culture

What do Colours Mean?

by Eddie 28.06.2010

There is a wonderful chart giving an overview of what different colours mean to different cultures here. It is absolutely fascinating to see the way in which things that we might have thought to be universal are, in fact, culturally determined.

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Christianity is Not British

by Eddie 26.03.2010

That reliable rodent, the Church mouse has just come up with an amazing story from the British National Party. Nick Griffin the party leader has often claimed that Christianity is indigenous to Britain, unlike Islam, Hinduism and the rest. Of course, Christianity is actually indigenous to the Middle East, though it adapts to any culture. [...]

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Advice for Americans in The UK

by Eddie 13.02.2010

Tim Chester has just posted a terrific piece of advice for Americans working in the UK. It is all good stuff, but this section on attitudes to the US president is particularly insightful. It is important for both sides to realise that UK Christians judge American Presidents and prospective Presidents on foreign policy because that [...]

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From Burkina and Ivory Coast

by Eddie 03.08.2009

I’ve come across a couple of good pieces from West Africa today.  Jayne Chuter has just returned from a Wycliffe Engage Trip to Burkina Faso and has written a fascinating account. Well I am back safe and sound in England now. We had a remarkably smooth and unproblematic month, thanks to all your prayers: nobody [...]

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Mission: Pragmatic or Bible Based?

by Eddie 03.07.2009

Thanks to Ben, I’ve just come across the 9 Marks magazine which has a mission focus in the current edition. One of the articles is by Andy Johnson and is called Pragmatism, Pragmatism Everywhere. This touches on an issue that is very dear to my heart; the dilema which sometimes faces missionaries of whether to [...]

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Living At The Crossroads

by Eddie 24.04.2009

I was sitting on my low-cost flight home from Mission Net, settling down to read Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Christian Worldview when the guy in the seat next to me said, ‘Oh, I went to Bible college with one of the authors of that’. This tells you nothing about the book, but [...]

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Economists and the Blooming Obvious

by Eddie 21.04.2009

Apparently trying to keep up with the Jonses makes us unhappy – what a surprise. From the Daily Telegraph: One study claims that workers who constantly compare their earnings with colleagues and friends feel less satisfied with their lives, because it makes them focus on what they haven’t got. Meanwhile separate research presented at the [...]

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Bible Translation and Culture

by Eddie 02.03.2009

Mark Naylor has just posted a superb article which looks at the way in which culture has an impact on Bible translation. The English Standard Version (ESV), according to the preface on its website, “is an ‘essentially literal’ translation” that emphasizes “word-for-word” correspondence, in order to “be transparent to the original text, letting the reader [...]

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We don’t know right from wrong

by Eddie 22.02.2009

The British Government will soon be publishing a pamphlet giving advice to parents on how to talk about sex to their offspring. Stunningly, the pamphlet includes the words: Discussing your values with your teenagers will help them to form their own. Remember, though, that trying to convince them of what’s right and wrong may discourage [...]

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Faith in a hostile world

by Eddie 12.02.2009

In what seems to be becoming a trend, there is yet another story in the papers about a Christian coming into conflict with her government employers: A primary school receptionist, Jennie Cain, whose five-year-old daughter was told off for talking about Jesus in class is now facing the sack for seeking support from her church. [...]

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The Gospel and Ethnic Difference

by Eddie 18.12.2008

Having recently reviewed Castrating Culture, I was intrigued to find an article on the theology of ethnic identity in a recent edition of Themelios. The paper by Keith Fernando is of extra interest because he has lived and worked in Rwanda and clearly has deep insights into issues of race and conflict. He starts off [...]

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U2: I believe in Father Christmas

by Eddie 12.12.2008

I’m very much of the opnion that, when it comes to the pop charts, the golden age for Christmas songs was the early to mid 1970s. One of the most powerful songs of the era was Greg Lake’s anti-Christmas song ‘I believe in Father Christmas’ which  I once used as the base for a Christmas [...]

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