Fantastic Start for New Theological Reading Group

Texts considered during the opening session of the new Theological Reading Group

About twenty-five people gathered for the opening session of the new Theological Reading Group which brought together people from St Pancras Church and St James Piccadilly as well as some guests from other churches and none. (All welcome!).

In January the theme was 'Seeing the Forest Through the Trees: The Roots of English Mysticism' and, following the model of considering one pre-Reformation theological text, one modern theological text, and one non-theological text, typically a work of poetry, extracts of 'Pearl', 'Revelations of Divine Love' and 'Practical Mysticism: A Little Book for Normal People' had been pre- selected (link to these texts).

After refreshments on arrival and an opening introduction, three groups formed for wide ranging and free discussion on all the texts, their theologies and underlying thoughts. What struck people? What new perspectives had people encountered? What was helpful for today as individuals and as church and part of the the whole of creation? What did people agree with, find challenging or take issue with? Each group reported briefly on what had been lively and interesting discussions.

It did not seem to matter whether people knew the texts of old (only a few such people) or whether the selected extracts were people's first introduction to these texts. The discussions were broad and relaxed enough to include all (whether people had managed to pre-read or not, and whether people were happy talkers or preferred to listen).

Looking forward, the next session will be at St Pancras church at 1pm, for 1.30pm start, on 8 March 2026 (which is International Women's Day). The theme will be 'Wrestling with Angels: The Challenges of Interpreting Ancient Scripture in Light of Modern Feminism'. In due course extracts will be selected from three texts. Current thought is that these will be:

• Phyllis Trible, Texts of Terror

• Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies

• Nawal el Saadawi, The Hidden Face of Eve *(this text may be substituted)

We will provide further information and links to the selected extracts in due course.

A huge thank you to all who came; and a special thank you to Morgan Leah for pulling this together, selecting such interesting and inspiring texts and for leading everyone through the event.

Do, please, put 8 March in your diary and come along to the next session of the Theological Reading Group, whether you made it in January or not.