That this is metaphor is no way out. / It’s dogma too, or you make God a liar.
On 8 March 2021, the Revd Canon Dr Edmund Newey spoke on Norman Nicholson’s poetry of hope. He noted that, amidst the dismay and loss of the pandemic, lockdown life has enabled for many a greater level of attention to local matters: place, people and purpose. Drawing on lines from Norman Nicholson’s early poem, ‘The Burning Bush’, Edmund reflected on the ways in which poetry’s metaphorical resources enable our engagement with reality: not the reaction of fear, but the response of mission, teasing out the real presence of God where we do and don’t expect it.
Edmund is the Rector of St Andrew’s Church, Rugby, in the Diocese of Coventry.
Edmund grew up in Pangbourne, beside a lovely stretch of the Thames. He studied Modern Languages at Lincoln College, Oxford, and Theology at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, while training for the priesthood at Westcott House. He subsequently completed a PhD at Manchester University, later published as Children of God (Ashgate, 2010). His ministry has taken him to Fallowfield in Manchester, Newmarket in Suffolk, Handsworth in Birmingham, Christ Church in Oxford and now Rugby in Warwickshire. He has never had the privilege of living in Cumbria but, as a keen walker and fellrunner, in normal times he is a regular visitor to the hillier parts of the county.
Here is an opportunity to listen to Edmund’s talk if you have missed it or would like to listen again.
Edmund’s talk has recently come to the attention of the Norman Nicholson Society, who are featuring it in the Spring 2021 edition of their magazine Comet. For further information about the society, see their website at: https://www.normannicholson.org/.
You might also be interested in the Norman Nicholson page on The Poetry Archive.
Engaging Theology in Cumbria 