Articles, thoughts, essays, and content from Brian as well as students – our budding theologians.
Quotable: Eugene Peterson and Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places – Take 2
Last week we looked at a few key quotes from Eugene Peterson’s influential book on spiritual theology Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. Here is a second look… Human beings are not gods; the moment we forget this, we violate the boundaries of our humanity and something is violated in reality itself. The universe suffers damage. Eugene Peterson (p42) But the fundamental inadequacy of codes of conduct for giving direction to the spiritual life is that they put us in charge (or, which is just as bad, put someone else in charge of us);...
read moreQuotable: Eugene Peterson and Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
I have always appreciated the work of Eugene Peterson, and was recently re-reading Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, first published in 2005 and in my opinion, one of his finest works. Here are some insights from the book… Endings take precedence over beginnings. We begin a journey by first deciding on a destination. Eugene Peterson, p1 Story is the most natural way of enlarging and deepening our sense of reality, and then enlisting us as participants in it. Stories open doors to areas or aspects of life we didn’t know were there, or...
read moreConsumers or Christians…
It has become common to talk about consumer Christianity. You see it everywhere. The new family at the church makes it clear that they want to test things out first – after all it may or may not be a good fit for the family, and there are lots of needs to take into account. Is the youth group friendly enough, the children’s ministry sufficiently accomodating, the preaching inspiring enough, and the music to everyone’s taste? If each box gets a bold tick, they might attend… well, attend on those weekends they are not away at their...
read moreQuotable: Simon Carey Holt and Heaven All Around us – Take 2
I posted on Simon Carey Holt’s wonderful book Heaven All Around Us a few weeks ago. Here is a second look at some striking quotes from the book. …for neighbor-love to have credibility, it has to be practiced where we are. Simon Carey Holt (p86) Walking is an act of awareness, a way of seeing, noticing, and being present to where we live… When I drive through my neighbourhood, my destination is elsewhere. I am focussed on the most efficient way in or out. I don’t see it. When I walk my neighbourhood I am aware of it. I notice the...
read moreQuotable: Simon Carey Holt and Heaven All Around Us
I posted on Simon Carey Holt’s wonderful book Heaven All Around Us a few weeks ago. Here are some striking quotes from the book. A good spiritual practice names the presence of God already with us. In whatever form a spiritual discipline takes, it proceeds on the assumption that the possibility of God is as real where we are as anywhere. Simon Carey Holt (p39) To contemplate is to look deeply into something in order to discern its truth. That something is life itself, its objects, contexts, routines, and encounters. The true contemplative is...
read moreAnother day, another Prime Minister – Take 2
We’ve done it again. Another Prime Minister dumped by his own party. It would be nice to think that the electorate sometimes had a say in who the Prime Minister of the country is, but that privilege could still be some months away. For those who don’t follow Australian politics, we have again indulged in our relatively recently adopted past time of replacing Prime Ministers – this time Scott Morrison replacing Malcolm Turnbull. Morrison, a committed Christian of the Pentecostal variety, has his work cut out for him – but let me...
read moreQuotable: Joshua Searle and Theology After Christendom – Take 3
I’ve changed the usual Monday format and instead of a series of quotes from a notable figure, I’m selecting some key passages and quotes from interesting books I am currently reading. This is a third and final look at Joshua T. Searle’s thought provoking and challenging work Theology After Christendom: Forming Prophets for a Post-Christian World (Cascade, 2018). Searle is a tutor in Theology and Public Thought at Spurgeon’s College, London, and I had the pleasure of meeting him and teaching in some of his classes during my...
read moreQuotable: Joshua Searle and Theology after Christendom – Take 2
I’ve changed the usual Monday format and instead of a series of quotes from a notable figure, I’m selecting some key passages and quotes from interesting books I am currently reading. This is a second look at Joshua T. Searle’s thought provoking and challenging work Theology After Christendom: Forming Prophets for a Post-Christian World (Cascade, 2018). Searle is a tutor in Theology and Public Thought at Spurgeon’s College, London, and I had the pleasure of meeting him and teaching in some of his classes during my recent...
read moreQuotable: Joshua Searle and Theology After Christendom
I’m changing the usual Monday format for a few weeks, and instead of a series of quotes from a notable figure, I will be selecting some key quotes from interesting books I am currently reading. The first is from Joshua T. Searle’s thought provoking and insightful work Theology After Christendom: Forming Prophets for a Post-Christian World (Cascade, 2018). Searle is a tutor in Theology and Public Thought at Spurgeon’s College, London, and I had the pleasure of meeting him and teaching in some of his classes during my recent...
read moreContentment as a countercultural virtue
One of the many joys of my role as principal of Vose Seminary is that I fairly often get sent complimentary copies of books from publishers who hope I will put in a good word for their publication. Sometimes that is possible, at other times I read a few pages of the book, push it to the one side and diplomatically say no more. Happily, Simon Carey Holt’s book Heaven All Around Us: Discovering God in Everyday Life (Cascade, 2018) is definitely in the first category. Actually, it’s sensationally in the first category – an...
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