Author Archives: Four Discoursemen

Bartolomé Bermejo, St Michael Triumphs over the Devil (1468) It is common today to hear sin described in negative terms; that is, as a lack, or as an inferior substitution for something better. C. S. Lewis’ quote on mud-pies is often employed, and one hears it whenever a church decides to improvise its own confession;Continue reading “A Positive View of Sin”

I generally think I’m quite a humble person. You’re not meant to say that, of course—at least, not in Christian circles—and perhaps genuine humility is so accompanied by a dose of the self-effacing that to say as much is a contradiction of self-reference like the great paradox of Epimenides (Titus 1:12). But that’s by-the-by: thisContinue reading “The hardest humility”

No denizen is quite so unable to recognise where their own culture ends and another begins as the American expat. Perhaps that’s because their ‘culture’ is really just capitalism, and what the big beasts of capitalism can never quite grasp – never want to grasp – is that there might be some things beyond theContinue reading “Top tips for American expats”

A hymn based on the Third Psalm O Lord, when all around I seeThe devil and his lies,I look to Jesus on the treeAnd hear the cruel mockery:‘Alone, the Saviour dies!’

At a casual glance, it appears that today’s progressivism is largely driven by older generations. Grey-haired protestors glue themselves to motorways, and tubby vicars with hearing aids revel in all the ways a man can pretend to be a woman. This poses an immediate challenge to a young person with a conservative bent. His instinct,Continue reading “Orthodoxy is a friend of the young”

The Professor finished his ale and looked over at the barman. There was no sign of him calling last orders, so the Professor sat back and toyed with his glass. Perhaps the barman was feeling generous with his time this Christmas Eve – or he didn’t want the coming day to come any quicker.

The Third Discourseman We live in a country where those who are supposed to rule us are themselves ruled. Where politicians and policy makers are simply following orders. And what is it that rules the rulers? That commands the commanders? That barks orders at those who order our society? It is neither man nor machine,Continue reading “Slaves of science”

I We have a sense, I think, that religion ought to make sense of the world. That, as we normally would have it, religion provides a ‘worldview’. Whether this is a sort of interpretative key that unlocks otherwise obscure meaning, or a grand theory of everything that claims to account for all particulars, or theContinue reading “This Waiting World”