SOFiA Newsletter 186 October 2026
 
 
Exploring Values, Meaning and Spirituality
 
Image of dover beach
 
Limestone cliffs like those at Dover, scene of the poem “Dover Beach”
Evangelical Christianity is often monotonous and one-dimensional. You are to be convicted of sin and then you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour. A group of young people addressed a Presbyterian General Assembly and has just that as its message. Even though the assembled pastors and elders, all are long-standing Christians with years of service in the church. It’s a refreshing contrast to hear of a very different path to Christianity in Communist Russia.
Shirley Murray and Colin Gibson are both well-known hymnwriters but sadly no longer with us. John Thornley reports on conversations with them on the theology underlying their hymns, thanks to a special permission allowing heaven access to us here on earth.
Mary Oliver was an American poet with a message about the importance of nature. Jim Burklo/John Thornley goes so far as to call this a gospel.
In the 60s, German theologians were highly regarded, with Bultmann, Bonhoeffer, Buber and Tillich top of the rankings. Nowadays not so much, but here are some provocative thoughts from Eugen Drewermann, a German theologian of a later generation.
Join our Zoom-based AGM on Saturday 17 October at 2 pm to hear Robert Gibb, a retired environmental scientist and modeller, speak on “Season of Creation -Reflections on Climate Disruption as we head to an Election.” Meeting ID: 814 9377 6672. Passcode: sofia. The Editor
 
Becoming a Christian in Communist Russia 
 
One of the treasures I brought back with me from Germany is a little book entitled Talking about God is Dangerous: My Experiences in the East and in the West My version is in German from 1984. Unfortunately, the book hasn’t been reprinted, so you can get a used paperback version for a mere $NZ256.
Tatiana Goricheva’s path to Christianity was nothing like yours and mine and also nothing like that of evangelical and charismatic Christians. A large part of the attraction that this book has for me is the fact that the author became a Christian in a radically different way.   Laurie Chisholm. 
 
Post-death Interviews with Shirley Erena Murray and Colin Gibson
 
Gillian and John Thornley, hosts for the weekly radio programme of Wesley Broadway, Palmerston North, using the studios of the Manawatu Peoples Radio (MPR),  held conversations with the late and great hymnwriters of Aotearoa New Zealand. It was quite a rare and unique ‘one-off’ occasion.  Heaven doesn’t often open its door to allow temporary visas to earth.  
The partnership between the local Methodist church and Manawatu Peoples Radio has many programmes of hymns by Shirley and Colin on its database. These two post-death interviews were something different!  In the course of the interviews, light is shed on the theology of Shirley and Colin, and a sample of the writer’s hymns available on CD recordings was shared.
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The Gospel of Mary Oliver (1935 – 2019) – a documentary film
 
This article is a review by Rev Jim Burklo on a recent website article circulated early August.  Mary Oliver was a mystic poet and lover of nature. The title of the film, Savedby the beauty of the world, is a line from one of her poems. Utube will download this film. In the following article the writer will use Roman typeface for Jim Burklo’s words and italicised typeface for the words of Mary Oliver. Subheadings will highlight the different sections.
Introduction
Mary Oliver died in 2019, her passing hastened no doubt by her long addictions to cigarettes and alcohol. She did not fit the stereotypes of sainthood. After her long time partner died she attended an Episcopal church in Provincetown on Cape Cod for a while – but her friends said the main reason she went was because she had the hots for the woman who was the priest! She wasn’t religious in any formal sense.
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Contemporary Thoughts on Jesus
 
The best that we can say about Jesus of Nazareth in the way of secured results is that he appeared in the manner of a prophet. That is, he spoke out of inner experience. Cascades of images came out of his mouth, which deeply affected people. For him, God could be nearer in the empty hands of a beggar, or in the eyes of a child, or in the ravaged mouth of a prostitute; God spoke to him through living people – much more strongly than out of the traditions of the scribes. And his continual struggle was the confrontation with theologians who refused to understand God out of the present. Instead, they attempted to perceive God out of the traditions of the patriarchs, the commentaries on the traditions of the patriarchs und in the rustling of papyrus sheets. The struggle for life was something for which Jesus went to his death. And I think: we have not only not solved this problem, rather, we do exactly the opposite of what Jesus wanted, when we let a whole class of biblical exponents loose on the bible, earning their money and gaining prestige and status by explaining that Christ was poor and suffered.
Eugen Drewermann in Wort des Heils, Wort der Heilung (Word of salvation, word of healing) vol 1 page 193. Translated by Laurie Chisholm.
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