ISSUE 47:1 JANUARY 2017 WORLDVIEW:an …admin.cmf.org.uk/pdf/nucleus/win16/win16.pdfWORLDVIEW:an...

the student journalofthechristian m

edical fellowship

WORLDVIEW: an unstoppable force?

ISSUE 47:1 JANUARY 2017 nu

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eu

s

plus: just ask, servant leadership in healthcare, integrity, our values, what’s the story?

just the tip of the iceberg

anatomy of the heart

how do we make moral decisions?

nucleusISSUE 47:1 JANUARY 2017

CMFc h r i s t i a n M e d i c a l f e l l o w s h i p

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Editorial policythe editor welcomes original contributions thathave medical and christian content. letters andemails are invited. authors have a reasonablefreedom of expression in so far as their articlesare consistent with the christian faith asrecorded in the bible. Views expressed are notnecessarily those of the fellowship. Unlessotherwise stated, Scripture quotations takenfrom the Holy bible, new International Versionanglicised. copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 biblica.Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughtonpublishers, an Hachette UK company. all rightsreserved. ‘nIV’ is a registered trademark ofbiblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

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fEatUrE artIclES WOrldVIEW: an unstoppable force?

4 just the tip of the iceberg8 anatomy of the heart12 how do we make moral decisions?

rEgUlar fEatUrES16 essentials — back to basics19 just ask20 servant leadership in healthcare22 distinctives — being a light on the ward24 be prepared — life after graduation

bE InSpIrEd26 local groups27 a day in the life28 crossing cultures29 counterparts30 my trip to… lithuania31 our values — research and training

cUltUrE34 what’s the story?38 news reviews39 book reviews40 heroes + heretics

ISSUE 47:12

n ucleus is entering its 47th year. Founded in 1971, we have published articles at theinterface of Christianity and medicine,

aiming to involve medical students in productionwhen possible. There have been many changes;the original journal was typed and duplicated withno colour or graphics. Online you can read back asfar as 1992, but in the CMF office there are copiesright back to the first edition from 1971.

although the ‘look’ of Nucleus has changed agreat deal, its aims have not. We hope that theinformation presented will not only be read andunderstood, but will also be used. We still stand by this quote from the first edition:

Information is useless and sterile unless it servessome purpose or provokes a response… We hopethat this new journal-cum-newsletter will help insome way… but for that to happen you must not only read it, but use it. 1

We hope that this new look to Nucleus will helpus to achieve that goal; that you have informationnot only to read, but to use.

the biggest change is that each issue will havean overarching theme. this issue we are focusingon worldview. not every article will relate to thetheme, but we’ll begin each issue with articles thataim to tackle the theme in some detail.

the rest of the journal will be divided into threefurther sections – regular features, be inspired andculture. there will be a recognisable pattern ofarticles in each issue, from a variety of authors. Of course there will still be other items like ‘Heroes + Heretics’, and some one-off articles.

We hope that the new structure will be easier toread and make Nucleus easier to use. Many of thearticles will be shorter, and we hope that this willencourage you to think about writing for Nucleusas well. please email [email protected] if you are interested.

worldviewWe’ve chosen to start our themed editions by looking at worldview. When we understandsomeone’s worldview, we don’t just know theiropinions on particular questions, we also see theassumptions and foundations from which thoseanswers come. If we do that, we are able to engagemuch more constructively with them, will betterunderstand why they believe what they do, andwhere their questions about our beliefs might come from.

but perhaps most importantly, we’ll better beable to better empathise; to do a ‘thought exercise’and try to think as they might think. through doingthis, we are likely to treat their viewpoint far moregraciously and sympathetically, even if we stillprofoundly disagree. If we manage even a little ofthis, our conversation is much more likely to be‘full of grace, seasoned with salt’ (colossians 4:6);when we don’t, we can ‘talk past’ people, with theeffect on the hearer being sodium overload ratherthan gentle seasoning!

How different 2016’s public discourse might have been if some of the underlying assumptionsbehind people’s opinions had been more clearlyunderstood. Might we have avoided the juniordoctors’ strike? Might social media focus have beenon the issue instead of attacking the messenger?Might the church be able to handle difficult issueslike sexuality more sensitively if we get better at this?

So ‘using’ this issue of Nucleus is about reallylearning to get behind the reasons for what peoplesay, and to better understand and genuinelydiscuss. grace in how we speak will point to Jesusas much as the actual words we say. ■

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editorialrefreshLaurence Crutchlow is alondon gp and cMf associateHead of Student Ministries

1. Why communicate? Nucleus 1971; October:1

rEf

‘M y best friends are gay, and they aregetting married. I believe that if twopeople love each other, who am I to

say they shouldn’t be happy? from what I can tell,cMf opposes gay marriage, so I need to resign mymembership.’

I occasionally get emails like this from cMfstudents, on issues from abortion to sexuality toend of life care. You might wonder what this has todo with ‘worldview’, the theme of this issue. I wouldsay: ‘everything’, and I’m going to explain why. In

this first worldview article, we arefocusing on the importance ofunderstanding our worldview, beforemoving on to look at elephants in the second (yes, seriously).

what is a worldview? a worldview is a set of beliefs and assumptions that a person

uses when interpreting the worldaround them. Many of you will

recognise the triangle: worldview(bottom), then beliefs, then values

then behaviour at the tip of the triangle. I confess I can get fed up debating the

tip of the iceberg — behaviour, values orbeliefs (perhaps like some of the emails in

my inbox) — because they are driven by aworldview, something much deeper. this is why we are dealing with worldview first in our refreshedNucleus. If you don’t grasp this now, you will gothrough medical school, and life, dealing withsurface issues. Unless your foundations are firm,when your worldview is challenged on the wardsand in clinics, you will find yourself struggling.

universal questionsWe can’t escape this fundamental truth: everyhuman being has to answer key questions. take a look at the worldview grid to see some of the key questions and answers given by a selection of mainstream worldviews.

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just the tip of the icebergyou won’t know what to do unless you know what story you are a part of writes John Greenall

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John Greenall is cMf Head of Student Ministries

everyone has a storyI like to think of worldviews as stories. Our livesand culture are shot through with stories thatcover these questions. Most films follow suit (see our new culture section starting on page 34).In fact, I would argue that major worldviews areoften based on stories rather than claimed ‘facts’. a scientific naturalist might offer the explanations as in the table. and yet, I often hear a story runningthrough that goes a bit like this:

‘Once upon a time, we believed in spirits andfairies and gods and demons. But as we becamerational, and especially as we marshalled naturalisticexplanations for what we used to attribute to spiritsand forces, the world became progressivelydisenchanted. Now we are free — and it is anexhilarating feeling. I am not constrained — grantedthe universe may not comfort me, but at least itdoesn’t demand anything of me. I get to decide what I pursue — God is dead, vive la revolution.’ 1

this is a testimony of conversion from an‘immature, Sunday-school faith’ to new faith, ‘a faith in science’s ability’. these are stories ofcourage rather than a genuine comment on theevidence in many cases. So if we are going toengage at a worldview level, it’s not enough tooffer rival evidence and data — you need to tell adifferent story. a story that is coherent, consistent,comprehensive, intellectually satisfying, liveable…and true.

the Christian storyas we outline the christian worldview, we need toacknowledge that we will all recognise something(or someone) as the ultimate reality, the source ofour existence. If you don’t start with god, you willstart with something else. this means there is noreason to shy away from starting with the Word ofgod as our source of authority, because everyonewill base their worldview on a particular authority.

Where did I comefrom?

creation, Image of god

Undirected evolution,time & chance

product of socialsetting; reality issocially created

creation, not image ofgod, (Image of god =idolatry)

World is an illusion,reincarnation

What’s wrong withthe world?

Human rebellion

not responsible, genes,society

Oppression, dogma,inauthenticity

no original sin,deception, the self

bad karma, ignorance,desire

Is there a solution?

reconciliation throughchrist’s death andresurrection

Worldly utopia,technology

Self-actualisation,personal autonomy,tolerance

Salvation by arbitrarywill of allah, no grace,transcendent notimminent

Mystical experience,eliminate desire

What is my purpose?

glorifying god andenjoying him forever

there is no purposegiven by the universe

Self-defined

Submission to allahUmma Muslima

accept karma,liberation (personalextinction)

biblical worldview

Scientific naturalism

postmodernism

Islam

Eastern religions

worldview grid*

* Such a grid helps us make sense of a confusing world, however, we must take care not to ‘pigeon hole’ people as answers to these questions will vary.

ISSUE 47:16


CREATIONgod is revealed in the bible as a trinitarian god,quite distinct from the monistic gods of Islam orscientific atheism. the god of the bible gives orderto the physical and human world. In genesis, godcreates a formless world. the rest of the creationaccount 2 shows god ordering and filling thephysical world (days 1 to 3 — order/form and days 4 to 6 — filling). finally, god gives human beings acommission to ‘fill the earth and subdue it’. 3

So the bible tells us that to be human issomething of great dignity. as humans we deriveour meaning from outside ourselves. We are madein the image of god 4 to continue his creativeendeavour. We can therefore affirm the inherentgoodness of work, civilisation, culture, farming,agriculture, politics, art, science… all are good andare from god as we order and fill the whole earth.

However, god not only orders the physical world,but he also gives ‘norms’ by which he intends us toorder the social world. If we do away with thecreator, we lose any sense of his good norms, andwe therefore diminish human beings. We no longerseek to conform our lives to this external reality, to revealed norms. Instead we bend reality to fitthe norms that we create and personalise. It is a relatively recent phenomenon that societyincreasingly recognises no norms for sexuality or gender — it’s all up for grabs.

a worldview starting with a trinitarian god alsomeans there can be freedom. the three-in-onenessof the godhead is the basis of the assertion thatgod is love. In love, there is freedom to choose and to be who we are made to be. this is a popularnotion in our culture, and yet as those who aremade in the image of god himself we cannot haveour freedom and reject god’s norms. the fenceoutside my house stops my little boy running ontothe road; the freedom he enjoys in the gardendepends on the fence keeping him safe. the pointof god’s laws and norms is that we enjoy thegarden, that we can be all who we are made to be and are safe.

FALLOur culture is not the first to discern and define its own norms without reference to the maker ofreality. the biblical story continues in genesis 3where adam and Eve rebel against god. Weimmediately see a fracturing of humankind’srelationship with god. the intended relationshipwith god, made to be intimate, is now marked byhiding and fear. 5 We also see broken relationshipswith others and the earth itself. We see siblingrelationships marred 6 and a progressive descentinto revenge and violence. 7 and we see much of the fallout of this in the realm of healthcare.

part of the fall is the exchanging of the creatorfor god substitutes, or what the bible calls ‘idols’.romans 1 is devastatingly revealing on this. We seethat human beings have wilfully suppressed thetruth 8 and they do not acknowledge god.consequently, god has given them up to debasedminds. 9 the greek for ‘mind’ here is ‘nous’, whichcan be translated as ‘worldview’. Instead ofpursuing ‘the mind [worldview] of christ’ (1 corinthians 2:16), we naturally pursue our ownworldview set up in rebellion to god. paul doesn’tlet christians off the hook. He goes on to say ‘you...have no excuse’ (romans 2:1). In our culture weabsorb ideas without realising it — we aresusceptible to idolatry too. and as romansprogresses we see him urge them to be those whoare transformed by the renewing of their minds; 10

their ‘nous’; their worldview. 11

Our worldview leads to beliefs that haveimplications for human value and purpose, ourunderstanding of disease and death, morality, andmuch, much more. When we dehumanise people inour thinking, we will eventually mistreat, oppress,abuse and exploit them in our actions. When wedon’t see humans as bearing god’s image, weimagine them otherwise and demean and diminishthem. Idolatrous worldviews have consequences.that is why it is so important to identify them,otherwise we will miss the core issue.

REDEMPTIONIn paul’s letter to the colossians, after explainingthat all things in creation are made by christ, hestates: ‘for god was pleased to have all his fullnessdwell in him, and through him to reconcile tohimself all things, whether things on earth or thingsin heaven, by making peace through his blood, shedon the cross’ (colossians 1:19-20).

It is through faith in christ, in his perfect life, hisdeath and subsequent resurrection, that we are‘reconciled’ 12 and ‘share in his inheritance’. 13 thechasm has been bridged and we can know rightrelationship with god again; we can indeed have the‘mind [worldview] of christ’ and subdue and fill theearth rightly again.

If the fall is cosmic in nature, then so isredemption – the restoring of all that that has beenmisdirected by the fall. christians are to beinvolved in the restoration of every area of life,discerning the structures god has given us and thegood direction that these should go in. ‘Imaginggod’ shouldn’t be read just as a noun but also as averb – it’s what we do, which stems ultimately fromour worldview. Our vocation is a way to pursue godhimself – we are not just medics or nurses whohappen to be christians, but christian medics andnurses in every area of life.

the christian story starts with a garden and endswith a city coming down from the sky, 14 a city towhich kings will bring ‘the glory and the honour ofthe nations’ (revelation 21:26). What a vote ofconfidence this is in god’s creation and the role ofhumanity within it! It isn’t that this world will bedestroyed, but renewed. and so what we do nowmatters; how we treat others matters. and we won’tknow what to do, or how to treat others, if we don’tknow the story of which we are a part.

getting practicalSo what does this mean for us day to day? It meanswe must know our story and engage our minds…

1. With humility. We need to acknowledgecommon ground where we can affirm aspects

of other worldviews. for example, we canaffirm the rational mind because god createdthe world with a rationally knowable structure(christ is the ‘logos’, the rational source of all things). 15 We should also admit wherechristians have got things wrong and beentriumphalist and insensitive.

2. In private. as medics we are at risk ofbecoming those who possess informationwithout knowledge, opinions without principlesand instincts without beliefs. If you areunthinking, you will be absorbed into theculture around you. You can explore thisthinking gently with patients too – we areencouraged to ‘take account of spiritual…factors’ by the gMc. 16 respectful probing mighthelp reveal underlying reasons why peopleengage in certain risky behaviours, for examplehopelessness or fear.

So ask people what they believe andunderstand it better than they do. think deeply,be curious, don’t get outthought by those withreductionist worldviews. Know the story youare a character in inside out.

3. In public. this will have huge implications for ourmedicine. Wider ethical issues at the momentinclude challenges around the making, theshaping and the faking of human life, for examplereproductive technology and aI/robotics. thechristian story affirms that we are not justanimals or machines but are dependent andmade for relationship. and most strikingly, itclaims to be the overarching story, total truth for all of life, both ‘private’ and ‘public’. ■

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1. adapted from Smith JKa. How (Not)To Be Secular. grand rapids: Eerdmans,2014

2. genesis 1:2-2:33. genesis 1:284. genesis 1:265. genesis 3:8,106. genesis 4:3-167. genesis 4:23-248. romans 1:189. romans 1:2810. romans 12:2

11. for more see pearcey, n. FindingTruth: 5 Principles for UnmaskingAtheism, Secularism and Other GodSubstitutes. Eastbourne: david ccook, 2015

12. colossians 1:2213. colossians 1:1214. revelation 21:1015. John 1:116. general Medical council. Personal

Beliefs and Medical Practice. gMc;2013

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anatomy of the heartJohn Greenall explores how what you love will shape your life

‘what the heart loves, thewill chooses, and the

mind justifies’

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John Greenall is cMf Head ofStudent Ministries

a s medical and nursing students, we think we know the human heart well. You mayhave dissected one. You may know how

to diagnose an inferior myocardial infarction with a glance at an Ecg. In a profession where we areexpected to know the most about the human heart,I want to suggest that our understanding of it iswoefully deficient. In fact, I was guilty of this until Irecently heard professor glynn Harrison talk aboutthe need for a truly biblical, more psychologically

plausible understanding of heart.

what is the heart?the bible describes the heart as the seat

of personality, 1 the meeting point of feeling,thinking and desiring that forms the intention ofour will.

emotionlet’s get this one out the way. It is when our hearts‘leap’ when we see someone we love, just like minedid when I saw my future wife when I was a thirdyear.

cognitionWe have previously defined worldview as ‘a set ofbeliefs and assumptions that a person uses wheninterpreting the world around them’. We werechallenged to engage our minds and encouragedthat in christ we can know renewal of our minds(and indeed of our worldviews). 2

there is a lot of psychological evidence thatmuch of our moral reasoning (up to 95% of all dailydecisions) is carried out at a subliminal level, a ‘gutresponse’ if you like. So only 5% of what we do in a given day is the outcome of conscious, deliberatechoices! 3 learning to drive is a perhaps painfulexample to consider. think of all those deliberateactions that become more and more habitual. but imagine if every decision was like this, if weweighed up every option in a deliberate fashion

every time? It would be a nightmare. now, I believe that the evidence for christianity

is consistent and reliable and true, that we aresupposed to engage our minds and that throughchrist the renewal of our minds (our worldviews)can transform us. and yet, so many people stillreject christianity despite many ideas that theyhold not passing the test of rationality or reason(the intolerance of tolerance for example, or ‘thereis no absolute truth’ stated with great confidence).

How can this be? If in our consideration ofworldview we reduce humans to brains on stickswho are solely rational beings, we will miss thepoint. because there is more to our hearts than an emotional or rational element. Something else is going on.

desireIn the picture opposite the rider of an elephantrepresents our rational mind. He guides theelephant as it trudges well-worn paths in search of bananas. He seems to have control. but theelephant is not easily guided, as I found out when Irode one for the first (and last) time. When he is onthe march, it is almost impossible to shift him fromhis path. He has experience of this path — it leads to bananas! to persuade him to take an alternativeroute through undergrowth will be nigh-onimpossible.

the elephant in this example represents thehuman heart. and it represents the reality thatpeople are driven not by ideas but by the heart.thomas cranmer is quoted as saying ‘What theheart loves, the will chooses, and the mindjustifies’. five hundred years later, this still ringstrue. the media knows how to work on our hearts,seducing us with music, film and adverts. theyknow that when they have captured our desire,they will have our minds too.

take the latest launch of a smartphone forexample (or any advert relating to cars, beer or

ISSUE 47:110


fashion). the images are seductive. I just have tolook at the phone to think it’s beautiful and that I want it. I am often reminded verbally too, withtaglines like ‘a great product depends on how itmakes you feel’. You see, the advertisers want myheart first – once they have my heart, the mind willjustify it. I won’t read the four pages of terms andconditions I am handed by the sales rep. Just tickthe boxes, sign here and it’s all mine. because Iwant it, I will choose to buy it and quickly justify it.My rational mind has no chance when my desiringfaculties kick in.

you are what you lovethe heart isn’t a receptacle for processing thought;it orientates it. It is a goal-directed desire factory. 4

don’t you feel it? the urges, the deep desires thatcan capture you and direct your time, and maybeyour whole life? Indeed, it’s not that our intellecthas been hijacked by bad ideas per se, but becauseour desires have been captured by rival visions offlourishing. Stories that shape and form ourworldview and that grip our hearts.

When confronted with issues in Nucleus and onthe website, please go back to this foundationallevel. the reason people live the way they do isbecause of the orientation of their heart. they are,at the core of their being, worshippers. Whether itis money and things, body and beauty, power orintellect, these god-substitutes (or idols as romans 1describes) always promise more and more butdeliver less and less until they have everything andyou have nothing.

as prospective medics and nurses we know this.We know that most people we see are presentingwith symptoms of a deeper problem. depression,

ulcers, relationship breakdowns, addictions,overeating — all rife in our society. It’s not thatpeople need more education; it’s because we lovethe wrong things. these are ultimately issues of theheart. that is why the gospel is such good news.that is why paul can say ‘I am not ashamed of thegospel, because it is the power of god that bringssalvation to everyone who believes’ (romans 1:16).Our disordered loves can be rightly aligned. Ourcorrupted desires can be redeemed.

what (or who) do you love?You can’t not love. So the question isn’t whetheryou will love something as ultimate – the questionis what you will love as ultimate. 5 When Jesus wason earth he never asked a non-believer ‘what doyou believe?’ or ‘what do you think?’ He would ask‘what do you want?’ or ‘who do you love?’ 6 Hesummed up the greatest commandment as ‘lovethe lord your god with all your heart… soul… andmind’ (Matthew 22:37).

and the question is the same to us. What do you love? What are you becoming? Which story hascaptured your imagination? because it is this storythat you will ‘carry in your bones’ and that willshape your study, your values and your actionsmore than you can imagine.

If you struggle with this as I do, then you willknow that what we need is not to be told to stopdoing this or thinking that. We need to be remindedof the story we are called to be a part of. We need a panoramic view of what human flourishing lookslike that is so compelling and beautiful andattractive that it will grip our hearts. and we seethis most supremely in the person of Jesus christ.do you love him? are you captivated by him?because he can satisfy your deepest desires. 7

He is a teacher who doesn’t just form your intellect,he is after your desires. Your desire for fullness,meaning, unconditional love, justice... Will you lovehim and let him shape your whole life?

you are what you love, and what you love will shapeyour life

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‘guard your heart foreverything you do flowsfrom it’proverbs 4:23

how do you love rightly?god has given us disciplines of grace to helporientate our heart and our love toward him. Weare called to guard our hearts. 8 to form healthyhabits. to direct the elephant. When I read and praydaily I am reminded of the story and invited toparticipate in it. I am invited to renounce idols andbe gripped again by the beauty of the gospel.

as we live in the melting pot of worldviews atuniversity, cMf is here to help you connect, grow,speak and serve. Connect by meeting with othersin church and your groups. as we worship withother christians we are reminded that we are partof a people who live, love and serve together.Worship and regular gathering are antidotes to thestories we are immersed in during freshers’ week,in lectures, on the wards and in the world of oursmartphones and the internet. as we worship, godrecalibrates our hearts. Grow in faith – not to obtain the ‘right answer as

a good christian medic’ but to grow in knowledgeof the god who reveals his will and blueprint forhuman flourishing in his creation, in literature, thearts, and so wonderfully in healthcare. Speak ofchrist and serve each other. the story is written all over our lives and our community and, throughthis, god can awaken the suppressed image of godin others. 9

When we are confronted with patients makingbad lifestyle choices, we have an option. to simplytreat the symptoms; to offer more ‘education’. Or we can look and pray for opportunities to ‘get to the heart of the matter’. We can think beyondthe immediate presentation to a person made inthe image of god, broken and misdirected just aswe are, and yet loved by god who longs for all to be saved through Jesus christ. 10

as we approach bioethical issues we can see thatwe face competing worldviews (or rival stories)that have gripped hearts. the battle is oftenferocious. We must engage our minds, and yet also guard our hearts, recognising the origin ofidolatrous worldviews as coming from hearts setagainst god. Your worldview will define how youaddress these issues for the rest of your career.

what about you?Over these two articles we have consideredworldview. the story that we live in that givesmeaning to all we see and do. Indeed, to answerhumanity’s cry of ‘who am I’ and ‘what ought I todo’ needs a primary question answering: ‘of whichstory am I a part?’

We are invited to be characters in the greateststory ever. are you in? ■

1. Hebrew lebab eg 1 Samuel 16:7; psalm20:4. greek kardia eg Matthew 22:37;romans 1:21

2. romans 12:23. See more in books such as: dulhigg c.

The Power Of Habit. london: randomHouse, 2013

4. Ecclesiastes 10:2

5. Smith JKa. You Are What You Love.grand rapids: brazos press, 2016

6. Mark 10:51; Matthew 20:32; John 21:157. John 6:35; Matthew 5:68. proverbs 4:239. 1 peter 2:1210. 1 timothy 2:4

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QUEStIOnS tO pOndEr■ What are the things you desire that captivate your heart?■ What kind of person do they want you to become?■ What do you daydream about that may be an idol?■ How might you act to guard your heart?

when Jesus was on earth he never asked a non-believer ‘what do you believe?’or ‘what do you think?’

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how do we make moral decisions?Laurence Crutchlow explores how our worldview affects our behaviour

t he previous worldview articles in this issueof Nucleus describe what a worldview is, andremind us of the basic components of the

christian worldview. We’ve also explored the waythat we make decisions. to academic minds, it canbe surprising how few of our actions comeprimarily from reason and thought, and how muchis driven by gut instinct.

When we don’t realise this, we can easily thinkthat worldview is a rather cerebral subject, usefulin debate or research, but not really relevant to us.but when we realise that most of our actions aredriven by intuition, rather than careful thought, we

realise that understanding someone’s worldview(and the driver of their intuition) is the only way wewill really understand their actions, and the valuesthat underlie them.

the political turmoil of 2016 revealed a world inwhich there is very little mutual understandingbetween people with differing views. gone are thedays (if they ever existed) when someone youdisagreed with was assumed to be honourable, but mistaken. the vitriol expressed in the UK’s EU referendum and the presidential election in the USa showed that, for many, there was littleunderstanding of the perspective of people who

13ISSUE 47:1

Laurence Crutchlow is cMf associate Headof Student Ministries and a gp in london

voted in a different way. for example, it wasn’t justthat a trump voter disagreed with a clinton voter;it was that some trump voters couldn’t understandhow anyone could ever vote for clinton withouthaving deficient moral values.

We can be in much the same position whenchristian and non-christian worldviews collide. takedebates on sexuality. It can seem impossible for achristian to convey that they are still loving towardsa same-sex couple if they don’t believe that it is rightfor them to marry. Or on abortion – will a pro-choiceactivist see that a christian pregnancy counsellorwants to be caring when discussing a woman’soptions in the face of an unwanted pregnancy, or arethey more likely to assume that the counsellor isinfringing on the woman’s autonomy?

We might well be able to justify the differencebetween christians and others by simply sayingthat christians base their actions on the bible andothers don’t. but this may be too simplistic. formajor life decisions many christians will seekguidance in prayer, scripture, and the counsel ofother believers. but most of our decisions are notlike this. did you pray and search the scripturesbefore deciding what colour socks to wear thismorning? for many day-to-day decisions, christiansmight well be using the same moral bases aseveryone else. and of course there are plenty of questions where christians don’t all agree.christian groups campaigned on both sides in the EU referendum. 1

moral foundationsOne way of understanding these ‘disconnections’ is to look at something called ‘Moral foundationstheory’. developed by a group of social and culturalpsychologists, it aims to understand why moralityvaries a great deal across different cultures, yetstill holds many common themes. More detail canbe found at www.moralfoundations.org, and inJonathan Haidt’s book The Righteous Mind. 2

moral foundations

1) care/harmthis foundation is related to our long evolutionas mammals with attachment systems and anability to feel (and dislike) the pain of others. It underlies virtues of kindness, gentleness and nurturance.

2) fairness/cheatingthis foundation is related to the evolutionaryprocess of reciprocal altruism. It generatesideas of justice, rights and autonomy.

3) loyalty/betrayalthis foundation is related to our long history astribal creatures able to form shifting coalitions.It underlies virtues of patriotism and self-sacrifice for the group. It is active anytimepeople feel that it’s ‘one for all, and all for one’.

4) authority/subversionthis foundation was shaped by our longprimate history of hierarchical socialinteractions. It underlies virtues of leadershipand followership, including deference tolegitimate authority and respect for traditions.

5) sanctity/degradationthis foundation was shaped by the psychologyof disgust and contamination. It underliesreligious notions of striving to live in anelevated, less carnal, more noble way. Itunderlies the widespread idea that the body isa temple which can be desecrated by immoralactivities and contaminants (an idea not uniqueto religious traditions).

[taken from www.moralfoundations.org]

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the basic idea is that several innate anduniversally available psychological systems formthe basis of ‘intuitive ethics’. these systemseffectively form the ‘elephant’ that is discussed inthe previous article [page 8]. the systems proposedare shown in the box.

these five foundations have the most evidence.Haidt suggests that ‘liberty/oppression’ would be agood candidate for a sixth.

If we come back to the example of sexuality, webegin to see how people who emphasise differentfoundations may hold very different values. It ispossible to discern what emphasis someone placeson each of these foundations via their responses toa number of questions (you can try it for yourselfat www.yourmorals.org).

those who hold politically ‘liberal’ opinions, andargue for liberal positions on sexuality, tend toscore highly for ‘care/harm’, and ‘fairness/cheating’.those who hold these positions are likely to wantto avoid suffering for anyone, and be very carefulof not hurting the feelings of an individual. If a‘liberty/oppression’ foundation is included, this isalso strong in those of a liberal persuasion, and isusually associated with a strong emphasis onautonomy.

but those who hold more ‘conservative’ opinionsare likely to score much higher than ‘liberals’ onauthority, loyalty and sanctity. the sanctity ofmarriage and the authority of the bible are likely to be emphasised, along with loyalty to historicalpatterns of sexual acceptability. those of thispersuasion still score well on care/harm andfairness/cheating values – the big difference is inthe emphasis given to the others.

When we analyse our differences over sexualethics at this level, we see that both sides aremotivated by moral principles, and that both aretrying to do the right thing. the difference is in theemphasis placed on different underlying principles.the problem is that these underlying principles arerarely considered, and hence a christian emphasisingsanctity often comes across as uncaring, becausethe ‘care/harm’ principle isn’t heard. More detailabout how this works for the specific example ofsexual ethics can be found in a Triple Helix articlefrom 2015 by professor glynn Harrison. 3

In his book Haidt suggests that loyalty, authorityand sanctity appear to be much more widelyemphasised outside the USa and Europe. Someonewho emphasises these values is more likely to seethemselves in the light of their roles within theirfamily or society, as opposed to someone whodoesn’t see them as important, who is likely to bemore individualistic. this may help us understandwhy christians from different cultures emphasisedifferent things.

where (if at all) do moral foundations fit into scripture?It is interesting to think whether the moralfoundations suggested have any basis in scripture.these foundations don’t attempt to lay down rules;they merely describe what people think.

Of course the idea that most people share thesame principles, even though different emphasesare given, could suggest a common starting point.Some may explain this via evolution. but I thinkthat all of the moral foundations proposed could besupported at least in part by scripture. Might weperhaps see them as remnants of the image of god,still present in humans even though fallen?

If the bible is god’s revelation, surely it isprimarily from there that we should derive ourworldview, moral principles and ethics. It is notquite as simple as ‘do what the bible says’, eventhough this may be true as far as it goes. How dowe determine what the bible says, particularly ontopics that are not addressed explicitly?

if the bible is god’s revelation,surely it is primarily from therethat we should derive ourworldview, moral principles and ethics

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how do we use the Bible in ethics?If many of our judgments come from intuition, do we actually use the bible in ethics at all?

Of course we do. Much of the time, the effect ofgod’s Word on our decisions will be in the way ithas changed our heart over time. We’ve alreadydiscussed the importance of the heart in Johngreenall’s article [page 8]. We have not only thepromise that in the new covenant god will put hislaw in our minds and write it on our hearts, 4 butthe instruction that we will be ‘transformed by therenewing of our minds’ (romans 12:2) when weconform to god’s pattern rather than the world’s.

but for us to know god’s pattern, to graduallyconform to it, we must know how the bible shouldshape our actions. this is a deep and profoundsubject, which is worthy of more detail than we cangive here. I would commend Matt lillicrap’streatment (Nucleus Summer 2010 5 and 2011 6), or fora more detailed treatment take a look at a numberof articles on our Turning the Tide webpages. 7

however, we do have space here for some helpful hints!remember the whole of scripture. Of course weshould seek specific verses that help us know whatto do in a given situation. but a few words can meanalmost anything out of context. We need to have anidea of where a particular verse or passage fits intothe whole picture of scripture – described briefly inthe first article, or at more length in books likeGod’s Big Picture. 8 If we cite an Old testament law insupport of a particular action, we need to think howit applies in the new covenant. Even if it no longerapplies directly, what can we learn about god’scharacter from it? We can only do this with a goodunderstanding of scripture. Have you read everyword of the bible at least once? More than once?

the bible is authoritative as originally given. noone particular translation has a monopoly over allthe others. It is wise to use more than onetranslation if in doubt over something, and look atcommentaries that have been based on originallanguage texts.

lots of stories are recorded in the bible.remember that not every action is affirmed. Yes,david was a great leader who we might want toemulate in part, but this doesn’t mean that weshould follow his example of adultery withbathsheba. 9

conclusionUnderstanding the bible better is undoubtedly avital part of the process of conforming to god’swill, but it isn’t the only part. I hope we’ve seenhere how deep the underlying assumptions thatdrive our worldview can be. Much of the time, weare steered by the ‘elephant’, with our rationalminds justifying the actions we’ve already taken,rather than planning them out.

the only way we (and others) will change theactions of the elephant is via a radical change ofheart. Only through god working in us, through hisHoly Spirit, will we see the shift in our moralfoundations and intuitions needed for them tobecome more like his. ■

1. Wyatt t. rival campaigns gear up towin over christians in EU referendumbattle. Church Times 4 March 2016bit.ly/2hjNI6L

2. Haidt J. The Righteous Mind. WhyGood People are Divided by Politicsand Religion. london: penguin, 2013

3. Harrison g. after the sexualrevolution. Triple Helix 2015;Summer:6-8

4. Jeremiah 31:31-345. lillicrap M. In search of biblical Ethic.

Nucleus 2010; Summer:24-316. lillicrap M. Working out a biblical

Ethic. Nucleus 2011; Summer:14-197. turning the tide. cMf ethics training

course. bit.ly/2haki858. roberts V. God’s Big Picture.

nottingham: IVp, 2009 9. 2 Samuel 11

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but for us to know god’spattern, to gradually conformto it, we must know how thebible should shape our actions

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essentials — back to basicsToni Saad reports on a week spent at tyndale House in cambridge

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Toni Saad is a medicalstudent at cardiffUniversity

t hanks to the generosity of the americanfriends of tyndale House, I recently spent a week in cambridge hearing a series of

‘gospel Masterclasses’ from christian scholars suchas peter Williams, John lennox and gary Habermas.Subjects ranged from the historicity of theresurrection to the apocryphal gospels. It was allvery much in the spirit of tyndale House.

In 1944 tyndale House was set up with thepurpose of pursuing the best biblical scholarshipwithout compromising on the inspiration andinfallibility of Scripture. this endeavour aptly takesup the mantle of William tyndale, who in the 15thcentury produced the most complete Englishtranslation of the bible from its original languagesto date. tyndale intended to make god’s Word,previously only available to the clergy, accessibleto the laity. tyndale House perpetuates thisendeavour by producing excellent christianscholarship for the benefit of the church.

What is simultaneously encouraging andchallenging about tyndale House is its commitmentto the pursuit and defence of truth. It encouragesus because it proves that christianity and theacademy can be friends, that faithful study canproduce excellent scholarship. It also presents uswith a challenge, for how many of us pursue truthso earnestly? How many of us can say with theapostle paul that ‘we demolish arguments andevery pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of god, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to christ’(2 corinthians 10:5)?

We might think that this is all well and good for scholars and theologians, but that medicine is an altogether more practical subject, one less‘spiritual’ than those concerning tyndale House.logically, then, it is no great leap to think that godhas nothing to do with our work, and that our workhas nothing to do with god. these two errors needaddressing if we are to be faithful disciples.

first error:God has nothing to do with our workthough few admit it, many christians assume thatgod has nothing to do with their work. they pursueacademic, professional, political or practical work,independent of their faith, and therefore absorbmany sub-christian ideas. they have perhapsforgotten the extent of the fall’s corruptinginfluence on mankind, and hence fail to discernwhat the culture feeds them. all of us are guilty to some extend of doing this.

but restricting god’s influence (and ourobedience to it) in this way is absurd when weremember that god is the creator and owner of theuniverse, 1 and that he commands mankind to filland subdue the whole earth. 2

the human race is called to steward creationfaithfully, and work for its flourishing andpreservation. Since the fall, which brought deathand disease to mankind, medicine has become animportant element in the preservation of creation.It is wrong, therefore, to presume to learn andpractise medicine without reference to the creator.We are perhaps apathetic about this task becausewe fail to realise that it should not be left undone.but a moment’s reflection makes it evident thatchrist is not nearly as unconcerned with medicineas we are with his mastery over it. Muchcontemporary medical thought makes boldlysecular assumptions about human behaviour,sexuality, the value and definition of life, thepersonal virtues of a doctor. Each of these needs

they have perhaps forgotten theextent of the fall’s corruptinginfluence on mankind, and hencefail to discern what the culturefeeds them

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to be confronted and taken captive to christ.thinking otherwise is dangerously naïve because it jeopardises the whole christian intellectualendeavour. If thoughts are to be taken captive tochrist, they must first be reckoned to not currentlybelong to him. this is the foundation of achristian’s intellectual witness.

Within healthcare, christian doctors and nursesare to be salt and light, both illuminating erroneousbeliefs, and preventing deterioration. this is noeasy task. Sometimes the busyness of life preventsus from pursuing this end as we otherwise might.that is why the work of organisations like cMf andtyndale House is so important, both to the witnessof the church and the good of the world. Yet, wemust all acknowledge that god has a great deal to do with our work.

second error: our work has nothing to do with Godthe second error is to think that our work hasnothing to do with god. this view has an air of pietyto it: work and study are necessary evils which areinferior to the ‘spiritual’ activities of church life andevangelism. Indeed, work is only good because ofthe opportunity for evangelism it provides. this isbecause god only cares about his spiritual bottomline, the saving of souls. He is not concerned withpetty matters of human activity, and neither shouldwe. So goes this mistaken thinking.

but work has everything to do with god.christians are called to do all things to the glory ofgod, even the most prosaic tasks, 3 and to offer thesum total of their lives as a spiritual act of worship. 4

this is well-known, yet many christians remaintempted to minimise the value of the supposed‘non-spiritual’ aspects of their lives. this leads tomuch half-heartedness, and even guilt. thisdichotomy, however, between the ‘spiritual’ and‘non-spiritual’ or ‘worldly’ is misguided. though godis indeed most concerned with church life and thefulfilment of christ’s great commission, this is notto the exclusion of everything else. god cares forthe whole of life, for he created it all. and he

created in such a way that the spiritual and thematerial are interdependent and co-inhering. Hecreates body and soul, spirit and matter, and oneday he will renew and redeem the entire cosmosthrough christ. 5 the theologian Hans rookmaakerputs it well: ‘Our christianity is not only for thepious moments’. 6 We are not christians in thechurch only, but also in the world. the triune godreigns over the whole of life, and the whole of ourlives are to be lived to his glory.

conclusionchrist commands us to love god with our entiremind. 7 If we are to obey him, we must listen togod’s word, in which paul tells us to take everythought captive to christ, to redeem worldlythought, and make it an offering fit for King Jesus.We cannot renounce our christian intellectual dutyunder the pretext that god does not matter to ourwork, or that our work does not matter to god.both of these postures come from a common error:the failure to grasp the glory, might and claim ofchrist as ruler of the universe. for christ is not justlord of spirit, but also the lord of matter; not justlord of the church, but lord of life. tyndale Houseis a visible reminder of these truths. In thehealthcare professions, we could do worse thantaking a leaf out of tyndale House’s book. doing sowill remind us that our work has everything to dowith god because we are his servants and stewards,body and soul, at work, in the family, in the church and in the world. ■

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1. revelation 4:112. genesis 1:28-313. 1 corinthians 10:314. romans 12:15. colossians 1:20; Matthew 19:28; revelation 21:56. rookmaaker H. Art needs no Justification. Vancouver: regent

college publication, 19787. Mark 12:30

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just askcMf dissects your dilemmas

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I’m thinking about dating a non-Christian.Wouldn’t it be easier to tell her the gospelwhen we’re going out?

Y ou’re starting with good intentions —wanting them to become a christian is agreat thing. but…

this is one of the main reasons that studentsstop going to church.

You might occasionally hear of someonebecoming a christian through their christianboyfriend or girlfriend, though normally theopposite is true and the christian’s passion forJesus becomes increasingly diluted.

non-christians, no matter how nice they are,have a fundamentally different worldview to that ofchristians. true, you can tell them the gospel andhopefully show them Jesus through your actions.but you can’t guarantee that they’ll become achristian. this is ultimately the sovereign work ofgod, the Holy Spirit opening eyes and convictingpeople of sin and their need for god.

and surely when you go out with someone youhave to entertain the possibility of it becoming along-term relationship, and even marriage. With noguarantees of them giving their life to the lord,would you consider from the outset yoking yourselfto someone who has no faith in the one you lovemost?

their biggest need is Jesus, not you.perhaps the kindest thing you could do would be

to explain to them why you don’t think it’s a goodidea to start a relationship — it will prevent a lot ofhurt later on if it doesn’t work out. by showingthem that you care more about Jesus thananything else, it might give you the opportunity toshare your faith further.

There’s a copy of an old MCQ paper circulatingin my year group, which shouldn’t have beenreleased. Should I use it for revision?

t he hyped-up atmosphere at exam time oftengives rise to these sort of rumours or leaks.but seeing an embargoed past paper makes

less difference than you think. Medical schools arewise to the fact that students often informallyreproduce past papers by memorising one questioneach.

Your conscience will probably feel morecomfortable if you don’t look at the past paper,though if it has already ‘leaked’ you probably don’tbreak any rules by seeing it.

but if you are worried by whether you shouldhave looked, guilty feelings will outweigh anybenefit. focusing just on what is on the paper isunwise given that most questions will be new. and it may be a complete fake.

If you are worried about others gaining an unfairadvantage, you may want to quietly pass the paperto the medical school authorities. they may beuninterested, but if it turned out that it was agenuine leak of this year’s paper, they would belikely to act, which may be better for everyone.after all, the point of learning at medical school isnot first and foremost to pass exams but so thatyou can treat patients well. ■

If you have a burning question, why not email us:[email protected]. the best question each issuewins free student membership for a year.

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servant leadership in healthcareJohn Greenall introduces our new leadership series

l eadership. ah, how we love that word. When I was at medical school, ‘medical leadership’was being talked about more and more. now

it’s likely you will be having leadership lectures,doing Service Improvement projects as studentselected components, and are able to quote vastreams of leadership theory (well, maybe not).

as a trainee I was placed on a leadershipprogramme and funded to do a module in‘leadership in clinical contexts’. I learnt how‘leading up’ as a junior and then middle grade could bring about tangible changes in my workingenvironment (including more cups of tea for f1s – yes, really!).

after graduation you will have a leadershipcomponent to assessments and appraisals. the UKgovernment recognises that the nHS increasinglyneeds practising medics to bring clinical experienceto leadership roles. the Healthcare leadership

Model 1 with its nine dimensions is now overseen bythe nHS leadership academy, 2 which also overseesnumerous programmes and resources. the conceptof clinical leadership is here to stay.

Many of the principles are evidence-based andoften common sense. as christians we affirm theneed for good leadership, for example to stewardresources well and to encourage and motivate ademoralised workforce.

a crisis of leadershipYet despite this, we face a crisis of leadership in our nation and the nHS. What is it about secularleadership principles that are failing? Is it possiblethat as medical and nursing students you have arole to play, not just in the future but now? could itbe that counter-cultural leadership as modelled byJesus himself is more relevant today than everbefore?

this series on leadership isn’t going to answerthe question ‘am I a leader?’ It isn’t going toprovide a blow by blow account of what leadershipis and how you can improve – to do that we’d needa whole edition of Nucleus.

but it is going to do something pretty exciting.because as christians in healthcare, we will haveopportunities to influence people and systems onmultiple occasions. at different times we may be in

‘I want to lead people, by thepower of the Holy Spirit, to be allthat they have been made to be. I want to see hearts changed, and god glorified.’ cMf Student in Zimbabwe

the position of leadership in a cU or cMf group, award round or a teaching session.

students are called to be leadersIf you’ve read this far it may be an indication thatyou already know you are called to be a leader.Indeed, the bible is clear that aspiring to leadershipis an honourable ambition. 3

and yet, real leaders are in short supply. I amgrieved by the number of students I see whoabdicate the responsibility (and sheer joy) of beinga leader — students who think it will come whenthey’ve graduated and ‘grown up a bit’. My friendsin cMf Zimbabwe sense an urgency to be a medicalmovement that will change their country and seemany people come to christ. there are 19 and 20-year-olds who speak, write, influence and prayfervently for their nation. as a result, they arebreeding leaders — leaders of passion, of godliness,and who are grounded in scripture.

I believe god is calling students, perhaps you, to step up to the biblical school of leadership. notbecause it is a calling with status, power andpromotion, as endorsed in the secular world (indeedin god’s economy it will often mean isolation, beingmisunderstood and marginalised). but because youare thrilled by Jesus and you want to lead others tobe all they have been created to be. 4

a leadership manualat the heart of this series is the simple, yetprofound, truth that the bible is the best leadershipmanual. that all scripture is useful for ‘teaching,rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’.5 that it lays out social, moral, mental, domesticqualifications for leadership. 6 that it is alive with examples and warnings which a wise leaderwill learn from. that it teaches that leadershipincludes being goal-oriented, optimistic, zealous,self-controlled, energetic, tactful, visionary,persevering, prayerful, resting in god and relyingon his power working in us. 7

hard to believe?If you’re anything like me, with a wave of attractive,evidence-based leadership theories in our secularenvironment, the supremacy of the bible forleadership might be hard to believe.

So this is at the heart of what we are doing here.can we be so gripped by Jesus that our whole lives,our view of leadership included, flow out of arelationship with him? Will our attitude to authority,the oppressed and overload in our work be christ-like? Will we see that the pitfalls of leadership,including money, sex and power, are all powerfullyaddressed in Scripture with even better promises?

I can’t wait to get going… ■

If you read — start with Spiritual Leadership by J.Oswald Sanders — a rip-roaring classic and the best Ihave read on leadership.

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1. Healthcare leadership Model.bit.ly/2gsmWUV

2. nHS leadership academy.bit.ly/1k4xgxM

3. 1 timothy 3:14. Ephesians 2:105. 2 timothy 3:16-176. 1 timothy 3:2-7; 1 peter 5:1-7

7. philippians 3:13; Hebrews 6:9;Ecclesiastes 9:10; 1 corinthians 9:25;galatians 5:24; Ephesians 5:16;galatians 6:9; colossians 4:5-6; 2 Kings 6:15-17; galatians 6:9; luke5:16; psalm 127:1-2 colossians 1:29

8. proverbs 1:8, 8:32

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John Greenall is cMf Head of StudentMinistries and a paediatrician inbedfordshire

QUEStIOnS tO pOndEr

■ think of someone you would classify as a ‘godly leader’ (if possible, who is a medic). What is it about them thatstands out? If leadership is really ‘caught’ and not‘taught’, how will you catch all you can?

■ ‘the best leaders have learnt to submit to and be led byothers’ — where and whom can you practice following well?

■ If you are not teachable and instead believe you haveeverything figured out, you will never lead effectively 8

— examine your heart and pray that god would give you a love for His Word and a teachable heart ?

p eople cannot make sense of anything withoutattaching it to a storyline. Our worldview, thatmetanarrative by which we make sense of the

world, is not theoretical, but rather has a profoundinfluence on how we live and work.

timothy Keller writes, ‘If you get the story of theworld wrong — if, for example, you see life here asmainly about self-actualisation and self-fulfilmentrather than the love of God — you will get yourresponses wrong, including the way you go aboutyour work… At a day-to-day level, our worldview willshape our individual interactions and decisions’. 1

How we think affects how we live, behave andwork. However, if we want to impact our colleaguesand patients and be faithful and fruitful in the long-term, we must keep close to Jesus, being filled withthe Spirit as we give out. One doctor writes, ‘Only ifJesus stays real to the heart can you be consistentlyjoyful enough in him to avoid making medicine yourwhole self-worth, and then becoming hardened whenyou meet so much ingratitude’. 2

as christians then, let’s look at some of thepractical outworkings of our worldview and theopportunities we have as healthcare workers torespond and be distinctive in our work.

compassioncompassion is a direct outworking of god’scharacter. regularly, when confronted with peoplein need, Jesus was moved to compassion and ineach case, his compassion led to action thattransformed the situation. at the cross, Jesusshowed compassion in its most selfless sense by choosing to lay down his life for our salvation.this notion of self-sacrifice and compassion was at the heart of nursing and medical movements of the early church.

as we give out, let’s bear in mind Hebrews 10:24.It really helps to meet with other christian medicsand nurses where we can understand, pray for andencourage each other.

being salt and lightHow do we as christians help to shape a betterhealthcare culture? Jesus was clear that as hisdisciples we are both salt and light. He doesn’t tellus to be salt and light, but that we already are. the question is, are we salty enough, and are we putting our light where it can be seen?

being salt is about stopping the rot andimparting flavour. developing our christian

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distinctive — being a light on the wardPippa Peppiatt explores living it out practically from a nursing perspective

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Pippa Peppiatt is cMf nurses Student Staff Worker

1. Keller t. Every Good Endeavour.london: Hodder & Stoughton, 2014

2. turnau t. reflecting theologically onpopular culture as Meaningful. CalvinTheological Journal 2000;37:270-296

3. Haynes a. being a nurse in a brokenWorld. The Gospel Coalition 13 October2016 bit.ly/2hlb6Rn

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worldview by studying scripture and ethics, as wellas keeping updated professionally, will help us beinformed so we can challenge things that arewrong, keep what is good and encourage the best.

light reveals reality and truth. at work it maymean speaking out hope among disillusionedcolleagues, or working honestly and faithfully when others cut corners or show limited respect to colleagues and patients. It’s a great opportunityto model collaborative multidisciplinary teamwork, to outwork our faith in practice by avoiding gossip and speaking well of each other.

One neonatal nurse has said, ‘My work gives me a unique opportunity to love and serve others bycoming alongside them when they need help andencouragement. Beyond providing medical care,loving and serving my patients often looks a lot likebeing a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen. Beinga nurse teaches me to be compassionate with myneighbour; it forces me to stand with them right inthe midst of their pain and uncertainty and helpthem see light and hope’. 3

priority for the defenceless and poorJesus made it clear that to be his disciples, we areto be engaged with the pain and suffering of afallen, sinful creation. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesuscommends or condemns on the basis of the careshown to the poor, the stranger, the sick and theimprisoned by those who claim his name.

If we understand that all of us are made in theimage of god, then we are all worthy of the samerespect and care, regardless of factors such as age,race, gender, sexuality or social class. We all have agod-given value and dignity, but we are also allsinners, in need of god’s grace and forgiveness.none of us are ultimately any better or any worsethan the other. In the first century this wasrevolutionary thinking, and led christians tominister to large communities of the urban poorand sick whom respectable romans and greeks

would seldom venture near. Indeed, the aims of thenHS to offer treatment irrelevant of how wealthy or‘deserving’ a patient, were infused by this Judaeo-christian worldview.

What about for us now? In your work this maymean remembering not to judge others. this mightbe tested on medical wards with repeated patientadmissions for smoking or alcohol-related illnesses.ask the lord to help you care for all with respectand love.

holistic careI was recently reading about dr Martin lloyd Joneswho, in 1927, argued (against the popular belief ofthe day) that patients’ symptoms were often of anon-physical nature and so treatment should begiven holistically. He saw that people have aspiritual nature, a moral nature, and a social nature,and if any of these are violated by unwise or wrongbeliefs, behaviours, and choices, there can beinterlocking physical and emotional breakdown.although today there is more recognition of themultifaceted causes of illness, there is still greatcaution in encouraging health professionals toaddress spiritual issues. as christian medics andnurses, we believe god created and will resurrectour bodies — they are important! but god doesn’tonly care about bodies; he created and redeems oursouls as well. So we need to bear the totality of thehuman person in mind. recognise that behindphysical symptoms there is often emotional andspiritual pain. be alert for opportunities to addressand talk with patients about spiritual issues, and to offer prayer if appropriate. ■

t he wonderful thing about our training as doctors, nurses or midwives is that it’svocational. as students, we glamorously

envisage post-qualification life – ‘I want to be ajunior doctor who respects all my colleagues’, ‘I want to be a nurse who takes the time to be with their patients’. perhaps the real challenge as students is that we should not just be thinkingand waiting until graduation, but start being thosethings now.

domain four of the general Medical council’sGood Medical Practice states that we should ‘alwaysbe honest about [our] experience, qualifications and current role’. We should ‘act with honesty andintegrity [in] research’. 1 but does it go far enough?

god instructs us to speak, act and behave atwork above reproach. 2 We are to respect ourpatients, peers and colleagues, 3 to obey the rules. 4

Our words should be clear – ‘yes’ should mean ‘yes’and ‘no’ should mean ‘no’. 5 However, work culturecan mean that we all too easily get swept up in the wrong thing – from talking about a colleaguebehind their back to doing personal printing atwork.

I came unstuck when the work load built up. I normally worked hard and went out of my way tohelp others. Instead of admitting that I could nottake on all the tasks, stubbornness and pride kickedin. I’d be given things to do, made assurances that I could get them done, but to my shame could notdeliver. a far cry from the honesty and integrity I believe god calls us to.

So how can we work out our integrity?consciously think about your own integrity in day-to-day life. What type of christian medic or nurse do you want to be? are you punctual to placement?are you rude and dismissive to peers or colleagues?do you take on projects and complete them in thegiven time? do you have a ‘not my patient, not myproblem’ attitude to the patient with dementia whoneeds guiding back to their bed?

be honest with yourself and with god. thank godfor the areas of integrity you do exhibit and askhim to help you to keep on. When the stresses,strains and busyness of working life start, thecracks can start to appear. practically address yourintegrity failings. ‘I should get enough rest so I canleave on time for work’, ‘I will ask my small groupto pray for me when struggling with projects’.reflect, repent and act. the integrity with which weconduct our lives, especially in the workplace, is apersonal testimony of god’s holiness, grace, mercyand love. 6

‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,as working for the Lord… It is the Lord Christ you are serving.’ 7 ■

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be prepared — life after graduationRachel Owusu-Ankomah explores integrity

1. general Medical council. Good Medical Practice. gMc; 2013bit.ly/2fVFuzD

2. 1 peter 2:11-123. 1 peter 2:174. romans 13:1-55. Matthew 5:376. 1 peter 1:16; 2 corinthians 12:9; Micah 6:8; John 13:34-357. colossians 3:23-24

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Rachel Owusu-Ankomahis a cMf associateStaffworker in londonand a surgical trainee

write

ethics

go overseas

apologetics

speak

lead

Intercalating?Want to use your holiday well?Thinking through optionsfor the coming year?

The CMF Deep:ER Student programme givesyou the opportunity to develop roots for a lifeof faith in medicine, being equipped to lead anddisciple others.

Deep:ER Student Trainee One day a week for a year, usually whilstintercalating.

Deep:ER Impact Volunteer Any time of the year, any time in your studies!A number of 1st-3rd years volunteer with us forbetween a week and two months eg in summerholidays. Why not join the team?

DeepFAITH : MEDICINE : LIFE

ERStudent Trainee

volunteer

DeepFAITH : MEDICINE : LIFE

ERImpact Volunteer

volunteer

‘I really enjoyed organising andparticipating in the Sydenham

Conference, and meeting studentsfrom all over the world. I grew in

my knowledge and appreciation ofall that CMF is involved in. I could

go on and on, I really loved my timeas a volunteer!’

Emma, foundation doctor inLondon, Deep:ER Student Trainee

find out more at cmf.org.uk/students/volunteer

Irish conference 2016

W e studied Ecclesiastes, hadseveral seminars and lots ofgood worship, food, fun and

fellowship. the choices of talks werevery interesting and eye-opening. topicsranged from euthanasia and abortion totime management, the Old testamentand evangelism. I found the seminar oneuthanasia very insightful in helping to mould and ground our values aschristians – what we believe and beingable to defend them when we engage in intellectual debate with others.

Of the many lessons learnt, the mostimportant one I took away from it wasthe brevity of life, and that is reason allthe more to live life everyday seeking to do god’s will, because that is whatmakes life meaningful. at the end of theday, only god will see and remember what you havedone, so don’t waste it!

One of the highlights was the free time inbetween seminar sessions. I was encouraged tohear different views and experiences regarding thevarious topics we delved into. though I wasn’t ableto go to all the seminars, understanding the topicfrom fellow christians who had gone allowed me to learn about the other seminars with the addedvalue of what others took away from it.

Sometimes when people think of Ecclesiastes,their impression is sad and bleak: ‘“Meaningless!Meaningless!” says the teacher. “Utterlymeaningless! Everything is meaningless.”’(Ecclesiastes 1:2). Yet, the message ultimately is agift of hope and enjoyment — ‘that each of themmay eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all theirtoil — this is the gift of god’ (Ecclesiastes 3:13). ■

Natalie Teh is a medical student in galway

new group in Exeter

S ince arriving at medical school,myself and a couple of othershave hoped and prayed for cMf

group here. We have a vision for acommunity of medics and doctors inExeter who support one another,explore what it means to serve christas medics together, and work alongsidethe christian Union to transform themedical campus into somewhere non-christians can encounter the gospel.

this term we had our first everstudent-doctor meetup! twelve of usgathered and shared our thoughts onwhat this group could look like. We planto continue meeting up termly todiscuss and pray over a specific issue

that christian medics face. alongsidethat we will set up ‘medic families’, where

a medical student will meet up monthly with adoctor and their family to chat about how thingsare going.

I’ve also just been to my first ever cMf regionalconference, where I thoroughly enjoyed talkingto medical and nursing students from across theSouth West. We discussed what their cMf groupslook like, shared prayer points, and were givenfood for thought by cMf Head of Student MinistriesJohn greenall.

We’re really excited about how god can use thissmall community to transform both our lives andthe lives of non-christians on our campus. ■

Elizabeth Alexander is a medical student in Exeter

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be inspired

local groupsreports from Ireland and Exeter

What area of medicine are you in?Oncology.

Why did you choose this area?I was inspired by a christian oncology consultantsupervising my final year project and felt a strongsense of calling to the specialty. It also suits mygifts. god opened up lots of doors to get me towhere I am today.

What motivates you in your work?above all the knowledge that god has called me toit and I am where I am meant to be. I enjoy helpingpeople through a really difficult time, being able tooffer the chance of a cure sometimes, but supportand care always, even when cure is not an option.being able to develop world class radiotherapyservices for the local population also motivates me.

What does a typical day look like?Most days have an outpatient clinic where I seepatients with cancers of the gI tract. I see newpatients and follow ups and monitor patients onchemotherapy and radiotherapy. I spend a goodpart of my week planning radiotherapy andpursuing my academic interests in radiotherapyquality assurance in clinical trials.

What are the challenges in your workplace?trying to be christ-like in the midst of differentpressures and busyness. Working with difficultcharacters from other specialities within the Mdt(which I currently lead), rationing of healthcareresources and the challenge of witnessing topatients and colleagues – all opportunities to rely on the lord.

What are the blessings in your workplace?Working with a group of multidisciplinaryprofessionals within oncology who are striving todo our best for patients. Having good consultantcolleagues, many of whom are friends in addition to being colleagues.

I love developing my academic interests andexciting our trainees about the opportunities forresearch. Most of all, are my patients, the ones I know for many years and the ones I only meet ahandful of times. It is a privilege to care for themand get to know them.

Do you have any advice for studentscurrently going through medical school? Enjoy it, it goes so quickly. be open to what thelord is doing in and through you. Many people areopen to the gospel as students, much more thanthey ever will be after graduation. Make time formeeting with other christians, especially church.Join cMf and work out how to work out the issuesaffecting christians in medicine. ■

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Sarah Baker is aconsultant Oncologistin Walesa day in the life

consultant Oncologist Dr Sarah Baker talks to Nucleus

be inspired

god opened up lots of doors to getme to where I am today

a pril 2016. I stepped onto theplane at Heathrow notknowing what to expect in

ghana. Having come straight out offinals I had barely opened a guidebook, but I quickly discovered thatghana is hot (very hot) all the timeand that dust gets everywhere (don’twear white).

My elective was at the King’sMedical centre, a small rural missionhospital in northern ghana. I learntso much medically, but also aboutgod’s heart for his world.

act justlya 76-year-old lady presented veryunwell with severe abdominal pain.She was deeply jaundiced with anunusual mass below the liver edge. Isuggested some liver function tests,but the hospital doesn’t have theequipment, and the patient couldn’tafford to send the sample to anotherlaboratory. an ultrasound scan by a visiting american doctor showeda grossly enlarged gallbladder

displaced by the inflamed liver. Inthe UK she would have had a ct scanor perhaps gone straight to surgery,but here she was simply sent home.

I was unsettled when so muchmore would have been done for herat home; it felt so unfair. How canwe complain about the state of the nHS when suchhealthcare inequalities exist? How can we bringjustice to these situations?

love mercyEvery day started with staff devotions, which wereso refreshing as we focused on god and

worshipped him. I loved how thesecurity guards in the hospital werepart of the team, ensuring patientsgot into the wards safely andrunning for help if anything wasneeded. My time there helped me tosee how valued every single personis to god, both staff and patients. as their doctor, I am called to treatthem as Jesus would, not as theworld sees them.

walk humblyOne week I joined the church pastorsto visit a rural village. We were soonbeing served traditional ghanaianfood from one large pot that we allshared from. this apparently showsthe trust you have for those you eat with. I was overwhelmed that a family who had barely anythingwanted to serve us and provide us with a meal.

their basic way of living made me start to realise how much wecomplicate our lives with socialmedia, television and emails. Werarely spend time eating, talking and laughing with those we love. I believe god created us to havesimple lives, where we love him and we love people. after seven weeks I was ready to stay

forever! I learnt so much medically, fromhernia repairs to antenatal ultrasounds. but I alsolearnt more of god’s heart, and let my heart breakfor what breaks his. as I start work in the nHS I hopenot to lose the lessons I learnt in ghana.

‘What does the Lord require of you? To act justlyand to love mercy and to walk humbly’ (Micah 6:8). ■

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crossing culturesAmelia Bearnis an fY1 doctor in Yorkshire

Amelia Bearn reports on her elective in ghana

I n african cultures we take the bible seriouslywhen it says ‘go out and multiply’ — I comefrom a family of eleven children. they are

based in the northern region of the country, but I stay in the capital city to attend medical school.

Studying medicine in namibia is an excitingexperience, there are so many rural hospitals thatneed doctors. the establishment of the MedicalSchool in namibia in 2010 allowed home growndoctors to study and work here. In namibia we havea lot of exposure to different cases, and becausethere is a lack of health professionals the nursesgive medical students an opportunity to performtasks and gain experience in performing them. the bottom line is: you learn a lot in rural namibia.

attending the Sydenham conference in london infebruary 2016 was a journey that forever changedmy life. I learnt so much and brought back with mematerials that we could use at cMf namibia. Westarted The Human Journey and are still on thejourney to completing it.

CMF NamibiacMf namibia is my second family. It is so importantto surround yourself with people that help andencourage you to grow your faith as a christian,especially in the medical field. after graduating, I am likely to work in a different town than myfellow brothers and sisters. growing in christ mightnot be so easy but, because of the exposure andencouragement from the Word of god and myfellow classmates, I am able to stand strong and bethe light to others.

Even now as a medical student, we are called toshow the love of christ to others. at cMf namibia,we reach out to children who have HIV, we visitchildren who are sick in the hospital, and mostimportantly we show love and encourage oneanother in the faith.

We are also a registered society on campus. We have nights of worship where we worship andpraise the lord on the campus lawn. We havepicnics and will soon have a dedication ceremonyfor Martha and david, who brought cMf to namibiaand are now final year students.

In July 2016, namibia held the annual IcMdaconference for Southern africa. It brought togethermedical doctors, students, nurses, dentists andother health professionals from South africa,botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia,Swaziland, and lesotho. the good news is that godis working the in the health care systems of africa,He is strengthening it and says ‘I will even make away in the wilderness and rivers in the desert’(Isaiah 43:19, KJV). ■

29ISSUE 47:1

Anna-Vanessa Nangonmbe is a medicalstudent from the University of namibiaSchool of Medicine, Windhoekcounterparts

cMf - beyond what you see

be inspired

a t student conference, my ears perked upwhen I heard about an opportunity to go to the baltic cMf camp in lithuania over

the summer. a few emails, some packing and anapprehensive rendezvous with (then) strangers atluton airport and I was on my way, along with oneother medical student and four doctors from theUK. We touched down in Kaunas for another airportrendezvous and were then taken for lunch, withsome having more adventurous tastes than othersand trying the sour milk, cold beetroot soup and‘beer before beer’.

the camp venue was a youth homestead nearKlaipeda, with quaint sleeping huts and outdooreating arrangements that would never be practicalin northern Ireland! gradually medical students anddoctors started arriving, from lithuania to norway,Estonia to the czech republic, with about 35 peopleattending in total. Each day we had bible teachingon 2 timothy with bernard palmer (a retiredsurgeon from Hertfordshire), followed by discussiongroups and then a medical-related lecture. In theafternoons there was practical training and otheractivities, such as the daily 2pm volleyball matchwhich was a great way to build friendships, not tomention a source of entertainment for the morecoordinated and sporty to laugh at those of us less gifted!

bernard’s teaching throughout the week left me with a lot to think about, particularly on 2 timothy 2:2:

‘And the things you have heard me say in thepresence of many witnesses entrust to reliablepeople who will also be qualified to teach others.’

all too soon our time together came to an end,although not before I had inserted my first cannula,taken plenty of ridiculous photos and planned tripsaround Europe to visit various new friends. as I left,I had a full heart from the food, fun and fellowshipwe enjoyed together, united as medics comingtogether under god’s Word. ■

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Katherine Aiken reports on the cMf baltic camp 2016

my trip to... LithuaniaKatherine Aikenis a medical studentat Queen’s Universitybelfast

I had a full heart from the food,fun and fellowship we enjoyedtogether, united as medicscoming together under god’sWord

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Laurence Crutchlow iscMf associate Head ofStudent Ministries anda gp in london

our values — research & trainingLaurence Crutchlow looks at our role in advancing knowledge

be inspired

this is the final article in a series of tenwhich have looked atcMf’s Values. previousarticles may be foundat: www.cmf.org.uk

‘to work constructively in scientific researchand in training others for the benefit ofindividual patients and the advance ofhealthcare throughout the world.’

‘I was merely thinking god’s thoughts afterhim.’ this is how Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)described his work. Kepler was not only a

mathematician and astronomer, but studiedtheology at the University of tübingen. committedto a sun-centred universe, Kepler was a contemporaryof galileo. being a protestant did not protect Keplerfrom persecution; though the Vatican didn’t put himon trial like galileo, Kepler was removed from ateaching post in graz, austria, early in his careerbecause of his protestantism. 1

although theologically trained scientists likeKepler may be relatively rare, the profoundmetaphysical issues raised by science continue to be much discussed. cosmology (the study of theorigins and development of the universe) currentlyseems to be the most frequent starting point, with professor Stephen Hawking perhaps the mostprominent physicist who has written about both the

universe he studies and his conclusions about itsorigins. 2

medicinethere is much science in the study of medicine, as those in the early part of a medical degree knowonly too well. ‘the heavens declare the glory of god’ (psalm 19:1); the human body is ‘fearfully andwonderfully made’ (psalm 139:14), and is surely the pinnacle of creation. Understanding it isfascinating, whether you are a medic or not. duringmy first christmas at home from medical school, my grandmother quite spontaneously started tolook carefully at my dissection atlas. She was 89and had left school at age 13, nearly a decadebefore fleming discovered the properties ofpenicillin. We are privileged to have much moreeducation than my grandmother would everimagined possible in the 1920s, and we can follow

Kepler in thinking god’s thoughts after him as westudy the human body.

researchtherefore, it should not be difficult to see why thechristian might maintain an interest in medicalresearch, which helps us understand the body andits pathologies more deeply. adam could be said tohave been the first ‘researcher’ as he studied andnamed animals. Of course, such work is notconfined only to christians, and many workers inthis field are motivated by a love of the scienceitself, as well as by compassion for the patientsthat their work will eventually help. Many christianswill share these motivations, but will also beconscious of god the creator in their work.

the research envisaged by cMf’s tenth valuemay take many forms. Much that you will read andsee early in medical training is lab-based science. a rat’s heart may seem very distant from patienttreatment. Yet this underlying work, oftenundertaken when the clinical benefits might nothave been obvious, is essential for ourunderstanding of the body. We would not have acE-inhibitors without sophisticated chemicalengineering techniques, for example. 3 In clinicalstudies, research may be more obviously patient-centred. a new drug or surgical intervention mightbe compared either with placebo or a current ‘goldstandard’ treatment. research happens in thecommunity too. My practice recently took part in astudy to help develop a predictive tool enabling gpsto make better decisions about antibiotic treatmentor onward referral in children with a cough. 4

passing on the batonpassing knowledge on should already be secondnature in our christian lives. the vast majority ofpeople come to faith because someone told themabout Jesus. paul expected timothy to pass on histeaching: ‘and the things you have heard me say inthe presence of many witnesses entrust to reliablepeople who will also be qualified to teach others’ (2 timothy 2:2).

the wider world usually respects the passing onof knowledge. the Hippocratic Oath makesreference both to the respect in which a studentmust hold their teacher, and to the duty of thestudent to teach others.

You might think, ‘what can I teach someone as a student?’ You would be surprised what you doknow. Every time you explain a procedure or acondition to a patient, you are teaching them andhelping them to better manage and cope with theirillness. You may well already be of help to studentsin the years below you at medical school, and mightlearn a lot yourself if you help those you know withtheir studies. and qualification comes around veryquickly; even as an fY1 you will need to be able topass on your knowledge to students. Even if youtake on no formal teaching role, you will besupervising junior staff later in your career. get into practise now.

it all seems positive: what are the difficulties?research and training are time-consuming. day-to-day clinical work can easily squeeze out both. Whenthere is ever-rising clinical demand on a backgroundof unchanged staff and resources, something mustinevitably give. all too often educational andresearch activities are the first to go. that might bereasonable once a year with the hospital on blackalert and widespread staff sickness, but high-pressure situations are increasingly becoming thenew ‘normal’. consideration must be given to howeducation can continue.

Who benefits from research and education?cMf’s value includes the phrase ‘throughout the

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our values — research & training

every time you explain aprocedure or a condition to apatient, you are teaching themand helping them to bettermanage and cope with theirillness

world’. the disease burden can vary markedlybetween higher and lower income countries. butwith more money to spend on healthcare in thedeveloped world, there is often a focus on ‘western’diseases. add to that the fact that a drug which is alifelong treatment for a chronic disease will usuallybe much more profitable than a new type ofantibiotic that might be prescribed for a five orseven day course, and it is easy to see how a bigdisparity can occur. before rushing to criticise thepharmaceutical industry, we must remember thatthe costs of developing a new drug are immense,and much (costly) work is done on possibletreatments that never even reach a clinical trial.Scientific American suggests US$2.5 billion as anaverage cost. 5

given these factors, how can we ensure thatresearch and training are of benefit throughout theworld? On a wider scale, we might be active in thepolitical arena and supportive of programmes thatpromote research into diseases more common in thedeveloping world. We might lobby government toensure that UK-based companies are not exploitingpatients in poorer countries as they conduct theirresearch. We shouldn’t forget the role of publichealth, covered in some detail previously in Nucleus. 6

there is much we can do in lower incomecountries in terms of training. despite the problemsin the british system currently, UK medical trainingis very highly regarded in much of the world. Wehave a tremendous opportunity to share ourknowledge with those who have less well-developedtraining, whether by working overseas long-termand including teaching in our roles, or whether onshort trips such as those organised by prIME. 7

those of us still in the UK could stay in touch with a colleague working long-term overseas in ourfield, helping them to keep up to date with currentmedical trends.

what can I do now?You might not feel ready to set up a medical schooljust yet (!), so let’s end with some ideas that mighthelp as a student.

above all, learn to read a paper well. Even if younever conduct a piece of research, you can’t makeinformed decisions about treatment if you don’tknow how to evaluate the work of others. trishgreenhalgh’s How to Read a Paper 8 is a good start.

give serious consideration to an intercalatedbSc; whatever the subject, the chance to learn andthink more broadly will be useful whether or notthe exact degree title is that relevant to what youeventually do. If you don’t have the opportunity orfunds for this, try to ensure you undertake at leastone SSc that involves some research.

learn to teach. You will be imitating Jesus, whowas a great teacher. Even if you never take aformal ‘teaching’ role you will need to help patientsunderstand their conditions. Observe what is goodand less good in those who teach you. think abouttaking specific courses (whether SScs as a student,or specific training courses as a junior doctor,which are often free). Of course, this skill won’t go amiss in the christian world as well. not everydoctor is a professor, but all share knowledge withothers. not every christian is a preacher, but weare all to ‘spur one another on to love and gooddeeds’ (Hebrews 10:24).

the human body is not simple, and medicine canbe a difficult subject. When the going is difficult, be reassured that you are not simply learning andderiving facts and figures. the body which you arelearning about is made in god’s image, and Jesusbecame a man and walked with us on earth. ■

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1. for some more detail on Kepler, seethe naSa website:kepler.nasa.gov/Mission/JohannesKepler/index.cfm

2. Mlodinow l, Hawking S. The GrandDesign. london: bantam, 2011.response: lennox J. God and StephenHawking. Oxford: lion, 2011.

3. this article from bristol Universitygives and easily read account of theirdevelopment bit.ly/2heKEWo

4. Hay ad et al. development andinternal validation of a clinical rule toimprove antibiotic use in childrenpresenting to primary care with

acute respiratory tract infection andcough: a prognostic cohort study.Lancet: Respiratory Medicine;4(11):902-910 bit.ly/2hpqzja

5. Mullin r. cost to develop newpharmaceutical drug now Exceeds$2.5b. Scientific American 24november 2014 bit.ly/11Uh4wS

6. crutchlow l. Our Values: publicHealth. Nucleus. 2016;46(1):16-18

7. www.prime-international.org/home.htm

8. greenhalgh t. How to Read a Paper:The Basics of Evidence BasedMedicine. Oxford: Wiley-blackwell, 2010

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culture

what’s the story?Alex Bunn talks films

E veryone loves a good story. We have manyart forms that we can tell stories through:theatre, fiction, poetry, song, graphic novels,

but where to start? perhaps the most accessible,universal and affordable ever created is film. In aprevious age, art that cost millions could hang ononly one wall. but now a film costing $100M can beprojected (legally!) into your home for the cost of acoffee. and have you noticed how films get peopletalking? and not just about insignificant subjects.there are people who wouldn’t touch a book ofpoetry, go to a play, or come to a lunchtime talkabout Jesus. How can we engage with films at adeeper level? and can they help us talk about faithmore honestly and winsomely?

what’s the story?the bible isn’t just a book of doctrine. about 70% is story, vision, symbol and narrative of god’sredemptive work in the world. for the most part,Jesus chose to teach through stories and parables.He could have delivered theological facts throughlogic and abstractions, but instead he chosecolourful dramas to engage hearts as well asminds: lost coins, wedding parties and relentlessshepherds. So god also loves story-telling.

but which stories capture our imaginationstoday? One of the draws of a good film is seeingsomething of our own life story reflected back atus. OK, maybe you didn’t want to become a maledancer like billy Elliot, but perhaps you related to

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Alex Bunn is cMf associate Head of Student Ministries (field) and a gp in london

basic film themes:

■ The hero’s (main character’s) goal that drives the story: frodo wants a quiet life in the Shire

■ The adversary or obstacle to the goal: Middle Earth is invaded by orcs

■ The character flaw: internal obstacle, a wrongperspective or weakness: frodo is tempted by power thering

■ The apparent defeat: more orcs, and internal squabblesare making things worse

■ The final confrontation: the battle of the black gate,which allows frodo to destroy the ring and the evilpowers

■ The self-revelation: what the hero originally wanted was not what he needed!

■ Resolution or denouement, an epilogue showing theresults of change: the end is better than the beginning

tolkien said that this universal shape of story, with anapparent defeat followed by victory, mirrors the big story ofall creation: the cross is the biggest apparent defeat of all,but also the greatest victory. 2

his desire to escape parental expectations?perhaps the biggest stories of all are as big as theuniverse itself, epics about the cosmic battlebetween good and evil. tolkien, who wrote the mostpopular epic yet, believed that we should expectglimpses of the big story in secular art:

‘there is some divine illumination vouchsafed to allmen... We should, therefore, expect to find in theimagination of the great Pagan teachers and mythmakers some glimpse of that theme which we believeto be the very plot of the whole cosmic story – thetheme of incarnation, death, and rebirth.’

Our culture has been so shaped by christianitythat even today, to borrow a phrase fromScorcese’s screenwriter, filmmakers are still tryingto make sense of the ‘after image’ left by thegospel. We can’t quite shake it off, the big story isdeep in the collective memory, even for those whocan’t see a reason for ‘the hope of glory’. 1 forinstance, in the film Magnolia there are severaluncomfortable scenes of cruelty and denial, andyou just want someone to stop it. then, out of theblue, frogs rain down and totally disrupt the wholeorder of things. the director later said that he hadno idea a plague of frogs was in the bible! So thebiblical narrative and symbols still have power andresonance in a secular society.

mistakes for Christians: genres It’s quite tempting for christians to primarily lookfor films that ‘tell the gospel’, particularly if thereis a messiah figure such as The Passion of theChrist, The Iron Giant or, more subtly, Whale Rider.but Jesus was good at connecting with people aspeople, which meant talking about a range of‘unspiritual’ topics such as money, sex, power,worry, national identity, dieting etc. consider thephilippian jailer: when he asked of paul ‘what must Ido to be saved?’, 3 he wasn’t just thinking aboutheaven but his current messy human predicament.Which messy situations do we see in films we canchew over with our friends?

It’s also tempting only to watch films that areoptimistic or sentimental. there is an argument foravoiding films that are obviously corrupting interms of sex and violence. didn’t paul recommendwe think about things that are noble, right, pure,lovely and admirable? 4 that might be a commandonly to watch Bambi, if it weren’t for the topadjective on his list: whatever is true, think onthese things. Many films hold a mirror up to thestate of the world and our hearts, and there is aduty to engage with the arts, even if it doesprovoke us at times. 5

learning to interpret a movieJust as there is a skill to physical exam, there is askill to appreciating film. there is so much you canmiss first time. You will get much more out of a filmwatching it in a group and asking some basicquestions. there is a longer list of questions youcan print off 6 but its helpful first to look at thelevels at which any film works:

■ the aesthetic level: god gives many good gifts,one of the first was beauty, something that wasdeliberately ‘pleasing to the eye’. 7 So enjoy thefilm as art before rushing on to dissect it for its‘message’. Your artsy friends can help you here,ask them! the director will have spent monthssweating over minute details, so take time toresearch and appreciate their craft. for

instance, in Three Colors: Blue, Juliet binochewatches a sugar cube dissolve in coffee forexactly five seconds. not three or eight. thedirector, Kiezlowski, wanted to capture herabsorption as it seemed her life had collapseddown to the size of a crumbling sugar cube, forjust the time an audience would catch themessage. How did the film work as art?

■ the emotional level: Ecclesiastes tells us thereis ‘a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time tomourn and a time to dance’. 8 Some films rightlytwist our guts, and its right to pause beforeskipping to analysis. You don’t need to be anintellectual to appreciate Schindler’s List or Up.How did it make you feel?

■ the ethical level: this is not just about whetherthe behaviour portrayed lines up with biblicalmorality, but in what light that behaviour isshown. the bible does not flinch from depictingpretty depraved behaviour, take tamar’s rapeby her brother or the Herod’s massacre ofchildren. but the intention is to wake us up tothe state of the world, and to call us to change.does the film portray the seriousness of sinwith the integrity of a journalistic expose, orwith the indulgence of a tabloid? does it showthe consequences of actions honestly?

■ the worldview level: God: What is reality? Is there a spiritual

dimension or god? man: What does it mean to be human?

Where does our value come from? What isthe point of life? What happens afterdeath?

truth: How do we know what is true? Isscience the only way? Where does wisdomcome from?

ethics: Is there such a thing as good andevil? How do we decide what’s right andwrong?

redemption: What is the fundamentalproblem facing all human beings? What dowe most need in life? How can we achieve it?

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what’s the story?

what kind of redemption?The Seven Basic Plots, a classic book by christopherbooker, describes key story plots: tragedy,overcoming the monster, the quest, voyage andreturn, rebirth, rags to riches and comedy. 9 It’s nothard to see resonances with the big story of thefall, a search for redemption, grace and future hopein this list. this shouldn’t surprise us, as god has‘set eternity in the human heart’, 10 so we have adeep longing for god, even when we fail torecognise what this longing is.

fundamentally, most films are about redemptionof one kind or another, but rarely the christiankind! Here are some examples:

■ Romantic love eg Bridget Jones, LoveActually

■ Self-acceptance eg Toy Story, Inside Out■ Embracing diversity eg Zootropolis, X-Men■ Enlightenment eg The Matrix, Pleasantville■ Life after death eg Flatliners, Wit, The

Lovely Bones■ Existential choice eg Forrest Gump, City

Slickers, Groundhog Day■ Resisting technology eg The Terminator,

Bladerunner■ Embracing technology eg Tron,

Bicentennial Man■ Glory through God’s gifting eg Amadeus■ Resisting a culture of beauty contests eg

Little Miss Sunshine■ Freedom from God’s providence eg The

Truman Show■ Humanism over faith eg Troy, Beowulf■ Christian redemption eg Les Misérables,

Shadowlands, To End All Wars

conclusionWhy not run a film night for medics? Everyoneloves a film. they help us to connect as people.they help us connect to each other’s stories. Whoknows, they may help us connect with god’s bigstory. ■

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what’s the story?

1. colossians 1:272. tolkien gateway. Eucatastrophe.

bit.ly/2fVg6Kr3. acts 16:304. philippians 4:85. acts 176. Watkins t. twenty Questions to

consider When Watching a film. TonyWatkins.uk 12 October 2010bit.ly/2gCkr3s

7. genesis 2:98. Ecclesiastes 3:49. booker c. The Seven Basic Plots.

london: continuum, 200510. Ecclesiastes 3:11

rEfErEncES

recommended resources:

books■ godawa b. Hollywood Worldviews. IVp, 2009■ Watkins t. Focus: The Art and Soul of Cinema.

damaris trust, 2012■ turnau t. Popologetics: Popular Culture in Christian

Perspective. presbyterian and reformed, 2012■ Johnson r. Reel Spirituality. baker academic, 2006

articles■ Ortlund g. 3 Ways Movies are Searching for the gospel.

The Gospel Coalition 4 January 2016 bit.ly/2gbowey

websites with film reviews■ ransom fellowship. bit.ly/2gCuPZ1■ looking closer with Jeffrey Overstreet. bit.ly/2gCnxoj■ arts & faith. the arts & faith top 100 films (2011).

bit.ly/2gP0Uw5■ fellows a. Movies and apologetics. bethinking.org

bit.ly/2fOUoEO

conscientious objection attacked

‘t here should be better protections forpatients from doctors’ personal values’,say Julian Savulescu and Udo Shucklenk

in a controversial paper in Bioethics. 1 Envisaging‘screening’ of medical students for conscientiousobjection before starting specialty training, theauthors hope to establish a system whereby‘eligible patients could be guaranteed access tomedical services that are subject to conscientiousobjections’.

Marni Soupcoff of the canadian National Postobjected strongly; ‘those with the wrong opinions…need not apply’. the paper was also criticised bylarry Worthen of the christian Medical and dentalSociety of canada, who said: ‘In every jurisdiction inthe world, conscientious objection is recognised insome form… are we going to get to the point wherethere’s an ethics test at the beginning of medicalschool, and if you have too much in the way ofethics, you’re going to be screened out?’ 2

Savulescu is a well-known opponent ofconscientious objection, having written in the BMJin 2006 that ‘a doctors’ conscience has little placein the delivery of modern medical care’. 3

call to extend embryo research limit

p rominent scientists have called for anextension of the maximum age at which a human embryo can be used in research.

the current limit of 14 days in the UK has been inplace since 1990, and was based on a report byMary Warnock in 1984.

Speaking to the Observer, professor Simon fishelof carE fertility group said ‘the benefits for medicalresearch would be enormous. certain tumours,developmental abnormalities, miscarriage: there is awhole raft of issues in medical science that we couldstart to understand if we could carry out research onembryos that are up to 28 days old’. 4

dr anthony Mccarthy of the Society for theProtection of the Unborn Child said: ‘In 1984 theWarnock report on embryo experimentationrefused to examine closely when personhoodbegan. Instead it came up with an arbitrary 14 daylimit after which the destruction of new humanembryos would be, not just permitted, but enforced.now others… wish to expand the scope to create,keep and destroy those persons’. 5

colorado votes for assisted suicide

O n 8 november 2016, voters in colorado werenot only choosing between Hillary clintonand donald trump, but also voting on a

proposition to change the law on assisted suicide. proposition 106, passed by a near 2-1 majority,

created the ‘colorado End of life Options act’,allowing over-18s with a terminal illness and aprognosis of less than six months to live to requestand self-administer medication that would end theirlife. two physicians would need to confirm thediagnosis. a conscience clause allows physicians toopt-out of providing the prescription, and indeedwhole healthcare facilities to debar their staff fromparticipating if the medication is to be taken ontheir premises. ■

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culture

news reviewsconscientious objection; embryo research; assisted suicide

1. Savulescu J, Shucklenk U. doctors Have no right to refuseMedical assistance in dying, abortion or contraception.Bioethics 2016; September bit.ly/2h97KAp

2. the christian Institute. ‘doctors with a conscience need notapply’. The Christian Institute 13 October 2016 bit.ly/2hjtH0h

3. Savulescu J. conscientious objection in medicine. BMJ 2006;332:294 bit.ly/2gnFKHU

4. McKie r. row over allowing research on 28-day embryos.Observer 4 december 2016 bit.ly/2gnI6H7

5. Society for the protection of Unborn children. Scientists callfor embryonic research limit to be doubled. Society for theProtection of Unborn Children 5 december 2016 bit.ly/2h8YTP2

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39ISSUE 47:1

book reviewsbook reviews

You Can ChangeTim Chester

f or anyone who has struggled with sin, battledto change, and found themselves frustrated by

their inability to become morechrist-like, this book is anabsolute joy. this is a book ofstark honesty and with a deeplypractical mindset that unpacksgod’s Word to show us god’stransforming power to changeour lives.

Many of us know we are redeemed through thegospel and are seeking to live life for christ, yetour lives are fraught with sinful habits, plateauedgrowth and continual relapse. In this book, timchester sets about the task of pointing us beyondsin’s lies and instead to god’s glory. this wonderfulbook points us to truths we often already know,and shows us how they can motivate us, andpractically helps us to live godly lives.

chester challenges the very root of our sinfulbehaviour, by showing us the awesome goodness of life with christ and encouraging us to live outthe truth of who we are in christ. He shows us withgracious honesty that we are not alone in our deepstruggles, but that there is a hope and a means of meaningful change. a particular highlight issections in the book that you can use to reflectupon what you have learnt and take proactive,pragmatic steps to begin the process of change.

I would recommend this book with near-obsessional enthusiasm for anybody who is seriousabout change and about growing into a person who reflects who christ is in the way that they live.

Sam Strain is chair of the cMf national Student committeeand a medical student in Southampton

When Breath Becomes AirDr Paul Kalanithi

t his truly stirring autobiography holds adelicate balance between power and

vulnerability. paul Kalanithi wasan accomplished neurosurgeonwho developed an extremelyaggressive form of lung cancer.In his account, we are takenthrough a journey of milestonesprior to his unforeseen diagnosisand right up to his final days.

there are contrasting outlooks that shape his bookas he shifts from working doctor to reluctantpatient. through his experience of deteriorationand incapacity he confronts some commonapproaches to patients, particularly those ondeath’s door.

paul manages to provide meticulous insight intosuch delicate circumstances as he allows himself tobecome completely vulnerable. nevertheless, thereis a sense of desperate urgency: he knew that timewas running out. His voiced regrets and triumphscontinue to unravel the struggles he faced in hiscareer and in his marriage also.

finally, the book briefly touches on faith amidstfear of the unknown and sensitively highlights howthe two can complement each other rather thanwreaking havoc like we might expect. Hisuntampered message seems to encourage us not to lose sight of what truly matters. We so oftenbecome drowned in soaking up information orseeking the greatest accomplishments; yetultimately life beyond academia is so much moreprecious. although written primarily with his youngwife and daughter in mind, this book communicatesa heartfelt reminder to all.

Kirsten Bradshaw is a medical student in aberdeen and nScrepresentative for Scotland

culture

george Whitefield: ‘I will not be avelvet-mouthedpreacher’

g eorge Whitefield(1714-80) was cross-eyed. Some saw it

as a mark of divine favour.Whitefield, undoubtedly the greatest preacher ofthe 18th century ‘greatawakening’, used his squintto enthral huge crowds. Healso used his voice, whichwas so full of expressionthat people wept justhearing him speak of‘Mesopotamia.’ 1

He preached an estimated18,000 times and hislisteners totalled10,000,000; he would preach for an hour, often four times a day. He could be heard by crowdsnumbering as many as 30,000. as well as beinginstrumental in the american ‘great awakening’,historians today agree he was influential in thepeople of the disparate ‘new World’ coloniescoming to see themselves as americans. 2

gloucester-born Whitefield was probably the firstever transatlantic celebrity. benjamin franklin, USfounding father, was a friend of Whitefield’s.despite disagreeing with much of what he said, hecould not help but marvel at Whitefield’s ability todeliver a message so eloquently to such largegroups of people. ‘Every accent, every emphasis,every modulation of voice’ he wrote, ‘was soperfectly well-turned, and well-placed, that without

being interested in thesubject, one could nothelp being pleased withthe discourse: a pleasureof much the same kindwith that received from anexcellent piece of music.’ 3

franklin once conductedan experiment: he coulddistinctly hear whatWhitefield was saying froma distance of 500 feetfrom the preacher’spodium in Market Streetphiladelphia.

preaching styleIt may come as nosurprise, then, thatWhitefield came under

much criticism for beingunhelpfully emotive in his preaching. a listenerfrom Scotland observed that he spoke with ‘suchvehemence upon his bodily frame’ that thoselistening ‘felt a momentary apprehension even forhis life’. 4 In reality Whitefield simply spoke as ifwhat he was saying was entirely real to him. Hepreached as though what he was preaching aboutwas entirely true to him. being theatrically-minded,this meant that Whitefield’s sermons overflowedwith exuberance and energy, not because he wasacting and trying to convince people of somethingthat wasn’t true, but because what he was sayingwas so real that he could not help but it let it burstout of him. Whitefield himself had the following tosay in response to critics of his method ofpreaching:

ISSUE 47:140

John Martin & Silas Anderson look at the architects of the 18th century transatlantic ‘great awakening’

HEROES 18: george Whitefield & John Wesley

culture

41ISSUE 47:1

John Martin is cMf Head ofcommunications. Silas Anderson is amedical student at bristol University.

‘”pray, inform me Mr butterton, what is thereason you actors on stage can affect yourcongregations with speaking of things imaginary,as if they were real, while we in church speak ofthings real, which our congregations only receiveas if they were imaginary?”

“Why my lord,” says butterton, “the reason isvery plain. We actors on stage speak of thingsimaginary as if they were real and you in the pulpitspeak of things real as if they were imaginary.”

“therefore,” added Whitefield, “I will bawl, I willnot be a velvet-mouthed preacher.”’ 5

What he was saying was real to him and hewanted to convince those listening of its realitytoo. no prevaricating, no stifling of truth, nobeating around the bush. Whitefield spoke reality,whether his audience wanted to hear it or not.

backgroundWhitefield was the son of a not very affluentinnkeeper. His brilliant mind secured entrance toOxford. lacking any parental means of support hebecame a ‘servitor’, paying his way by carrying outmenial tasks for more affluent contemporaries. about of sickness and reading a book titled The Lifeof God in the Soul of Man saw Whitefield crying outto god for salvation and his new-found faith soonpropelled him into preaching.

In 1738 he went to Savannah, georgia, as a parishminister but quickly noticed the dire needs oforphans; he thought they would be his life’s work.He raised funds for building of the bethesdaorphanage in 1740. back in the old country, withchurch of England pulpits closed to him, Whitefieldtook to preaching in parks and fields, a hithertounknown stratagem. It put him in touch with asizeable segment of the population who werebeyond the reach of the Established church. Whilehe never lost sight of the needs of orphans hearranged for others to take on this work.

Whitefield & Wesleyat Whitefield’s urging, another diminutive man with a massive voice would also preach in the open air.John Wesley (1703-1791) and his brother charles(1707-1799) were members of the Oxford Holy club.the term ‘Methodist’ originated as a nickname forthese ultra-serious young men. It was charles, itsfounder, who was instrumental in Whitefield’sconversion. the Holy club practised a regime ofdemanding austerity. they met daily for three hoursto pray, recite psalms and read the greek newtestament. their rhythm of life included praying fora few minutes during every waking hour. they fastedtwo days a week and visited prisons. Whitefield, whobecame the leader for a time, would walk penitentlyin the winter cold and suffered frost bite.

Silas anderson considers Whitefield’srelevance today for students

E cclesiastes teaches us that ‘there is a time to speak anda time to be silent’. 6 Whitefield did a lot of speaking, and

perhaps it can be said in truth that there were times when heshould have been silent. Jonathan Edwards, for example, hadparticular concerns for his ‘deeply unqualified appeals toemotion, his openly judging those he consideredunconverted, and his demand for instant conversions’. 7

Whitefield was first and foremost a sinner saved. Medical andnursing students can learn much from the heartyoutspokenness of Whitefield; we are far too often silent whenwe should be speaking truth.

are you so convinced of the truth of the gospel that youwant to do nothing more than tell people about it? do yourconvictions of the truth claims of the gospel affect everyarea of your life, including how you go about living for Jesusas a medical student? Or are you tempted to be a ‘velvet-mouthed preacher’, dampening the truths of the gospel toaccommodate the views of those around you?

I know I am far more often guilty of being silent than I am of saying too much.

John Wesley: ‘a brand pluckedout of the fire’

t oday, Wesley’sfaith story tends tobe better known

than Whitefield’s. behindthe story of her sonsstands the greatSusannah Wesley, home-educator and spiritualgiant, married to thereverend Samuel Wesley.She bore 19 children, ofwhich only nine survivedbeyond infancy. born intoa non-conformist family,she and Samuelembraced Highanglicanism as youngadults, and Oxford-educated Samuel was rector of Epworth, lincolnshire, from 1696.

One incident, a rectory fire in 1709, would embeditself forever in John’s memory. the five-year-oldwas stranded in an upper bedroom but lifted tosafety just before the roof collapsed. He would usea phrase from Zechariah 3:2 (KJV) ‘a brand pluckedout of the fire’ to trace the hand of god in his life.

In 1735 John and charles set sail for Savannah,georgia. On the voyage the brothers met a group ofMoravian settlers. the atlantic is notorious for stormsand a storm blew and snapped the mast of the ship.the English passengers panicked while the Moravianscalmly prayed and sang hymns. Wesley saw thatthese people possessed something he lacked.

USAthe power of lively singing was a lesson learnt andthe Wesley brothers left one important legacy, thepublication of Psalms and Hymns, the first anglicanhymnbook published in the americas. Hymns andhymnbooks would be pillars of their ministries.charles would write over 6,000 and his hymns areused worldwide, not just by Methodists.

John’s georgia sojournended in fiasco. His Highchurch style failed to endearhim to the colonists. He fellin love with a Miss SophiaHopkey, who jilted him.When he tried to ban herfrom Holy communion herfamily took legal action andhe fled the colony.

Aldersgatethen on 24 May 1738 adepressed John Wesleyrecorded in his diary thedecisive moment in hisjourney of faith:

‘In the evening I went veryunwillingly to a society in

Aldersgate Street, where onewas reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to theRomans. About a quarter before nine, while he wasdescribing the change which God works in the heartthrough faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangelywarmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone forsalvation, and an assurance was given me that hehad taken away my sins, even mine, and saved mefrom the law of sin and death.’ 8

Methodists still celebrate aldersgate day. for Wesley it was the springboard to a new life. a formerly High-and-dry anglican now testified the doctrine of personal salvation by faith and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. It was in highcontrast to prevailing deist theology in theanglican church which perceived a ‘clockworkuniverse’ — god may have set the world in motionbut did not intervene it in. Wesley’s great insightwas that god could be known in experience.

separationWesley linked up with george Whitefield, his friendfrom Oxford. Still a High churchman by instinct,Wesley was at first reluctant to follow Whitefield’sexample of open air preaching. What was decisive in

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this momentous step was that both men werebanned from many pulpits. Wesley was in touch withthe pulse of newly emerging middle classes andtheir aspirations. Wesley saw a lethargic Establishedchurch, failing to respond to emergingindustrialisation, seemingly unaware of the spiritualneeds of people in the new urban centres. Manyclergy were corrupt and absent. Wesley would haveinsisted he was a life-long anglican. the Methodistchurch actually emerged in america. In EnglandWesley founded the ‘Methodist Society’ which healways saw as a movement for renewal in theEstablished church. It was not until after his deaththat UK Methodists became a church.

His first venture in open air preaching was tominers in Kingswood near bristol in april 1739. Inthe years that followed members of the Wesley andWhitfield connexions would suffer persecution fromclergy, judges and mobs. While both leaders wereepiscopally ordained, most preachers they trainedwere not. Whitefield became better known inamerica than England, conducting a highly fruitfulpartnership with Jonathan Edwards.

perhaps the best image of Wesley has him seatedon a horse reading as he rides. He would not wastea single moment. He famously said ‘the world is myparish’ and he constantly crisscrossed England andIreland. Wesley was a brilliant organiser. Soon therewas a network of chapels. the smallest Methodistunits were ‘classes’ meeting regularly to learn,share fellowship and exhort one another to goodworks. for larger projects Wesley founded‘companies of One Hundred’ and even today manyMethodist organisations operate on this basis.

It should inspire us to know that Wesley andWhitefield were never in full agreement doctrinally.Whitefield was a calvinist, Wesley an arminian.their views triggered bitter debates, but eventuallythey were reconciled. they complemented eachother in ministry. Whitefield would win converts;Wesley would disciple them.

Wesley opposed slavery and wrote a letter ofencouragement to the young William Wilberforce.Whitefield is criticised for a more ambivalent

attitude. In fairness, his insistence that slavesshould hear the gospel was ground-breaking andsubversive in the context of the america of his day.

Here are two greats who were very different. ashistorian Jd Walsh has said, ‘What is most strikingis the providential complementarity of the twomen’s gifts. More than any evangelist before him,Whitefield was given the ability to scatter the seedof god’s Word across the world. to Wesley, pre-eminently, was granted the ability to garner thegrain and preserve it’. 9 ■

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rEfErEncES

1. Haykin M (ed). Revived Puritan.Evangelical press, 2004:35–37

2. Mahaffey Jd. Preaching Politics:The Religious Rhetoric of GeorgeWhitefield and the Founding of aNew Nation. Waco: baylorUniversity press, 2007

3. Stout HS. The Divine Dramatist.Michigan: Eerdmans, 1854:234

4. Ibid:1415. Ibid:239-240

6. Ecclesiastes 3:77. Schlenther bS. Whitefield, george

(1714–1770). Oxford Dictionary ofNational Biography. Oxford: OxfordUniversity press, 2004

8. dreyer fa. the genesis ofMethodism. bethlehem: lehighUniversity press, 1999:27

9. Walsh Jd. Wesley Vs. Whitefield.Christian History 1993;38

extract from charles Wesley’s ‘and can It be’

And can it be that I should gain An interest in the saviour’s blood? Died he for me, who caused his pain? For me, who him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray — I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in him, is mine; Alive in him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine, Bold I approach th’ eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

charles Wesley, 1707-1788

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