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: Culture
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”
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”
One elephant in the conservative’s room
I I recently finished reading Patrick Deneen’s book Why Liberalism Failed. I hadn’t actually heard of it until recently, when it was pointed out to me that my claim that the big state is the close friend of individualism was already the central thesis of Deneen’s work. (Unsurprisingly, my ideas aren’t exactly original: and norContinue reading “One elephant in the conservative’s room“
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“
Lockdown and the common good
Here is a conundrum: if my last article was right, and westerners increasingly operate in an autonomian conception of things, then how do we explain widespread compliance with the authoritarian measures taken by governments in response to the pandemic? The rhetoric, at least in the early months of it all, was of pulling together, ofContinue reading “Lockdown and the common good“
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“
City Reflections
The First Discourseman Since moving into a city, I have wondered about the spiritual dimension to geography, and how a city can shape our reality.
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”
God of the Nations
The Fourth Discourseman One of the big problems facing evangelical churches in the West is a dearth of proper thinking about politics. Not that we have incorrect political theologies per se; it’s more that we lack any real political theologies in the first place. The reason for this is that we have too readily breathedContinue reading “God of the Nations”
The Four Discoursemen 