For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Writing is an act of hope. There is a presumption that what you have to say not only matters, but can shift things, make things better. To write is to believe that things can be other than what they are. Maybe that is why I have battled to write these last few months. I am... Continue Reading →
Today I want to respond to a comment on my last post. I had been talking about the Eucharist as a central symbol of the new way in which Christianity wanted to frame culture. I bemoaned the fact that in the way we practice it today we more or less completely miss the power of... Continue Reading →
I remember so vividly the day you were born. I remember how you woke mom in the early hours of the morning (you always have been an early riser) and then took your time actually arriving. Even nine years on, I remember the long (17) hours’ wait, where the whole world seemed to be condensed... Continue Reading →
As a father, I have heard of it happening to other people’s children but I never dreamt that it could happen to me. I have taken all the precautions that could reasonably be expected of me, and I believe I have been responsible and vigilant. But sometimes even your best efforts are just not enough... Continue Reading →
Most days I feel like I have the emotional strength to deal with life. Today isn’t one of those days. And that is not a request for advice, or consolation. I don’t admit to this because I am desperate for help; I write it because I process by reflecting, and I reflect by writing. ... Continue Reading →
There will eventually come a time when you will be old enough to read and understand these birthday messages. I picture a future you, having just discovered these, poring curiously over this message. And I cannot help but wonder how much of this year you remember. It has, without a doubt, been one of the... Continue Reading →
From where I stand, the world looks pretty bleak. And it is not the Covid pandemic – although it is frightening in its own right – that has me terrified. I have spent a lot of time in recent years doing reading around Girard and mimetic theory. It has opened new doors of insight for... Continue Reading →
Almost three weeks into lockdown and I need to admit that my skillset has expanded enormously. In the last three weeks I have been, at various stages, a lion tamer, a pirate, a snake handler, a super villain, a velociraptor, and a zombie pigman, to name just a few of the hitherto unexplored career paths... Continue Reading →
I don’t think most Christians want Jesus. They would deny it, of course, but what they really want is a violent god. They want an angry god. They want a god who looks like everybody else’s god, only better. A mightier smiter; a my-god-can-kick-your-god’s-butt-Chuck-Norris-style god. We suffer from the theological equivalent of trying to keep... Continue Reading →
Millenia ago in Judea a young man sat in the cool silence of a cloudless desert night. It could be that he was accustomed to solitude, had spent many nights out here alone. Perhaps – as always – he was enthralled by the hypnotizing vermilion of the campfire coals; perhaps his fingers sought the reassuring... Continue Reading →
Vapors In The Wind 