September 16, 2024
Tom Holland (the writer, not Spiderman) is a Cambridge educated historian. He doesn’t teach—he bailed on academia—he writes books. He started writing gothic horror. He then began incorporating historical figures from ancient Rome into contemporary settings for a few novels and, next thing you know, he’s published the blockbusting Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World (Basic Books, 2019).
Raised by a “devout Anglican” mother, “I’ve always associated Anglicanism with goodness and decency and generosity of spirit and compassion, so I never had that visceral association of Christianity or institutional religion with repression or dogma or illiberalism.” (I lifted that from quit-asking-me-for-money-I-already-gave Wikipedia.) Even so, he abandoned his faith until, while writing Dominion, he recognized, “In my morals and ethics, I have learned to accept that I am not Greek or Roman at all, but thoroughly and proudly Christian.” God didn’t leave him there. Speaking with NT Wright, on the Unbelievable podcast, Holland said, “I began to realize that actually, in almost every way I am a Christian.”
How’d he move from “In my morals and ethics…Christian,” to, “in almost every way I am a Christian”? The following story should offer profound encouragement to clergy who feel we just slog along, worrying that the stuff we are doing is for naught:
While working on Dominion, Holland attended service at All Saints, Broad Chalke, Wiltshire, “the church where I had sung as a child in the choir, been married, and where my mother still worships.” It was an 8.30a, and Tom writes, “I went to it chiefly—I confess—to keep my mother company,” (fine boy!) “I wasn’t expecting much. I anticipated that the congregation would be scanty, the mood downbeat, the whole occasion depressing.
“When we got there, my darkest suspicions seemed confirmed. There were 10 or so people, huddled in the choir stalls where I had used to sing as a boy—but now there was no choir.
“Sitting there, waiting for the service to begin, it seemed I was a witness to the decline of the Church.
“Yet then something amazing happened. RS Thomas, in one of his poems, writes of how once,
“‘in the darkness that was about
his hearers, a preacher caught fire
and burned steadily before them
with a strange light.’
“That was how it seemed to me. The preacher was the Revd Anna-Claar Thomasson-Rosingh.” (Hat tip to a faithful pastor not just phoning it in at the early service.) “Everything she said that early morning seemed lit by a pentecostal fire…The fact that it was 8:30, with barely anyone to hear it, made it all the more powerful.”
He concludes, “My eyes were opened that morning as they had not previously been to this great tradition of Christian preaching—a tradition that has always been particularly fundamental to Protestant Christianity. I had been reading a lot about the Spirit and the experience of grace.
“That morning, he concluded, “I felt that something had descended on me—like a fire, like the dove.”
You’ll be shocked to learn that this post isn’t about Tom Holland; it’s about one of our own, (the Revd) David Rowe—with an exceedingly long Tom Holland intro.
You see, about five years ago, Tom suggested that someone ought to find a song to represent each of the 66 books of the bible. Fr Rowe took the bait.
The result is amazing! Not all the songs are to my liking (the lyrics of JayZ’s 99 Problems offend my sensibilities, but I’ve learned enough about the genre to see what he’s trying to do), but many are (Handel’s Zadoc the Priest, Bruce’s Thunder Road, and, of course, Dylan’s Man Gave Names to all the Animals).
Rowe’s list ranges widely across musical genres and eras and introduces any number of pieces I’ve never heard before. Ben Harper’s Picture of Jesus was unknown to me, but is so beautiful it’s on repeat.
A guy named jsxtn83 (wears a Georgia Bulldogs cap, but I can get past that) created the Spotify list here. Heads up: Allison Krause’s Jubilee (Leviticus) isn’t even on Spotify, so the list is 65 songs; Mahalia Jackson’s Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho drops sooner than expected. I think that’s the only missing piece…
Here’s the list, with an explanation of each choice. Brilliant! Enjoy!
