Biblical renewal with Bishop Robert Barron

Fr Matthew Jarvis OP is inspired by an evangelisation conference in London with the world-famous American bishop

Bishop Robert Barron was back in London. At the Evangelisation and Culture Conference: The Bible, following his 2023 Wonder conference, he spoke eloquently of “Biblical renewal”. He described how the Bible is ‘a book of patterns by which we see the world’. Seeing Biblically will ground a spiritual renewal. 

Masterminded by Brenden Thompson, appointed the first UK Programme Director for Word on Fire in September 2023, the conference at the Excel Centre brought together more than 1,500 people from all over the UK and beyond. Alongside the speaker events, a “Jubilee Expo” showcased organisations bringing renewal in the Church. Of course, many people came simply because Bishop Barron was there. But when Brenden joked that British Catholics experience only one degree of separation, his serious point was that “communion is intrinsic to mission”. His own friendships had built this conference and he hoped our encounters would generate new bonds as we “meet Christ in his word” and transform our culture. 

In his keynote, Bishop Barron wove together four great Biblical themes – creation, the God of Israel, right praise, and kingship – concluding that all are ultimately gathered in Christ. God speaks a contingent creation into existence, imparting intelligibility to the world and making the natural sciences possible. This creation in Genesis 1 is a liturgical procession, culminating in the priesthood of Adam, giving “right praise” to the Creator. Likewise, the Biblical idea of God as the “One Who Is” (Ex 3:14) is no mere abstraction but has everything to do with our spiritual life. God is utterly non-competitive and generously shares his glory with us; as St Irenaeus said: “The glory of God is a human being alive.” This Biblical story liberates us from the ancient religions with their violent creation narratives and bitter rivalry of the gods with humanity. In Christ, by contrast, there is perfect and non-competitive harmony of the human and divine.  

Bishop Barron showed his quality as a consummate communicator of the gospel. It was clever to cite only the Synoptic Gospels (Mt, Mk, Lk) where Jesus claims to be divine (high Christology), instead of relying on the more obvious witness of John. I wholeheartedly welcomed Bishop Barron’s point that right praise belongs to both “liberals” and “conservatives” in the Church. You get the measure of someone by what they worship, and we all worship the one Lord. 

We involve the body in worship – “as Catholics, we get that”, Bishop Barron confidently affirmed. Certainly, at Mass, we know to sit and stand and kneel, but many Catholics still think of prayer as fundamentally what you are thinking about. I often meet with astonishment when I tell people about the very physical postures of St Dominic in his Nine Ways of Prayer. Too many Christians turn to yoga or other spiritualities, ignorant of these resources in own prayer tradition. 

We also need the Body of the Church. As Tracey Rowland explained using Benedict XVI’s theology, Scripture must be interpreted in the context of the believing Church, there being limits to the “historical-critical” method. The Anglican Biblical scholar NT Wright later in the morning made the wry remark that it was ‘much more critical than it was historical’. 

In fact, the discussion between NT Wright and Bishop Barron, chaired by Justin Brierley, was the highlight of the conference for me. In a friendly exchange marked by mutual respect, they could express different views without polemic: on Tradition (did it ever err?), the role of the Creeds (holistic enough?), or the recent political spats about JD Vance’s invocation of the ordo amoris (order of love) applied to the state. The discussion was nuanced and studiously non-partisan, leaving much room for further debate. There were strong convergences too: on the failure of New Atheism (too nihilistic), the renewal of Biblical studies (across ecumenical boundaries), the accessibility of the Bible even to young children, and some practical tips for how to do more Bible reading (or listening!). Given that both extolled the power of lectio divina, it would have been wonderful to have timetabled some lectio with the whole assembly.  

I would have liked to ask whether, despite convergences, a fundamental difference still exists between Catholic and Protestant use of the Bible. Whereas Protestants typically read the Scriptures in order to find out what to believe, Catholics (according to Newman and his Anglican teachers) take the Faith as a given, of which they find the “proof”, or test, in the Scriptures.  

The panels were inspiring too. Fr Paschal Uche chatted with Catholics bringing the Bible into daily life – Martin Kochanski (Universalis), Angel Anyamele and Greg Finn (Mark 10 Mission) and Haley Stewart (Word on Fire Votive). A panel on the Common Good was both challenging and enlightening, because it’s difficult to “stay human” in our hyper-individualised society. Jenny Sinclair quoted Jeremiah 29:7 on this humanising mission: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf”. A final panel on Beauty – the via pulchritudinis is a hallmark of Word on Fire – had Fr Patrick van der Vorst pointing out that “God is an artist”, and Jo Boyce performing her song Born For This against the backdrop of Michelangelo’s Pietà. It all closed with a holy hour of Eucharistic adoration, turning to Christ the Word-made-flesh amongst us. 

Word on Fire Ministries is celebrating its 25th year (another jubilee!). But in the UK its work is just beginning.  

At lunchtime we mingled with the other crowds using the Excel – Pokémon fans at the European championships (total prize money over $500k!) and families at the London Muslim Shopping Festival. Gaming and shopping – a great sign of British multiculturalism, perhaps, but also a parable of how much the mustard seed of Biblical renewal has yet to grow. 

(CNS photo)

The post Biblical renewal with Bishop Robert Barron first appeared on Catholic Herald.

The post Biblical renewal with Bishop Robert Barron appeared first on Catholic Herald.