Categories
Observations

The Not So Good Old Days

I’ve spent a good slice of today writing a talk which is based on Genesis 12, but which dips in and out of Ezekiel. Now, I know my Bible fairly well, I can’t always quote things chapter and verse, but if I need something from the New Testament, I can usually make a pretty educated […]

Categories
Observations

We Are Not World Changers

In the last couple of days I’ve seen a number of tweets and articles from churches and mission agencies claiming that the people involved in them are changing the world. I’m not convinced. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that these people are not wonderful, hard-working, dedicated and well-intentioned. I just don’t believe that […]

Categories
Theology

The Trinity and…

This  excellent series of short videos from Mike Reeves introduces the way in which the concept of God as Trinity needs to effect the whole of our lives. None of the videos are longer than two minutes, so there is no real excuse not to watch them. #1 The God who is Trinity  #2 Trinity and our good […]

Categories
Africa Reviews

Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles

At the moment, the BBC is showing the remarkable David Attenborough series “Africa”; all beautiful scenes and amazing animals. However, as is often the case, the Africa of the nature documentary seems more or less devoid of people. If you would like to know more about the human side of the continent, you could do […]

Categories
Reviews

To the Last Round

I’m no expert, but I have a passing interest in military history. I’ve read more books on the Napoleonic wars than I would care to remember and our shelves are liberally stacked with histories of the second world war and books about the British army. However, I have to admit that my only exposure to […]

Categories
Mission

Mission, Money and Power

The New York Times has a fascinating and rather disturbing video linking US missionaries and funding to the persecution of gay men in Uganda. They won’t allow me to embed the video here, so you will have to go over to their page to watch it; it lasts about 8 minutes. I realise that gay-rights […]

Categories
Bible & Mission

Theology of Mission or Missionary Theology

At the same time, the traditional Western approach to theological education has been widely rejected elsewhere in the world. By now we are all familiar with the critiques developed in South America, but elsewhere around the globe voices are raised against an approach to theology that is perceived to be too academic, too abstract and […]

Categories
Africa

Voices United for Mali

When you get artists from across a country as culturally diverse as Mali producing a song, you end up with a wonderful mixture of languages and cultural styles. In this superb video there is singing and rapping in Bambara, Sonniké, Songhai, Tamasheq and even a little French. This is the Mali I love; colourful, welcoming […]

Categories
Observations Reviews

Unapologetic

This is almost a very good book! Unapologetic: Why, despite everything, Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense by Francis Spufford is wonderfully written, amusing, humane and very original. There are many books which seek to demonstrate that Christianity is objectively true and trustworthy. Spufford sets out to show that Christianity also makes sense of the […]

Categories
Observations

Running in Snow

Those who know me well, know that I love the wild places of the North of England. Fell and crag, lake and tarn; Many of my happiest days have been spent on the hills of the Lake District or Northumberland. However, for most of my adult life, I’ve been living in exile, much of it […]