Letter to the Editor
Regarding the Latest Blasphemy from Cambridge
Dear Sir,
This latest blasphemy is no real surprise [EC, 8119, Cambridge Dean Defends … ]. It was Canon Hugh Montefiore who came out with the suggestion that Christ was a homosexual, and since 1967 we’ve not looked back. Of course, not being at Trinity College Chapel service one has only the reportage of the Daily Telegraph [in this case] concerning the event, but was the only reaction a subsequent [anonymous] letter from one of the congregation which expressed his tears and contempt at what was said? What kind of tears, one wonders? Tears of personal hurt, tears of being let down? He did say he felt unwelcome and his partner felt violated – whatever that means. But was there no general outcry of indignation, no shout of repugnance at this utter blasphemy? No expressed anger and sense of outrage arising from jealousy for the honour of the Lord’s Name? No one walking out, at the least? After the service, it seems there was one shout of heresy at the Dean: it was certainly blasphemous. If the Telegraph report is generally accurate then it fits with much of what now passes as Gospel understanding and the nature of a Holy God in our touchy-feely world.
There is also another aspect. The ‘preacher’ was a research student who completed his PhD under Rowan Williams. If his ‘sermon’ was any reflection of the quality of his research [clearly, he did some preparation] then the University should hang its head in shame: first, at the utterly appalling quality of research displayed in the sermon, then at the Dean who seems to condone and promote such an abysmally low standard, and finally that a so-called top University should fail to be greatly concerned at its failure to seek and attain that great sense of objectivity which should be the hallmark of all genuine scholarship. It’s all woke of course, and woke-ness has shown us to expect little else, as Cambridge has already experienced to its cost. Academia is in a parlous state, so is the established church and so is society as a whole. And too many so-called Evangelicals are following duly. For that, one does weep.
One wonders if any blasphemy can cause us to be surprised these days. Indeed, one wonders if there is any end to these increasingly expressed depths of hell itself.
Yours, sincerely,
John Dunn
IoW