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’.
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.
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.
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).
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).
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?
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.
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?
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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 ...
Morning Prayers From the Book of Common Prayer: O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose servi...
Creationist research in palaeontology Leonard Brand is a biologist and palaeontologist. He’s also a young-age creationist. He believes the world was deluged by a global flood just a few thou...
Church history lectures You can learn a huge amount by downloading lecture courses and listening to them while doing other bits and pieces. Specifically, over the space of seve...
David Powlison on being thankful David Powlison is a Christian counsellor. In the video below he talks about gratitude as an antidote to grumbling, and about the pastoral value of the G...
Why and how do we celebrate the Lord’s Supper? Whether our tradition is ‘liturgical’ or ‘non-liturgical’, it’s all too easy to simply go through the motions when sharing the Lord’s Supper. Whether we...
Anglicanism Anglicanism is certainly broad. But does it have only an organic nature, which may be stretched and remoulded without constraint? What are its limits?
Multi-site mega-churches and their bishops If you think of Anglican churches in terms of the diocese, they look like multi-site mega-churches.
The human being who rules the universe He has raised our human nature in the clouds to God’s right hand; there we sit in heavenly places, there with him in glory stand: Jesus reigns, adore...
The Catholic Faith (of the Church of England) I sometimes wonder what it would have been like in the Church of England, in the days when the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) was universally used, and i...
What is ordained ministry? I was asked to write something about the difference between lay and ordained ministry, with particular reference to the Church of England. Here it is… ...
The life and work of a priest John Pritchard is Bishop of Oxford, and has spent many years either serving in parish ministry, training others to serve in parish ministry, or overseei...
When is a priest not a priest? Our English word priest comes from the Latin word presbyter, which itself comes from the Greek word presbuteros. When this Greek word appears in the Bib...
I’m a Christian and this is why I vote Green I’d love to write a post under this title, but, fortunately for me (and for you!), fellow Green Party member Stephen Gray has saved me the hard work! ...
What is the mission of the church? Kevin DeYoung is very concerned about the church fulfilling its calling to proclaim the gospel. And rightly so: people’s greatest need is for a restored...
How being Anglican deepens faith Todd Hunter, in the video below, is a bishop in the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). Now, strictly speaking, ACNA is not (yet) part of the (offi...
Hope in an Age of Despair (review) I had this review published in the Winter 2013/2014 edition of Green Christian, the magazine of the Christian Ecology Link (CEL). It's now on their webs...
Genesis in 7 and 10 The book of Genesis has ten major sections, each beginning with "These are the generations of ..." (toledoth in Hebrew). Before the first of these secti...
On the visible universal church I (think) I used to hold to a view of the church which goes something like this: if you put your trust in Jesus, you become part of the invisible-univer...
They followed the Scriptures: Hugh Ross on the Christmas star Hugh Ross is an astrophysicist who is the president and founder of the science-faith think tank Reasons to Believe. He has some helpful short videos (am...
The party isn’t over It's not easy to party for twelve days. Our celebrations typically last for no more than a day. We have a great time, eating, drinking and dancing, and ...
Ecclesiocredopaedobaptism Over the past year-and-a-half, I've been thinking a lot about baptism. Prior to that, I was a fairly ordinary credo-baptist. You can follow my progress ...
How does the universe make you feel? Poll results Since 17 March 2009, I've had a poll on this site about the universe. The poll is now closed! Here is how it looked: Before I give you the results, I w...
Santa vs Jesus It's not been looking very Christmassy (sp?) around here. Time to rectify that... here's Santa vs Jesus by Glen Scrivener and Revival Media...
The Pilling Report in a nutshell (or a capsule) The Church of England has been thinking seriously about same-sex relationships. Very seriously, in fact, as is clear from the recently published Pilling...
Hymns of hope (8) God is working his purpose out One hymn that expresses really well the Christian hope for the future is Arthur Campbell Ainger’s 1894 hymn, God is working his purpose out. Each verse ...
Peter Leithart on baptism The Bible seems to attribute an astonishing power to baptism. What are we to make of this? We could explain it away. Or we could do what presbyterian pa...
Paul Avis on the visibility of the Church I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Church. Why? I suppose I’m beginning to appreciate the importance of the Church as a visible community of peop...
Philippines: pray, give, act Pray: O loving Creator, bring healing and hope to those who, at this time, grieve, suffer pain, or who have been made homeless by the force of flood in ...
The environmental crisis (but don’t mention the warming) Some people remain unconvinced about anthropogenic global warming and climate change. I remain convinced that they are wrong, and that they have swallow...
Bible in a year with the C of E This Monday (4 November) is the start of a new year of Bible readings, and I'd love you to join me and many other people in reading the Bible together! ...
1 John: walk in the light! In John’s day, there were people who were departing from the church (and taking others with them), who claimed a deeper knowledge of the truth, who deni...
Is the Church of England full of non-believing clergy? Do "almost a half" of male clergy in the Church of England "not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus or in his bodily resurrection"? And do a significan...
Calvin on God Calvin isn’t bothered with idle speculation about the nature of God: Let us then willingly leave to God the knowledge of himself [which we shall do]...
Does free will explain the fall? Have you ever read or heard anything like this? Freedom of choice means that temptations will occur. Robots with no free will are not tempted, they can ...
The Sundays of the church year OK, this is slightly boring and nerdy, but I've been trying to get my head round the Church of England Weekday Lectionary (2005/2010), and part of that ...
I sing for joy at what your hands have done Recently I went to a church service in which I paid attention to the words we were singing (for a change). At the end, as far as I could recall, we hadn...
Hymns of hope (7) For all the saints William Walsham How’s classic hymn, For all the saints, helps us to look forward to two things. First, we look forward to being with the Lord when we di...
The letter to the Hebrews: outline The New Testament letter to the Hebrews is a richly structured book. The basic message of the letter is clear enough. The recipients of the letter were ...
Anglican infant baptism: credo-paedo-baptism? Baptism is slightly topical at the moment, with the Church of England putting an article on its website yesterday entitled Top 10 facts about Christenin...
Jesus as Israel in Matthew’s Gospel The first words of Matthew's Gospel are, "The book of Genesis". Perhaps this is meant to remind us of something? In addition, perhaps the final verses o...
Calvin on the knowledge of God and Scripture Calvin wrote his Institutes as “a key to open a way for all children of God into a good and right understanding of Holy Scripture” (p.7). So it is appro...
Sex without bodies: understanding LGBT(QIA) What is it that unites those people who identify as LGBT—or LGBTQIA? Andy Crouch answers, in an excellent Christianity Today editorial: There is really ...
Calvin’s Institutes I’ve started (again) to read John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. Undoubtedly it’s one of the most important books of the sixteenth-centu...
My ideal church Allowing myself to dream for a moment. What would my ideal church be like? Here are a few features. What would be on your list? Gospel-preaching. My id...
Jesus’ resurrection: extraordinary evidence required? Often when considering the claim that Jesus rose from the dead, the saying popularised by Carl Sagan is quoted: Extraordinary claims require extraordina...
Bishop of Chester: separation between legal and religious sides of marriage The Bishop of Chester, Peter Forster, speaking in yesterday's debate in the House of Lords (emphases added): How should we proceed? I have come to the v...
Liam Goligher on the state of preaching in the UK Liam Goligher moved not too long ago from the UK to the USA to become pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. He was asked recently (video ...
Should we pray that Christians will be persecuted in the UK? I was speaking on Sunday evening at York Baptist Church on Paul's letter to the Philippians. Paul was in prison because he was preaching the gospel. Was...
The parable of the (two) lost son(s) At my church house group last night we were looking at Luke 15, with the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. Or is it the two lo...
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if yo...
Meeting God in the materiality of Christian worship I couldn't resist a few more quotes from James K.A. Smith's Desiring the Kingdom, this time on the theme of worship: One of the first things that should...
How to get a Christian university education I finished reading Desiring the Kingdom by James K.A. Smith last week. It's a superb book, with a broad theme and a narrow theme. The broad theme is the...
Rethinking the local church: ecclesiology for spiritual reductionists Last 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 soul...
Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women In 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 ...
Prayer for the church militant At this time of change for the Roman part of the Catholic Church, it seems appropriate to pray for the whole church on earth: the "church militant" (as ...
Hope in troubled times We live in troubled times. Worldwide poverty, environmental degradation, widespread terrorism: the problems are massive and potentially catastrophic. As...
I am making everything new (children’s talk) I gave a brief children's talk at our church yesterday. It went something like this... What is this a photo of? (A rubbish dump.) Would you like to go ...
Freedom from nature Your goal in life is to be free. Free from nature. You were born with a particular body, into a particular family, into a particular geographical, socia...
Same-sex marriage: anyone for a punch? Would you like a punch? "Punch" is an example of a word with more than one meaning. It might look like this in a dictionary—and you'd better be clear wh...
Anglicanism: comprehensive unity in the gospel? Stephen Neill (1900-1984), Anglican missionary, bishop and scholar, presents an appealing picture of Anglicanism in his 1958(*) book, simply titled, Ang...
Why should Christians care for creation? Great video from the Christian conservation charity A Rocha. It's a few years old (2006), but still has an excellent set of questions and an excellent l...
The Apostolic Gospel Heart-warming stuff from Michael Green, presenting the good news of Jesus Christ in its rich fullness (in 18 minutes!) to a group of Christian leaders e...
Why do you go to church? A bit of audience participation for the churchgoers out there... What are the main reasons you go to church? To hear good teaching? (But why not stay a...
Where is the holy catholic church? "I believe in ... the holy catholic church," we say in the Apostles' Creed. So where is this "holy catholic church"? One answer: the holy catholic churc...
The Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir This guy's a legend. And this film is awesome. Seriously! The Reverend Billy is on a mission to save Christmas from ... the shopocalypse! Pack the malls...
On congregationalism, presbyterianism and episcopalianism Jesus Christ has one body with many members. The one body is the global church throughout space and time, and the many members are the individual believ...
John Stevens on baptism Regular readers will (both) be aware that I've been trying to get a better understanding and appreciation of baptism, that wonderful sign of cleansing a...
A biblical case for female pastors? There's a purely cultural case for an "equal" (i.e., identical) role for men and women in the church. It goes something like this: For crying out loud, ...
Creation care: an urgent call to action The Lausanne Global Consultation on Creation Care and the Gospel took place recently in Jamaica. The outcome was an urgent Call to Action. Here are some...
Why is a church service called a “service”? I used to be ambivalent about the church "service", preferring a less "religious" word, such as "meeting" or "gathering". But now I think "service" is s...
God’s new humanity Great talk by Andy Upton on God's new humanity (Ephesians 2:11-22): audio, video or below. It's wonderful stuff—God is breaking down the walls of divisi...
Can infants be baptised? Still pondering the issue of baptism. Previous I asked, Should infants be baptised? I thought not. But there's another question, which is also important...
Living in God’s big story A sermon I preached last week (21 October) at Calvary Evangelical Church, Brighton: (Also available here or here.) What is a Christian? 1 Peter 1:1-9 A...
The Reformation Polka 495 years ago today, on 31 October 1517, Martin Luther spoke out against the corrupt practices of the Roman Catholic Church at the time, by nailing his ...
Hymns of hope (6) Hail to the Lord’s anointed Jesus taught his followers to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." The confident hope of the Christian is that thi...
Why Christians should be environmentalists Peter Harris has done great things in the environmental movement through Christian conservation organisation A Rocha. If you can spare just 10 minutes t...
A place in the Father’s house These verses, from John's account of the good news about Jesus, are often taken to mean that when Jesus comes again, he will take us away from the earth...
321: the story of God, the world and you Thanks to Kath for pointing me to this great video summary of the Christian good news. Strikingly, it starts by explaining the Trinity. This is very ref...
How to become a better lover What are you? James K.A. Smith gives two possible answers (my summary): I am a thinker. Information enters my mind, I think about it. I believe things ...
Should infants be baptised? Baptism is the sign of someone being a Christian. It represents the washing away of a person's sins by the Spirit and the beginning of a new life in Jes...
Hymns of hope (5) When the roll is called up yonder It’s not hard to find hymns that express the Christian hope for the future (wrongly) as a hope to escape this world and spend eternity far away in heave...
Worldview, story and mission The final chapter of Al Wolters' Creation Regained (1, 2[1], 2[2], 3, 4, 5-6) is a postscript that was added for the second edition of the book in 2005,...
Regaining creation [Jesus' parable of the talents] means that ... Christians must now employ all their God-given means in opposing the sickness and demonization of creatio...
Creation regained So far, in exploring an all-encompassing Christian worldview using Al Wolters' book, Creation Regained, we've seen how all areas of reality, including a...
New creation vocabulary I'm always delighted when I hear people speaking about the true Christian hope for the future: not that we will escape this earth and go to heaven for e...
Hymns of hope (4) Creation sings A hymn, not so much sung by us, but sung by the whole creation. We know what we think about God’s redemptive work, but if the whole creation could sing,...
But we had hoped… "But we had hoped," said the downcast travellers, "that he would pay off our debts, get us out of this crisis, and set us free." The stranger listened p...
Your kingdom come … on earth Great stuff in Margaret Killingray's Word for the Week at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC): The Christian church has, over the ...
How we became enlightened Typically cheeky and subversive thoughts by Mark Roques of Reality Bites (WYSOCS): Good evening and welcome to my lecture. For those who lack knowledge ...
Creation and evolution: my current thinking I've been pondering the issue of creation and evolution for years, and I thought it was about time to set out my current thinking on the area. This is a...
Transforming culture Great quote from James K.A. Smith: At its heart, the Kuyperian tradition has emphasized the lordship of Christ over all things and hence affirmed creati...
Evidence for young-age creationism It's not clear precisely what role scientific evidence plays when someone chooses between young-age creationism and evolution over billions of years. Ce...
What’s so great about communion? Jesus gave his followers two signs, or sacraments, to strengthen them in their faith: baptism and communion (the Lord's Supper). Calvin gives a helpful ...
Creation distorted Al Wolters' Creation Regained traces out the themes of Creation, Fall and Redemption, and how they shape our understanding of everything. Having looked ...
John 3:16 corrected I've taken the liberty of correcting the most famous verse of the Bible, so that it fits more comfortably with what many Christians seem to believe. Do ...
The development of creation Back to Al Wolter's book, Creation Regained (1, 2[1]), and the rest of chapter 2, on Creation. We're trying to gain a biblical perspective on the whole ...
Spiritual reductionism Something has been bothering me about the evangelical church in the UK. It's certainly an issue elsewhere, and it's nothing new, but, as an evangelical...
Creation or evolution: which way forward? I posted this elsewhere a few months ago, but I thought it was worth posting it here too. The Christian church is still a long way from resolving the cr...
Responding to climate change I thought I'd share a video from Tearfund, which I saw on Saturday as part of an event in York looking at a Christian response to climate change: ...
Living on the earth for ever A bit of Easter reading for you: The Physical Future, an article on Theology Network by Paul Blackham, about the Christian hope for eternity. It's a hop...
Astronomy through a Christian telescope ...is the title of a talk I'm due to give later in April, to a Christian group in Leeds. Here's the summary: Is there a distinctively Christian view of ...
God and Government God and Government is an accessible, recent (2009) multi-author book, aimed at stimulating Christian thinking about political issues within the UK conte...
Coalition For Marriage: an open letter to fellow Christians Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I know many of you have been encouraging others to support the "Coalition For Marriage". And I fully respect you fo...
Does God have body parts, and did he create in six days? Have a quick look at this, and then read on: Does God have body parts? An idea... We could speak about different "domains" of reality. Some of these dom...
Hymns of hope (3) It is well with my soul Horatio Spafford's moving hymn, When peace, like a river, is somewhat marred by a line in a verse that apparently was not in the original version or eve...
God the law-giver and his creation Chapter 2 of Creation Regained covers the first theme of the creation-fall-redemption triad: creation. It's quite a lengthy chapter, so I'll cover it in...
Hymns of hope (2) There is a day Another Christian song that expresses the Christian hope well is one of my favourites, There is a day, by Nathan Fellingham (2001) of Phatfish. Helpfull...
Hymns of hope (1) King of the ages This is part 1 of a series looking at the theme of hope in Christian hymns and songs. (I hope the series will have more than one part, but don’t assume ...
The gospel in the gospels? The gospel: Jesus came to earth to die and to rise again. But what about all the stuff Jesus did before he died, which the four gospels tell us about? I...
Those whom the state has joined together? A few thoughts on the proposals for allowing same-sex marriage. It seems to me that the Christian view on marriage can easily be lost in the discussion....
An all-encompassing Christian worldview I've been reading Creation Regained, a little book (117 pages plus postscript) by Al Wolters. It's really very good. I thought I'd share a few extracts ...
Good news to the poor and release to the captives Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (The New International Commentary on the New Testament) A substantial commentary on one of the synoptic gospels can ea...
Why work? A day or two before many of us return to work, here are a couple of quotes from a 1942 essay by Dorothy L. Sayers, entitled Why work? [W]ork is not, pri...
The Christian gospel in a nutshell Here are two attempts to summarise the Christian gospel. Do either of them seem familiar? What are the most striking differences? Are there any points o...
Not ashamed to suffer shame? Apparently tomorrow is "Not Ashamed Day". I'm trying to work out whether I should be ashamed of that. Not Ashamed is a website, declaration, logo, rang...
Good News to the Poor I've just finished reading Tim Chester's excellent little book, Good News to the Poor: Sharing the gospel through social involvement. Here's a summary, ...
The widow’s mite [Jesus] looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, "Truly I ...
Should Christians bank with Barclays? A provocative question, perhaps, and not one that I will be able to answer definitively. But I think it is a question that rarely even gets asked. For m...
William Lane Craig and the material world "Is the material world all there is?" This was the question posed by Christian philosopher William Lane Craig at the start of his lecture yesterday at I...
A prayer to the Markets Photo by Andrew Magill A moment's thought may have led you to think that speaking of the markets doing this or that is just shorthand for speaking of...
The house on the rock In Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock is situated on a famous rock known as Temple Mount. The rock is so called because it used to be the site of the hous...
An open letter to the British Humanist Association Dear BHA, After re-loading your website home page a few times, I found on it the following quote by Ariane Sherine: "All children should be free to grow...
Why would a Christian join the Green Party? Yesterday I joined the Green Party. I said a bit about my journey from political indifference to to political ... difference (?). Today I want to say a ...
I’ve joined the Green Party Apparently, "In 2005, only 1.3% of the [UK] electorate [44 million] was a member of one of the main political parties", with a few tens of thousands in...
Sorry I have an apology to make. I have been living as a Christian in a world dominated by greed. And yet this hasn't bothered me at all. I have thought it is...
The Myth of Religious Neutrality I've now reached the end of Roy Clouser's book, The Myth of Religious Neutrality. Normal service will now resume, with long periods of silence punctuate...
A non-reductionist theory of reality The final chapters (11-13) of Clouser's The Myth of Religious Neutrality (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) present a brief overview of Dooyeweerd's philos...
Is God less divine than his attributes? The first part of chapter 10 of Roy Clouser's The Myth of Religious Neutrality (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) covers some previous material in more depth. ...
The effect of religious beliefs on psychology What makes me who I am? Is it the laws of physics, operating on the cells in my body? Or is it the pressures of society, forcing me into its mould? (Nat...
How do religious beliefs influence physics? We're continuing our "Casebook" in the middle of Roy Clouser's The Myth of Religious Neutrality (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), looking at how religious beliefs ...
Is mathematics religious? What a strange question, I hear you say! But if everyone's beliefs about everything are shaped by their own religious beliefs, as has been claimed, then...
How do religious beliefs control other beliefs? If I believe something because it is in the Bible, then how might that affect my beliefs about some other area of reality, such as geology or history? F...
A brief history of faith and reason 1. Religious belief controlling theoretical reason So far (1, 2, 3, 4) in The Myth of Religious Neutrality, Roy Clouser has been arguing for a view of t...
What are universities for? I've had this lecture opened in my browser for months, and have just got round to listening to it. Here's a sentence to whet your appetite: And yet, if ...
How do religious beliefs affect all beliefs? Roy Clouser's contention in The Myth of Religious Neutrality is that anyone's understanding of anything is strongly affected by their religious beliefs....
Types of religious belief The common factor shared by all religions, according to Roy Clouser, is belief in something that is "divine per se", that is, something that is "uncondi...
The resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of his people Christians celebrate today (on good evidence) that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. But they also believe that they themselves will share in Jesus...
What is a religious belief? The claim made in Roy Clouser's book, The Myth of Religious Neutrality, is that all of life is religious, that is, that for every person, every part of ...
All of life is religious How much of your life is affected by your religious beliefs? Not much, surely? For a start, many people are not religious at all, so the answer for them...
The love of God Great talks by Mike Reeves on the love of God from a recent UCCF event (hat tip: Dave Bish). This was the trailer... Transformission 2010 from Dav...
Disciple the nations The commission is not to "make disciples" in our modern individualistic sense. That is included, and amen to it. But the commission as the Lord worded i...
Kepler on the value of blue-skies research Is scientific research worth doing only if it serves an obviously "useful" purpose? Kepler thought not: For has not the all-merciful Creator ... given e...
Is there no alternative? For a long time I've been aware of the Jubilee Centre in Cambridge, but only recently have I started to delve more deeply into their resources. Tonight'...
The triumph of the Gospel One of the most remarkable brute facts of history is the coming into existence of the Christian church. What was it that caused a group of uneducated J...
John Walton audio resources on Genesis 1 Recently I've been aware of a strong positive correlation between the phrases "John Walton" and "Genesis One". In order to investigate this further, I'v...
The sound of freedom Wonderful talk by Jeremy Begbie on the topic of freedom and Christian faith. We tend to think that if we allow God into our lives, in the way that the C...
Creation or evolution: do we have to choose? This question (also the title of a recent book by Denis Alexander) is one over which evangelical Christians often sharply disagree. Some ("young-earth ...
A Christian approach to science Science conventionally proceeds by "methodological naturalism", meaning that it does not "allow consideration of any hypothesis that implies, e.g., that...
The main purpose of preaching Why do Christians listen to so many sermons? Is it a matter of filling their minds with lots and lots of information? Well, yes, but that's not the main...
Adam and evolution I could be wrong, but there seems to have been more discussion recently amongst Christians within the evangelical church about how to fit Adam and Eve i...
On The Christian Institute’s Election Briefing How should Christians vote in the General Election? That's not an easy question to answer. Politics is messy, government is messy, politicians and polit...
NT Wright: did Jesus rise from the dead? Historical Resurrection of Christ? NT Wright responds (Hat tip: Adrian Warnock)</p>
How do I know God exists? Lots of little gems on the Vimeo page for A Passion for Life. Here's my favourite, featuring the legendary Don Carson on fine form:
L’Abri talks online L'Abri (French for "the shelter", or possibly "the cheese") is a network of residential study centres committed to providing "honest answers to honest q...
Evangelicals Now: singing and tweeting Well, it's been almost two months since my last update. I suppose if this were a blog, that would be unacceptable. Anyway, I still don't have anything i...
David Robertson on secular belief and society David Robertson, author of The Dawkins Letters, is due to visit Brighton in June/July. Yesterday he was on Premier Christian Radio's Unbelievable? progr...
Film discussion: Iron Man (2008) Just back from a film discussion at my church, at which we watched Iron Man (2008) and then used the following questions to delve under the surface of t...
Are we alone in the Universe? After “Do you want to be the next Patrick Moore?” and “I’m a Capricorn”, the most common response I get when I tell people I work in astronomy is, “Do...
The government shall be upon his shoulders NT Wright, speaking on Christmas Eve: ‘Unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders.’ [Isaiah 9] Unl...
All religious beliefs are equal … ... but some beliefs are more equal than others. At least it seems that way when "equality" legislation is applied to justify the withdrawal of funding ...
Dawkins on rape Presenter of Premier Radio's Unbelievable? programme "Justin Brierley spoke to prominent atheist Richard Dawkins after his debate with Professor John Le...
Mike Reeves on the Trinity (2) God is love So if the Christian God is entirely different to whatever God anyone else worships, then what - or who - is this God? Mike Reeves, part 2 (with a bit of...
Mike Reeves on the Trinity (1) Do you believe in God? Yes? Whoa, hold on a minute! Which God are we talking about? Sorry? Which God do you believe in? You see, the assumption is that...
Religious exclusivity and world peace What is the main barrier to peace in the world?</p> asks Tim Keller in the first of a series of talks related to his new book, The Reason for God....
Advice to an archbishop So in a lecture Rowan Williams, admittedly in a display of "political ineptitude", makes some carefully reasoned and apparently reasonable (if obfuscato...
Does God exist? Six-minute mini-debate on the Today Programme this morning, featuring William Lane Craig and Lewis Wolpert. I'm hoping to get to the real thing this eve...
Does Richard Dawkins exist? For a novel take on this perplexing question, read this, or listen to this:
On faith and reason Religious knowledge is about faith, but scientific knowledge is about reason, right? Well, no. At least, not according to this talk (MP3) by Andrew Fell...