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As we all know, the American election is less than a fortnight away. Far more than during the Brexit debate last summer, it is hard to hear the rhetoric in the Trump vs. Clinton contest without feeling that something has gone very wrong with the nature and language of political debating.
This summer Mark Thompson (of BBC and New York Times fame) published a very thoughtful book called Enough Said: What’s Gone Wrong with the Language of Politics?
Thompson, in this brilliant book, tracks the history of political rhetoric from the ancient Greeks through to Thatcher and Blair. He points out that election time is not the first age in which reflective souls, like Socrates, Hume, and Orwell, have fretted about degenerating language in public debate and where it might be leading. Yet current political disagreements seem to have reached a new low in which the world has been witness to downright lying and even thinly-veiled incitements of violence. How are we to respond to this type of deeply alarming behaviour which is so far from emulating how mature and responsible statesmen and women should be? What message does this type of language and debate send to the younger generation?
In 1986, at his enthronement as Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu said that humanity’s “maturity will be judged by how well we are able to agree to disagree and yet continue to love one another, to care for one another, and cherish one another and seek the greater good of the other”. After this terrible American election, can we dare hope to return to a less heated and more consolatory language of public engagement, where the humanity of one’s opponent would always be at the forefront of any debate? For the sake of all, we should pray that might be possible.
We are so looking forward to Erica preaching and perhaps as an American she might have some light to shed on this too.
The Revd Charlotte Bannister-Parker
Co-Acting Priest-in-charge
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| | Services
—Tuesdays & Thursdays at 12.15pm
Lunchtime Eucharists —
Sunday 30th October All Saints' Day Byrd, Mass for Four Voices Mendelssohn, Verleih uns Frieden 10.30am - Choral Eucharist Preacher - The Revd Dr Erica Longfellow, Chaplain of New College
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| | | Michaelmas Lunches
We have a series of lunches in the Old Library during Michaelmas Term. The last one is on 20th November after the main morning service.
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| | Wired: First Talk Material
Our series on Technology and Ethics kicked off last week with Prof Stephen Jarvis, head of Computer Sciences at Warwick University (and member our congregation). His brilliant talk, entitled 'Will computers pray?', explained Artificial Intelligence and how it might be developed in the future. It raised fascinating questions about how computers might interact with our lives - in work and ethics - in the future. The text of the talk is available here along with the questions which sparked discussion: http://www.universitychurch.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Will-Computers-Pray.pdf.
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| | Forthcoming Concerts & Other Events
Saturday 29th October, 8pm - Consortium Novum Symphony No 2 in C Op 61 - Robert Schumann
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B minor Op 104 - Antonín Dvorák
Tickets £12 on the door only — Check out our website and Facebook pages.
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| | Wired: technology's ethical questions
Will a robot do your job? Will technology change our understanding of human identity? How does the Internet change our behaviour? How does technology change conflict? What technology should we not develop?
Over three evenings in Michaelmas Term we will present a discussion on how technology is revolutionising our world and what impact it might have, and consider how we might respond in terms of ethics. Each evening will include a talk, Q&A and discussion over cheese and wine. 7.30pm-9.00pm in the Vaults Cafe. |
| | The Muse: a six-part series on the creative spark
‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ – a question creative people are often asked, and which they often flounder to answer. Do we seek inspiration from the natural world, from the news, from knowledge of ourselves? Is the creative Muse an internal or external energy? This series – featuring, amongst others, award-winning poet Antony Dunn and historical drama expert Dionysios Kyropolous – will shed light on the creative processes in the arts, through talks, workshops and Q&As. Wednesdays, October 19th-November 23rd inclusive. See flyer for further details.
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| | Poetry Corner
On Turning Ten
The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I'm coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light--
a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.
You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.
But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.
This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number.
It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.
Billy Collins (from The Art of Drowning, 1995)
This week saw the second event in our Muse series, in which children’s author AP Winter led a workshop-discussion on writing fiction for children aged 9-12. How does writing for children compare to writing for adults? What makes a really good plot? How does one build up a compelling world for children? We discussed problems and motives in characters, and the need not to ‘write down’ to children; which is why I have chosen this lovely, sad, sweet poem by Billy Collins for this week’s Poetry Corner. Its mock-adult tone is funny, but it also points to a deepening of understanding and access to a grown-up world in which situations are complex and morality ambiguous. The child-speaker of the poem is learning to grapple with ‘the beginning of sadness’ and abstract thought. In its kind, respectful way the fact of the poem itself seems to nudge the child-character towards knowledge – to encourage him to be part of a world in which he will ‘bleed’, and can appreciate that others do too.
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