Through a Glass Darkly: Volume III Issue 1 "Freedom"

FREEDOM

THROUGH A

GLASS DARKLY

VOLUME 3 | ISSUE 1 WINTER 2021

FOR NOW WE SEE THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY; BUT THEN FACE TO FACE. (1 COR 13:12A K JV)

contents 04

EDITOR’S NOTE

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TAGLY team

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THE SECOND SON

Molayo Ogunde

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Benjamin Sharkey

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MASTERPIECE

HOW SEWING HELPED ME SEE FAST FASHION’S TRUE COST

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WHERE CAN FREEDOM BE FOUND?

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HOPE AT THE END OF THE WORLD Jonny Rogers

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WHOM SHALL I FEAR?

Ilona Clayton

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Maryam

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“IT’S ALRIGHT ONCE YOU’RE IN” Grace Burney

Abigail Howe

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A CRUCIFIED FREEDOM

Soham Gupta

Lily Carson

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FREEDOM IN DISCIPLESHIP

REFLECTIONS ON SIN

Elizabeth Fair

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CREATION AWAITS

Sheppard Li

ARCHITECTURE: THE DOOR TO WELL-BEING AND BEAUTY Christina Grattan 3

editor’s note

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he image on the right is from a deserted refugee camp in Calais, France.

The crisis in Calais has disappeared from the news; the ‘Jungle’, the largest camp, was removed five years ago. When the visible symbol of the humanitarian crisis on the UKFrench border was destroyed, much of the media attention disappeared. Instead, coverage now highlights the numbers of boats crossing the Channel, not considering what takes place before. It’s worth broadening our focus further.

Today, the Human Rights Watch estimates that there are still 2000 migrants in the area – including approximately 300 unaccompanied children. Often forcibly moved each morning, they don’t have the opportunity to choose to settle (in France or the UK) or rebuild their lives. Especially as the UK makes its immigration laws tougher, the freedom of these migrants is being slowly squeezed away, creating a perfect storm for a future crisis.

Freedom has also been on our minds this year in much more mundane ways. Whether it’s the possibility of spending Christmas and other moments of celebration with our families (lost in 2020, still at stake for 2021), the legitimacy of vaccine passports or even wearing a face mask, we’ve had to reckon with our culture’s demand for personal freedom, balancing this with the need for compassion and the possibility of the eventual freedom of our wider communities. What is – or what should be – our duty to others? How will this continue into the future? It’s tempting to push these questions from our minds, focusing on the next major news topic or crisis as a distraction. Instead, it’s worth taking the time to reflect and consider how our expectation of, and demand for, freedom intersects with our wider values.

For Christians, these questions are more pertinent than ever, especially as Western conceptions of freedom grow further from Biblical conceptions. Freedom is ultimately won through the sacrifice of Christ and the opportunity given to all to put their faith in Him. As a result, those who believe are free from sin and fear. Instead, they’re free to live their lives in Christ, offered the opportunity to grow closer to Him. As the Apostle Paul declares, “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free”. Especially when taking into account our callings to be stewards of the natural world, defenders of the poor and vulnerable, and to tell others of His glory, it’s worth considering the constraints and contradictions inherent within our and God’s (often differing) conceptions of freedom.

Throughout this issue, writers have explored a multitude of topics relating to freedom. From poetry to polemic, they’ve considered the difference between freedom to and freedom from, argued for the importance of discipleship, reflected on God’s power while on a trip to the Lake District, and so much more. Whether they’ve been writing, editing, photographing or managing social media, I am incredibly proud of everyone’s contributions to this edition. Thank you for your time, enthusiasm, and incredible skill. It has been an absolute pleasure to edit this issue and I am so excited for the future of Through a Glass Darkly.

Abigail Howe Editor-in-Chief 4

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the second son Benjamin Sharkey 6

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p the hillside Cyril ran. Looking back, he saw his father and elder brother Basil, smiling, as they came trudging up through the rusty heather behind. High above the dale, the three took a seat among the heather.

The boys held tight to their fathers’ hands as they waited, expectant. ‘There’, their father directed their attention, as the grouse tentatively popped their heads up, and picked their way through the undergrowth. ‘There’, cried Cyril, a rabbit now hopping out from its warren, and there, another.

He stood up in excitement, causing the grouse to take flight, with rattling barking cries. He looked down at his father nervously, but his father was smiling up, laughing. He swept the two of them up in his arms, descending back the way they had come. The dale in which they lived opened below them in extraordinary splendour. The stream glimmered in the late afternoon light.

Back in their grey-stone farmhouse, their father played with them on the rug, and after dinner, when they were ready for bed, he presented each of them with a new book. For Cyril, who had asked to know more about Alexander the Great, Arrian’s Anabasis, and to Basil, content to read his father’s recommendations, his own copy of Bunyan. In this way he helped his children to pursue everything that interested them, and so nurtured their curiosity.

A number of years later, and Cyril was approaching maturity. Basil had already left their child’s world behind him and had begun working with their father. The days of observing his brother, earnestly and doggedly following in their father’s shadow, filled Cyril with dread. The idea of all he had become, through his glorious freedom of play and learning, being subsumed into the drudgery of mindless duty, all that he had learned and been inspired to love, wasted on tasks without meaning or prominence, seemed horrendous. He had already begun to resent his father.

As the time he expected approached, Cyril thought it over, and decided to act. ‘If I do not get out of my father’s shadow now, I will never be

truly my own, and I will have wasted all my interests.’ So, after dinner, he approached his father.

‘Father, I wish to go to university.’

His father was quiet for a time.

‘This is definitely what you want?’, he asked his son.

‘Yes father.’

‘Then of course you can go.’

The next day, their father withdrew most of his savings, and arranged the selling of one of the sheep fields. Come September, Cyril set out from his home in the dales, revelling in the excitement of the freedom that lay before him, in the great potential of all he believed he could become.

The university was a place of wonder for Cyril.

The dizzying heights of intellectual prowess were on display. It was a world away from his image of Basil’s life, working in the dales. His brightness was readily rewarded, his curiosity turning to intellect, winning him the respect of teachers, and the admiration and jealousy of classmates.

Here, he felt, he could now be his own, and be admired.

From the stories and myths he had been told, and read and loved before, he now turned to higher things with which he could cultivate his intellect, adorn his speech, and impress his teachers, to gain through fluency, respect. His wild imagination, he so conformed to intellect. From Homer and Virgil, he now turned more deeply to Classical learning. He admired the rhetoricians for their beautiful cleverness, while the Cyrenaic and Epicurean philosophers seemed masters, independent in their worlds.

He built his intellect upon a classical world, and elevated it with rationality. Spinoza, Hume, Voltaire, they shaped his intellect, and Byron his imagination. He saw in them a philosophy of 7

freedom, an intellectual effort to make man master of his own world.

He read those authors then in vogue among the most artificial youths of his age, decadents, the priesthood of the individual. He found in Hyusman’s A Rebours the revelation of a narcotic. It crept like poison through his blood. He lingered long upon its exquisite lines and they stared back and added a lust for experience to a pride in intellect.

It was the winter term of Cyril’s final year. The previous year’s exams had produced excellent grades for him. He now turned his cultivated intellect to other purposes. Rising from bed, dripping drowsiness, he pulled back the curtains, letting sunlight’s torrent hit the room. He sat at his desk before the window and looked over the notes for his latest writing: a piece for a student paper. He had taken to writing for many such publications, all displaying his skill of rhetoric, thought, and charm. Having quickly refreshed his mind, he lay the papers down. Such works were quickly written, always largely affected, yet their artifice still rarely failed to impress. A number of letters from his father lay besides these, unanswered. It was ]

not that he was purposely ignoring them, but his thoughts rarely touched on them long enough to summon the will to reply.

They held for him the quiet and unacknowledged horror of the domination and demands of his father, which prevented even reading them.

He picked up a comic novel, the kind that did not survive long in the public memory. Aristotle and Rousseau sat unattended, dust covered, their summarised arguments and key quotes committed to memory for ready deployment in exam or debate, ready to stun and impress. They had served to inform the intellect for its journey of self-liberation, and now lay idle. Cyril read for a long while, satiating his boredom with distraction, his fingers constantly poised, powdered, over a box of pistachio Turkish delight. But it was not enough to keep his lonely restlessness at bay.

He rose, dressed, and headed to the common room, where he distracted himself with the company of friends, men as equally invested in the decadent mode of flaneurs, with whom he spent the summer and holidays, travelling, and experiencing life. The evening was spent attending a party, such as they attended every week, mere entertainment – the kind of parties where no one is really talking and no one really listening.

The summer sun was already setting when Cyril at last stamped his boots on the flagstones at the entrance of the inn where he was staying. His final exams had been mixed, but he had passed on to new endeavours. In the capital he had found employment, writing cheap novels, and lecturing on domestic aesthetics. Such lectures, already derivative cliches of an early Wilde, having since endured many recensions, were by now mere kitsch parodies. One such evening lecture, in a small town hall, brought Cyril back to the dales.

Come the morning, Cyril set off walking (it being a while still before the coach back to the station).

He set out down the dale, along the river bank, in spectacular sunlight, yet a distant sadness nipped at his heels.

In the fields around, pheasants shook off the

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night’s cold, and rabbits came out gambling as the sun touched and wakened their hillside warrens. The peace and beauty of the surrounding country was monumental and yet, to Cyril, terrible. He climbed now along tracks among the rusty heather, where the grouse scuttled away upon white feathered feet, calling to one another with rattling cries. He stood now on the ridge’s plateau, surrounded by the heather beds, the dale stretching forth below him. The beauty of this country of his childhood, he saw now as though a ghost. He stared out, and saw only himself, in the way. He heard his voice in all the affected tones and turns it had taken in his lecture, he saw the draft pages of his novel in his rooms, ill-done, redundant.

The literature of old, which he had ravenously consumed, had helped him grow in cleverness, giving him the tools of rhetoric and argument, but there his respect for it had ended. He had outgrown, so he felt, the old authors, and yet he had barely any thought not adopted from some modern thinker. All his intellect he had committed to winning the praise of his teachers, to gaining marks, to gaining the admiration and jealousy of friends. To such things he had become bound, and yet in the end he had proved inadequate to live up to them, overtaken by his own appetites.

While he had pursued independence, boredom and loneliness had overtaken him. It had been a long time since he had been able to bear his own company in simple thought and quiet. He had long sought to free himself, to become truly himself, no drudge like Basil, whose image had for so long become the antithesis of everything he wanted to shape his own to be.

In looking at the magnitude, the sublimity around him here now, he perceived clearly what he had become. He was not his own, but rather

a product of others wills and influences, bound to their praise and their perception. He loathed the image of himself which he now saw, he hated its cruel contortions, its insincerity. Its declared independence mocked him as he saw all that he had hoped to become warped in what he had become. All his desires had been twisted against him; all his longings turned to dependent lusts.

He wept.

And in tears he saw clearly, as though written upon the countryside, the world his father had intended him for. How real it was, how alive, how deeply breathing, how unaffected, how great in its magnitude of detail, how unlike the university or the city. How good it all was, this world that his father had helped him to love, which had shaped everything that had been lovely in his desires.

And how evil he now seemed.

He thought now, at last, of his father, of all he had done to help him grow, to help his desires become good. Even if Basil was not his own man, at least he had stayed in the shadow and footprints of a good man. He thought of his father’s workers. They had had not half the upbringing he had, yet if they were not free to pursue their independence, still they were better off than he, who, having had these things, found himself even less his own. For they at least worked for a man who had a purpose that was clear and good, while he served that which he hated!

He dreamed then of walking these dales again, of working in his father’s shadow, not like Basil, but like these workers; of feeling that he had at least some good nourishing purpose to work at, even if it was someone else’s.

Why should I not become part of that purpose,

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even the least part of it? He asked himself. Might his father take him on as a worker? Even after all he had done? Even after he had disdained all the ideals his father had worked so hard to instil in him? He was still his father, and might there still not be the least some sense of familial responsibility? Through hard work, perhaps he could start to make amends.

Cyril caught his train back to the capital and when he arrived at his apartment, he burned his manuscript and posted back the advance, and his rent notice. No turning back, not that he even considered it. He arrived back at the station in the dales and set off for his father’s farm.

The whole way, he played over in his mind what he would say, what on earth he could say. His rhetoric failed him; nothing sounded right, everything affected, nothing matching his father’s character, everything revealing his shame.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him. No change could prevent him from recognising his son. As Cyril rounded the spur of the mountain, he saw his father coming down the mountain road, running. He had tossed his crook aside and his hat had blown away. Cyril could hardly comprehend it, hardly understand it, his father now with him, throwing his arms around him in a warm embrace. His smell, the long-forgotten smell of home, raising in him a tumult of childhood memories.

‘Father’, Cyril said weakly, his own arms hanging limp, uncomprehending at his side, ‘I do not know how you can ever look at me again, but I wish to work for you.’

His father seemed not to hear him, but kissed his head and stared earnestly into his eyes, ‘Come, come son, come,’ he said, pulling him by the shoulders to the car that had now arrived behind him, ‘You must ride in the front, so everyone can see! I have already sent Basil to call everyone in, there’ll be no work today!’

But Cyril was in tears, so his father brought him to sit beside him.

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‘What is it, son?’

‘You do not know who I am, what I have become…’

‘Nay, but I know you have found your way here, and I see through these tears the face of the son I lost. That is enough to celebrate, and in the coming days you will talk and I will listen.’

Cyril’s father was as good as his word, and through long walks over pasture and heather, Cyril spoke as he had not spoken in years. He spoke without thought of praise, for he knew he deserved none, but yielded all his thoughts of shame to his father, and yet every time he looked at his father he saw that his love for him was unchanged. When at last his father talked, it was not as lesson or debate, he did not seek to influence, but rather, then, and in the months and years that followed, he guided Cyril to grow in knowledge of himself, and helped him to become what he wanted to become. For Cyril’s father knew him better than he knew himself, and remembered him before he remembered himself. Here in the dale, here in his father’s house, Cyril came more fully into possession of himself than ever.

His curiosity, which his father had once nurtured, was not wasted, but it was revived as Cyril returned, with new attention, to the poets and philosophers of his education and the stories and myths of his childhood, and he read more widely too. With his father there to challenge and encourage, he moved past mere intellect, and developed real wisdom. Plato, Boethius, Beowulf, Dante and Milton were constant companions in all his dealings, not masters but trusted friends, whether he was guiding sheep or working with the labourers, or indeed when war came, and his world was for a time darkened. And later when he had children of his own, wisdom helped him guide them as his father had guided him.

Benjamin is a DPhil student working on the history of medieval Central Asia and its Christian communities.

He studies at Magdalen College, which combines three of his loves: CS Lewis, Oscar Wilde, and deer!

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masterpiece Lily Carson skin. my skin.

powerful, resilient, impressive

wow

my very own skin

most valuable of artworks

cracked, crumpled, creased, created

but there is more

by an artist who breathes such beauty my words aren’t enough

perfectly

shapes, sides, stretches, scale, reflection, angles, formed

comfortable in my own skin

intricately,

uniquely

freedom, joy, adoration - released

patterning into

but there is more

to celebrate life

body. my body.

in its glorious fullness

wow my very own body thriving dwelling for my soul strong protection for my heart

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Lily Carson is in her 3rd year of studying Portuguese and Linguistics at St. Anne’s. In fact, far from being in Anne’s she can currently be found wandering around Brazil! She loves football, films, fiction, 24/7 singing (sorry we quickly ran dry on alliterations), going on adventures (the more spontaneous the better!), great conversations, and is one of the world’s leading Christmas hype women. Other substitutes for personality include: undying love for dark chocolate and sweet potato fries (NOT together you’ll be glad to hear); being notoriously bad at time-keeping; and the ability to take a spectacular amount of time to tell a story!

see how I could ever match some of the brands I saw online for value.

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uring summer, I got so sick of constantly being online that I dusted off an old sewing machine.

Whether I became a top-notch couturier or just whipped up a few face masks, at least I knew my screen time would drop.

It started off with a lot of dodgy stitching – wobbly lines across old tea towels or bedsheets (nothing valuable, of course). Too tight and the material scrunches in on itself, as if ashamed, perhaps even ripping under the pressure. Too loose and you’ve got a tangle of thread pooling on the fabric, utterly useless. Even once you’ve conquered the machine’s settings, there’s the art of gently guiding material through, holding layers together without anything extra stuck in the seam.

Always hasty, I’m typically tempted to shove it through and pray it all holds – though the memories of previous hours spent unpicking messy seams force caution. There are only so many times you can sew a garment inside out, with faded cotton coming to the fore.

My status as an amateur has remained but I’ve seen a gradual improvement – much like a hand-wound sewing machine, creeping its way across fabric. However, no matter how much I can imagine improving, I couldn’t

The answer is fast fashion – a design, production and marketing method which focuses on high volumes of clothing at inexpensive price points. According to Fast Company, “apparel companies make 53 million tons of clothes into the world annually. If the industry keeps up its exponential pace of growth, it is expected to reach 160 million tons by 2050.” Tasha Lewis, a professor at Cornell University’s Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design explains further: “It used to be four seasons in a year; now it may be up to 11 or 15 or more.” In a world where Topshop features 400 new styles every week and Zara releases 20,000 designs each year, it only makes sense that quality must be sacrificed for quantity.

More than 60% percent of fabric fibers are derived from fossil fuels – synthetic fabrics like polyester, spandex, or nylon. This means that when clothing goes to landfill (and almost all does; about 85% of textile waste in the United States will do or is instead incinerated), it will not decay naturally. While these synthetic fabrics will eventually break down, this process may take between twenty and two hundred years. Even apparently more biodegradable fabrics like cotton or linen are often blended with polyester or coated, which impedes their natural decay process. Such fabrics are often cheaper –

how sewing helped me see fast fashion’s true cost Abigail Howe 13

whether for manufacturers or at-home sewers like myself. The ‘pure’ fabrics are often saved for once you truly know the nuances of a pattern (unfortunately, just as stores have inconsistent sizing, so do pattern manufacturers). Polyester blends also dry quickly and develop fewer wrinkles than pure cotton. This makes them simpler to care for as a consumer and easier to quickly pack and stack on shelves or send to shoppers for fast fashion companies. However, even natural materials can carry hidden depths. “Natural fibers go through a lot of unnatural processes on their way to becoming clothing,” Jason Kibbey, CEO of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition told Newsweek. He continued: “They’ve been bleached, dyed, printed on, scoured in chemical baths.”

Painting or bleaching your own clothes can be a great way to reinvent them if you’re feeling the urge to buy new items. Making old garments feel fresh increases the likelihood they’ll be worn in the future, which is better for the planet and your wallet. Customising clothes also ensures they’ll be unique, no matter how many others were originally on the rack. At-home adjustments can range from applying acrylic paint to the back of an old denim jacket, tie-dyeing an unworn workout set or adding patches to a sweatshirt. While changes can be based purely in aesthetic value, there’s also the potential for fixing damage. Embroidery can cover up holes in garments while patches may serve as a solution for unsightly stains or uneven fading. However, the industrial treatment of fabric in such a manner has consequences for its eventual disposal.

The dye and chemicals used in the creation of clothing can leach into the soil, contaminating the surface as well as potential water sources. One top of mine was accidentally damaged by bleach. A quick run through with fabric dye led to the pale green (unattractively speckled with bleach) transform14

ing into a much more uniform navy. It also meant the washing machine had to be run three times to avoid accidentally dyeing the next batch of washing. On an industrial scale, the added strength and amount of dye leads to terrible environmental impact when it runs into water sources – particularly those used by local communities. In China, for example, 70% of rivers and lakes are contaminated by wastewater from the textile and dye industry. To get a distressed look, denim jeans are subject to up to 20 chemical-intensive washes, which mean that chemical residues, heavy metals (like manganese, cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead and copper), bleaching and oxidizing agents, various pigment dusts, fine particles of pumice (literally eroding the denim), and destroyed fibers pollute the local environment and local rivers.

At conception, these chemicals have an awful environmental impact. Their decomposition only continues the cycle; often, these are the same countries which were involved in the creation of the clothing.

Ultimately, it’s the disposal of clothes which is the issue here. Previously, many clothes were bought for functional purposes – explaining the success of Levi’s. Old denim hunters today have even found pairs of jeans which are over 120 years old and still wearable. Currently, the average consumer buys 60% more items of clothing than they did 15 years ago so durability isn’t a priority, Instead, the overabundance of clothes allows for microtrends and to dictate our purchases. When clothing today falls apart, the low price point also means it’s often cheaper and more convenient to buy new items rather than repairing them ourselves or outsourcing the labour within our local area.

When we treat garments as disposable, the workers also become disposable. They’re the human cost of our fast fashion addiction.

60% of Bangladeshi workers have faced sexual harassment while Global Labor Jus-

tice found that physical abuse, sexual harassment, poor work conditions and forced overtime were all commonplace in factories across Asia. For all this, they don’t even earn a decent amount; less than 2% of clothing workers globally earn a fair living wage. In the UK, the discovery that garment workers in Leicester were being paid significantly less than minimum wage caused uproar – yet consumers were aware of and comfortable with worse conditions for workers abroad. Dr. Gisela Burckhardt, director of FEMNET, an NGO that works for women’s rights in the garment industry in Asia, told DW: “Women are sexually harassed and the payment is very, very low. Even though in Bangladesh the minimum wage increased from about 60 euros to 85 euros (per month) in December, it is not a sufficient living wage and women need to work overtime to survive… If women try to organize themselves in trade unions, they are normally threatened by the management and have to leave the factory.”

The sheer amount of information regarding fast fashion is paralysing. With overwhelming knowledge of its environmental impact and its human cost, why am I still drawn to 50% off sales from brands which I know are perpetuating fast fashion? There’s an obvious convenience – I can’t make all my clothes myself, no matter how much I’d love to – and financial accessibility. The immediacy of online shopping or the dopamine rush of picking up new clothes in stores are also incredibly compelling. Still, once you’ve hunched over a sewing machine for hours at a time for enjoyment, it’s impossible to justify the idea that someone should be forced through vastly worse conditions. And once you’ve seen how much dye leaks out of a washing machine, the idea of someone drinking that water is horrific.

There isn’t a quick fix to this. A circular clothing economy has been cited as the solu-

osition, then nothing will change. As individuals, we cannot single-handedly alter the course of the fashion industry. Even trying to conceive of such a system as an individual consumer is exhausting; it’s simpler to return to fast fashion and repress the knowledge of its harm.

Instead, we can all make small shifts – trying to wear our clothes more by following guides like the #30Wears rule, coined by Livia Firth (before buying anything, ask ‘will I wear this at least 30 times?’), caring for garments better by researching mending methods and thinking of ways to repurpose old garments, renting rather than buying statement items or redirecting attention towards more ethical brands where possible.

Small, consistent changes can encourage us to become more mindful consumers, aware of the cost of our clothing. And, just like the nervous first stitches on a sewing machine, you never know quite what can flourish from such a beginning.

Abigail is a final-year English student at Magdalen College and the editor-in-chief of Through a Glass Darkly. When she’s not sewing, you can find her in one of Oxford’s libraries (scrolling Twitter) or in the queue for the Alternative Tuck Shop.

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where can freedom be found?

Maryam

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ( (Victor E. Frankl, psychiatrist, author and Holocaust survivor)

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hroughout human history, civil liberties and freedoms have been restricted and challenged by societies and governing bodies. However, there is one type of freedom which cannot be restricted or taken away; we can always choose how to perceive and respond to a situation. It is astonishing that we are so unaware of this interior freedom, yet it can give us the power to replace fear with courage, despair with hope, and worry with peace. But when was the last time you gave yourself this freedom? All too often, we let ourselves fall victim to our worries and fears because we’re afraid of what we might lose. Religious teachings have much to reveal about this issue. Christians believe that “…whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for [Jesus] and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34-5). This teaching reveals that worrying about our life, and especially our material possessions, causes us to lose our most valuable spiritual possessions of peace, hope, and gratitude. By allowing God to be in control of our lives, we regain those spiritual possessions and graces.

In less abstract terms, we need to rearrange our priorities by focusing our attention on what we can control (our acceptance of spiritual graces) and letting go of what is out of our control (our material possessions). Prayers can be useful tools to help guide the mind and spirit towards internal freedom. The serenity prayer, written by Reinhold Niebuhr, speaks directly about this issue: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

These words help us to become conscious and mindful of our reactions to situations beyond our control. Indeed, we become powerful when we recognise where we are powerless, since we then enable ourselves to direct our energy towards the aspects of our life which we can change or influence. Therefore, instead of being destructive, our concerns can become focused and productive. These ideas are conveyed in Victor Frankl’s writing, in which he contends that, “When we

are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

But what does ‘changing ourselves’ mean? In this context, Frankl is referring to the way we perceive and respond to external situations. He does not mean that we should submit to external pressures, but rather, we should change our attitude towards those pressures. In this way, ‘changing ourselves’ should lead us on a path towards acceptance – acceptance of ourselves, our situation, and the situations of those around us.

However, the journey towards interior peace is difficult. Most religions teach that it is impossible to undergo this transformation ourselves, without God’s assistance. Indeed, this is why St Peter urged early Christians to “Cast all your anxiety on [God] because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5: 7).

Peter’s instruction is accomplished most effectively through prayer, when we place God in control of our petitions. By casting our anxieties on God and exercising our interior freedom, we demonstrate an acceptance of our human limits and supernatural dependency. St Peter’s words therefore reveal that freedom is not independence, but rather an acceptance of dependence.

Gaining interior freedom does not negate the need for exterior freedoms. It is important to remember that protecting our social freedoms and human rights is a noble and necessary pursuit, whether this is achieved through legislation, protest, or other means. However, it would be a mistake to view freedom as something which is solely material and external when it is also supernatural and internal. This truth was revealed to St Augustine, whose search for God led him to conclude, “You were within me, and I was outside myself, and sought you outside myself!” So, where can freedom be found? The answer can always be found inside ourselves.

Maryam is in her third year at Lincoln College.

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hope at the end of the world Jonny Rogers

W

hatever one believes about man’s purpose, it is clear that human activity plays a central role in shaping the composition, atmosphere, and inhabitants of our planet. Accordingly, ‘Anthropocene’ is a term used to describe the present geological epoch: one that is characterised by significant human impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the combined mass of all manmade objects, buildings and infrastructure totalled around 3% of the Earth’s biomass, or that of all plants, animals, and humans combined. According to one estimate, the beginning of this year saw the former exceed the latter. 1 Considering the exponential rise in the global population over the past few centuries, this shouldn’t be surprising: the early 1800s saw humanity surpass one billion, increasing almost eightfold as of the time of writing. 2 Incremental developments in medicine, transportation, and technology have enabled people to live, on average, longer and healthier lives.

However, these same developments have also given us greater power for destruction. 1896 saw the discovery of radioactivity; 1945 saw the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the hands of nuclear weapons. Hypothetically, the actions of only a handful of people could, at any point, bring about the deaths of millions and mass disruption to currents systems of

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agricultural production.3 Even if nuclear weapons were to disappear tomorrow, we still face the reality of mass extinction, extreme weather events, and, of course, global pandemics. A recent report discovered that only 3% of the world’s terrestrial surface remains ecologically intact.4 Other studies have shown that animal species are presently going extinct at a faster rate than at any other point in history. 5

We are, furthermore, already experiencing the impact of a rapidly changing climate. As I write these words, the United Kingdom has been hit by a heatwave, just as Germany is experiencing great flooding; North America is shrouded in smoke from an outbreak of wildfires, as China sees its worst rainfall for over a thousand years.6,78,9 Many people have died and gone missing, or else lost their homes and livelihoods, but the effect on animal populations is even more drastic: the Australian bushfires of 2019 saw the death of over one billion animals across the nation.10 Whether or not humanity will pull together and change our lives, priorities, and habits – and I pray with sincerity that we will – the suffering we have already caused is almost unquantifiable. It is hard, for many, not to be overwhelmed by the prospect of a dim future.

A World Worth Saving In all the literature I have read on environmental ethics and aesthetics, there has been rarely much time given to justifying the value of a flourishing world. If the future might possibly contain unquantifiable amount of suffering, would it not be better to end all life within the next generation? Why should we persist if extinction is inevitable?

The Biblical answer, however, is that God loves the world.11 In ordering the cosmos in such a way that a great diversity of life has emerged from chaos – and in declaring this creation twob (‘pleasant’, ‘good’)12 – He has enshrined the value of our mutual flourishing with the seal of Divine authority. We have a duty, therefore, to venerate life with the dignity it deserves, precisely because God has decided that a world with life is better than one without.

Humanity has an important role to play in the order of Creation, serving as representatives of God’s life-giving power. In the Ancient world,

it was common for kings to erect statues to declare their authority over the lands they had conquered.13 This is what the writer of Genesis is probably referring to in claiming that humans are created in the tselem (‘image’, ‘idol’) of God:14 that all of humanity participates in God’s Divine order through maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with the Earth and its inhabitants.

Needless to say, this is not the world we daily see in the news. The response to the horror that surround us, first and foremost, should be humility and compassion; for the Christian faith rests on the recognition that we have failed to live up to our calling as stewards of creation, foolishly rejecting God’s wisdom.

Thankfully, however, our failure is not the end of the story.

Hope and the Resurrection The Old Testament writings await the coming of a King that will liberate God’s people from slavery in exile; the New Testament writings claim that this hope is fulfilled in the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus.

According to the early Church, if Christ did not raise from the dead, then our entire faith is futile.15 Caesar would still be king and all hope would rest on his rule (or that of contemporary politicians and conglomerate board rooms). If, however, Christ’s tomb is empty, then destruction is not the end of the story. For our hope is not predicated on the trajectory of human history, but on the revelation of God’s self-giving love, offering eternal life for all who acknowledge their need for a saviour.

When Jesus appears to the disciples after the Resurrection, his first words are “Peace be with you”.16 This kind of peace is not the mere absence of conflict or interruptions, but the presence of wholeness; everything as it ought to be.

In Hebrew, this is captured by the word shalom, and in Greek, eirene. Throughout the Bible, sha19

lom refers to the final state of completion wherein all the diverse elements that make up our lives and the world are working in perfect alignment.

When used as a verb, ‘to make shalom’ means ‘to make complete’ or ‘restore’ whatever is preventing this state of unity: it’s the joy of reconciliation, when broken relationships are made right.

In this encounter with the risen Christ, the disciples’ fear turns to joy. As they saw his wounds, they recognised not only that Jesus was Lord, but that mankind had been reconciled to the God they had dishonoured and abandoned.

The Resurrection of Jesus is not just a singular historical event, however, but a sign of things to come; the first fruits of a New Creation. As one of Jesus’s disciples wrote, this is a world without suffering or injustice, pain or death: ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’

The Resurrection is a declaration that God is bringing restoration to the broken world through Christ. Man has rejected God and violated His creation, but God does not destroy us: the risen Jesus greets us with the promise of Shalom.

Living and Dying in the Anthropocene How, then, shall we live?

While we live today in the Kingdom of Man the Anthropocene - we live for the coming Kingdom of God. We must not be naïve, however, to suggest that God will always spare us from the consequences of a broken world; after all, the early followers of Christ faced persecution and torture in His name. Rather, we should live in the knowledge that the worst we can experience will never surpass God’s goodness.

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Our hope that creation will be redeemed should not produce apathy towards its protection, but our persistent and faithful compassion for those who are presently suffering under its destruction.

We have the freedom to rejoice in making personal sacrifices without the value of our actions being contingent on the difference we can actually make. We might choose to avoid factory-farmed food and flights, or else devote ourselves to protecting those most impacted by evolving diseases and changing climates, not because we believe that our actions alone will save the world, but because we have a God who delights in seeing His people share in His abundant love.

Above all, whether we find ourselves in a position of significant influence or otherwise, we must always be humble to give up the joys of this life, empowered by the eternal joy of things to come.

Just as we must learn to die to ourselves to be remade in the image of Christ, so too must we embrace the end of civilisation as we await its rebirth.19 As we endure the consequences of our changing climate in the coming years and decades, we can thank God that not even the end of the world will abate His redemptive love: For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.20

Jonny has recently graduated from an MSt in Film Aesthetics with Corpus Christi, and is working as a freelance video editor and journalist. He regularly writes about the environment & human rights for Tru., international cinema for Wasteland, and comic books for Screen Rant.

architecture: the door to well-being and beauty Christina Grattan

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he morning was frigid. I stood in Pershing Square, about to depart on a historical walking tour of Los Angeles’ architecture. Initially, I viewed the tour as a leisurely way to pass the time over a weekend. Yet, I soon discovered a more profound truth that loomed within the city and its built environment that gave meaning to this tour.

I looked upon a city tyrannized by modern rectangular high rises filled with black mirror-like one-dimensional glass windows. I sought to find life and joy, but I found myself in an urban wasteland. My eyes fixated on the former City National Bank building, a modern international style high rise. It was practically a tall white rectangular box decked with small windows and white

overhangings that regarded humans as only cogs in a machine. Other edifices strove for the futuristic space-age, where translucent turquoise solitary structures boasted of progress and technology sacrificing human individuality for an automaton-like existence. Amidst such monoliths, devoid of humanness, I realised how small and powerless I was. The mere realisation deprived me of a sense of wholeness and belonging.

In a long tradition, facades were built for beauty, whereas now only for utility. I was perplexed by what went wrong. During the tour, I wished that my sense of unease and confinement produced by such a spiritless and desolate cityscape would perish.

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Naturally, I gravitate towards buildings hailing from antiquity built for unity, rather than the spartan blunt architecture manifested in downtown LA. While visiting Westminster Abbey, the luminescence of space, the symmetry, and poise of the intricate ribbed vaults and balanced archways evoked the epitome of harmony and order.

A time for solace and a moment for reflection, I found calmness, and the insatiability and chaos ceased within my heart. A truth resonated with me: beauty in architecture is pivotal to enabling flourishing within the human experience.

Perhaps the need for beauty found in traditional architecture is not merely a matter of taste or an elite pastime, but rather universal to the human experience because it is rooted in our psychology.

Architecture has the power to affect one’s emotions, to bring one to heights of peace or depths of despair. The Norway University of Life Sciences conducted a study using virtual reality technology presenting videos of different contemporary (60’s and later) and traditional public spaces (prior to 1930’s) to participants in Oslo, Norway, to see whether traditional architecture significantly affected one’s emotions and well being.

Participants viewed traditional buildings - characterized by more ornamentation and symmetry - more positively than contemporary styles.

They produced a more pleasant, relaxing, safe, and exciting disposition. Divorcing psychology and beauty from the building process can be detrimental. For example, critics of the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex, located in St. Louis, Missouri, contend that the wide-open spaces between its modernist high rises stifled the cultivation of community, possibly causing a rise in crime and poverty, alongside a breakdown in social cohesion.

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Elaborate arts and culture and government buildings of many towns light up vibrant city squares. However, in my hometown Brea, these departments are condensed into one building called a civic center. We have a police station, art gallery, performing arts center, city council, a library, and a Chamber of Commerce. Significant parts of my life were centered upon this one complex. As a child, I participated in library activities and multiple plays in the performing arts center. As I grew up and took more responsibility, I volunteered at the library and interned at the Chamber of Commerce. People were proud of our civic center.

Nevertheless, I always felt an emptiness there as the building was dull and lifeless, made of gray reinforced concrete and black windows. The brunt of modernist architecture is not unique to downtown LA. There was no sign of ornamentation, except for the stains on the concrete that came with age. The complex had a dark underground parking structure to save space, which reflected the mood of its exterior. There was always something missing from it that stifled creativity and my vigor for life. The steps I ascended evoked gloom, coldness, and isolation, far from Rome’s beautiful, lively Spanish Steps I once visited, full of joy. Yet this experience was not subjective to me but inherent in its architectural style. Roger Scruton, a late British philosopher, describes this phenomenon as “architectural individualism,” where there is “no reality beyond the individual purposes which gave rise to it. This causes the observer to find the building as

alien to (themselves), viewing the world as strange to them and hostile.”1 Architects are anthropologists and their view of human nature influences their design preferences. Architecture goes beyond the building and lies in the architect’s idea of the world, which can profoundly impact the people who dwell there.

My civic center was not exempt from this truth.

Built in 1980 based on an architectural style called Brutalism which arose in the 1950s, it is a product of the post-war years. Brutalist architecture is infamous for its extensive use of concrete and its “monolith block appearance.” This creates an unsettling and unwelcoming effect, making it not as livable.

Perhaps this dehumanizing architectural style is derived from the lack of beauty that architects sacrificed to the ideal of “social utopianism.”

Brutalist architecture epitomizes the need to wipe out antiquity and wisdom of old for something greater to reengineer humanity. It exalts progress over tradition. During de-Stalinization, Soviet architecture prided itself on Brutalism, building concrete stone slabs and block-like shapes, symbolizing its scientific and technological progress breaking into the modern age. But as with all utopias, they miserably fail due to their inconsistency with human nature, and this architectural movement did as well. Many Brutalist buildings face demolishment today.

The BMW Guggenheim Lab conducted a study on how city spaces affect individuals’ bodies and minds.

In East Berlin, the average

participant reported their mood and physiological condition lowest at the “socialist building,” a bare minimalist, industrial style building from the soviet era. There is something within the human soul that finds buildings devoid of beauty and ornamentation, such as Brutalist architecture, ghastly. Certain Brutalist buildings, including a “concrete and glass” castle at Yale University, evoked Stockholm syndrome in students. Similarly, the Tricorn shopping center in Portsmouth, England, was reported as a “mildewed lump of elephant droppings,” voted by BBC listeners as Britain’s worst building. The general public sought to demolish both complexes.

Yet as with my civic center, not many get to choose the architectural environment they interact in. My city requires each neighborhood and business complex to commission a piece of art for its “Art in Public Places” project. It is an attempt to provide our city with more culture, but not all the pieces built are beautiful. I remember my mom running down the street to protest these large black steel, one-dimensional cutouts of eagles installed on pillars at the entrance of my neighborhood. Taxpayer dollars funded these stark figures, and they disrupted the equipoise of the space. My mom left unsuccessfully, only to have the embarrassment of a presumptuous designer telling her that she did not know what “good art” was.

It is difficult to make a case for beauty in architecture when there is a lack of consensus, but there is hope. It is hard to deny the sense of awe that beauty evokes within one’s heart when standing outside in nature. My family visited Zion National Park last summer. Thousands of individuals flock there every year to take in the sublime massive stone canyons painted with vibrant hues of red, green, brown, and yellow that mimic a rainbow. Water from the narrows breathes life into

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the lush green trees and filament that grow upon such impending cliffs. Hikers, children, and everyday travelers glean joy from such a marvelous sight and the ecstasy it produces.

We all know how it feels to find peace and tranquility in inherently beautiful panoramic spaces such as these. Yet, what if beautiful architecture embodies the flawless state of beauty that touches the soul found in nature’s greatest treasures?

We long to discover beauty in nature and are intensely inspired by it. Therefore, it should be no arbitrary feeling, but both natural and proper, that I or another should be so willing to be psychologically shaped by a beautiful edifice or merely admire the sight of it. The Judeo-Christian tradition recognizes God as a majestic artist, capturing how the basic tenet of being human is acknowledging the beauty found in creation.

Since humans are co-creators recognizing the beauty set before them, the beauty they forge through craftsmanship reflects the ingenuity of God’s handiwork.

Scruton wrote that “to see beauty as nothing more than a subjective preference or a source of transient pleasure, is to misunderstand the depth to which reason and value penetrate our lives…there is right feeling, right experience, and right enjoyment just as much as right action. The judgment of beauty orders the emotions and desires of those who make it.”2 Beauty is essential, and it is something that all humans should experience. It is never merely an idea or simply a preference, so it should be manifested where people live, work, and dream.

Fortunately, the effort to bring back more traditional style architecture is not impossible.

During the architectural tour in downtown LA, one building that astounded me was the Sentry

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Building, part of the former PacMutual Life Insurance Company. Built in 1921, hailing from the Beaux-Arts style, it incorporates classical features such as ornamental Corinthian columns separating the windows and rosettes. I remember standing under the archway of the building, admiring the coiffured ceiling and intricacy of the design. With such a marvelous sight, I assumed it would be impractical to build.

Yet, I learned that the building was actually made of terracotta-local materials while still mirroring the grace of an ancient temple in Greece.

There are innovative ways to build that can still provoke inspiration and beauty. As with timeless ideas, books, and art that withstand the ages, we need architecture that is not restricted to an epoch of time dictated by the ideologies of a few, such as the Brutalist style. Instead, we should appreciate buildings that can stand for centuries for their beauty. Not because it is an aesthetic preference limited to the viewer but because it is rooted in our nature and pivotal to our well-being. As Dostoevsky once wrote, “only without beauty is (life) impossible, for there will be nothing left in the world.”3 At the end of the tour, at the top of Angel’s Landing, I observed the view of the LA skyline for a few minutes. I reflected on architecture as a map of the human story, pondering how people ordered their lives based on the built environment.

Was there joy from so many modern high-rises, or did it create dread and alienation?

Christina is a senior political science student at Biola University and is from Orange County, California. She loves to read Russian novels and political theory, bake cookies for her family, and spend quiet time in reflection - whether running or tucked under a tree.

Or it may appear like this: Living life by my own rules. No one to tell me no – my desires are what is most important.

After all, isn’t that one of the thrills we eagerly anticipate about university? No longer do we have to obey the rules of our parents, be monitored by our schoolteachers, or live in the same town or city we grew up in (which happens to be London all too often) any more. No more early dinners at the table, no more 10pm curfews, and no more questioning about how much alcohol we’ve consumed on a night out!

So, when thinking about freedom, the idea of subjecting oneself to a committed accountable, a relationship based in discipleship doesn’t exactly sound exciting. And what do I mean by that? I mean having someone older than you in your life, who can provide sound spiritual advice, based solely around the Bible. Someone you can read, share struggles and pray with.

However, also someone who can challenge you, call out the areas in your life that you can work on, all in a loving way which you can humbly receive.

But why subject yourself to this kind of relationship? Why let someone challenge me in my life? After all, doesn’t the bible say “it is for freedom Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1 NIV), so how can I be freed for freedom in discipleship?

Often, we may find that although it’s initially appealing, the freedom we look for isn’t as easy or as desirable as many of us dream it will be.

Why else would so many students duck home for a weekend during term time? Or have their parents come up to provide food or medicines?

I believe that the freedom we find in Christ is far better than anything we’d find elsewhere.

And part of the freedom we have in Christ is actually found within being discipled. First and foremost, we are invited to be disciples of Christ, who tells us “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. And the truth does set us free. Knowing that we are loved by God regardless of our sins frees us from the shame. And as we are discipled, we are conformed to the image of the Son (Romans 8:29).

In the great commission, Jesus says to “make disciples of all nations”. Notice how it doesn’t just say to spread the gospel – but to actively make disciples. This was modelled for the disciples through their relationship with Jesus, who taught them (Mark 4:33), loved them (John 13:1), admonished them (Mark 10:13-15) and journeyed with them.

We also see many similar relationships throughout the bible.

Joshua was discipled by Moses, as Moses teaches him from a young age (Numbers 11:26-30) and eventually hands

freedom in discipleship

Roaming free, like a horse in an open field. Not a care in the world, running unshackled across the earth.

Just as a fresher recently said told me, “They don’t tell you how much time adulting takes!”.

The truth is that the picture our culture paints of freedom is a false one. One that creates false hope, false expectations, and far too often, a false nature as we pretend to enjoy ourselves when deep down, we’re struggling and hurting.

Molayo Ogunde

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or some of us, freedom resembles something like this:

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over leadership to Joshua. Similarly, we see Elijah mentor Elisha (1 Kings 19:19-21), training him up as a prophet.

effort to disciple me, allowing me to grow and encouraging me along the way, sharing their experiences, struggles and learning curves.

Discipleship functions as a way of being openly and unapologetically led as you journey through life. In James 5:16 we are told “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (ESV). In being discipled, we receive that prayer with the added experience of insight from someone who cares deeply about us, as opposed to anonymous interaction on a prayer line –not to knock those!

And if you’re reading this and thinking, I’m beyond the point of being discipled, then this is for you too. It doesn’t matter your background or your stage of life, getting alongside others who can lead you towards Christ and speak wisely into your life is always important. After all, “the wise are glad to be instructed” (Proverbs 10:8 NLT). And if we are to seek wisdom, as we are continually prompted to in Proverbs, one way to do this is to receive instruction well!

Discipleship isn’t easy, it requires time and effort on both sides. But rather than being a shackle, it frees us in our pursuit of discipleship with God, keeping us out of the chains of shame, fear and hopelessness, and into a place of love, encouragement and guidance. It teaches us how to be more like Christ, both in loving those we disciple, as well as being humble enough to be discipled.

I know that some of the biggest blessings in my life have been through those who have made an

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And what if there’s no one around me to disciple you? If so, luckily the greatest teacher of all is always at hand, and he cares deeply about you. Call out to Him, and He will always answer!

Molayo is a 2nd year Human Sciences student at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. Molayo is also a musician, playing guitar and producing contemporary music. He is also a big sports fan, having tried his hand at most sports he has come across!

a crucified freedom: what Christian liberation is, and why it matters Soham Gupta

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reedom is arguably one of the most – if not the most – cherished values in contemporary Western society. After all, the Western world prides itself on being politically and socially ‘liberal’ – a word which is derived from the Latin libertas, meaning freedom. This is, or so it is claimed, a place where people can speak their minds and do as they please, with just the minimum restrictions necessary for maintaining law and order. Freedom of speech, sexual liberation, democratic governance and accountability are said to be the mighty pillars upholding this new social order, serving as guarantors against tyranny. Since freedom is always “one generation away from extinction” , there must always be a concerted effort to keep the liberal revolution alive, one generation after another.1 From a Christian point of view, there is much in contemporary liberal society to admire and appreciate. In fact, it may even be said that, even today, the West is remarkably Christian in many ways. The principle of the equality of all human beings, so clearly stated in the American Declaration of Independence and affirmed by multiple liberal democracies, is clearly in agreement with the Christian doctrine of the imago Dei in Genesis 1:26-28.2 Religious liberty also comes to mind.

When the Soviet Union demolished multiple churches and religious buildings, including the iconic Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in 1931, Russian Christian emigrants sought refuge in the liberal West, in hopes that they could serve God without fear (Lk 1:74-75). The right to follow

one’s conscience and speak freely and criticize those in positions of power is also an incredibly precious gift (Acts 5:29, 24:16).

However, there are also clearly things in 21st century Western society that are at odds with traditional Christian moral teaching. Moral imperatives can be seen as attacks on liberty, requiring a vociferous response. In fact, many liberal thinkers (though not all, of course) critique Christian ethics – particularly sexual ethics – as being oppressive and illiberal. One is reminded of the words of Thomas Paine who said that “[t]he most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion” .3 In more recent times, there have been the so-called ‘New Atheists’ and their attempted revival of the radical critique of religion championed by figures such as Hume and Voltaire. Although not all non-believers are as hostile to religion as the New Atheists , a large number would probably seriously question Christian moral and ethical teachings .4,5 It would be a serious mistake to think that the Bible considers freedom to be wrong or sinful: on the contrary, the Judeo-Christian Scriptures cherish and value the ideal of freedom. In a way, this is quite understandable. After all, freedom is not just a Western value, but a human one, present across cultures, civilizations, and time itself.

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To give one example: the Book of Exodus (hardly a Western or modern document!) tells the story of how an entire nation of slaves, yoked into oppression by forces of xenophobia and bigotry, were rescued from their pitiful condition by a God who promised them freedom in a land of milk and honey.6 Similarly, in the New Testament, Jesus says that his mission is to “bring good news to the poor” and “proclaim release to the captives” (Lk 4:18).7 St Paul also boldly proclaims that it is for freedom that Christ set his people free (Gal 5:1) and that in the Christian community, there is to be no further distinction between believers, because all belong equally to Christ, regardless of ethnicity, social status or sex (Gal 3:28-29).

The Bible has no quarrel with freedom itself.

The question is: how is freedom to be understood? I think the key to understanding the difference between Christian freedom and post-Christian secular liberalism is to realize that, although the liberal West inherits the Judeo-Christian value of freedom from unjust rule and tyranny, it simultaneously divorces itself from the equally Judeo-Christian idea that the freedom thus attained is a freedom for something – and not just anything, but something far greater than oneself.

The philosopher and classicist John M. Rist notes that “[i]n the history of philosophy there are – roughly speaking – two senses of ‘free’, each appearing in varying versions: the first refers to ‘freedom’ as an ability to do only what is good. […] The second sense of ‘free’ is to have the ability to do exactly what I like, to be ‘autonomous’.”8 While this is obviously a summary and a generalization, I think Rist is onto something here. If one focuses too much on the ‘freedom from’ aspect

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of liberty, one runs the risk of forgetting the ‘freedom for’ aspect The idea that authentic freedom only means ‘the freedom to do what is good’ might seem puritanical at first glance, but consider this: very often, when we undertake an action, we do so because we think it’s the right thing to do. For example, we want to eat healthy and exercise often because we think it’s necessary for our physical wellbeing. Similarly, a sensible and honest person who is addicted to smoking will probably acknowledge that his smoking habit is a problem and will want to be free of it. The reason is that his habit is damaging his body; he wants to be free of it, but because of psychological factors, he is unable to quit just yet. As long as he is extremely addicted, he isn’t truly free, but just a slave.

The Bible views ‘sin’ or moral wrongdoing in a very similar way. The word for sin in the New Testament is hamartia (ἁμαρτία), which has the connotation of ‘missing the mark’.

It may even be said that, from the Biblical point of view, the one who sins is one who has failed to be authentically human, and has thereby failed to actualize his or her full spiritual potential. The act of sinning is not just breaking some arbitrary rules – rather, it is an act by which one does injury to oneself as well as to others. Thus, the Bible does not see the Law of God as an oppressive force, but rather as providing humans moral guidance on how to truly live a happy and fulfilled life.9 Take, for example, Christian sexual morality.

Sex isn’t seen as inherently wrong or sinful.

On the contrary, the Bible depicts sexuality as originating from God (Gen 1:26-28) and celebrates authentic expressions of sexuality.10 But this is precisely why something like

casual sex is disordered and wrong – sexuality is perhaps the most profound expression of interpersonal love one human can share with another; it needs its proper context to fully fulfil its purpose.Sex is fundamentally relational, not recreational. To make it recreational is to demean its true nature and value, and make one’s sex life much less meaningful.11 True happiness cannot mean absolute libertarianism because human beings cannot be happy merely with the absence of restraint; they also need to be filled with love, joy and fulfilment if they truly want to be happy.

through the cessation of material cravings and attachments. The Christian tradition, however, did not focus primarily or exclusively on the elimination of desire, but insisted also on refocusing human desire on the person of God – it was only in Him that our infinite thirst could finally be slaked.13 Perfect happiness is not possible in this world. The Christian should not claim that his path will lead to that (well, not in this life anyway). But righteous living will nonetheless give one the greatest degree of happiness that is possible this side of eternity. To not to rise to this noble challenge is to settle for less.

The Christian view is that ultimately human beings can only be happy in God. In the immortal words of St Augustine: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You”.12 This does not mean that material things cannot be valid sources of authentic happiness – but it does mean that they are not enough. We may accumulate wealth and resources, we may achieve our highest goals and dreams, and yet although they do indeed bring us happiness and satisfaction to an extent, they are never sufficient – there is still in us a thirst for something more.

The Buddhist philosophers correctly noted the presence of this existential angst in our human experience – they called it dukkha, the suffering that pervades the whole world.

They also correctly noted that this dukkha arose because of cravings, desires and attachments to things that could not ultimately provide peace. So far, these are all insights which the Judeo-Christian tradition would vociferously agree with. But the solution the Buddhists offered was different – for them, since suffering was because of unfulfilled desire, true tranquillity could only be gained

Soham is a student of Theology at Regent’s Park College. A believer in Jesus from a Hindu background and a convert to the Catholic Church, he appreciates the importance of interfaith dialogue and understanding, while also emphasizing the importance of reason in matters of religion.

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‘it’s alright once you’re in’ - freedom from 2021 social anxiety (even for an extrovert!)

Grace Burney

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e? social anxiety? surely not!

If you know me, you’ll know I love people. Mainly I love talking with – or at – them.

Last Trinity term, no word of a lie, I probably went for 15476849 covid walks with 14745748530 people.

People are great.

But sometimes people scare me. I think it was due to being stuck in my room at home for so long, with few responsibilities other than: sit behind a Zoom screen, eat, go for a walk, watch some Netflix, try not to go crazy (my family didn’t help with this one). Oh, and a law degree, but we don’t talk about that.

Now all of a sudden I have to meet new people?

Go to parties where there’s 100 people and I only know 1 person? That used to be my dream; now it feels slightly more like a nightmare. But, do you know what? That’s not just because I’ll have to make small talk face to face. It’s because I’m worried they won’t like me. Or I won’t fit in. So I realised there actually WAS something I could do about it: stop feeling pressure. Let it go. Just be yourself. Remind yourself that God loves you unconditionally, and so do your loved ones. Just smile and wave – I promise it won’t be as bad as your brain tells you beforehand it will be.

It’s not just transitioning post-plague that makes this a bit tricky, it’s cool people.

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‘Wait, but Grace, you’re really cool!’ I hear you say. I know, I’m cool. I literally own Yeezys (they’re fake, but you wouldn’t know). I mean, the bar of being ‘cool’ is set pretty low at Oxford (apparently brains are the new dress sense), so at least for Oxford Uni standards, I’m cool…

But I don’t often feel like I’m cool: I feel like I’m pretending. In tutorials, I pretend I did the reading and know about my subject. In social situations, I pretend I’m feeling fine and I love life and I wasn’t crying as I put my makeup on that morning.

Not with my closest friends - they see me at my worst and at my best, and (hopefully) love me at all points on the spectrum, or at least tolerate me.

But sometimes you have to pretend the water isn’t cold and just keep moving until you warm up. ‘It’s alright once you’re in’. Your brain might tell you that you should stay in bed all day, and you might need a rest, but also you might need to just cross the pain barrier and go for a walk or call a friend or do the thing you’re scared of doing.

We need to get the balance right between ‘just pull your socks up and get on with it – think less, do more’ and ‘I’m not judging you for being scared, is there anything I can do to help?’

I was going to title this ‘just keep swimming’ but that felt a bit cliché.

Another thing we don’t talk about: anxiety.

Especially in a Christian context, anxiety can be super taboo. ‘Just pray it away!’ ‘Have you read Matthew 6?’

I catch myself telling my anxious friends to worship, pray, and read their Bible. And it’s because those things help. But also, if you want to see a GP or get CBT or get medication, God’s not judging you. The God I read about in the Bible is kind and compassionate, and yes, He brings peace. He brings peace through the person of Jesus, the Holy Spirit and our communion with Him. We have to ‘seek peace and pursue it’ - to seek Him, His Kingdom, His righteousness, to give up our never-ending pursuit of perfection and pursue the only One who ever was and ever will be perfect: Jesus. But just like God sometimes brings physical healing through a miracle and sometimes through doctors and medicine, in the cliché words of christian meme pages: it’s ok to have Jesus and a therapist too. Also, PSA: mental health is a lot more similar to physical health than people think. Think about it: depression and a broken ankle have a lot more in common than you might at first realise. Yet the first has stigma and the second doesn’t. Let’s stop that.

When people used to tell me ‘I just don’t like big groups’, I used to think they were being wimps.

I know, it’s bad, I’ve learnt better now.

‘His yoke is easy and His burden is light’ - so why do I keep putting heavy yokes and burdens on myself ? If God isn’t anxious, and God knows more about the future than I do, I don’t need to worry. But not needing to worry doesn’t mean I won’t – but I’m working on it.

Safe to say, he kind of had a lot that he could be worrying about.

He told me this metaphor in story form: A man was walking down the street carrying lots of heavy books stacked on top of his head, trying get to where he was going without letting them fall. It was ‘lowkey stressful’ (my words, not his).

A friend came driving down the road and offered him a lift.

The man got into the car, but as they drove along, he kept the holding the heavy books on his head - kept trying to balance them. He didn’t realise that he was in a car now and could have put them in the boot.

That’s kind of what it’s like with us and Jesus.

We really can cast our cares on Him – He really will help us carry them. He really is capable and He really does know best. But also, He cares about our mental health just as much as He cares about our physical health – and that’s why there should not be any judgement in being honest with a doctor, a friend, a counsellor, with getting medication, therapy, and the like.

Jesus told us not to worry, but he also told us not to judge. He said Himself that He came not to condemn, but to save.

‘Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you’.

2021, just like 2020, and probably any year ever, can be really stressful, saddening, difficult.

‘In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I (Jesus) have overcome the world’.

Prayer is a weapon. God is creator, sustainer, compassionate, kind, merciful and loving. He loves you. You are more than a conqueror – but not in your own strength, only in His.

I once met this 50 year old man who was leading a church in rural India, where persecution against Christians is increasing exponentially.

Many churches have been violently evicted and many pastors murdered.

Grace is a 3rd year studying Law at Exeter College. Her hobbies include: talking about the 4 months she spent in Indonesia and/or her food intolerances, singing Hamilton and posting memes on group chats (especially cute dog memes).

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whom shall i fear?

Ilona Clayton

C

laire knew she was late for her friend’s party, but she couldn’t decide what to wear. The dress she had on was clingier than she had expected. Everyone will see that I’ve put on weight. Her hand hovered over a flowy skirt. But what if they think I look frumpy? She considered a pair of leather trousers instead. They’ll think I’m trying too hard. Plus, I wore these the last time we took pictures and we’ll definitely take more tonight. She sighed and frowned at the mirror, close to tears. It shouldn’t be this difficult.

Without realising it, Claire has become enslaved by the opinions of others. She fears what others will think of her. While this is a trivial example, the ‘fear of man’ is far from uncommon, as Edward Welch lays out in his book, When people are big and God is small. Other examples of ‘fear of man’ he cites are: being over-committed, experiencing jealousy, telling lies, seeking affirmation from others. 1 Who can claim that they haven’t at one point or another experienced at least one, and most likely all, of those things?

Yet we don’t have to be afraid of others – our rescuer came two thousand years ago. In Luke 4, Jesus goes to the synagogue and reads out his manifesto from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”2 While his contemporaries assumed he would

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do so in a very specific context, by acquiring their independence from Rome, God’s plan for Jesus’s rescue mission was far bigger. Sometimes it’s easy to think that Jesus “only” saved us from hell by dying for us. But his death impacts our lives and how we live our lives now too. Despite our continuous struggle, we have been saved and we have been freed. From death, but also from the dependence on idols - regardless of whether they are objects, or dreams, or people. Jack Miller said ‘the devil’s great strategy is to get us problem centred rather than Christ centred’; this applies to being people centred too. Even if it doesn’t feel like it at times, we’ve been given what we need to escape the pressure of having to conform to unrealistic expectations or others’ opinions. Christians are called to live only for an audience of one and thankfully our audience is the One who not only desires purely what’s best for us, but also embodies love, grace, and forgiveness.

Tim Keller’s short booklet, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, explains that the solution to fearing what other people think isn’t to set our own standards but rather to find our identity and purpose in Jesus. Keller argues that because Jesus, being the beloved Son of God, brought his followers into God’s family

through his death and resurrection, Christians too are beloved children of God. This in turn means that our lives can be lived free of fear that we need to earn our place or reputation or identity, because our identity has already been fixed.3 Therefore, whenever we feel tempted to make ourselves look better than we are or to base our worth on our work, we can instead choose to be free by focusing on who really matters. Welch calls his readers to fix their eyes on their saviour instead of other people or even themselves: ‘for every one look at myself I must take ten looks at Jesus.’4 King David of Israel wrote the following in Psalm 27:

‘The Lord is my light and my salvation –

Whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life – Of whom shall I be afraid?’5 When we remember that our creator, protector and redeemer walks beside us every step of the way, we can set aside our fear of others and live rejoicing in the freedom he has given us.

Claire’s eyes fell on the Bible verse taped to her wall. She smiled, picked up the jeans she had wanted to wear anyway, and got ready knowing that it didn’t matter what her friends thought, because her best friend loved her regardless

Ilona is now a Ministry Assistant at St Ebbe’s after reading History and German at Somerville. When she’s not running around church, you can find her in bed with a good book or dancing around her room.

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reflections on sin Elizabeth Fair

O

ur household recently ended up in isolation with a positive Covid-19 test result; this has sparked a lot of deep thinking for me. One verse that has felt particularly pertinent to me has been “it is for freedom that Christ set us free” (Galatians 5:1). Through mulling this verse over, I’ve discovered a lot of resonances between isolation and sinning, between freedom from covid and freedom from sin, between the restrictions and rules. I’ve discovered that worship requires repentance, and that selfishness is not godly.

The Old Testament teaches us that the Israelites had a lot of rules to follow to be ‘clean’ in God’s sight. Ritual sacrifice was central, and maintaining purity was also central. For example, during their periods, women had to stay away from people as they were unclean. When Jesus came, many of these rules were done away with. Freedom was brought through Jesus’ blood rather than the blood of animal sacrifice. One price was paid at one time for everyone, everywhere, at every time. The Israelites were free from following the rules of sacrifice and the rules of the synagogue. Instead, they could walk in God’s path for them without the intercession of a priest. However, this came with a catch: they were not free to simply do what they wanted.

They were free to worship God. Jesus’ death didn’t just mean that they could sin and forget about it – repentance was still central to their purity before God. In the Covid-19 pandemic, similarly to the Israelites, we have had many rules to follow. Hand-washing, social distancing, and

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mask-wearing have been the order of the last year and a half. And yet as we come out of restrictions (in the UK at least), I can’t help feeling that we haven’t truly been set free. While there are no longer restrictions on what you can and can’t do, this doesn’t mean we are free. We still live with the reality of Covid-19 and the possibility of catching it, spreading it, or just needing to isolate.

We are not free because of the lack of rules – there are still consequences to our actions.

We still have to consider the risks of our actions and their implications on ourselves and others. This will not change until people stop catching the virus.

Just like how we will only be free when we have something that fully prevents the virus, we are not freed from sin because there aren’t obvious rules. This logic can lead to more hurt and pain and sin. We are only freed from sin by the blood of Jesus which covers our sins. Just as we live with the consequences of the virus in the hopes of a day without it all, we live with the consequences of sin with the hope that we will be freed and live in Christ in His glory. Isolation is key to stopping the spread. Repentance is key to freedom from our sin.

Elizabeth is in her third year studying Music at Magdalen. Whilst she spends most of her time at her desk, she also likes to knit socks while watch farming programmes and go on long, muddy walks. ]

I lock my bike onto a rusty rack at Gloucester Green. It has done me well, carrying myself and the rucksack all the way down here. After an unusually long stare at it, I turn away and hop on one of the first coaches to London Victoria. From there, I change to King’s Cross. I’m heading north, to the mountains, into the wild, alone.

My first lesson, however, wasn’t in a deep dark forest or on an open Munro. It was in London.

We humans are extremely adaptive. You may not have realized, but we have managed well towards the ‘harshness’ of urban living.

Noise-cancelling headphones for one – what a marvelous piece of technology! With a simple flip of a switch, ill-inducing sounds are no more. As I walk the city streets with my rucksack on my back. I glare at the city dwellers, their headphones, their urban outfits and their luxurious and delicate handbags. Quite disgracefully, I felt smug, superior somehow. I thought that I was better than the people who are used to living in a city; that I was leaving for a far more pleasant place; that I will be closer to God by moving away from it all.

creation awaits

It was end of term yesterday, a time for laying down burdens of work and many farewells. My friend’s dad came and picked him up, bearing surprising gifts - an entire crate of bottles of craft ale. But alas, they will have to wait – for I was heading afar, without much lingering at all.

Born and raised in one of the largest cities in China. I wasn’t a stranger to the rhythm of urban life. The barking traffic, the concrete maze, the smile-less faces… It was normal practice for any city dweller. London is a place of no difference. Even the usual friendly exchange with the bus driver has been replaced by a metallic and robotic beep.

Sheppard Li

I

t’s about 6:30 in the morning. The sun has just risen; its warm and vibrant rays pierce through the freezing air, filling each street and alley with a golden ambience.

I’m lucky to have found a window seat on

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this train. Finally settling down my luggage, I look out to see the pleasant pasture land of the English countryside. Following a loud whooshing, darkness overtakes the view - we are passing a tunnel. My eyes refocused onto the image of my rucksack, and then my own reflection. Suddenly, I realized how utterly wrong I was. Just like the headphones, outfits and handbags, I have my very own camera, tripods, tent, waterproofs, sleeping bag, base layers, dry bags… the list goes on. They are not superior. They’re faffier if anything.

And most of the time, the outdoors isn’t a pleasant and mellow haven at all. The rain, the wind, the midges, the hail. Everything is changing, and each change can make your day a miserable one.

Most of us think of wilderness adventures as a way to reconnect with nature and indeed with God: a fruitful and rewarding spiritual retreat. In some sense and cases, it is. Creation does have a unique and irreplaceable way to display God’s magnificent glory. But the Christian life is a life-long campaign.

There will be victory as well as defeat, reward as well as fatigue. And getting close to nature doesn’t give you a shortcut. Even when you are surrounded with soft and vibrant heathers, listening to waves gently patting the shoreline, camping under awe-inspiring

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stars of the night sky. Just like work during term time stresses me out and squeezes God out of my life. Our hearts are prone to forget and ignore these glorious displays and focus on ourselves. The same battle is to be fought, no matter where we are.

It was my third day into the Cumbria Way. For those of you who are not too familiar with the Lake District, it’s a 77-mile hiking route that takes you through some of the best scenery in the National Park. Challenging but also very rewarding. I knew a storm was brewing over to the west, but without any reception, there was no way for me to have found out the precise time it would hit me - I was wild camping all along the way. The route is separated by a prominent mountain pass about half-way. And I had to make it over before bad weather moves in – or so I thought. I hiked deeper and deeper into the valley. As I began to ascend, dark clouds landed ashore and anchored upon the surrounding fells. The heavens had opened.

I was halfway to the top, but the sensible thing to do was to cancel the attempt and seek shelter on lower grounds. And now I’m recalling that God was certainly telling me to do so, via a little voice of sanity inside my heart. But I ignored it. I ignored Him. I was obsessed somehow with the unpleas-

ant and exhausting rhythm of hiking on a harsh and exposed hillside. With each step I took, I would voice some of the utmost ludicrous things I’ll ever be saying to myself.

“Of course I can do this!”, “I will make it”, “Once I get across, everything will be fine”.

It wasn’t so.

In case you haven’t realized (I certainly wasn’t in the clear), a good old summer thunderstorm isn’t too favourable to outdoor recreational activities, not at all. Gale force wind mixed with bullet speed raindrops can easily soak right through you, making what should have been a light hill walking into a wet and miserable disaster. Unsurprisingly, it took me way longer to reach the top. It got dark, and the only lights were my puny head torch and the occasional lightning strikes in the distance. I was truly and utterly scared, probably for the first time in my life. And finally, I remembered to pray. I cried to God, at least I thought I did, for I surely wouldn’t have noticed a few more tears on my face.

To rely on our own strength, is the recipe for stumbling. We can’t do this life on our own, we need God. I thought I had a great plan choosing to power through this tough terrain. But God’s plan is always wiser and for the better.

Proverbs 19:21 Many plans are in a man’s heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand.

So why so stubborn? Admit our weakness, for God delights in it. Seek his counsel, for He knows better.

I found a large boulder near the cairn and pitched up behind it. It was a sleepless night, but God graciously kept me through it.

When day finally broke, the wind changed its direction, and my tent was flattened and filled to the brim. It was an absolute catastrophe. But now looking back, I can certainly see God’s magnificent hand, coming through every minute of that night.

A few weeks later, with a patched-up tent and a more prayerful heart. I completed the 77 miles. And jotted my name down on the visitor book in Carlisle.

But of course it’s not to say that all my attempts to truly immerse in and admire creation ended up in vain, and turned into a physical and spiritual struggle. Occasionally, my heart would be filled with joy and inspiration by God and through his glory. And it’s these moments I was faithfully close to him, and it’s these moments I shall treasure for the rest of my life. Sitting on a flat summit plateau, views for miles and miles. The air

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is still and the temperature is as comfortable as it gets. Food is cooking away behind me, and the tent is all organized and cozy. Everything is so perfect and quiet. And I know it is so because God wants to show me wondrous things, listen to me and speak to me. I let Him. I’ve been hiking for a few days and set up camp deep inside one of the last remaining patches of Caledonian forests, high up in the Scottish Highlands. Scots pines are truly marvellous trees, and some woods are entirely made up of them. You feel like you’ve walked into a meeting, and everyone just froze on the spot. Every single one of them, although belonging to the same species, each has a completely different posture.

Even the long deceased were still reaching towards the sky with their bone-dry and gnarly branches, looking very much trying to stay alive. A sunset was brewing, and the distant snow-capped mountains glowed in the last afternoon light. The stags were bellowing down in the valley, I could hear a burn singing all the way down there but hidden to my eyes. Ah, how appropriate are the words of that old melody:

pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Romans 8:22). Suddenly it all makes sense. They too, like us, are longing to be liberated from the bondage and decay of this fallen world. Although they are glorious now, the sun is bound to set, and storms are set to come. It may just happen to be strong enough to break their trunks that pose so elegantly right now. But though broken and shattered, I’m sure they would always remember that one glorious moment, when God showed them his warmth and splendour.

We, too, need to remember. And with remembrance, comes hope; with hope, comes a new and determined start, and a life of grace and reliance.

When through the woods And forest glades I wander I hear the birds Sing sweetly in the trees, When I look down From lofty mountain grandeur And hear the brook And feel the gentle breeze, Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art!

How great Thou art!

As the last clouds depart, golden light soon pierces through, bathing the entire landscape in a tsunami of warmth and glory. It was then I noticed some very special trees.

I love to personify nature, especially trees.

I wouldn’t presume what they were thinking or feeling. But this I do know, that “the whole creation has been groaning as in the 38

Hi! I’m Sheppard, a third year physicist at St Hugh’s. I was born in China and got to know Jesus after I came to England for school. I love the outdoors and landscape photography, and God has shown me some amazing things on my trips into the wilderness. Please allow me to share a few exciting stories that God has weaved into my life.

team EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Abigail Howe

EDITORIAL TEAM Lily Carson Sheppard Li Susie Dowsett Hattie Carter Sophie Greenwood

IMAGE CREDITS All images used are public domain except as noted: pp.35-7, Sheppard Li All elements used are from Canva.

about Through a Glass Darkly is a student-led journal of Christian thought and art committed to expressing that the gospel of Jesus Christ is living and active in our fields of study and creative expressions as much as it is present in our books and college names. We seek to provide a space for students to test the veracity and credibility of the Christian faith, and to find that it holds true and enriches life. We desire to honour our God-given calling as students to critically explore and see our platform as a way to engage with faith intellectually and critically. We hope that this journal is not the end of the conversation, but the start of one. We know that all that we know, we know in part, and that the Lord will illuminate and reveal more to us the more we seek after Him. Through a Glass Darkly is part of the Augustine Collective, a network of student-led Christian journals in university campuses throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. For more information, see augustinecollective.org.

Through a Glass Darkly is not affiliated with any church or religious organisation, and the opinions expressed in the publication do not necessarily reflect those of the editors.

All content copyright © 2021 Through a Glass Darkly and its contributors. All rights reserved.

Contact us at oxfordtagly@gmail.com, or connect with us on Facebook or Instagram at @throughaglass.ox.

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footnotes hope at the end of the world (1) E. Elhacham et al, “Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass.” Nature, 9 December 2020. Available at: https:// www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-3010-5 (2) https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth (3) K. A. Alvarado et al, “Scaling of greenhouse crop production in low sunlight scenarios.” Science of The Total Environment, 10 March 2020. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969719360085 (4) A. J. Plumptre et al, “Where Might We Find Ecologically Intact Communities?” Frontiers in Forest and Global Change, 15 April 2021. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2021.626635/full (5) P. R. Ehrlich et al, “Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction.” Science Advances, 5 June 2015. Available at: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/5/e1400253 (6) https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2021/extreme-heat-warning-issued-forwestern-areas (7) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57846200 (8) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/21/climate/wildfire-smoke-map.html (9) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/07/21/china-floods-thousands-evacuated-12-die-worst-rain-1000-years/ (10) C. Dickman, “More than one billion animals killed in Australian bushfires.” The University of Sydney, 8 January 2020. Available at: https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/01/08/australian-bushfires-more-than-one-billion-animals-impacted.html (11) John 3:16; ‘Kosmon’ refers both to the Earth as an ordered system and the role of humans in maintaining this order (12) Genesis 1:31 (13) We see this use of the word in 2 Kings 11:18, for example.

(14) Genesis 1:27 (15) 1 Corinthians 15:14-17 (16) John 20:19 (17) 1 Corinthians 15:23-26 (18) Revelation 21:4-5 (19) John 3:3 (20) Romans 8:38-39 architecture: the door to well-being and beauty (1) Roger Scuton, The Aesthetics of Architecture (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013), 228-229.

(2) Roger Scuton, Beauty: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 197.

(3) Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons (Hertfordshire, UK: Woodsworth Classics, 2009), 508. a crucified freedom: what Christian liberation is, and why it matters 1) Reagan, R., (1967), Inaugural Address, January 5, California.

(2) I am not claiming that the Declaration of Independence was directly influenced by Biblical theology, only that it accords with it.

(3) Paine, T., (1807), The Age of Reason, Part 2, Chapter III. (4) Not all religious disaffiliated people would call themselves atheists – some may identify as agnostics, whereas a growing number is simply classified as ‘nones’ or ‘nothing in particular’.

(5) A 2018 article by The Pew Research Forum showed that a large number of religiously disaffiliated people (54% for atheists, 48% for agnostics and 47% for nones) take issue with the positions taken by religious organizations on social and political

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issues. An even greater proportion question religious teachings more generally. Source: Pew Research Forum, 2018, Why America’s ‘nones’ don’t identify with a religion, Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/08/why-americas-nonesdont-identify-with-a-religion/ (Accessed: 13 September 2020).

(6) I am not claiming the Hebrew Bible was a liberal document – no, institutions like debt-slavery continued to exist in ancient Israel, although the Bible seems to portray this as a far-from-desirable work arrangement whose abolition was an ideal (Deuteronomy 15:1-18).

(7) All Biblical citations are from the NRSVCE, unless otherwise noted.

(8) Rist, J.M., (2014), Augustine Deformed: Love, Sin and Freedom in the Western Moral Tradition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 17.

(9) It is true that St Paul, in Romans and Galatians, sometimes speaks of the ‘Law’ as being a schoolmaster (Gal 3:24) and even a ‘yoke of slavery’ which Christians are not subject to (Gal 5:1) – however, the Law he has in mind in these passages is clearly the Torah of Moses, the system of law given to post-exodus Israel. He nonetheless did believe that baptized Christians were subject to a higher and better law – the Law of Christ, the essence of which was love (Gal 5:1-6, 13-21, 6:2, Rom 2:6-11, 8:1217). St James also speaks of this higher Law, calling it ‘the perfect law of liberty’ (James 1:25).

(10) This is especially seen in the Song of Songs, also called the Song of Solomon.

(11) One study, conducted by Dean Busby and published in the Journal of Family Psychology even indicated that couples who abstained from sex till marriage reported higher sexual quality, relationship stability and relationship satisfaction. This is just one study, but its findings are nonetheless interesting. Source: Hendrick, B., (2010), Benefits in Delaying Sex Until Marriage, Available at: https://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/news/20101227/theres-benefits-in-delaying-sex-until-marriage (Accessed 13 September 2021).

(12) Augustine, Confessiones, 1.1.

(13) I am not implying that Christianity has no concept of detachment. On the contrary, the elimination of excessive and undue materialistic attachments is certainly present in the Christian mystical tradition, but the Christian view is that such detachment on its own, apart from attachment to God and an active relationship with Him, cannot provide ultimate peace. whom shall i fear?

(1) Welch, E.T., When people are big and God is small (Phillipsburg, 1997), pp. 15-17.

(2) Luke 4:18-19, Isaiah 61:1-2.

(3) Keller, T., The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness (Leyland, 2012), p. 28.

(4) Ibid., p. 40.

(5) Welch, E.T., When people are big and God is small (Phillipsburg, 1997), p. ?

(6) Psalm 27:1

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