Choral evensong I’ve been eating and drinking a lot during my placement at Hild Bede College. But chapel services are a central part of the ministry of the chaplain here.
Table Talk: meaningful conversations On placement this week at Hild Bede College I’ve been involved in a discussion group after chapel on Wednesday evening, exploring the theme of identity.
Fleshing out Galatians What is the message of Galatians? Easy. Don’t get circumcised! Fair enough, but not particularly relevant to most of us. Can we say more?
Is Christianity fit to survive evolution? Often people assume that the only obstacle is the interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis. But much more is at stake.
A chaplain’s brunch I’m on placement this year at Hild Bede College, Durham University. This is the first of four short blog posts telling you what I’m up to, and why.
That we may perfectly love thee: Cranmer and the reformation of the heart Inspiring and heart-warming day yesterday, as Ashley Null paid a visit to Cranmer Hall to speak to us about none other than Thomas Cranmer himself.
Postcard from Durham (2) As I begin my second year (of three) studying theology at Cranmer Hall (Durham), here is a quick update.
Confident: Why we can trust the Bible Daniel Strange and Michael Ovey argue for the plausibility of the Bible, and for its supreme authority, based on the example of Jesus.
Is Anglicanism all about the local church? Article XIX of the Thirty-Nine Articles describes the church as ‘a congregation’. But is this referring to a local congregation, or to something else?
The New Creationism What are we to do with the apparent conflict between science and the Bible when it comes to origins? Do creationist scientific models offer any hope?
Monteverdi Vespers In anticipation of the Monteverdi Vespers in October (Durham Singers and I Fagiolini), I think I’ve found the best recording: La Compagnia Del Madrigale.
A History of Christianity (Johnson) The task of the historian is not to record the past, but to make sense of it. And that is exactly what Catholic writer Paul Johnson attempts to do.
The mindset of the heavenly empire (sermon on Philippians 2:1-11) I don’t tend to post sermons on here. But here you can find an approximation to the text of a sermon (or two) I preached yesterday.
What is the Church of England doing on the continent? I’ve just spent two weeks visiting the Diocese in Europe, along with five other ordinands from Cranmer Hall. But what is the Anglican church there for?
Sermons worth preaching Though I preach with the tongues of Wesley and Whitefield, but do not have a sermon worth preaching, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Why pray for politicians? Have we misunderstood what the Bible says about praying for our political leaders? Why are we told to pray ‘for kings and all those in authority’?
Not Anglicans, but Anglicans If ‘Anglican’ means ‘of the Church of England’, then are GAFCON, AMiE and the ACNA ‘Anglican’? Why not find an alternative to the word ‘Anglican’?
The end of the world is nigh The great prophets of Israel prophesied at a time when the world as they knew it was collapsing. Do we need a revival of prophetic preaching today?
99% of Christians do not believe in the resurrection According to a recent survey commissioned by the BBC, 85% of ‘active’ Christians ‘believe that there is life after death’. But what do they mean by that?
Is the Church of England Anglican? Isn’t it obvious, like asking if the Pope is Catholic? Sadly not: it depends on what you mean by ‘the Church of England’, and what you mean by ‘Anglican’.
The end of good disagreement? A look at the bishops’ report on same-sex relationships Whatever else the bishops said in their report on same-sex relationships, they didn’t use the phrase ‘good disagreement’. Is this significant?
Intercessions as emails If intercessions were emails, far too many of them leave blank the minor details of who they are from and who they are to, and do not even have a body!
How does God change people? How does God change people? Easy: through the Bible and by the Holy Spirit! But how does that happen? Roger Hurding helpfully describes four models.
What is God saying to you through this passage? Have you ever been in a Bible study in which the leader asks this question? There is much to be commended in this approach, but there are problems.
Postcard from Durham Just a quick update on where I am and what I’m doing. Exactly one month ago (3 October) I started as a CofE ordinand at Cranmer Hall in Durham.
What is the worldview of the West? What is our dominant worldview in the West? Consumerism? A New Gnosticism? Let’s see what happens when we analyse it using four basic worldview questions.
New creation: continuity and discontinuity? When comparing the present creation to the new creation, we often say there will be ‘both continuity and discontinuity’. But does this mean anything?
Four futures for the Church of England Given what may well be fundamental disagreements between ‘revisionists’ and ‘traditionalists’, it seems that there are, logically, four possible outcomes.
Tom Wright on Gnosticism Which religion is all about ‘discovering who I really am’? I recently wrote about the New Gnosticism, so I thought find out about the old Gnosticism.
The CofE is not about to split Don’t believe what you read in the headlines. The Church of England is not on the verge of schism. But why are there so many reports suggesting it is?
Forget the New Atheism: what about the New Gnosticism? A movement that some are calling the New Gnosticism has taken almost complete hold of the centres of Western society. How can we make sense of it?
Calvin on Christ’s person and work These chapters tell us about Jesus Christ: his divinity and humanity, why he was sent by the Father, and how he has fulfilled his work of redemption.
Calvin on Christ in the law and the gospel In our fallen condition, the law of Moses functions to show and restrain sin and to point to Christ. But for believers, it is principally a guide.
Christianity: A Very Liberal Introduction Linda Woodhead’s ‘Very Short Introduction’ tells the story of three types of Christianity: Church (bad), biblical (bad) and mystical (good).
Calvin on our need for redemption in Christ Before Calvin introduces God as Redeemer in Christ (in Book II, chapter 6), he makes us acutely aware of our need for redemption (chapters 1-5).
Alastair Roberts on Brexit and the divided nation Brexit has revealed many deep divisions within British society, chiefly between ‘cosmopolitans’ and ‘provincials’. What drives these two mindsets?
The Three Brexiteers Why did people vote to leave the EU? My hunch is that there are three groups: idealists, pragmatists, and the chronically disaffected and disempowered.
Wright on resurrection A few reflections on NT Wright’s 2003 book, ‘The Resurrection of the Son of God’.
A prospective ordinand’s travel journal My quest for a CofE theological college took me to Cranmer Hall (Durham), Oak Hill College (London), Ridley Hall (Cambridge) and Wycliffe Hall (Oxford).
Three cheers for the EU! Solidarity, subsidiarity, democracy: three reasons why I’ll be voting to remain, in the EU referendum.
The mission of the church and the decline in voluntary organisations Voluntary organisations are declining as consumerism rises. This affects the church too. How should we respond? How should we do church in this context?
The parable of the sower, dramatised Is Jesus, perhaps, acting out the parable of the sower as he tells it? Jesus tells the parable so that the crowd do not understand but the disciples do.
What if Jesus’ body were still in the tomb? What if I told you that Jesus had been raised from the dead, but that his body was still in the tomb? What difference would it make?
What if it were still Holy Saturday? What if Jesus’ body were still in the tomb until the day when God ushers in his eternal kingdom? What difference would that make?
Ten years of (non-)blogging There have been lots of tenth anniversaries so far this year. But the biggest celebration is today, 24 April: exactly ten years of blogging on this site.
Watching the English The ‘core’ of Englishness, says Kate Fox, is our acute social dis-ease. This is reflected in our use of humour, our aversion to earnestness, and more.
Whatever happened to congregational singing? The text of a short talk I gave as part of my BAP. There’s something about singing together (as opposed to singing along) that forms and binds a community.
Dating Easter: a brief (and inadequate) guide One of the outcomes of the meeting of Anglican primates in January was an agreement to work towards a fixed date for Easter. What’s that all about then?
Revving up Just a quick announcement to say that I’ve been given the green light to train for ordained ministry in the Church of England!
Twenty years of following Jesus It was twenty years ago today, but I remember it vividly. At that youth service, the preacher encouraged us to commit our lives to God, and I did so, out of a real sense of God drawing me to himself.
Calvin on providence Calvin is perhaps best known for his teaching about predestination, free will and providence. His approach to providence is both scriptural and pastoral.
Disconnected? I’ve been trying to cut down on my usage of social media, and of the internet in general. This is what I’ve been trying…
Calvin on creation, angels and devils Picking up Calvin’s Institutes after a short (ahem) pause, we move from the doctrine of God to the doctrine of creation, in chapters 14 and 15 of Book I.
Hymns of hope (10) Amazing grace John Newton’s classic hymn, Amazing grace, was published in 1779 as part of his Olney Hymns. How does it speak about our future hope?
Hymns of hope (9) Lo! He comes If you had to describe the Christian hope for the future in terms of someone moving in some direction, then who would be moving, and in which direction?
Hymns of hope I’ve been wanting to resurrect this occasional series, looking at the theme of hope in Christian hymns and songs. Here is an index for the series.
Back to Genesis: why was Eve deceived? Still thinking about women’s ordination, I’m afraid. The key verses from 1 Timothy 2 clearly allude to Genesis 2 and 3, so maybe we should head there?
When we write code, we shape the world Fascinating talk by Avdi Grimm at last month’s LoneStarRuby on The Soul of Software. He contrasts two perspectives on software: Formalism. This is ...
Women teaching men: why was Eve deceived? I honestly thought I’d have nailed 1 Timothy 2 by now (‘I do not permit a woman to teach…’). But I haven’t. So this post is a bit of a work in progress.
Women bishops and the question of conscience Supposing we reach the conclusion that women shouldn’t be ordained as priests or bishops, then what next? What are we consicence-bound to do?
It is not a supper you eat John Stevens has a timely and provocative article on the Lord’s Supper, in which he argues that it should be celebrated in the context of a proper meal.
Kenneth Bailey on women in the New Testament Discussions about the ordination of women often focus on certain key passages in the New Testament. This can give the impression that it’s just a matter...
John Stott on women’s ordination John Stott seemed broadly in favour of women’s ordination, based on his Issues facing Christians today (4th edition, 2006). He unpacks the Bible’s teac...
The ordination of women I’m trying to think through my position on women’s ordination, having tried to avoid the issue for years. Since I came to a living faith in my teens, t...
Why are we so obsessed with gender? It might not be overstating things to say that we find ourselves at a turning point in Western history. History is moving forwards at a considerable pac...
I’m not a person of faith There are two types of people: normal people, and everyone else. How you unpack that depends on what you think of as normal. So there are Brits and fo...
Faith at the ballot box: Greens Over on Thomas Creedy’s blog there has been a series of posts, in which Christians from various political parties answer a set of questions. I took part...
Coding for Christ? There was a post of mine on the Faith in Scholarship blog a couple of days ago. It begins as follows… While I was an academic astronomer, I probably...
General election Bible study I cobbled this Bible study together at the weekend. It is unrefined and untested, but I post it here in case it might be useful. The main inspiration is...
Trident dilemma What if… North Korea has nuked London. Trident is ready. You are in charge. Pyongyang will be destroyed. 2.5 million will die. Do you press the button?
On the (social capital) deficit Any who are concerned about the sharp decline in “social capital” over recent decades would do well to read Harvard professor Robert Putnam’s 2000 class...
Christianity and the Green Party A little flurry of online activity on this topic over the past few days. First, there was Gillan Scott’s post on Archbishop Cranmer, entitled Green Par...
A Christian guide to the General Election: Votewise 2015 If you’re a Christian thinking about how to vote (or whether to vote) in the 2015 General Election, and if you read just one short book on the topic, th...
Keep it in the ground Major new campaign from the Guardian, in partnership with 350.org. We’re heading for disaster if we burn the vast quantity of known fossil fuel reserves...
The first chapters of everything This recent (2014) book on Genesis 1-4 by Alasdair Paine (of St Andrew the Great in Cambridge) is a joy to read. The emphasis is on how the chapters mak...
On the Green Party’s policies A couple of people asked me what I made of the Telegraph’s recent article on Green Party policy, Drugs, brothels, al-Qaeda and the Beyonce tax: the Gree...
Christians in Politics: will you #ShowUp? In politics, it has been said, decisions are made by those who show up. Christians in Politics launched a new campaign today: The Show Up campaign ...
bundle open gem source I didn’t realise you could do this, from a Ruby or Rails project using bundler/Gemfile: bundle open activerecord
Christian same-sex marriage? I recently read one of the most prominent books of its kind: Jeffrey John’s Permanent, Faithful, Stable: Christian Same-sex Marriage. It’s the first suc...
Election 2015: Christian comment from KLICE The excellent Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics (KLICE) has a new page devoted to the 2015 (general) election. You can read all about it in th...
Steel Angels: the personal qualities of a priest The Church of England puts people forward for ordination based on nine criteria. Those criteria form the basis for this 2014 book by Magdalen Smith, who...
On feeling called to be ordained The most helpful parts of Francis Dewar’s book Called or Collared? are those dealing with the idea that you must believe that you are ‘inwardly moved by...
Ministry in Three Dimensions I’m writing this from the Bible Belt of the Netherlands: a strip running from the south west towards the east of the country, in which there are many co...
Do you feel called by God? You don’t need to! That’s the main point of Michael Bennett’s 2012 book, Do you feel called by God? (Matthias Media). From the back cover: When Mic...
God with us (in the lab) There’s a post of mine on the Faith in Scholarship blog this morning. It begins as follows… It’s hard to predict how I will feel at the end of the C...
On women bishops This week (in case you missed it) the Church of England announced its first ever female bishop: Libby Lane, to serve as the (suffragan) Bishop of Stockp...
Depot application with RSpec An excellent introduction to Ruby on Rails is Agile Web Development with Rails 4 by Sam Ruby. Around half of the book is devoted to building the “depot”...
Theological reflection: a theological reflection 1. Experience I wrote a theological reflection. You are reading it. 2. Exploration This seems so simple! 3. Reflection Are there any theological re...
Rails architecture Three thought-provoking talks about the architecture of a Rails application First, Bob Martin (2011) argues that Rails ought to be an irrelevant detail...
Models of the Church We live in an age of ecclesiastical chaos. Never before have so many wildly different kinds of churches existed side by side in the same towns and citie...
The Provocative Church A quick post, to remind you that I’m still here, and to draw your attention to an excellent little book about evangelism and the Church, The Provocative...
Too much Rails code? Put it in a gem! If you extract some of your Rails code into a gem, and test the gem separately, this will guarantee that the gem cannot depend on the rest of your appli...
The Lost World of Genesis One Continuing on the theme of creation/evolution-related books from around five years ago (1, 2), we now move across the pond to Wheaton College, Illinois,...
Weapons cause wars: Alan Storkey on the First World War I first heard Alan Storkey give a talk about the arms trade in 2010, at a WYSOCS event, and it had a deep effect on me. He made me realise something tha...
Astronomy through a Christian telescope There’s a post of mine on the Faith in Scholarship blog this morning. It begins as follows… One of the motivations for Faith in Scholarship is the c...
Debating Darwin Debating Darwin (Paternoster, 2009) is a multi-author book, seeking to debate Darwinism first on theological grounds, and then on scientific grounds. Ea...
On good disagreement and the future of the Church of England Live in harmony with one another. … If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:16,18). Make every effo...
Creation or evolution: do we have to keep getting nowhere? It is with some reluctance that I turn to the topic of creation and evolution. It’s something I’ve thought about a lot in years gone by, but I’ve tried ...