From the outside the New Testament is a very slim volume, but the more it is studied the more it grows in size. The men and women responsible for these writings were speaking about, and trying to come to grips with, a cataclysmic transformation in their understanding and life experience. Many of the writings hum like a high tension power cable.

Jesus of Nazareth was the source and ongoing cause of their excitement. This person, who walked amongst them in Palestine, was now known and spoken of as the living Lord. He is seen as the turning point of history and meaning, and yet also as known in the lives of his people.
Throughout the centuries people have been drawn, through the New Testament writings, into this same inspiring vision. In spite of their enormous complexities these are the most transparent of writings, and speak to us more directly and lastingly than anything else.
On the other hand study of the New Testament is very hard work. At whatever level we attempt this it requires considerable and ongoing application. Scholarship is a tremendous help and the best commentaries can be a joy to read - though in the end the really hard thinking must simply be done by ourselves.
In the last analysis it is not the text we are interested in but the person, the living Lord, who stands behind the text. By our partial understanding of the New Testament we are opened - if only a little - to the very same mystery which inspired the original writers. We may be touched at a point on the edge of conscious reflection, perhaps occasionally coming into focus, where we learn a bit more of the transformation of our lives in Christ.
A careful reading will thus also be a communion and prayer. The term ‘spiritual reading’ is not helpful for it suggests a separate type of reading in which we generate spiritual thoughts. In truth there can only be one reading, albeit pursued by different people in different ways, the reading where by careful reflective thought we seek to comprehend. Where this occurs there is a deepening of prayer.
Unfortunately the New Testament is often used as a source book for doctrinal theory. Church historiography claims that the church was slowly led into the truth over the early christian centuries, culminating in the doctrines and ecclesiastical practices of the fourth century and beyond. This picture treats the New Testament as a sort of primitive originator of these more ‘developed’ ideas.
But rather than moving away from the New Testament to this supposed development the movement ought to be the other way round. Surely we should move away from doctrinal and ecclesiastical theories, using them where helpful, but otherwise seeing that the only development we need think of is that of a fuller understanding of the New Testament proclamation.
The initial effort of a serious study of the New Testament is high, but there are no short cuts. It is a great privilege for Aelred and myself that we have the time and space to be ongoing students. The fruits of careful reflection on the New Testament are immeasurable and open to all.

Reading the New Testament

The unusual photograph on the right, with the church seen from our empty glasshouse, makes the point that there is a lot of work to be done before we are ready for our next season of growing tomatoes. Among other things, Tim has to get up on the glass roof and clean all the glass as it is intensity of light which makes all the difference between a good crop and a mediocre one. We have to say that the horticultural industry is under-rated by the consumers (and our elected representatives in Parliament!) For the smaller growers, like ourselves, prices are at an all time low. We have just broken even for the past three years. As our wholesaler said when we told him - “After all that work!” But there is a clarity about the Cistercian discipleship which has as an essential element the alignment of our life with all who have to gain their living in the market place. When that is no longer possible, it would be difficult for us continue. And of course it is a healthy challenge to us to produce first class, tasty tomatoes!
We have had quite a few guests this past year who have come because they have seen our web site - from America and Germany as well as from people in the UK who had never even heard that there were Anglican Cistercians!

As well as guests and all the work in the house and grounds we continue to read and have found two really exciting commentaries in the Anchor Bible series:
Galatians by J. Louis Martyn and Mark 1-8 by Joel Marcus. The gospel comes alive in a new way in both these books.

Life and Work