Living in Hope

By Catherine Fox

Living in Hope is the York Course written for Advent 2021 by Catherine Fox.

In this enlightening and absorbing four-session ecumenical course, Catherine Fox explores living in hope and dying well.

As with previous Advent York Courses, the standard study book is supported by an in-depth interview, covering all 4 sessions between Catherine Fox and Simon Stanley, available on CD, as a Digital Download or as a transcript in either paperback or eBook.

Session 1: Living well
Session 2: Dying well
Session 3: Hell-bent on destruction?
Session 4: Going to heaven?

This York Course is available in the following formats
Course Book (Paperback 9781909107298)
Course Book (eBook 9781909107588)
Audio Book of Interview to support Living in Hope York Course (CD 9781909107434)
Audio Book of Interview (Digital Download 9781909107571)
Transcript of interview to support Living in Hope York Course (Paperback 9781909107304)
Transcript of interview (eBook 9781909107595)
Book Pack (9781909107411 Featuring Paperback Course Book, Audio Book on CD and Paperback Transcript of Interview)
Large print (9781909107601)

• Language: English
• Publisher: SPCK
• Release date: Aug 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781909107595

Catherine Fox

Catherine Fox is Academic Director of the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. An established and popular author, her debut novel, Angels and Men (reissued in 2014) was a Sunday Times Pick of the Year. The first in her Lindchester series, Acts and Omissions, was chosen as a Guardian Book of 2014 and two subsequent volumes, Unseen Things Above (2015) and Realms of Glory (2017), were rapturously received. Catherine is married to the Bishop of Sheffield and has a judo black belt.

Book preview

TRANSCRIPT

of the course audio for

LIVING IN HOPE

An ecumenical course in 4 sessions for discussion groups and individuals

written by Catherine Fox

TRACK MENU:

[ 1-12] Session 1 Living well

[13-19] Session 2 Dying well

[20-23] Session 3 Hell-bent on destruction?

[24-30] Session 4 Going to heaven when we die?

[1] This course was recorded during the Covid19 lockdown of 2020. It meant that Catherine Fox and I were not talking face to face, as we would normally be, but we were each in our own homes, chatting across the internet. For that reason, you may notice that the recording quality is sometimes not to our usual standard. We hope you understand, and that it doesn’t diminish your enjoyment of this course.

YORK COURSES presents LIVING IN HOPE

Session 1: Living well

Hello, I’m Simon Stanley, and I’m delighted to be with Catherine Fox, the writer of this Advent course ‘Living in Hope’. Catherine, welcome.

CF: Thank you.

I’m looking forward to doing a bit of delving into your wonderful course booklet, but before we get going, I should mention that occasionally I’ll be inserting into our discussion the voices of four totally independent people, who we recorded beforehand. We asked them to answer questions that relate to some of the things we’re going to be talking about. We’ll call them simply our ‘Voices’, but I can tell you that they are different ages, and belong to different Christian denominations; they are Emma, Jan, George and Jim.

[2] So, let’s begin with Session One: ‘Living well’. You say at the very beginning of this session that Advent, the period before Christmas, is historically a time for considering the Last Four Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell. Not very cheery, but in fact we were going to call the whole course: ‘Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell’, but we thought that the title might put people off! So we changed it to ‘Living in Hope’. And that’s because, also right at the start of the course, you say that Advent has traditionally been a season of hope and preparation. Now which is it: concentrating on the Four Last Things or on living in hope?

CF: Well, I’m going to do the typical Anglican thing of saying, ‘It depends’! Or there’s a middle way through here. I think it’s both. Because I think, thinking about those Last Things can lead us on to waiting in hope, and in joyful hope, for the coming of our Lord again into our lives. And remembering how he came that first Christmas season, as a baby in Bethlehem.

OK, so it’s a bit of both, with the one sort of making sense of the other, isn’t it? Yeah.

CF: I think so, yes.

[3] Now, onto the title of ‘Living well’. You suggest a few examples of what that might involve: seizing the day; counting our blessings; not taking things for granted. And then you tell the story of the rabbi, who says: What if there was only one question God puts to us when we die: ‘Did you enjoy my creation?’ And that’s a brilliant question, and it was the