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.
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?
Paul Avis on the visibility of the Church I’m beginning to appreciate the importance of the Church as a visible community of people on the earth.
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? Most in the Reformed tradition would (I think) argue that infants should be baptised because their parents profess faith. What about in Anglican practice?
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 souls.
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...