word | spirit | world | church
This should be a straightforward question, but to answer it we need to make a number of distinctions. This felt like a largely American discourse until fairly recently, but the term is increasingly being used here in the UK as well. The problem is, it’s a big broad sloppy term that means as much or… Continue reading Am I a Christian Nationalist?
Especially that thing that you’re sure it doesn’t. In John’s prologue we’re told that ‘all things’ were made through Jesus, and that there is nothing that has been made that was made without him. We’re hedged in by the positive and negative affirmations: if it was made, Jesus made it. Paul says something similar in… Continue reading Christianity speaks to everything
Who would be for it? This might see like the easiest thing to argue in the world: exhaustion is bad. Of course there is a kind of tiredness which is good: a body worn out from hard work in the field (he types from behind his laptop) or a mind worn out from hard graft… Continue reading Against Exhaustion
It’s common these days in church circles for people to suggest that we need to see ourselves represented in order to fully participate in something. On the face of it, there’s something very true there. However, I think it’s often confused. What’s true Those who lead us do represent us; this is a key Biblical… Continue reading Do we need to see ourselves represented?
That’s the sort of sentence to bring in the clicks. Of course you want me to caveat that, surely I can’t mean all technology? On the face of it, obviously not. Does a pencil dehumanise us? It’s not clear how that would be a sensible thing to say, and your definition of technology has to… Continue reading Technology dehumanises us
As I write the UK Parliament has voted ‘yay’ to the second reading of a bill to legalise assisted suicide. It’s been wildly reported internationally as being legalised, which is a slight misunderstanding of the system as another vote is required, but it seems likely it will continue to pass. Assuming it does, this is… Continue reading The Church After Assisted Suicide
Why is our Faith Shallow V Matthew Lee Anderson says that our culture is in a crisis of attention. I think we all know this, even if we haven’t used this language. Have you noticed that it’s increasingly difficult for you to read books with sustained or difficult arguments? Or to read a physical book… Continue reading A Crisis of Attention
We have an intellectual problem in the modern West. We’ve forgotten the intellectual underpinnings of all knowledge. That’s Jesus by the way. The resurrection of Jesus is the central beating fact of all existence. Our response to it is the core of our lives. Christians whose lives look the same as their neighbours are a… Continue reading Christ is the start of all inquiry
The church is facing a number of issues right now. Here in the UK the ongoing crisis of leadership in the wake of numerous high-profile cases of Pastors abusing their positions might be the most obvious. I’ve written about another crisis, of discipleship, where the average Christian’s faith doesn’t touch the sides of their life.… Continue reading Navigating the Crises
I’ll give you, it’s not the best question. We all intrinsically know what books are and how they work, it’s not a complex technology. A couple of boards with some paper glued or sewn between, right? Except, I fear that as we move into a post-literate society, its less instinctual than you might think. If… Continue reading What is a book?
nuakh 