Unity or Purity? Augustine’s Donatist Controversy and the Church of England Today This is very exciting. I seem to have become a published theologian. I argue that, for Augustine, unity comes before purity, at least chronologically.
Just Forgiveness: Exploring the Bible, Weighing the Issues (Anthony Bash) How can forgiveness be just? How can you maintain that an action was utterly wicked, and then simply forgive, as if it didn’t matter?
Augustine on natural evil Why do we have floods and droughts, and why do animals kill each other? Is it because of the fall? Augustine is sometimes assumed to have believed this.
‘Please send someone else’ None of us is called to be a Moses or an Isaiah or a Mary. But all of us are called to do things that take us out of our ‘comfort zone’.
A Better Story: God, Sex and Human Flourishing (Glynn Harrison) Since the 1960s, we have been living through a sexual revolution, which is build around a powerful story. As Christians, we need to tell a better story.
Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change (Paul David Tripp) The basic premise of the book is that God brings about change in our lives by means of relationships. This follows the principle of incarnation.
Rowan Williams on the passions and the Beatitudes Fascinating and insightful talks, drawing on the Desert Fathers, and linking the eight ‘passions of the soul’ with the eight Beatitudes.
God and natural disasters Why do we have tsunamis and natural disasters, viruses and pandemics? The existence of natural disasters raises massive questions about God and the world.
The Day the Revolution Began: Rethinking the Meaning of Jesus’ Crucifixion (Tom Wright) As a result of Jesus’ death, the world is a different place. This book, from 2016, is Tom Wright’s attempt to make sense of that.
Hagar and racial awareness My article for the March ‘Crossways’ church newsletter. Hagar’s experience as an outsider is shared by many people today.
Why did Jesus have to die? I happened to stumble across a sermon of mine from three years ago about the cross of Christ, based on the Gospel reading for this Sunday (Mark 8:31-38).
What did Jesus’ contemporaries believe about God’s grace? (Paul and the Gift, Part 2) “Grace is everywhere in Second Temple Judaism but not everywhere the same.” John Barclay examines some texts from this period to unpack what grace means.
God’s love, with no strings attached? This was the refrain on this morning’s service on BBC local radio. But does God’s love really come ‘with no strings attached’?
The origins of original sin for Augustine Some suggest that Augustine based his doctrine of original sin on a misinterpretation of a single verse in Romans, but this is far from being the case.
Is the groaning of creation good? If animal suffering is not a consequence of the fall, and if it wasn’t the ‘only way’ by which God could have created the world, how can we understand it?
Was the groaning of creation unavoidable? Christopher Southgate argues that a long process of evolutionary suffering was the ‘only way’ God could have created the world. Is his argument persuasive?
Is the groaning of creation a consequence of the fall? This is the first of three posts on Christopher Southgate’s book, The Groaning of Creation. Is Michael Lloyd right to blame animal suffering on the fall?
Preaching: a word from elsewhere (Walter Brueggemann) This short video clip by Walter Brueggemann, from 2008, has been coming back to me again and again since I first saw it a few years ago.
Biblical Theology of Culture (Christopher Watkin) How can we make sense of the world around us? Here are a couple of great videos by an old friend of mine, now a lecturer in French philosophy in Australia.
Why is Christmas celebrated on 25 December? Is Christmas ‘the Christianization of a pagan festival’? According to John Sweet, ‘It seems more likely that the true clue is the date of Passover’.
What is grace? (Paul and the Gift, Part 1) “Grace is everywhere in Second Temple Judaism but not everywhere the same.” With this statement, John Barclay begins to clarify the meaning of “grace”.
Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament (John Walton) A huge amount has been discovered about ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. What difference does this make to how we understand the Old Testament?
The Lord’s Supper (and the priesthood) My sermon from this morning, in which I attempt to explain the meaning of Lord’s Supper and its connection with being ordained as a priest in the CofE.
Run the race: following Jesus through the COVID ‘marathon’ My article for the September ‘Crossways’ church newsletter. The ‘marathon’ of COVID-19 might lead us to give up following Jesus. How can we keep going?
Calvin on the Holy Spirit and faith How do I benefit from Christ’s work? The answer given by Calvin and the Reformers is this: primarily through the Holy Spirit and faith.
Following the science? My article for the July ‘Crossways’ church newsletter. With science so prominent in the headlines, what should we make of it?
Cedd and Archbishop Stephen Cottrell on disagreement I’ve just finished reading Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, so it was interesting to listen to the new Archbishop of York speaking about the Synod of Whitby.
Walk This Way (Ash Carter, Ros Clarke, and Lee Gatiss) If the Christian life is a walk, then how can a new believer get their bearings? This new book uses an old approach: Creed, Commandments, Lord’s Prayer.
Lockdown sermons If you’re curious to see how my hair grows over around 12 weeks, then enjoy the photos below. As a bonus, you can click on them and watch me preaching.
Augustine on the resurrection body Some, it seems, imagine that Augustine and others slavishly adopted Platonic philosophy, and therefore abandoned any hope in the resurrection of the body.
The self-isolation of Jesus My first ever online sermon, delivered during the coronavirus pandemic, reflecting on Jesus’ self-isolation as he approaches the cross.
Expository Exultation: Christian Preaching as Worship (John Piper) For Piper, preaching ought to be expository, and it ought serve worship: ‘seeing, savoring, and showing the supreme beauty and worth of the triune God’.
Reading Genesis Well: Navigating History, Poetry, Science, and Truth in Genesis 1-11 (C. John Collins) How should we interpret the first chapters of Genesis? Are they historical? Are they poetic? Are they scientifically accurate? Are they true?
What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done (Matt Perman) This is the kind of book I should have read years ago: a Christian distillation of recent wisdom on productivity, time-management, and personal leadership.
Does God want you to maximise your productivity? Capitalism is about maximising things. What about Christianity? Is God in the business of maximisation?
Whatever happened to the New Atheism? It’s probably time to look back on the New Atheism as something historical. Rationalist blogger Scott Alexander has attempted to chart its history.
Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology (James K. A. Smith) This final volume of the Cultural Liturgies trilogy is about how Christians should understand and engage with the world at large.
Advent organ music Two of my favourite pieces of organ music for the season of Advent: Bach’s Nun komm’ (BWV 659), and the first movement of Dupré’s Symphonie-Passion.
And the new Prime Minister will be… My article for the December ‘Crossways’ church newsletter. Our preparations for Christmas this year are being interrupted by the general election.
Is Deuteronomy one of Job’s friends? There is an apparent contradiction between Deuteronomy and Job. In Deuteronomy, it seems that you always get what you deserve. But Job flatly denies that.
Gratitude and hope (harvest) My article for the October ‘Crossways’ church newsletter. Harvest is a good time to stop and think about God’s creation. What attitude should we have?
John Goldingay on the historical value of Genesis 1-11 What does Genesis 1-11 tell us about events in the distant past? John Goldingay describes Genesis 1-11 as ‘parabolic history, a picture account of events’.
Am I called? Crossways is a monthly newsletter for St Paul’s Church Spennymoor and Whitworth Church. Here’s my first front-page article, from the August edition…
Why would an evangelical leave the Church of England? Philip de Grey-Warter recently resigned as a Church of England minister in Cornwall. Gafcon has shared a video of him telling his story.
On the visible church and the local church There’s an idea about the church, which seems rather odd. The universal church, apparently, is fully present whenever God’s people gather under his word.
Why you (perhaps) shouldn’t believe the news about the Church of England and religious freedom There is a constant stream of news stories giving the impression that things are rapidly getting worse. But is that the whole picture?
Do they know it’s Pentecost? Paul Avis writes that ‘the Church of England is under pressure from … secularization, privatization and pluralization’. Pentecost is an example.
Church and civil government (39 Articles, 32-39) In this final instalment, we search for doctrine in the last of the Articles, and then try to draw some conclusions.
The Lord’s Supper (39 Articles, 28-31) The Lord’s Supper was at the heart of the controversies of the Reformation, so the Articles say much about it. But the basic point is quite simple.
The Lost World of the Flood (Tremper Longman and John Walton) In this stimulating book, Longman and Walton claim that the Genesis flood was a local flood, but one that was ‘global in its impact and significance’.
Tim Ward on Scripture: clarity and theological interpretation Three fascinating talks, on the clarity of Scripture for the church, and on the presence of Christ in the whole of the Bible.
The sacraments and baptism (39 Articles, 25-27) The Anglican view of the sacraments in general, and of baptism in particular, is different both from that of the Anabaptists and of the Roman Catholics.
Church (39 Articles, 19-24) As we cross the midpoint of this series on the Thirty-nine Articles, we move from a discussion of God to a discussion of the church.
The Christian life (39 Articles, 15-18) We have seen that we are saved by grace, not because of anything we have done. But what happens next? What will the Christian life look like?
Justification (39 Articles, 9-14) We now reach the doctrine of justification, part of a broader discussion about salvation. The recurring emphasis is our great need of this salvation.
Scripture (39 Articles, 6-8) In this series of posts on the Thirty-nine Articles, we now come to the role of Scripture in establishing Christian doctrine.
God (39 Articles, 1-5) We begin, appropriately, with God, who is the subject of Articles 1-5, which provide a clear articulation of classical Christian orthodoxy.
Not the Thirty-nine Articles The ‘Articles of Religion’ count as one of the constitutional documents of the Church of England. I’m going to be blogging about them during Lent.
What does Plato have to do with Christianity? Greek philosophy is a Bad Thing, and it has corrupted Christian theology. Right? Perhaps not. Allow Simon Oliver to explain, in a short video.
How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil (D. A. Carson) Be prepared! That is the key message of this helpful book. When days of darkness come upon us, we need to have in place some clear beliefs to sustain us.
Who is to Blame? Disasters, Nature and Acts of God (Robert S. White) We tend to blame God for natural disasters. God is responsible for processes such as earthquakes, but it is usually humans who turn them into disasters.
The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami? (David Bentley Hart) David Bentley Hart’s book from 2005 is lucid, brief and profound. It amounts to a sustained attack on the idea that suffering has some kind of explanation.
Finding Ourselves after Darwin This book explores the implications of evolution for human uniqueness and the image of God, for Adam and Eve and original sin, and for the problem of evil.
The God of the Bible and the God of the Philosophers The God of classical theism is immutable and eternal. But the God of the Bible is responsive and relational. How could these be the same God?
Animal predation before the fall Ronald Osborn, in his 2014 book, Death Before the Fall, explores whether a ‘very good’ creation could have included elements of ferocity among animals.
Curacy announcement I’m delighted to announce that, on 30 June 2019 in Durham Cathedral, I am due to be ordained as a deacon to serve as curate in Spennymoor and Whitworth.
Postcard from Durham (3) As I begin my third and final year studying theology at Cranmer Hall (Durham), here is a quick update.
What is an ‘inclusive’ church? ‘Inclusive’ has become a form of doublespeak in Christian circles, signalling sympathy with LGBT ideas. But what does it actually mean to be ‘inclusive’?
Alastair Roberts on (women’s) ordination Three insightful videos on the topic of ordained ministry were posted recently by Alastair Roberts. Here they are, preceded by my notes.
Biblical liturgy? Biblical songs, biblical preaching, biblical prayers … but what about biblical liturgy? Is there a biblical recipe for putting it all together?
What does baptism do? Alastair Roberts is a fount of biblical and theological knowledge, and has recently started making videos. Recently he shared a few thoughts on baptism.
Creation: A Guide for the Perplexed (Simon Oliver) Many of our contemporary problems (Simon Oliver argues) stem from the same cause: our failure to identify the world, first and foremost, as created.
Even Better than Eden American Bible teacher and author Nancy Guthrie has a new book out: Even Better than Eden. It looks fascinating, given her recent Crossway article.
Christian Theology: An Introduction (Alister McGrath) This historical introduction to ‘the systematic study of the fundamental ideas of the Christian faith’ has very little Bible, but for good reasons.
Did Paul write Paul’s letters? ‘I am unconvinced that Paul wrote any of his letters.’ So says New Testament scholar Scot McKnight. But what on earth does he mean?
The key to lectionary preaching Most Church of England churches follow the Common Worship Lectionary for their Bible readings. And most preachers, it seems, struggle to make sense of it.
The Anglican way as the middle way What do Anglicans elsewhere in the world think about Anglicanism? For Thomas McKenzie in the USA, the Anglican way holds together apparent opposites.
Greg Beale on the temple and the church’s mission Why, in Revelation 21, when John sees the new heaven and earth, does it look like ‘a city in the shape of a temple that’s garden-like’?
Liturgical Man, Liturgical Women James B. Jordan writes that ‘the differences between men and women are … fundamentally liturgical and only secondarily biological and psychological’.
Predation and young-age creationism Even within young-age creationism, it is not easy to explain why animals ‘savagely kill and devour each other’. It seems neither plausible nor justifiable.
Why was Joseph so harsh on his brothers? The account of Joseph in Genesis is one of my favourite parts of the Bible. But have we missed a key element of the story?
Spurgeon on the death of animals before the fall The views of the great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon about the death of animals before the fall seem to have evolved during his ministry.
Singing from the same hymn sheet: reflections on Christian unity I must confess that the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has passed me by almost unnoticed. But I’ve been pondering the topic this week.
The Groaning of Creation: God, Evolution, and the Problem of Evil I’m going to be engaging this term with Christopher Southgate’s wide-ranging book, The Groaning of Creation. Here I attempt to summarise the book.
Encountering God’s Word: Beginning biblical studies Evangelicals can face serious challenges when they are exposed to biblical studies in an academic context. This book aims to prepare students for the task.
Scripture and Authority Today ‘Authority is not a concept which has fared well in the modern period,’ writes Richard Bauckham. What are the implications for biblical authority?
Feasting in the kingdom As promised, there is more food and drink for the final instalment of this four-week series, as we return to the chapel at Hild Bede College for Communion.
On sheep, goats, and eternal fire The ‘parable’ of the sheep and the goats is pretty clear, in terms of its practical implications. But it raises some massive questions.
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?
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.