Eric is doing some wonderful work himself -- he gave me the gift to read some of early drafts of sections of his dissertation and shared the outline with me. I think that I began to understand the importance of his reading of Kierkegaard, and how his use of Plato and Socrates is so important to sustain a substantive account of reason that opens itself to speaking of God. I begrudging have to admit even that Eric and Tiana's cat was kind of cool (even keeping it skin to itself). It actually has certain characteristics in which it acted like a dog rather than a cat.

Aaron Riches was a tremendous gift -- and a quick and immediate friend. His dissertation is in the process of revision for publication on Christology. I am looking forward to reading it because the main weakness that I've seen within the "Radical Orthodoxy" movement is how it accounts for the specific unique and unsubstituable revelation of God in Jesus Christ. At times is seems that certain strains of neo-platonic thought can override the importance of Jesus.

Prof. Milbank was a wonderful conversation partner. I discovered that his grandfather -- or maybe a great uncle -- was involved in starting the first holiness movement church in Great Britain -- before the Church of the Nazarene that became part of the Church of the Nazarene. Several people here have said that I look like Prof. Milbank's grandfather -- a Nazarene District Superintendent -- and Professor Milbank said he saw the likeness. When John's father moved to London, he could not find a Church of the Nazarene near by and became Methodist -- and eventually became a member of the Church of England. Yet Prof. Milbank said that he recognized the difference that the Nazarene's took Wesley seriously even back then -- and that distinguished them from other "evangelicals."

Our conversation ranged across the work of Stanley Hauerwas, George Lindbeck, and David Burrell; the early reading at Duke of Theology and Social Theory that Steve Fowl and Steve Long have told me about; the church and state in the US and its difference from England. His commitments to a "Red Toryism" was evident as a vital option within Great Britain -- a combination of a virtue ethic with localism for a distribution of goods via civil society -- a space that he thinks a liberal political culture opens. I spoke with him about the reactions a few weeks ago from the Associate Chief of Police in San Diego about a plan for Mid-City that we discussed.

We discussed some of my work in Second Temple Judaism and Greek thought. He heard the underlying arguments that I'm trying to make very quickly (more than "biblical scholars" -- Prof. Milbank is very, very, very bright (to understate the obvious) and we talked about the possibility of a book contract with Basil Blackwell in one of the Radical Orthodoxy series.

We also spoke about trying to get the Radical Orthodoxy books circulating better on the West Coast of the United States -- remarking that it has been largely a British, French, and East Coast, USA movement. Hopefully next fall's visit of Conor Cunningham can help provide some ways to make the materials more visible and more accessible. I think that we spent around 2 to 2 1/2 hours in conversation. As Aaron said, the friendships there were significant and we need to keep them nurtured.

I had some time before my train took off and so Eric, Aaron and I went to a coffee shop and talked some more. Aaron just had his second child, a daugher, to go with his 2 1/2 year old son. Aaron is still looking for a position. It is a weird, weird world when young, wonderful theologians like Ken Oakes and Aaron Riches, with mentors such as John Webster and John Milbank, struggle to begin teaching and researching in ways that they can make a living. I'm reminded that George Lindbeck mentioned that it might be that the church has to find other ways than the contemporary university to nurture its intellectual life. Aaron, who grew up as a secularized Canadian, found faith in Jesus Christ through reading Radical Orthodoxy when pursuing a Masters degree in English. He is Roman Catholic, and involved in Communion and Liberation, the new religious movement that has become important to me over the past years. I encouraged him to look into a parish position as a catechumenal teacher or parish assistant.

We talked about children. Aaron is discovering that two children mean that reading, writing, and reflection time is much more limited -- and that he didn't realizae what a selfish white liberal he was until he had kids. Of course I could understand this, and shared what a gift children are to remind us what life is about so that the contemporary academy does not completely corrupt us. Perhaps the most significant part of the day, however, was going to the book store so that Aaron can read A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh to his son at bed time. I hope that such gifts can keep the world enchanted for Aaron during the ups and downs of job searches, made even more pressing by the necessity of supporting a family.

Eric graciously took me back to the train station, and I traveled back to Manchester. It is a strange and wonderful life that I live.

More about the week coming soon. I'm going to read a little before bed time.