Articles, thoughts, essays, and content from Brian as well as students – our budding theologians.
Managing Monday with Richard Foster
Richard Foster (1942 – ) is an American theologian and author in the Quaker tradition. His 1978 book Celebration of Discipline has sold over one million copies, and has perhaps been more influential than any other book in helping those in the evangelical stream of Christianity to rediscover and experience some of the spiritual disicplines that have nurtured the church for centuries. He has also written significant books on prayer and simplicity. We will look at some of his insights over the next few weeks… The discovery of God...
read moreManaging Monday with Jimmy Carter – take 3
Jimmy Carter (1924- ) served as the 39th President of the USA from 1977-1981. He is unusual in that most commentators consider him to have been more influential and effective in his post presidency years than he was while president, a view reinforced by his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, more than 20 years after he was ousted from office. Known for his strong Christian commitment, this is our third and final look at some of this insights… God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can...
read moreManaging Monday with Jimmy Carter – take 2
Jimmy Carter (1924- ) served as the 39th President of the USA from 1977-1981. He is unusual in that most commentators consider him to have been more influential and effective in his post presidency years than he was while president, a view reinforced by his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, more than 20 years after he was ousted from office. Known for his strong Christian commitment, this is our second look at some of this insights… We can’t be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s...
read moreArtificial Intelligence, the Future of Work and What it Means to be Human…
Have you ever asked at what point technology will have so advanced that the input of humans into life’s tasks will rarely be required? And what does that mean for the future of work? And what does it say about what it means to be human? A personal anecdote. My family and I had recently arrived in New Zealand from South Africa. In the South Africa we left, the rubbish was collected by a van which rode down each street, the driver being supported by a team of four runners. Those runners would divide into teams of two, one for each side of the...
read moreManaging Monday with Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter (1924- ) served as the 39th President of the USA from 1977-1981. He is unusual in that most commentators consider him to have been more influential and effective in his post presidency years than he was while president, a view reinforced by his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, more than 20 years after he was ousted from office. Known for his strong Christian commitment, we will consider some of his insights for a few Managing Monday posts… We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon. ...
read moreReligious Freedom: Freedom for what?
The topic of religious freedom has been getting a fair amount of air time lately – and validly so. The often bitter debate over gay marriage has led to the fear of enforced conformity of opinion, with non-compliance seeing a quick accusation of (and possible prosecution for) hate speech or something similar. Baptists (the denomination I am aligned with) were some of the early champions of religious liberty. Having been persecuted for their religious convictions (sometimes being drowned with the cry, “If they want water, they shall have...
read moreManaging Monday with Corrie ten Boom – take 3
Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983) is remembered for her imprisonment in the Ravensbruck concentration camp for the assistance she and her family provided to help Jewish people escape from the Nazi Holocaust. Her story is told in The Hiding Place – a book which continues to encourage and inspire many. Three of her key themes were the futility of worry, the importance of forgiveness and the power of prayer. Her personal experience adds enormous credibility to her comments. Today we look at a few of the things she said about prayer. Prayer is...
read morePost Plebiscite Reflections…
Well, the results from the Australian Plebiscite on same sex marriage are in, and are very much as predicted with 61.6% in favour and 38.4% against, the only surprise being the astonishingly high participation rate of close to 80%. Clearly this was not an issue over which most Australians yawned in disinterest, grunting a dismissive “whatever”. I’ve written about the plebiscite before so have no intention of rehashing what I said here. What I’d rather do is ask if there is anything we can learn from the plebiscite, and...
read moreManaging Monday with Corrie ten Boom – take 2
Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983) is remembered for her imprisonment in the Ravensbruck concentration camp for the assistance she and her family provided to help Jewish people escape from the Nazi Holocaust. Her story is told in The Hiding Place – a book which continues to encourage and inspire many. Three of her key themes were the futility of worry, the importance of forgiveness and the power of prayer. Her personal experience adds enormous credibility to her comments. Today we look at a few of the things she said about forgiveness. To...
read moreManaging Monday with Corrie ten Boom
Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983) is remembered for her imprisonment in the Ravensbruck concentration camp for the assistance she and her family provided to help Jewish people escape from the Nazi Holocaust. Her story is told in The Hiding Place – a book which continues to encourage and inspire many. Two of her key themes were the futility of worry and fear, the importance of forgiveness, and the power of prayer. Her personal experience adds enormous credibility to her comments. Today we look at a few of the things she said about worry and...
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