Evangelical Library Lunchtime Zoom Lecture Keith Berry on Jan Hus

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It was great last Tuesday to hear Keith Berry giving the third and final zoom lecture of our latest series of lunch time lectures for the Evangelical Library. He spoke on a recent trip to the Czech Republic where he followed in the footsteps of the proto-reformer, Jan Hus (1369-1415). In Bethlehem Chapel where he preached the "six heresies" for whch he was martyred are recalled. They are

1. The Church:

Hus believed the Church was the body of those predestined to salvation, not the hierarchy, and that Christ was the head, not the Pope.

2. Indulgences:

He criticized the sale of indulgences and the belief that they could forgive sins.

3. Communion:

Hus advocated for communion in both bread and wine for both laypeople and priests, challenging the traditional practice.

4. Validity of Sacraments:

He believed the validity of sacraments was dependent on the moral character of the priest, not just their ordination.

5. Criticism of Church Discipline and Organisation:

Hus openly criticised the Church for its corruption and abuses.

6. Wycliffite Teachings:

Hus was accused of adopting and promoting the teachings of John Wycliffe, including ideas about the Bible and Church authority.

Hus said "By the help of God I have preached, still am preaching, and if his grace will allow, shall continue to preach; if perchance I may be able to lead some poor, tired, or halting soul into the house of Christ to the King's supper." When he died he prayed "Lord Jesus Christ , I implore Thee , forgive all my enemies for Thy great mercy's sake ; and Thou knowest that they have falsely accused me and have produced false witnesses and have concocted false articles against me!"

Evangelical Library Lunch Time Lecture on Tyndale

About 30 of us gathered on zoom last Monday for the latest lunch time lecture arranged by the Eangelical Library. Keith Berry spoke on the subject In the footsteps of William Tyndale. It was good to be reminded of the story of Tyndale again. In addition a number of sites in the UK that are connected to his name were highlighted. It was an excellent illustrated ecture. For recordings contact the Library. Our third and final lecture of this session will be on March 27 when Dr Robert Strivens will speak on "Recent controversies regarding the doctrine of God". All are welcome. Details from the Library. Keith expressed a willingness to show interested individuals around the historic sites of London that connect with our evangelical heritage. he can be contacted through this website.

Interesting books

We had a session at the Westminster Fellowship on Monday where Keith Berry recommended some books worth reading. He mentioned The Noble Liar: How and Why the BBC Distorts the News to Promote a Liberal Agenda by Robin Aitken exposing BBC bias, The Reshaping of Britain: Church and State since the 1960s, A Personal Reflection by the veteran evangelical Clifford Hill, charting his own story and describing changes in the UK in recent decades, and a large book by the Jewish journalist Melanie Phillips called The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth, and Power.

What we are talking about, I suppose, is right wing writing that in one way or another exposes evils in our society and analyses them in a way that is of great interest to evangelical Christian. One could add Douglas Murray's recent The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity and slightly more tangential Tom Holland's Dominion, the making of the western mind both recommended to me recently from more than one source. I guess the writings of Jordan Peterson might also be mentioned. Do check them out.

Conference on Singleness

George Chris
Keith Andrew

Saturday's conference at Highgate Road Chapel on singleness was a worthwhile effort. Some 90 people gathered (60 women and 30 men) - mostly singles I guess but not exclusively by any means. It was good for singles to meet and for all of us to look at the subject and simply to meet other Christians. Most present were fairly local but some had travelled a little distance (Southport, Wolverhampton,  Portsmouth, etc). We are grateful to the organisers for putting this on.

George Platt from Highgate Road started us off with a biblical theology of singleness.

There probably isn't a biblical theology of singleness but there may be one of marriage and so one is able to extrapolate. George, a good Baptist, appeared to want to emphasise discontinuity between the Testaments more than most of us. It is difficult to be positive about singleness (which we should be) without sounding slightly negative towards marriage.

Chris Bennett spoke on the gift of singleness taking the view that not all people who are single have this gift. Chris is very persuasive (from Matthew 19 if not from 1 Corinthians 7) but the view is fraught with difficulties. One wonders what married people who lack the gift of being married are to do, for example. We would prefer the view that sees singleness itself (like marriage) as a gift from God.

We men had a good session with Peter Law and Neil Richardson (while the women had a session with Vicki Gardner and Christine Sherwood). I liked Peter's frankness about his singleness. This session could have been longer. There was no real time for discussion. Keith Berry was also very helpful from Philippines as was Andrew King on singles in the church.

We finished with a question panel. Again, all very helpful.

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