Articles, thoughts, essays, and content from Brian as well as students – our budding theologians.
Towards a 21st Century Church (2): Time for the 500 year Rummage Sale?
In my earlier blog post “Towards a 21st Century Church”, I discussed four assumptions we should challenge if we are to make a constructive journey towards the future. In this post I explore Phyllis Tickle’s contested but thought provoking thesis that roughly every 500 years a “great emergence” occurs within Christianity during which a new and “more vital” form of faith emerges. Roughly stated, Tickle’s big idea is that every five hundred years the Church cleans out its attic and has a giant rummage sale. This enables the church to reevaluate...
read moreTowards a 21st Century Church: Four Assumptions to Challenge
Now that we are almost a fifth of the way through the twenty first century, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the church can no longer act as though it is still the twentieth century. People give various reasons for why significant change is needed – some of the more common contenders being that we now live in post-Christendom (and the church therefore no longer operates from a platform of privilege, nor can it assume that people have a basic understanding of the Christian faith); or that the postmodern turn in society has rendered...
read moreCounting our more complicated blessings…
You’ve probably been taught to count your blessings. It’s good advice. When we count them we usually discover there are far more than we initially imagined, and it is certainly more refreshing to be in the presence of a grateful person than one who feels cheated and bitter. But what are we to make of what William Sloan Coffin has called “our more complicated blessings”? The expression is found in a challenging prayer from Riverside Church which Gil Rendle cites in his excellent new book on leadership, Quietly Courageous (2019) p11. Here is an...
read moreBeyond Tut Tut: Thinking Through the New Zealand Massacre…
Friday March 15, 2019 was indeed, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described it, “one of New Zealand’s darkest days”, for on that day a gunman, (his name best left unspoken), killed 50 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, and injured many others. It was an attack that represents so many things… for the families of victims, a long term journey with grief, sadness and probably rage – for many of them it will never ease; for New Zealand, the loss of innocence, for it has now not been spared the violence...
read moreWhen a Cardinal Sins: Reflections on the conviction of George Pell
For those not in the loop (and they must be a very small number), Cardinal George Pell has been found guilty of child sexual abuse, and is being held in detention while his sentence is awaited. As he is the most senior cleric in the world to be convicted of this crime, it is deeply unsettling. He could have become the Pope – having been a serious contender (though not the front runner) when Pope Benedict resigned in 2013. Until stepping down from his role at the Vatican to face trial in Australia, he was the third most senior figure in...
read moreQuotable: Marilynne Robinson – Gilead, take 2
Last week we looked at some quotes from Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer prize winning novel Gilead. The book is a fictional series of reflections by dying clergyman, John Ames, to his seven year old son. It is filled with wisdom, and is a celebration of life. Here are some more reflections from the book… I think the attempt to defend belief can unsettle it, in fact, because there is always an inadequacy in argument about ultimate things. Marilynne Robinson Any human face is a claim on you, because you can’t help but understand...
read moreQuotable: Marilynne Robinson – Gilead
American novelist Marilynne Robinson (1943- ) won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize (for fiction) with her novel Gilead. It is the fictional autobiography of aging Congregationalist minister John Ames, who, aware that his serious heart condition means his death is imminent, wants to leave a memoir for his seven year old son to remember him by. The book is a wonderful celebration of life, and is filled with profound insights. Here are a few… Love is holy because it is like grace – the worthiness of the object is never what...
read moreQuotable: With Frederick Buechner – Take 2
This is a second take on Frederick Buechner (1926-), an ordained Presbyterian minister, who is a notable novelist, preacher and theologian. I recently read one of his memoirs, Telling Secrets, and it led me to track down some insights from his thirty plus published works. His novel, Godric, was a 1981 finalist for the Pulitzer prize. You might well be aware of the most famous of Buechner quotes: “God calls you to the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Here are some others… One life on...
read moreQuotable: With Frederick Buechner
Frederick Buechner (1926-), an ordained Presbyterian minister, is a notable novelist, preacher and theologian. I’m currently enjoying reading one of his memoirs, Telling Secrets, and it has led me to track down some insights from his thirty plus published works. His novel, Godric, was a 1981 finalist for the Pulitzer prize. You might well be aware of the most famous of Buechner quotes: “God calls you to the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Here are some others… You enter the...
read moreWhat do Theologians do?
It’s a question I’ve been asked often enough, especially after I’ve introduced myself as a pastor and theologian, “So what do theologians do?” Let’s note the obvious. By definition, theology, being made up from two Greek words theos (God) and logos (the word about, or the study of), is the study of God. By implication then, all those who grapple with the question of God are, in one way or another, theologians. They might be very poor theologians, amateur theologians, professional theologians, perhaps even theologians whose work is widely...
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