If the Bible is our only resource for theological reflection, and especially if we read it as a treasury of proof-texts and kitchen-calendar verses, then we will read it to support the version of Christianity we already believe. Now, there are limits to that, as anyone who’s paid attention to the remarkably frank confessions ofContinue reading “Staying put, being strong: or, reading the Bible with cultural sensitivity”
Category Archives: Church
Reformed Paganism
Then Bacchus and Silenus and the Maenads began a dance, far wilder than the dance of the trees; not merely a dance for fun and beauty (though it was that too) but a magic dance of plenty, and where their hands touched, and where their feet fell, the feast came into existence sides of roastedContinue reading “Reformed Paganism”
No Other Name
A Response to the Third Discourseman I Perhaps some of our readers were perturbed by the Third Discourseman’s article on the essence of the gospel. We have been so trained to believe that penal substitutionary atonement and justification by faith alone are the central tenets of the gospel – particularly after the proliferation of Reformation-themed talks andContinue reading “No Other Name”
Majesty, the sacred, and the mission of the church
I have waited some three days now to gather my thoughts and prepare my pen to offer a fitting tribute to her late Majesty. But I fear I have waited in vain. Grief comes to us in many guises, and we can but clutch at straws in trying to grasp at its complexities. But howContinue reading “Majesty, the sacred, and the mission of the church”
The World is not Broken
The Third Discourseman I wonder if you’ve ever heard a Christian, even a conservative evangelical, tell you that we live in a broken world. I guess this says something helpful, namely that the world is not functioning as it originally intended. But I don’t really like the phrase. It’s like, ‘Oh no, the fridge broke,Continue reading “The World is not Broken”
Robots don’t take Sabbath
On Sunday morning, the only email in my inbox is from Microsoft’s Viva, giving me its usual daily briefing. It doesn’t mind working on Sundays. Out the window, a different robot chirpily, absent-mindedly mows the lawn, because that’s what it’s programmed to do. It doesn’t mind working on Sundays either. The family could move outContinue reading “Robots don’t take Sabbath”
God had a mum
I’m getting a little tired of attempting to find new ways to express the babies and bath water trope. But it does touch upon, rather aptly, that most human proclivity to flit between extremes. To those reasonably familiar with church history, the Protestant Reformation provides examples in abundance: a time when, so we Protestants claim,Continue reading “God had a mum“
The existential community
I I don’t think it’s a particularly original observation that western modernity’s exaltation of individual autonomy has done us much harm. Of course, modern individualism has brought us a lot of good, that I hope not to take for granted. For all that many of us, and perhaps especially the contributors to this blog, mightContinue reading “The existential community“
The Long Work of Conservatism
The Second Discourseman I am inspired by The Fourth Discourseman’s article, Christianity, Conservatism, and the Tyranny of the Present. Amid the unhappy conflict between conservatism and progressivism, it is easy to forget that at heart these are just two different views of time. They are no more than expressions of frustration at our pace throughContinue reading “The Long Work of Conservatism”
Is nominalism that bad?
The First Discourseman Is there a greater evil than religious nominalism? A carapace of piety masking the unrepentant heart; salvation received through communion and confession; or a culture where the Church has been irredeemably conflated with the state. Nominal Christianity is where the right things are done for the wrong reasons, or when people payContinue reading “Is nominalism that bad?”
The Four Discoursemen 