...and my next challenge commences

Assess the significance of Richard Hooker's theological method for Anglicanism today

And this one is at Masters level so I better sock it to 'em, well, at least pass, anyway.

I have been praying away my pride, no tall order! Phe! Anyway, I have come to realise that pursuing top marks is no longer the right approach. I have to learn to hold a lot of things in tension. Ah! Just that whole 'tension' thing again - eschatological tension and the rest of it.

So I need to remember why I am doing this, I am not called to be an academic but a practitioner, however, a thinking one, I figure, but not a burnt-out one who can only 'spout it' without having the 'clout about it'.

I had been reflecting on John's latest reflections about the educational levels of the clergy and whilst I agree with much of what he says, in essence, I was also struck by the very effective evangelistic strategies proposed by Mark Russell, head of Church Army, who came to speak to St John's students last Wednesday.

I am sensing that we must work with God through the all the ways that he manifests himself, so that whilst knowing my New Testament in the Greek will certainly help, at times, to bring nuances that would otherwise have escaped us, to the fore in sermons, this alone will not do. We are as church to come together to meet Jesus and each other, to share his love with the world around us in acts of compassion and service and to be a community of transformed people seeking to transform the world. The energy we are given for this mission comes from the Holy Spirit who must be welcomed in our midst, celebrated and desired. In this way we will be working in His strength and not our own. God speaks to us through the Word and the Spirit, so we try to be balanced, as hard as that is. With his grace we ask for strength and discernment. There should be no unhelpful dischotomy between word and action. They flow out of one another. Mark Russell provided me with a nugget of wisdom I shall not forget and that is that Word and Action are like 'breathing in and breathing out'. We can not choose one or the other. It is both and if we are asked which is the important one then the answer is, it must be the one you failed to do last! This analogy works well. So whilst I appreciate the requirement for academic astuteness, I am also very slowly praying to be free of the grip of always having to satisfy a certain academic level, for the mission project of God is varied and variable and all parts better contribute to a whole.

So any book recommendations on that old Hooker chap would be much appreciated so that I can also live a little in other ways than solely inside the dust covers of beautiful books, however lovely a place that might be!