Letter: Dogma and truth

Sir: Ronald Pearce (letter, 4 September) asks when bishops and other church leaders will share their knowledge of the biblical and theological scholarship of the last 150 years.

The persecution of David Jenkins, the former Bishop of Durham, must deter anyone who tries to question the accepted dogma of the creed. Evangelicals and traditionalists scream against "liberals" because they "undermine simple faith". The old imagery permeates the services in prayer, hymns, preaching and in much religious writing. The language and music are so beautiful that they resist change.

There are attempts to educate the laity, but parochially theology is usually for the clergy. Many of those who undertake training for ministry find biblical criticism enlightening, but others close their minds to it. They have a need for certainty, not questioning. A pilgrimage of faith which takes account of modern cosmology and symbolism leads an increasing number towards Christian Humanism.

MOLLY ROSENTHAL

Denbigh, Clwyd