the Friend - Qeye 28 july

Qeye 28 july

Have any readers come across the bizarre but hugely entertaining Rev. Brendan Powell Smith? The Friend's production manager is a fan and has brought the wily American atheist to the attention of Eye (who as you all know has a limited grasp of internet politics).

An atheist clergyman? Well, Brendan is a great tease. Raised a good Episcopalian in Massachusetts and with a Sunday School teacher for a mother, he opted for atheism at 13. But he has turned irreverence into an art form which the production manager feels has probably brought bible stories to more folks than real priests have.

Brendan, like a lot of atheists, was nevertheless fascinated by religion and he went on to study ancient Christianity at college and left university with a degree in philosophy and religion. What he has done with his education has raised a few eyebrows!

On Brendan's website you can connect with his creativity in presenting Christian stories. The most successful project is The Brick Testament, which illustrates bible stories by using Lego bricks to build the pictures. Brendan has added his own 'ratings guide' to the stories – N for nudity, S for sexual content, V for violence and C for cursing (Genesis, Joshua and Judges having among the highest ratings!) For those of you who know your way around the web, the link is…….

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Those pagans again

The ancient world revered many gods and that's what makes our Christian, Judaic and Islamic religion different. But we shouldn't be too quick to jump to this conclusion apparently. Scholars from across the world have just been looking at this assumption at a conference at Exeter University. Evidence has been emerging that elements of ancient pagan religion worshipped one god too, and so they may actually be forerunners of modern religions.

Greeks and Romans went in for multiple god worship, but ancient philosophy always stressed the uniqueness of the highest principle. 'And from the first century AD onwards such ideas filter through to religious practice,' says professor Stephen Mitchell. 'This process creates new cults, which still express themselves in pagan forms, but tend to worship one god.'

It appears that pagans and Christians shared a great deal and there is evidence of pagan-christian-jewish cults. Eye has read the work of the history of medicine scholar Owsei Temkin, who has written on the compromise reached between the early church and Hippocratic physicians.* These doctors practised at a time of pagan healing deities. Although Jesus was not a problem for them, they found it very difficult to sacrifice their deep belief in nature as supreme healer. The church struck a deal with them. Hippocratic medicine was welcomed if the doctor did not consider nature to be divine or think of the soul as a function of the brain. And he (it was usually a he in those days) could certainly not claim to have saved the patient. The relationship between doctors and church seems to have been ambiguous ever since.

*Hippocrates in a World of Pagans and Christians, Johns Hopkins University Press 1991.

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Horatio Nelson has been given a makeover on his column. He has been patched up on the orders of Ken Livingstone, and now looks down more regally on Londoners. What's the connection for Quakers? Well, the statue went up in the same year that this magazine started publication – 1843. We are undergoing a little facelift ourselves.

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It warms our heart to see how many friends Friends are making across the faith divide. The Tynedale Quaker reports that Hexham Friends are going to be 'exchanging pulpits' with local Methodists in October, have been talking to Buddhist monks at Throssel Hole monastery to share a Meeting for Worship with them, and are planning to invite a Muslim speaker.