Mary Tanner

Celebrating Edinburgh 1910: Reflections on visible unity1

Abstract The modern ecumenical movement, generally regarded as born out of the 1910 Edinburgh World Missionary Conference, has transformed relationships between the churches throughout the world and in Britain, and has created organizations which have been crucial in promoting dialogue, united witness and service. Today, however, there is uncertainty about the future direction of the movement both at home and abroad, and a new passion for unity is called for. The most creative possibilities lie in a renewed understanding of unity as a growth in communion, nourished by participation in the triune life of God.

Book Review: Women and Priesthood in the Church of England: Ten Years OnWomen and Priesthood in the Church of England: Ten Years On, JonesIan (Church House Publishing2004), 255 pp, £17.50 pbk

whom leisure is given for the pursuit of truth, and to Aquinas, for whom Mary, who chose ‘the better part’, exemplifies the ideal and the superiority of the contemplative life. All very well of course, but someone has to do the cooking. A further riddle is introduced when we enquire what is the ethical dimension of leisure. Neville asks whether ‘Anyone for tennis?’ is a moral question. The query turns out to be far from frivolous. A central claim of this study is the surprising and contentious proposition that leisure is in a certain sense ‘beyond morality’. The moral character of our lives will impact on our leisure and which leisure pursuit to adopt may well be an ethical decision. But that leisure activity is ‘not itself an area of moral choices’. Certainly whether there should be four balls or six to an over is not an issue to be resolved by appeal to a higher moral law. But there are still some things that are not cricket. Those who see idle hands as the devil’s opportunity have always been suspicious of leisure. The beloved disciple may have ‘recreated himself by sporting with a tame partridge’ but the likes of Jeremy Taylor, William Law and Richard Baxter would not have joined him. Nor would John Newton or Hannah More. Neville shows how the emphasis on ‘redeeming the time’ in such writers reflects their acute sense of the brevity of life. He allows that in an age when many have much more time on their hands leisure must be viewed more positively and purposefully. Nevertheless there remains ‘a case against leisure’. The long ‘travail of creation’ is dishonoured when a human life is given over to unworthy pursuits. Neville does not list what these might be but he suggests that, if leisure is to be prolonged with increasing longevity, it should be used in ways that affirm what is uniquely human. Perhaps by writing books as good as this one.