Comments for www.anthonysmith.me.uk

Comment on How to get a Christian university education by Anthony

Anthony — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:29:29 +0000

Afraid not. Don't want to overindulge myself! It does look good.

Comment on How to get a Christian university education by Richard

Richard — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:17:47 +0000

Have you read his follow up volume yet? It looks fantastic.

Comment on How to get a Christian university education by Anthony

Anthony — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 09:40:51 +0000

He speaks a lot about the "heart", as our centre as persons. I think he would say that our thinking and believing flow from our loving and desiring. E.g., on the formulation of articulated Christian doctrine within the living and worshipping early church: "we begin with worship, and articulated beliefs bubble up from there. 'Doctrines' are the cognitive, theoretical articulation of what we 'understand' when we pray" (p.70). I think he would also see us as beings with one centre (the "heart"), not with multiple centres (e.g., the "heart", "mind" and "will"). He doesn't mention the "will" very much, interestingly, and I'd like to delve further into how conversion fits into this. I'm sure there's a level slightly deeper than our liturgically-shaped desiring/loving, in that (1) participating in Christian liturgies doesn't really work if the participant isn't converted (participating in Christian worship doesn't convert you and make you someone who deeply loves God), and (2) there must be a part of our being that actually wants to participate in Christian formative practices, or that actually enjoys doing so (or doesn't).

Comment on How to get a Christian university education by Caleb Woodbridge

Caleb Woodbridge — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:50:00 +0000

Sounds a great book, I'll have to read it soon. I think it's really helpful to have a broader view of what it means to be a Christian than just having the right beliefs - not just Christian minds, but Christian imaginations. But while emphasising desiring-and-loving may be a helpful corrective to intellectualism, is it really the "most fundamental"? Or do we need to maintain thinking-and-believing, desiring-and-loving, willing-and-doing, all as equally fundamental to our humanity?

Comment on How to become a better lover by How to get a Christian university education

How to get a Christian university education — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 07:14:57 +0000

[...] a powerful and important message with implications for all sorts of things. For more, see my post from September, which contains a video of Smith speaking about this broad theme from his [...]

Comment on Freedom from nature by Miscellanées (Week 8, 2013) | Jake Belder

Miscellanées (Week 8, 2013) | Jake Belder — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 06:57:43 +0000

[...] Freedom from nature – Here is a good post from Anthony Smith on the false understanding of freedom that so many in our culture operate with, and which also asserts itself in different ways in Christianity. [...]

Comment on Rethinking the local church: ecclesiology for spiritual reductionists by Richard

Richard — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:17:46 +0000

Good post, I'm glad you're liking Leithart.

Comment on How complicated is the Alternative Vote? by Vote YES to AV. Some things that helped me make my decision #yestoAV | Bryony Taylor

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:17:28 +0000

[...] great diagram taken from here: http://www.anthonysmith.me.uk/2011/01/17/how-complicated-is-the-alternative-vote/ Thanks for the heads [...]

Comment on Spiritual reductionism by Rethinking the local church: ecclesiology for spiritual reductionists

Rethinking the local church: ecclesiology for spiritual reductionists — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 09:36:57 +0000

[...] year I wrote a post entitled Spiritual reductionism, about a view of reality in which the only things that ultimately matter are God and human souls. I [...]

Comment on How to become a better lover by Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women

Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 08:58:06 +0000

[...] Desiring the Kingdom, James K.A. Smith describes the mall (shopping centre) in religious terms (see here for a previous post and video). He sees the mall as inviting us to participate in certain [...]

Comment on Prayer for the church militant by Anthony

Anthony — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:45:05 +0000

I'm not sure I've been in more than a handful of services where it's been prayed, as I think most of the BCP services I've been at have omitted it (tut, tut). Hope to become more familiar with it in due course!

Comment on Prayer for the church militant by Jake Belder

Jake Belder — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:56:04 +0000

Love this prayer. And love that I almost know it off by heart thanks to frequently getting the opportunity to pray these words.

Comment on Hope in troubled times by Steve Martin

Steve Martin — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 04:06:39 +0000

Yes, Anthony, the earth, as we know it, will pass away. But Jesus will certainly usher in His new Kingdom.

Thanks, friend.

Comment on Hope in troubled times by Anthony

Anthony — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:40:24 +0000

Steve - thanks for the comment. Fortunately, the end to which the world is being brought is not the day of its destruction but the day of Christ's return, when "the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Rom 8:21). So we can pray "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" with confidence that our prayer will be answered, at least partially in the present age, and fully when our Lord returns. Come, Lord Jesus!

Comment on Hope in troubled times by Steve Martin

Steve Martin — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:17:11 +0000

The world and our lives are not progressing...but are being brought to an end.

There's no hope, ultimately, other than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for a fallen world.

That said, we ought do all we can to make this place a better place to live, wherever and whenever we can.

Thanks.

Comment on Green Party Conference by Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:41:53 +0000

My thinking precisely!

Comment on Green Party Conference by Philip Walker

Philip Walker — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:50:29 +0000

It's kind of ironical that the Green Party should have an antinaturalistic anthropology.

Comment on Is it un-Green to oppose same-sex marriage? by Green Party Conference

Green Party Conference — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:55:48 +0000

[...] here] and a view of human identity that has nothing to do with biological gender, hence the party's strong views on same-sex marriage). It's probably not possible to answer the question of what the party as a whole thinks of [...]

Comment on Why Christians should be environmentalists by Green Party Conference

Green Party Conference — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:55:30 +0000

[...] with Christian faith, not least in its care for the world in which we live (and here and here and here). But, on the other hand, the Green Party seems quite anti-Christian on various issues [...]

Comment on I've joined the Green Party by Green Party Conference

Green Party Conference — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:55:14 +0000

[...] been in the Green Party for almost 18 months, but I still don't feel I really know how the party actually works. I'm looking forward to learning [...]