, very irritated by it. I hope that it gets widely read, and that people who have only read the New Atheist view of the world, will be prepared to engage with it, and that at the very least they will adjust their critique of faith, and tone down their invective in response.

Yet again, however we have a book from a Christian publisher without a proper index. While the endnotes are very full and detailed, a work of non-fiction should be properly indexed. If the publisher hopes that a work of apologetics like this is to be used in assisting in further discussion, then making the contents readily accessible through an index should be standard practice. 

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Funky Funghi

Kinnoull Hill Peregrine

The Case of the Knackered Tumble-Dryer!

We couldn't work out why despite re-taping up all the joints, the tumble-dryer wasn't blowing or drying properly. Thankfully, on Friday while the legendary John H. was helping us to replace its broken drive-belt, he noticed that this piece of ducting (above) which is supposed to be beautifully rectangular, had completely failed. Although it was supposed to be heatproof, the exhaust from the tumble-dryer had shrunk it, until it was hardly letting any air through at all. Recycling wet-air repeatedly meant it wasn't drying much either! 

The Hunter and The Fisherman

Some things I saw walking home from dropping the kids off at school.

Preparing for Easter

As we run-up to Easter, I've been thinking through the meaning of the Cross of Jesus Christ with my friends at one of the churches in Perth. These are a couple of the slides from the talk I gave last night.

Slavery & Human Trafficking Today

Our church in Perth (Scotland!) is hosting a seminar by The International Justice Mission, a Christian human rights agency, "rescuing victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression". The event will be held at Perth Baptist Church, Almond View, Perth PH1 1QQ, on Saturday 31st March, 9:30am-12:00. The event is free, please come, anyone welcome. More information is available from 01738 621213, or office@perthbaptist.org.uk . Click on the image of the poster above to read it properly.

Book Notes: Republocrat, Confessions of a Liberal Conservative by Carl R. Trueman

I don't know if Carl Trueman actually set out to irritate people across the political spectrum; but his 2010 book, Republocrat: Confessions of a Liberal Conservative has certainly achieved that. Trueman is most well known as a Reformed Theologian/Historian, whose punchy polemics have spread lively debates far and wide from his office at Philadelphia's Westminster Seminary. 

Republocrat contains Trueman's thoughts about contemporary politics - especially American politics, from a Christian perspective. Since leaving British soil for the USA, Trueman has very naturally found a spiritual home in the doctrine and practice of North America's Reformed churches. He seems however, to have been scandalised by the political culture of American Christianity; and it is this experience which drives this book.

In Trueman's view, unequivocal endorsement of the left is not an option. The church cannot 'baptise' the left agenda, because as he notes, the post 1960s new-left has abandoned the unique focus on addressing material oppression and turned to individualistic psychological categories and has therefore ended up supporting positions which defy the Bible, such as abortion on demand, or the gay-agenda. This chapter is of course, the one which will stir up more controversy in the church here in the UK. However, Trueman has a far larger target in mind than the post 60s left..

Trueman goes on to argue that the kind of assumptions made by huge swathes of the North American church that Christianity=unequivocal endorsement of right wing politics, is wrong. Actually, he argues far more strongly than that - he goes as far in his chapter on Christianity and Capital to describe the baptism of capitalism as an absolute good, or of American Exceptionalism as "idolatry". In his view, there are countless issues on which there is no definitively Biblical position and about which Christians in fellowship with one another can legitimately disagree. Take for example, (p94)

It is not obvious to me from reading Scripture that God really cares one way or the other about how health care is delivered. Sickness is a result of the fall. As it was God's own character revealed in Christ to reach out with compassion to those ill and suffering, so it should be part of the character of God reflected in Christians to act in a manner consistent with this. I would suggest it means that believers should consider health care a good thing and want to see as many people helped by it as possible. How this is done, to what extent the state is involved, etc., are legitimate subjects for debate and not something that should divide Christians as Christians.

In other words the blanket endorsement of the right-wing agenda by the church in the USA is a serious error. Trueman briefly outlines his concerns with the idea that Christian faith necessarily endorses such shibboleths as gun ownership, the minimal state, environmental neglect, or the lack of provision of universal health care; as is so often assumed to be the case in the USA. Much of the blame for this Trueman lays squarely at the door of the likes of Fox News (trusted as an unbiased 'Christian' news-source!), the Murdoch empire, secularism within the church, and the shoddy, almost imbecilic standard of political debate. Politics is complex, and for the Christian will always involve compromise and trade-offs, as each issue is thought-through from a Biblical perspective in its own right. But here, of course is a key for Trueman - as for him the market is not a source of authority or morality, only the Bible is. Therefore the operations of the market can be held to account!

The book is witty, shocking, provocative, readable and wise. It's packed full of perceptive and/or funny examples of his points. Christians who are politically aware should get it, read it and think through the lessons it offers seriously. Although addressed primarily at Christians in Trueman's adopted home, there's plenty in here which relates to British politics too. For those of us who have discussed politics with Christians in America and been deeply perplexed by the whole manifest-destiny stuff, the messianic notions of Foreign Policy, opposition to health-care for the poor, of love of weapons, or the assumption that the British NHS was set up by atheists, communists and opponents of the gospel (!!!!); Republocrat is essential reading. There are times when Republocrat will make the reader laugh, scoff, or even cheer out loud; it certainly won't bore you. It would be tragic if this important book was either ignored and not given the circulation that it deserves, especially amongst the American Christian right. It would also be tragic of the satirical, humorous, and sometimes tongue-in-cheek styled detracted from the sobering wake up call from political naivety, found within it. Trueman's motivation for writing this book is also important to notice as he is not pleading to be understood or accepted by his new countrymen, nor is he hoping to persuade the American Christians to cheerlead for health care reform or some such. While he is concerned that the political-right exploits the religious-right to get votes but doesn't deliver policy outcomes in return; this is not his fundamental reason for writing, as he reveals (p109)

It is my belief that the identification of Christianity, in its practical essence, with very conservative politics will, if left unchecked, drive away a generation of people who are concerned for the poor, for the environment, for foreign policy issues.

In Republocrat, Trueman warns people not to digest media that doesn't challenge, but merely re-enforces their opinions. Of course, that' exactly the danger I am in when I read things like Republocrat. Nevertheless, it is good to read such a cheery and entertaining dismissal of the flawed idea that Biblical morality can be the exclusive property of either left or right.

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The Falls of Feugh

Testing the limits of how still I can hold the camera - next camera thing required = tripod!

Inverusk, Bristol and a Funeral

My wife & I were supposed to be enjoying a weekend away together, without the kids! She didn't know anything about it, but I had booked a cottage in the Highlands, and booked my parents to come and grand-parent, for the weekend. Sadly however, it was not to be. My Dad phoned a day or two before the weekend with the sad news that my uncle had died, and so they would not be able to come. Instead of cancelling the weekend altogether, we decided to take the kids with us - and all pile into the cottage. mood... Relaxing with a glass of wine, on a big sofa, in front of a roaring log fire was the ideal way to spend an evening - except that the romantic mood was not exactly enhanced by the presence of a twelve year old boy sitting in between us!

Our friend's cottage is a lovely peaceful place, perched above the river. With its grassy banks, gentle flow, and constant wildlife activity, the banks of Feugh look like the setting for the start of The Wind in the Willows. It certainly provided a serenely calm and beautiful place for me to spend a few minutes remembering my uncle - whose funeral in Bristol I set off to the next day. The funeral was a positive and uplifting event, as my uncle was a committed Christian who believed that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and in so doing broke the final power of death - guaranteeing his own resurrection into the presence of Jesus. For me the 'highlight' (is it right to have a highlight of a funeral?) was listening to my Dad paying a moving and heartfelt tribute to his big-brother. He spoke about many things; school, WWII bombing raids, cricket, athletics, meeting up after work for dinner in the mid-1960s, and my uncle's PhD work. Most significantly though he spoke about the way in which his big-brother had first introduced him to the Christian faith through the boys Crusader group (still going, now re-branded as Urban Saints). My Dad talked about that being the place where his own faith in Christ was born - which of course subsequently led to me being brought up in a Christian home. Any reader of this blog will know what a huge influence that has had on me, and therefore how much I owe to my uncle.

Book Notes: The Fires of Jubilee; Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion

The Fires of Jubilee is Stephen B. Oates stirring narrative of the dramatic events which took place in Southampton, Virginia in 1831. His book contains only a little analysis or historiography, but focuses the vast proportion of its 150+ pages on a straightforward telling of the violent events of the slave rebellion which broke out, and which will forever be associated with the name of it's leader, Nat Turner.

In Oates' account, white Virginia prided itself on its moderate slave regime, even convincing itself that the slaves were not bullied into obsequiousness but were happy, indeed grateful for their lot. White Virginians looked down upon what they regarded as the ill-treatment of slaves in states known for their harsher codes, such as Georgia or Alabama. The reality which lurked below the calm surface was that slaves like Nat Turner refused to be complicit in their dehumanisation and humiliation, and spent years planning an armed revolt.

Turner himself is a fascinating character. A man of unusual abilities he managed to gain the ability to read and write (although this was illegal), and read all he could -especially of the Bible. Reading the Bible for himself, Turner discovered that the White peoples proof-texts justifying slavery were weak; and that the book was full of compelling stories of the divine liberation of captives and exiles. These texts, his life experiences, and his interpretation of mystical signs forged a conviction in his mind that God had called him to be a Moses-like liberator of Virginia's black slaves. A dramatic eclipse in 1831 convinced Turner that God was calling him to start his rebellion, and so his small band of followers began their revolt, executing whites across the county farm by farm. Oates book provides a systematic chronology of the brief revolt and it's brutal suppression.

As fascinating as the story of the rebellion itself, is Oates' account of the aftermath of the events of 1831. For a start, it is often forgotten that the number of black casualties killed in white reprisals far outnumbered Turner's victims. Secondly, Oates describes the level of fear amongst the white community who worried that the rebellion was only a small part of a wider uprising planned by Northern Abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison. This in turn led to the imposition of far stricter and harsher 'slave-codes' in Virginia which significantly reduced the limited freedoms slaves had enjoyed prior to 1831 - a severity that would endure for the remainder of the ante-bellum period. Most surprisingly of all however is the fact that Nat Turner's rebellion was one of several factors which combined to almost persuade Virginia's Governor Floyd to table an emancipation bill in the state legislature (he was apparently persuaded against it at the last minute by his mentor, noted apologist for the 'peculiar institution', John C. Calhoun). As much of the state favoured an end to the turbulent and disturbing presence of slavery, there was a possibility that such a bill may have passed - which would have had enormous consequences for the South, and could have radically altered the course of American history, especially the Civil War. Nat Turner and his six confidante's who planned the uprising, didn't manage to spark of a wholescale slave war, and many slaves stayed local to their masters, and the whole movement lasted but three short bloody days. Yet - they came closer to changing history than anyone (except possibly the mystical Turner himself) could have imagined possible. One thing seems certain however; if Turner had lived to see the destruction of Richmond in the 1860s at the conclusion of a Civil War which increasingly came to be defined by the slavery issue; he would have claimed it was the divine judgement on the South that he had warned about in 1831.

Oates concludes his book with a postscript of stories from his field trips to Virginia to research the Turner story. Detailed accounts of the revolt exist so that tracing the exact route of the rebels from farm-to-farm  was possible for Oates in the early 1970s. Some of the same old farm houses from the 1830s were still standing too. Sadly, he found the place still bristling with racial tension nearly a century and a half after Nat Turner led his axe-wielding slaves out from their cabins to overthrow their oppressors.

Interestingly, Oates simply avoids making any moral judgements (either positive or negative) about Turner and his associates. He does not lift the moral agenda of Ghandi and Martin Luther King from the Twentieth Century and impose this back onto the 1830s in order to start a discussion about the necessity for evil to be confronted through non-violent struggle. Rather, (and quoting Frederick Douglass to this effect) he sees the violent actions of the rebels as simply part of the violence created by slavery; the brutal actions created by a brutal system.

Oates' book is short, lively, shocking and important. It vividly details an important chapter in the history of the American South. It's very good, though rather uncomfortable reading.
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Book Notes: The Spirituals and The Blues by James H. Cone

For James Cone, neither The Spirituals, nor The Blues, can be appreciated as musical/lyrical/cultural expressions, apart from the Black experience of America which birthed them. In fact, in this book he goes almost as far as claiming that it is not possible to understand them unless one is part of that very experience. His withering comments about those who would seek to use the objective tools of historical analysis to dissect this music, from outside the experience and faith of Black-America (p4), are foundational for the book. This swipe is obviously aimed at writers like the celebrated Paul Oliver, whose work does feature in Cone's bibliography. "I contend, that there is a deeper level of experience which transcends the tools of  "objective" historical research. And that experience is available only to those who share the spirit and participate in the faith of the people who created these songs", he writes. And then later, "Black music is also social and political. It is social because it is black and thus articulates the separateness of the black community. It is an artistic rebellion against the humiliating deadness of western culture." (p5-6).

Cone was one of the first theologians to apply so-called "Liberation-Theology" to the experience of Black America in the 1960s, for which he gained both fame and notoriety, depending on who you ask. The Spirituals and The Blues was written in the early 1970s and so the context of his writing is both to build upon that theological base, applying it to this particular cultural form; and also to assert the essential Black-ness of the music at a time when it was being increasingly appropriated by white performers and artists. 

Cone rejects many of the interpretations of The Spirituals which preceded him, such as that by Marxists who insisted that Slave-religion was guilty of the pacification of the oppressed by the offering of false post-mortem rewards for the compliant; the standard 'pie-in-the-sky' opiate. Cone, while demonstrating that that is exactly what White-Christianity was directly and appallingly guilty of, forwards an interpretation of the Spirituals which is politically radical. Aware of the obvious rebuttal to his thesis, Cone takes his time to ensure that such a reading is not simply an eisegesis of the sources from the vantage point of  post civil-rights era radicalism, but roots his reading deeply into the experience of American slavery. From here, apparently innocuous songs and sermons become loaded with political intent. The use of Moses and the Exodus metaphor is only one of a handful of Biblical themes which oppressed people could sing without alarming their 'masters', but which had direct, revolutionary significance for the slave. That is not so say that they were only political metaphors, stripped of theological force; but rather that for Christian-slave, the salvation they looked to God for was not postponed until after death but would begin here, with the freeing of captives and the giving of sight to the blind. As Cone points out, for slave insurrectionist like Nat Turner, their actions were not done as a rejection of God or Christianity, but in seeking to claim the promises they saw within it. Cone, rather elegantly, argues that the spirituals (and then their 'secular counterparts' The Blues), are though more than coded protest songs. In fact their very composition and expression was a powerful political-social-theological statement which affirms the humanity, value and personhood of the people from whom it comes - and this in the face of a system designed to rob them of precisely that personhood. Rather than accepting white values, or escapist theology, or indeed rejecting Christianity - in Cone's reading the singers he examines looked to the Christian God to aid them in their struggle to survive; and who would lead them one day to liberty. (p61)

The lament of the Blues, Cone sees as the other side of the same coin, of the self-expression of the marginalised - albeit without reference to God. "You've never seen a mule sing" Cone quotes the legendary bluesman Blind Lemon Jefferson (also a singer of spirituals as Deacon LJ Bates) as saying. That nicely contrasts the two views of black personhood which existed in his experience and the way in which in his creativity asserted his humanity.

In terms of a reading of these wonderful, and so powerfully evocative musical forms, Cone's book is quite wonderful. As black American music has in so many ways conquered the world in successive waves of gospel, blues, jazz, soul, funk, hip-hop and rap; it becomes progressively easier to detach the sound from the context which created it, and which in a sense still owns it in a way which the external appreciator (how ever enraptured) never quite can. Cone's account is though, not without its controversial aspects and elements which I couldn't entirely accept. Liberation Theology is a case in point. While I entirely agree that the gospel must bring economic and social justice in its wake, and that any movement which does not embrace the marginalised is woefully sub-Christian, and that the Kingdom of God is to be advanced here 'as in heaven' in which all peoples are equal and liberation is achieved for all: I do not believe that Liberation Theology alone gives an adequate account of the gospel of Christ. Cone exclusively operates within the framework of liberation theology here - and that is problematic. 

Another element of the book which I found troublesome was Cone's use of absolute generalisations about peoples as if such stereotyping was either historically true or theologically helpful. So for instance, his insistence that slave-religion did not internalise the values of the oppressor, and didn't view 'heaven' as otherworldly but as a emancipation; might be true up to a point. Far more likely it seems to me is that there were a range of responses to the evil of slavery, and that such categorical statements are unlikely to be realistic. If Cone wants to justify this on the grounds that compromised responses were less authentically black and therefore to be excluded from his account, he at that point needs some of the tools of the 'objective historian' to correct his ideological slant. Most provocatively of all, Cone likes to employ the Calvinist terminology of "the elect" (that is to so, the chosen of God for His salvation) in racial terms. In Cone's version of political salvation this is understandable, but is a world away from the use of such terms in the New Testament. Where Cone commends "black-religion" for resisting the importation of "white-categories" into their reading of the Bible (which is a good thing), he needs to be careful not to be also excluding biblical, especially Pauline categories from his. Where 'love for enemies' and Christ's ethical teaching fits into Cone's appreciation of Black music is not mentioned.

The Spirituals and The Blues, (despite the fact that I read it from a totally different theological and cultural perspective than the author), is powerfully provocative, and compelling reading. Anyone who loves this music, and (like me) has wondered why it able to move them so deeply, profoundly and powerfully should read it. Next time I am listening to the heavenly growling of Blind Willie Johnson singing "What is the Soul of A Man?" I will not hear those words in isolation, as an abstract theological or philosophical musing. Instead I will hear a Black man singing from the context of poverty and segregation. In his song, the soul before God is not black or white but equal. Likewise, his song affirms that despite what he has been told since birth, he too is a man, with a soul. Next time I listen to someone sing, "I want Jesus to walk with me", I will think if Cone's discussion of the solitary nature of so many of these songs - as they came from a time when families were so often split up at the auctioneer's block - and communities separated. "In my troubles, walk with me" - are words I have both heard and sung as prayers in dark days; but again Cone's work helps me embed these words within the historical and racial realities in which they were heart-cries. 

Cone's passionate love for Black American music and people is gripping, while his analysis brings a new dimension to the appreciation of the music. 

Ice Window

Extraordinary patterns in the ice on our attic Velux windows last week. (Click image to enlarge)

Book Notes: Simply Jesus by Tom Wright

Tom Wright's latest popular level book, Simply Jesus, brings the fruits of his many decades of scholarly work on the gospels, and his unique take on them, and makes it accessible to the interested lay-reader (or the scholar who just lacks the necessary time to read his 700+ page tomes!). Wright continues to chart his idiosyncratic course through Christian theology which is always guaranteed to intrigue, fascinate and irritate both conservatives and liberals alike!

Wright's basic working thesis is that both today's liberals and conservative theologians have used their different versions of the contemporary world-view to shape their readings of Jesus, distorting it in different directions. Instead, Wright proposes a scheme in which he claims to draw a usable interpretive framework with which to understand Jesus and his message, from the context of 1st Century Palestine - thus enabling us to shed our imported pre-conceptions and get closer to the real Jesus. Liberals, Wright castigates for their failure to embrace the miraculous aspects of Christ's ministry, thus eviscerating the invasion of God into history of its full power and significance, and in the case of Christ's physical resurrection its meaning and credibility too. Conservatives though, he scolds for their failure to engage with the idea of the Kingdom of God on earth 'as it is in heaven'; depleting Christianity by reducing it to a dualistic 'soul-only' salvation in which escape from the earth is the goal rather than the reign of God on earth. In marking out these broad lines of argument Wright quite brilliantly corrects some of the extremes into which both ends of the spectrum are prone to fall.

Wright's extensive use of the Old Testament is also fascinating, especially where he draws on the prophets and history. One of his contentions is that in the person and life of Jesus (through which the announcement of God's kingship is made), God is doing for the world, what he did for Israel in the Exodus and return from exile. He points out that the pattern, (i) overcoming a tyrant (ii) rescue, (iii) giving a vocation to God's people, (iv) God's presence, (v) inheritance; are exactly what Jesus achieved - with far greater scope than those Old Testament narratives (p75). Therefore, Wright continues:

Just as physical healing is the up-close-and-personal version of what it looks like when God takes charge, to fix and mend the whole world, so individual forgiveness is the up-close-and-personal version of what it looks like when God does what he promised and restores his exiled people..... most Jews in Jesus day saw the Babylonian exile as only the start of a much longer period of history in which God's people remained unredeemed, un-rescued and unforgiven. When Jesus was announcing forgiveness, both on the one-to-one personal scale and more widely, this is the story people would have had in their heads. And this is the story we must assume Jesus intended them to have in their heads. (p75)

Wright's chapter on 'Battle and Temple' is compelling reading. Arguing that the Old Testament temple, was the place where heaven and earth met, as the presence of God was conducted into the Holy of Holies; he demonstrates the way in which many of Jesus words make most sense if we Jesus as the living embodiment of the the temple. Jesus cleansing of the Temple, as well as announcing judgement on it, comes into sharp focus as does his conflict with evil. Likewise his work on the background the gospels is remarkable, the comparisons he makes with other Jewish would-be messianic movements in the centuries either side of Jesus - brings the unique nature of Jesus and his movement into brilliant clarity.

When it comes to examining the death and resurrection of Jesus, Wright is in the thick of the most hotly contested theological issues of the last few years. Wright's emphasis is on the Christus Victor  model of atonement, and yet intriguingly he subsumes some of the language and insights of Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA) into his scheme. Again many liberals will resist the required physicality of the resurrection, and will baulk at anything more than the example and moral influence of the cross. Yet Wright insists that the cross-resurrection of Christ is absolutely necessary for salvation, and is the first fruits of the renewal of everything including the physical realm. Conservatives would want Wright to be much stronger on PSA - and address the issue of divine justice and the cross, not just the conflict with death and evil, and the associated abandonment of the Son by God the Father at Calvary. Part of this, as several commentators  have noted, is that Wright draws extensively from 1st Century culture, and Old Testament narratives and prophets for his interpretation - but little from Old Testament Law or from the NT Epistles - whose combined influence could bolster the element of PSA which Wright permits in his account. Contrary to some conservative bloggers, I do not think that this invalidates Wright's important work here though. In the wake of the Steve Chalke controversy over PSA several years ago, it became clear that his work was part of an anti-reaction to some caricatures of PSA, or the impression given in some circles that this was the only way to describe the achievement of the cross. In response to Chalke et al, many others have pointed out that the Bible's many ways of describing the Cross may be tricky to systematise - but that each image is like the facets of a diamond - each quite brilliant. The cross and resurrection of Jesus is the basis for all hope, and Wright helps us to see the way in which his triumph over sin and death achieves this for us.

Wright is an enigmatic scholar who can express his vast knowledge in straightforward language. While I struggle to appreciate his work on Paul and justification; I cannot think of a writer who more concisely and illuminatingly brings the gospels to life by drawing the social/political/theological background into such clear focus. While his academic works (published as N.T. Wright) are densely argued and heavily footnoted, his more popular works such as this are fast-paced and almost unbelievably contain barely any references at all. As a Christian, seeking insight into Jesus, understanding of the gospel's text and context, and always trying to be suspicious of my own assumptions which I bring to that exercise, Simply Jesus is a brilliant resource. I do not think agreement with the great Professor on every point is required in order to have one's own assumptions raked through and tested, and light shed in dark corners through reading Simply Jesus. I found it absolutely compelling.

۞۞۞۞

Perth Red Morning

Ice Grass

Er, what it says on the tin...

In Defence of Munro Bagging..

Blue= climbed. Red= Not yet climbed!

Munro-bagging, (defined as the attempt to stand upon each 3000ft+ summit in Scotland, having climbed from the public road without mechanical assistance) is a fairly pointless and silly exercise. On the other hand, reduced to its most basic level, every sport is pointless - unless you define the point of existence as kicking a sack of air between some pieces of wood, of course. Munro-bagging has always had its detractors, of whom there seem to be two main types:

The first are non-hill walkers who mock the very thought that any pleasure could be gained by dragging ones weary and reluctant limbs up some tiresome Geal Charn or Meall Bhuide, while wading through relentless heather and peat hags in driving wind and pouring rain. These people would rather sit at home and watch The X-factor, thus giving me opportunities aplenty to return their incredulity about the nature of pleasure; while simultaneously disbarring themselves from participation in meaningful cultural dialogue. These people need detain us no longer!

The second group for whom Munro-baggers are an object of scorn are the self-appointed hillwalking elite, the mountain-puritans, the 'real-men' of the wild. For this group, the very thought of selecting a peak, and scaling it in order to place a tick in a book is an act of sacrilege - which demonstrates a failure to appreciate the true grandeur of wild-places, and reduces appreciating them on their own terms to a puerile game. This group however will find that their view of the countryside will be steadily eroded by the restriction of vision that occurs as their heads are shoved further and further up their own bottoms. Sadly, such has always been the fate of the self-important, and pompous. They may wear their pomposity with beards and goretex, rather than posh-accents and tweeds, but they are unmistakably one of a kind.

I began Munro-bagging quite by accident. When I moved to Scotland to go to University, I had already done a lot of walking in England and Wales, across the chalklands of the South, the broad uplands of The Peak district, and the rocky ridges of Snowdonia. I hoped to do some walking in Scotland and so one of my first purchases on arrival was a local OS map. The Scottish map confused me however. In England and Wales, the maps are covered in thin dotted red-lines which show public footpaths and bridleways. These formed the basis for any walk as everything else was pretty much private property and illegal to stand on! So when I looked at a Scottish OS map for the first time, I had no idea where to walk because of the total absence of red-dotted lines across the countryside. Not understanding the way in which the right to roam in wild-places in Scots law made such lines redundant, I felt very hesitant about taking to uplands without designated rights of way. I simply didn't know where to walk! One of the first presents I was bought was Cameron McNeish's little Munro almanac. It listed a series of hill-walking routes, where to park and directions for  walks. I tried a few - somewhere in the East Grampians, and had such wonderful days out, that before long I was merrily ticking off these routes. The map above demonstrates that over the last few years I have done a fair amount of pointless Munro-bagging!

The trouble with the Mountain-snobs who despise Munro-bagging is that they assume that the addition of the 'game' of ticking the book detracts from a deep and genuine appreciation of wild places. I suspect that the opposite may in fact be the case. The Munro-book entices the walker up from the cities to places accessible as Ben Lomond or Schiehallion, where the glory of The Highlands begins and is first glimpsed. But the book doesn't leave them there, it lures them on to The Cairngorms, Kintail, Torridon, Knoydart, Sutherland - giving a taste of all corners of the country and all kinds of wild places. I don't know any Munro baggers who haven't started off like this who don't also delight in other hills, like the magnificent sub-Munro-height peaks of Assynt. Likewise, I am sure that the ranks of organisations like The John Muir Trust, or the SSPB are packed full of people who fell in love with Scottish landscape and wildlife because they first went to the hills with a copy of Munro's tables in their hands.

Now, obviously refusing to climb a tremendous mountain because it is only 2999 feet high is daft, mad and indefensibly moronic. But, so is the assumption by the mountain-elite that such attitudes are common amongst Munro-baggers. I count myself as a Munro-bagger, but yet I have spent days on lower-hills, photographing them and their wildlife, walking along coastal paths, on long-paths, and up to waterfalls. I have walked with pensioners, and carried babies on my back through the hills. A Munro 'bagged' might add an extra dimension and challenge to a day out, but it is by no means restrictive. I certainly wouldn't miss out on a three hour walk near home, just because there wasn't time to drive to an unconquered Munro! And I suspect that my attitudes are more common amongst baggers, than the elitists would care to admit!

So here's my Munro map. I am two-thirds of the way through. There are several that I have climbed several times - and will probably climb many more times. Last year was a poor year for bagging, a mere 8 new summits, despite the many hours I spent walking. I am hoping that 2012 will be a more bagging-successful year and I have a 'wish-list' of walks I would love to complete. The economy, the price of petrol, the weather, family activities, and the availability of hill-friends will all play a part in determining my success or failure in this ambition. Maybe see you in the hills somewhere...

An older view..

THE TOWN OF THE TAY - PERTH

Click on the image - links to a film about Perth, made in 1936.

Ice on the Table

"The Stone Table", Kinnoull Hill not Narnia. Click on image to see at full size.

Smeaton's Bridge

Walking in to town for breakfast with my wife - mist hovering low over the Tay.

Fungus

Dave, I had a word with the Fungus, they assure me that there's plenty of dead wood for everyone to share. 

How to Keep Warm

The storm last May brought down a lot of trees near us, but the chaos of that Monday evening was offset by the nice collection of firewood for this winter that it produced. Several happy Spring days sawing, splitting, and stacking in order to get the wood nicely seasoned has made cold winter nights a lot more pleasant now. 

The sweet smell of woodsmoke, the peaty aroma of a fine dram.. the way to spend a January evening.

Inversion

On the hill yesterday, with fog hanging around the Tay below, and the yellow morning sun above.. As ever, click on the image to see it properly.

The Sinister Mr Snilloc

Some school reading book which my kids had featured a 'bad guy' called "Mr Collins". This Mr Collins, made quite an impression on the kids, because they designed a face for him, which started appearing in places such as the obligatory "Keep Out!" notices on their bedroom doors. The character took on a more sinister aspect when they re-named him, Mr Snilloc, as the word in reverse sounds infinitely more menacing. Mr Snilloc now appears routinely on the steamed-up glass by the shower, or icy car-windows, and birthday cards invariably are signed by both the sender and Mr Snilloc! The picture above is Snilloc's recent appearance on Tentsmuir beach.

Good Morning, Fife

Looks quite nice at full size - click on the image to see it properly!

At the pond...

 

Nestling between the two small hills near our house there is a spring which feeds a pond with fresh water all year round. Even when the main routes up Kinnoull Hill are very busy with walkers, dogs and mountain bikers, it' soften possible to sit by the pond and see or hear no human activity in the woods at all. The town rumbles away in the background, but here, wedged between the two hills, the air at the pond is often perfectly still.

When I am up there with my children in tow (and the inordinate volume at which they seem to function), the chances of seeing any wildlife are extremely limited. However, when on my own, I sometimes quietly wait. Within a few minutes of my noisy footsteps falling silent, the creatures of the wood resume their activity. On some Spring mornings I have seen young deer coming down to the pond to drink, while large Herons sometimes take a break from the Tay to fish the pond. Other large birds of prey stalk the woods too. I have seen Perigrines on the other side of the hill, but around the pond buzzards and a large owl  are regular sights. Squirrels, usually large greys, but occasionally little reds, clatter up and down the trunks, and countless smaller birds chatter in the branches. On Friday, a new sight; a fox was lazily patrolling the margins of the pond.

It's not a piece of glamorous mountain scenery, but it is a place of delightful calm, and charm. 

Book Notes: Screening the Blues by Paul Oliver

Some aspects of the so-called "Great British Blues Boom" of the 1960s are disputed. Not least amongst these questions is why so many affluent white kids in Western Europe found the  music of America's Black underclass resonated with their experiences in that turbulent decade - and became such a potent vehicle for their own self-expression. In short, what where guys in Surrey doing searching for rare Big Bill Broonzy discs in order to faithfully imitate them? There have been many answers to these fascinating  questions. However what is surely beyond doubt is that the historian and academic analyst of this music in the UK was Paul Oliver. An academic architect by profession, Oliver began a lifetime of study into African-American culture in the 1950s, publishing reams of articles and many books - documenting, classifying, describing and dissecting the music and lyrics of The Blues.

In 1968, when bands like Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and The Rolling Stones, had brought the sounds of Mississippi and Chicago to thousands of people, Oliver published  Screening the Blues: Aspects of the Blues Tradition. It consists of a series of essays which Oliver had previously published in various journals, covering subjects as disparate as Blues and Christmas, nd Preaching the Blues (on the complex, multi-faceted, and often over-simplified) relationship between The Blues and Gospel music and their respective orbits. The Forty-fours, is a very long essay tracing a 'family-tree' of songs, musical forms and influences, tracing Blues back into the 19thC, while Policy Blues examines the gambling rackets which feature so heavily in African-American 20thC history, and which were such a fertile inspiration for the Bluesmen and Women. In the course of this, Oliver makes some observations about the apparent lack of social comment, let alone protest coming forth from a people for whom the central narrative of their experience in America, was one of oppression. The book concludes with a extended discussion about Blue Blues; that is blues with sexual content or innuendo and some of the games the blues musicians played to get black community innuendo under the radar of the predominantly white censors.

The book now has a dual significance, as it was written as a history book, but also is in itself now also a historical document - a snapshot of where academic study had reached in 1968. In many cases, Oliver calls for further research, and expresses frustration at the lack of serious studies in the field. In nearly every case he cites there are now a plethora of articles and books addressing his questions. Acceptable language in debates about race has also changed a lot over the last four decades. Contemporary readers will wince at Oliver's consistent use of terms like "Negro", but should remember that it was a perfectly acceptable term at the time,  used throughout the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr, for example. As a historic document, its also fascinating to note that a generation previously, the thought of a white, British historian being utterly consumed with analysing the Lomax Library of Congress field recordings of the Blues from the 1920s would have been unthinkable. By the 60's it was 'merely' pioneering!

In terms of the content of the book Oliver writes with a voice of academic detachment (earning the disapproval of some Black authors for whom the Blues is part of the Black experience which can only be lived - not externally analysed). His research is extremely thorough, and if not exhaustive - sometimes detailed and repetitive to the point of being laborious. The essays on The Forty-Fours and The Blue Blues, especially could be massively improved by moving a large proportion of the cited examples and lyrics into the footnotes to allow the analysis itself to flow more naturally and build towards conclusions. Nevertheless, Screening the Blues is important history, and is now in itself an important way-marker in the outward rippling of the Blues from Mississippi to the world.

۞۞

So, what does this button do then?

Ooh-eck, I like that! Looks even better full size (click on it to see).

Book Notes: Mark Steel's in Town by Mark Steel

One of the highlights of recent Radio 4 comedy has been "Mark Steel's in Town" in which the radical and acerbic stand-up satirist visits a town, researches and writes a comedy routine based on the place - and then delivers it to an audience of locals. The format has worked really well on the radio for three series, as Steel brilliantly dissects the quirky, weird, odd, or wonderful aspects of a place and its people, drawing on his experiences today or on the history of the places. Each show features his entertaining monologue - (much of which he we invariably delivery in a cod version of the local accent), the local crowd reaction to this outsider affectionately teasing their foibles with laughter, cheers, boos or hoots of derision; and an interview with a colourful local character who seems to personify one of the town's most endearing eccentricities. Most of the last series has been excellent, and listening to it usually provokes a wry grin, and occasional peals of laughter.

The book based on the series contains a lot of material which will be familiar to the Radio 4 audience, such as the chapter on Douglas in the Isle of Man where he accuses the residents of basically being tax dodgers. It's written in Steel's distinctive tone, and is packed for of Steels trademark radicalism, disdain for the establishment, wonderful sense of irony and delicious use of ludicrous comparisons. He quotes lovely stories from the archives of the places he visits too, in Basingstoke he describes the way in which the droll and quietly spoken cricket commentator John Arlott got the better of a verbose colleague who concluded his description of the ground by "telling listeners he could see the sun setting in the West. When Arlott came on he said slowly, 'you can be rest assured that if the sun starts to set in the East I'll be the first to let yo know.'" And then in Wigan he discovered that local 1940s 'cheeky' banjolele songster George Formby  "toured pre-apartheid South Africa and upset his hosts by refusing to play segregated venues. As a result, a black member of one audience presented Formby's wife Beryl with a box of chocolates, and George gave the man a hug. National Party leader Daniel Francois Malan, who would introduce apartheid two years later, heard about this and phoned Beryl to complain, to which she replied, 'Why don't you p*** off, you horrible little man?'

While analysing London and rejoicing in its colourful ethnic diversity, Steel says: 

"My son once introduced me to a new friend, saying, 'This is Ernest, he's Polish. Don't worry, I don't miss any opportunity to remind him that his lot had to be saved by us in the war.'

I said, 'What?'

He said, "Everyday I remind him that his country would have been stuffed without us in the Second World War.'

I said, 'Listen, you know that aeroplane battle at the start of the war, over Kent, that meant that Hitler had no chance of invading?'

'Oh yeah, the Battle of Britain'

'Yes, the Battle of Britain. Well, do you know where a fifth of pilots on the Allied side came from?  They were from Poland!'

He turned straight to his mate and said, 'See, you were nicking our jobs even back then'.

Now who wouldn't want to live in a city like that?

There are plenty of laughs in the book, but despite this I couldn't help feeling that it failed to live up to the Radio show. In fact, its a lot less funny and enjoyable than its Radio equivalent despite the fact that so much of it is the Radio show scripts. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that Steel has to tone his language down for the BBC, whereas his publishers allows him to barrage the reader with expletives which become wearisome. The second is that so much of the humour comes from Steel's delivery, and mimicry of local voices, or bursting into song, and interaction with the live audience - something which doesn't translate to the page. The result is that while the book is wryly amusing, it doesn't deliver the laughs like the Radio show. Fans of the show will feel somewhat underwhelmed by the book, I suspect.

۞۞

Along the River Braan

Click to enlarge - and see the picture properly!

The Falls of Braan at The Hermitage

A favourite family stroll starts at Rumbling Bridge near Dunkeld and follows the track alongside the River Braan  to The Hermitage.

Barnhill

Tentsmuir

Stripes

One of the best things about the Christmas season this year has been having my parents up in Scotland, not just once, but twice. The first time was for my Dad's 70th birthday, a milestone we celebrated here with them and my sister's family too. The second time was for Christmas itself. As we went to the front door to wave them off, a stunning rainbow plunged down from the sky into The South Inch.