For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
With low, brooding rainclouds and gently rolling hills, the Oxfordshire countryside was everything I had imagined it would be. I grew up reading Enid Blyton, Billy Bunter, and William, so driving down narrow country lanes, flanked by hedgerows laden with berries, seemed a bit like coming home after years away. But this was not my... Continue Reading →
I hope my regular readers will pardon my relative silence lately. I have been trying to get all my ducks in a row, workwise. To be honest, I am not even sure I own ducks anymore. Certainly we don’t seem to occupy the same farmyard. So I haven’t had time to do a lot of... Continue Reading →
Alexei Yurchak, in his book Everything was Forever, Until it was No More: The Last Soviet Generation, describes what it was like to live in the Soviet Union prior to its collapse. He argues that its flaws were readily apparent to everyone, and that people could see that the system was failing them. But because... Continue Reading →
I sometimes long to be free. I hunger for peace. Sometimes the world as it is seems overwhelming, too much to bear. I am tired of story after story after terrible story of human beings treating the natural world, and their fellow human beings, with complete disdain and unspeakable cruelty. My mind shrinks from the... Continue Reading →
If you are just joining us, we have been knocking down houses lately. Not physical dwelling-place houses, theological ones. Sometimes our theological houses are so dangerously shaky that we need to demolish them and start again. And it is my contention that much of what passes for Christian theology in the modern world falls into... Continue Reading →
Last week I outlined some of the key reasons why I cannot accept a penal substitution understanding of the cross. In other words, I do not believe that what happened at the cross was God punishing Jesus in our place. Now don’t misunderstand me. That does not mean I reject the idea of Jesus dealing... Continue Reading →
Penal Substitution Atonement theory has almost become synonymous with Christianity. So much so, in fact, that I suspect most Christians in the West are not even aware that there are alternative ways of understanding Jesus. I say “in the West” because the Eastern Orthodox churches do not (indeed, never have) understood the Passion of Christ... Continue Reading →
Arguably the single most important concept in Christian theology is that of forgiveness. In fact, I am willing to suggest that without the uncompromising prioritisation of unconditional forgiveness, Christianity is only one more brutal expression of the kind of divisive religion that has plagued humanity since the beginning of our history. Now anybody who... Continue Reading →
Today is Human Rights Day in my country, South Africa, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to discuss another problem I see in with contemporary Christian theology: the question of justice. I have spent the last three weeks trying to convince people to let go of the (historically speaking) relatively recent and... Continue Reading →
It is very difficult to appreciate just how powerful an elephant is until you encounter one in the wild. I was overseeing a conference near the Kruger National Park this week, and thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for me to take some leave and spend some time with Nathan (my five year old... Continue Reading →
Vapors In The Wind 