In forming a new partnership between our LS Journeying Together group and Winchester University’s Institute for Theological Partnerships, we came across the fascinating inaugural lecture titled Wanderings in the Cosmic Garden given by Lisa Isherwood when she was appointed Professor of the Institute. This is a radical view of the impact of cosmology on our understanding of theology and of humans’ place in the world.
Here are some interesting extracts from the lecture:
“I have for some time argued that incarnational theology can never lend itself to certainty, the God who abandoned the heavens in favour of enfleshed existence gave up the assurance of good/correct and perfect outcomes and instead embraced risk as central to the divine unfolding. In grounding theology in incarnation I am declaring for the God who we are told in the Prologue of John’s Gospel, pitched his tent amongst us. A tent, not a house, a moveable dwelling, one fit for the walk, one that expands and changes shape with the winds of change, best understood perhaps as the breath of the Spirit. It was this incarnation who became God in community/God in society/God in creation. …….
This is not a walk in search of perfect origins and the comfort of utopian endings. It is one that moves us out into ever expanding life and so perhaps it is Eve who is our best companion as we walk.”
The full lecture can be downloaded here.
