Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet


The Hardest Part by GA Studdert-Kennedy


Centenary edition of chaplain's post-First World War reflection remains as compelling as ever, challenging us to sit with the desolate and share the gospel of the servant Christ



Hardest PartThe Hardest Part - a centenary critical edition 
By GA Studdert-Kennedy
SCM Press
ISBN 9787 0 334 05656 0
Reviewed by Dr Martin M’Caw 


Both introductory essays by Thomas O’Loughlin and Stuart Bell are essential reading providing a rich insight into Studdert-Kennedy as a man, priest, padre, poet and theologian who emerged amidst the mud and blood of the trenches, known as `Woodbine Willie' because of his practice of distributing Woodbine cigarettes together with New Testaments to the troops. 

He was a vicar from Worcester of Irish descent who volunteered as an army padre when war broke out in 1914. Rather than an academic theological study of human suffering, S-K’s writing reveals a pastoral heart that shares the misery and pain of his fellows. He sees Tommy in the trenches as the average man, and the essence of the gospel and Church is the ‘appeal of the suffering God revealed in Christ to the heart of the average man.’

He developed an incarnational experiential theology expressing how God feels what we feel. The academic high churchman with a degree in classics and divinity from Trinity College Dublin sits in the trenches asking the same questions as the soldiers. ‘If God is almighty and perfect why have we got this bloody mess? Doesn’t God care about what’s happening or has he lost control?’

The chapter entitled ‘God and Democracy' takes us to the heart of his subject matter. It encapsulates S-K’s theological dilemma between God’s absolute sovereignty which produces ‘a repulsive fatalism’, and the obedient service of Christ in his journey to the cross. Were he alive today, perhaps a favourite hymn for S-K would be Graham Kendrick’s:

‘From heaven you came helpless babe
Entered our world, your glory veiled,
Not to be served but to serve
and give your life that we might live.’


The chapter on prayer is challenging. It is not ‘a magic cheque on the bank of heaven only needing the endorsement of Christ’s name to make it good for anything.’ Prayer is not about our perspective of immediate needs. God and his purpose must always come first because this is the way Christ prayed. Prayer is not for comfort, but confirming the purpose of Christ: a relevant topic for preparing sermons on prayer. In his chapters on Communion and the Church, S-K creates a chill wind to stimulate our thinking with evangelistic and ecumenical implications.

This is a book well worth purchasing. Although published 100 years ago, the subject matter is as contemporary as it gets. A century may have passed. The trenches have gone, but S-K’s fundamental questions remain the same in a world that endures the pitiless ambitions of religious fanatics, political bullies, the dereliction of the inner city and the bland materialism of suburbia. The Hardest Part is a blast from the past challenging us to sit with the desolate and share the gospel of the servant Christ.

Complicated theological algebra, both for S-K and ourselves, is for the classroom. Simple incarnational theology that God knows and feels our pain, grief and deprivation is the name of the game for battlefield, street, dole queue, hospital, prison and all the other places of distress and disillusion. 

The Revd Dr. Martin M’Caw (retired Baptist minister; Wing Chaplain No.2 Welsh Wing RAF cadets). 

(By a quirk of history, two of Studdert-Kennedy’s grandchildren attended Dean Close School in Cheltenham at the same time as Martin)




 
Baptist Times, 21/09/2018
    Post     Tweet
Clever Cub Forgives a Friend, and Invites Someone New, by Bob Hartman  
Latest titles in series which takes the world of the child seriously and then tries to choose appropriate stories from the Bible to address their experiences - relevant and readable
The Hardest Problem: God, Evil and Suffering by Rupert Shortt 
'Not only helpful to Christians but worth passing on to thoughtful unbelievers who find the problem of evil and suffering an obstacle to belief'
Heroes or Villains by Jeannie Kendall 
'A gem of a book, thoughtfully and insightfully exploring the qualities we share with Bible characters'
Poverty, Riches and Wealth by Kris Vallotton
A book which makes you think with sections you might disagree with - but the golden thread that you are wealthy in proportion to your generosity, not according to your riches - is an excellent, Biblical principle
Lydia by Paula Gooder 
'Thoroughly recommended, not just as a historical novel, but also as a useful reference book kept close to the regularly-used commentaries'
Swansong by Jo-Anne Berthelsen
'This book certainly challenges us, but also encourages us that our words have real power to transform the lives of others'
     Reviews 
    Posted: 01/03/2024
    Posted: 22/09/2023