THE MIND IN THE HEART

MICHAEL RAMSEY, THEOLOGIAN AND MAN OF PRAYER

One of the Archbishop's chaplains used to say of Michael Ramsey, that they often lost the Archbishop, but that he could usually be found quite quickly either in the library or the chapel. This amusing story images the life and significance of a scholar who was a theologian in the ancient sense of the word, 'one whose prayer is true.' This survey of Ramsey's career by a friend who knew him over fifty years is a welcome introduction to his teaching. It examines significant passages of his major works and shows that there was no false separation between his theology and prayer. Indeed, Dr Kendall affirms that Ramsey found that the study of Christian doctrine fed his pastoral life. Sir Edwin Hoskyns once asked his students, 'Can we bury ourselves in a lexicon, and arise in the presence of God?' The question is of more than academic concern. The answer is found in the advice of an Eastern monk which epitomizes the cohesion of Ramsey's life and work, 'Put thy mind into thy heart, and stand in the presence of God all day long.'