Book review: Alister McGrath's biography of CS Lewis
January 9th, 2015
CS Lewis was probably the biggest influence on my young christian faith. I read virtually everything of his I could get hold of, especially enjoying Mere Christianity, Miracles, The Pilgrim’s Regress, That Hideous Strength, The Last Battle and his essays Is Theology Poetry? and Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism. I read his autobiography, Surprised by […]
Testing God, testing faith, testing truth
January 3rd, 2015
I remember reading about it a year ago. A christian pastor was going to try living as an atheist for a year, and see what happened. I saw occasional news about the experiment during the year, then as the end of the year got closer, I saw that he was due to make his announcement. […]
The government shall be upon his shoulders?
December 25th, 2014
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.” I quoted this passage from Isaiah 9 […]
Christmas, christians and a deep sense of foreboding
December 19th, 2014
This last week has been a disturbing one for many Australians. A hostage siege in Sydney, that left two hostages and the gunman dead, made a deep impression. Of course other countries have experienced far worse senseless killing and atrocities. This week has also seen the shooting of about 140 people, mostly school children, in […]
Interfaith cooperation: compromising the gospel?
December 10th, 2014
I think most christians are ambivalent, or even a little wary, about interfaith dialogue. It seems to compromise the truth of the gospel somehow. But it needn’t.
Children, asylum seekers, detention and torture
December 3rd, 2014
Here I go again – writing another blog post on Australia’s treatment of asylum-seekers. What can I say that I haven’t said already? Why bother? And yet, the situation keeps getting worse and Australia’s reaction keeps getting more and more callous.
An orgy of writing about myself
November 27th, 2014
I’ve just added two pages telling a little of my own story from two different perspectives. People who read this blog may want to know where I’m coming from, and experts say that people find a website more trustworthy if they can see a photo of the writer and know a little of their story. […]
Unintended consequences of employing church staff
November 17th, 2014
Most churches in first world countries employ staff these days. Small churches may have just a Minister or Pastor, but larger churches commonly have several pastors, an office secretary and a youth minister, and perhaps other staff as well. It is an obvious step and perhaps the only way to get things done, especially when […]
Should we believe in Jesus because we believe in the Bible, or the other way around?
November 6th, 2014
Have you ever thought which came first – your belief in Jesus or your belief in the Bible? Do you think it matters?
Book review: God doesn't do waste
October 30th, 2014
How important should it be for christians to care for God’s world? Are ‘spiritual’ things more important? Does caring for the earth get in the way of christian ministry? This book offers some useful insights.
A list of all blog posts, in reverse chronological order, is on the Blog archive page.