Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

The Crafty Serpent and the Wise Serpent - John Donne Sermon CXXVIII

Sermon CXXVIII

An anniversary sermon, preached at St. Dunstan's, Genesis iii. 24

SERMON CXXVIII.

AN ANNIVERSARY SERMON, PREACHED AT ST. DUNSTAN'S, UPON THE COMMEMORATION OF A PARISHIONER, A BENEFACTOR TO THAT PARISH.

Genesis iii. 24. 
And dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. 

This is God's malediction upon the serpent in paradise, there in the region, in the storehouse of all plenty, he must starve; this is the serpent's perpetual fast, his everlasting Lent, (Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.) There is a generation derived from this serpent, progenies viperarum, a generation of vipers, that will needs in a great, and unnecessary measure, keep this serpent's Lent, and bind themselves to perform his fast; for, the Carthusian will eat no flesh, (and yet, I never saw better bodied men, men of better habitudes and constitution, howsoever they recompense their abstinence from flesh) and the Fueillans will eat neither flesh nor fish, but roots, and salads, (and yet amongst them, amongst men so enfeebled by roots, was bred up that man, who had both malicious courage, and bodily strength, to kill the last king, who was killed amongst them*) they will be above others in their fasts, fish, and roots will they eat, all the days of their life, but their Master will be above them in his fast, (Dust must he eat all the days of his life.)

Human Rights and Religious Faith - Rowan Williams

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is unquestionably a landmark in the history of moral consciousness, one of the factors that has consistently given hope and purpose to political life throughout the globe since it first saw the light of day in 1948.

It has offered a global benchmark for identifying injustices to those who have never been able to make their voices heard. And, for all the challenges which we shall come back to in a moment, it has been an energising force in the witness of more than one community of faith in their struggle against arbitrary oppression and for protection of the vulnerable.

Yet the language of human rights has - surprisingly - become more rather than less problematic in recent years. The "human rights record" of certain states is - very understandably -deployed as a factor in calculating political and economic strategies of engagement; but this has its impact on any idea that the language of human rights is, so to speak, "power neutral."

For some, it can reinforce the notion that this language is an ideological tool for one culture to use against another. We have heard over a good many years arguments about the "inappropriateness" of human rights language in a context, say, of mass economic privation, where it is claimed that a focus on individual rights is a luxury, at least during the period when economic injustices are being rectified.

Erasmus: Peace Theologian and Humanist Par Excellence - Ron Dart

Erasmus: Sacred Rites and Rituals - Ron Dart

Erasmus and Church Unity - Ron Dart

Thinking Outside the Box about Retribution -- Henk Smidstra

We are probably all familiar with the phrase, “thinking outside the box.” As the phrase suggests, to solve a problem we must get outside the box, our frame of thought, and its inherent assumptions and rules in order to analyse and solve problems within the box. It’s not as easy as it sounds, since what is reality for us is that which is within the box. Thinking outside of what is considered normal and acceptable is often considered fantasy or unrealistic. Dr. Elizabeth M. (Liz) Elliot (2011) has noted that in our searching for an alternative paradigm regarding justice, we must get out of the box of retributive thinking. She writes, “Because we are inclined to consider punishment within a paradigm that is punishment based, reconsidering the notion of punishment itself seems ludicrous. Abandoning punishment in this context amounts to doing nothing in response to wrongdoing” (p. 27). This implicit deeply rooted logic in the mind of individuals and society is at the heart of the persistence of retributive justice practices. A paradigm shift is necessary; only by getting outside the box of mythical habitual, logic, will we be able to see that not punishing is not equal to doing nothing (Elliot 2011, p.27). She notes further that adherence to the belief that punishment is necessary for justice to be done is the biggest challenge in making a change in thinking from retributive justice to restorative justice (p.297).

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