In his Phenomenology of Spirit, Georg Hegel suggests that we only come to know ourselves through the way that we believe others perceive us, and that the motivation behind many of our actions is the attempt to assert an individuality that frees us from the objectifying views others hold of us. In other words, our... Continue Reading →
Sinful Thoughts
There are times I am embarrassed to call myself Christian. Not because I am ashamed of Jesus. Not at all. He makes sense. But the picture of Christianity the world gets has become so antithetical to everything I stand for that I don’t want to be associated with it. So much internet real estate and... Continue Reading →
Life Begins at 40
My friend, Estelle, summed it up best when she found out it was my 41st birthday yesterday: “Is it your birthday today? I am not sure whether to offer congratulations or condolences!” Whoever said that life begins at 40 was quite obviously mistaken. I have given it a year now – I am not the... Continue Reading →
Pear-Sharking the Gospel: on the Infallibility of Scripture
I was playing P.O.D. in the car on the way home. It is part of my shameless attempt to ensure that when Nathan is a teenager, I don’t have to listen to R&B blaring from his room. The early signs were positive. He didn’t object at all to one of my favourite feel-good songs of... Continue Reading →
I am Orlando
The Orlando massacre is a terrible tragedy that really ought to make us relook at the way we think about and thus behave towards each other. Sadly, like so many tragedies before it, it seems to have galvanised in certain sectors of society the hatred and bigotry that led to the crime in the first... Continue Reading →
The Myth of the “Good School”
One of the most frustrating things about working in education is that everyone is an expert. Because most people have spent so many years of their lives in school, they believe that they have a sound understanding of what constitutes a quality education. The delusion is perfectly understandable. It would be justifiable to have experienced a... Continue Reading →
A Farewell to Jane Austen: Let’s Be Sensible
I know that Jane Austen’s novels have much literary merit. She confronts social injustice with a sensitivity and occasionally very subtle and sardonic humour that few can match. She is justifiably considered to be one of the pre-eminent minds of her time. Even 200 years later, in countries and cultures far removed from Victorian England,... Continue Reading →
Where Evangelism Goes Wrong
In recognition of yesterday’s being Pentecost, and because I have been reflecting a lot on the early church lately, I want to talk about evangelism today. It is, in many ways, at the centre of the church’s activities, and indeed should be. Still, as with many of the modern church’s practices, I feel that we... Continue Reading →
Are you spiritually obese?
A culture driven by the need for immediate gratification and convenience will produce citizens who tend to be obese and lazy. Because they never have to exert themselves to have their needs met, they will begin to feel entitled to comfort, and will resent – even see as unnatural – anything that makes them uncomfortable. They... Continue Reading →
It’s Always Ourselves We Find In The Sea
maggie and milly and molly and may went down to the beach (to play one day) and maggie discovered a shell that sang so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and milly befriended a stranded star whose rays five languid fingers were; and molly was chased by a horrible thing which raced... Continue Reading →
Vapors In The Wind 