Articles, thoughts, essays, and content from Brian as well as students – our budding theologians.
C S Lewis as apologist…
You are probably aware of the work of C S Lewis. His Narnia series transformed more than a few childhoods, and while exploring Narnia’s imaginary fortunes, Lewis provides a narrative that interprets the main contours of the Christian faith in a way that is both accessible and meaningful. It is a remarkable feat. While Narnia forms its own kind of apologetic for the Christian faith, Lewis was also a systematic defender of Christianity. I’ve recently completed teaching a unit in apologetics at Vose Seminary (where I serve as...
read moreManaging Monday with Henri Nouwen: Take 4
Today we come to the end of our short series looking at some quotes from Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), who was a Dutch born Roman Catholic priest, academic, author and theologian. Nouwen reached the top of the academic ladder with posts at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard, but made the surprising (although liberating) decision to leave academia and to work with physically and mentally handicapped people at the L’Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Here are some of his thoughts… The hard truth is that all people love...
read moreOn a High School Graduation…
This week I spoke at the year 12 graduation and awards evening of Carey Baptist College. Many of the graduating students have been part of Carey for over a decade, and they’ve been a close knit and supportive cohort. For teachers such evenings are bitter sweet… great to see students equipped and ready to move on, but it’s sad to say goodbye. The graduation is one last chance for the school to say what it hopes each pupil will remember, so it was an honour to have been asked to do this. Given that these evenings are long...
read moreManaging Monday with Henri Nouwen: Take 3
Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) was a Dutch born Roman Catholic priest, academic, author and theologian. Nouwen reached the top of the academic ladder with posts at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard, but made the surprising decision to leave academia and to work with physically and mentally handicapped people at the L’Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Here are some of his thoughts… You don’t think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way into a new kind of thinking – Henri Nouwen Each step of love is...
read moreSome changes to the blog…
Thanks for reading this blog. For the last year I have been posting on Monday, Tuesday and Friday morning, and have been happy with the response – almost 20 000 page views this calendar year. But the frequency of posting is eating into my time a little too much – more particularly, it is slowing the progress on the 3 new book projects that a spoke about a few posts ago. This is to alert you that while the blog will continue to operate (this is definitely not a closure notice), posts in the foreseeable future, won’t be as...
read moreManaging Monday with Henri Nouwen: Take 2
Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) was a Dutch born Roman Catholic priest, academic, author and theologian. Nouwen reached the top of the academic ladder with posts at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard, but made the surprising decision to leave academia and to work with physically and mentally handicapped people at the L’Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Here are some of his thoughts… Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the ‘beloved’...
read moreExtrinsic, Intrinsic and Quest forms of faith…
OK, so this topic might not sound compelling. What’s this about extrinsic, intrinsic and quest forms of faith, and does it have any relevance? Actually, I think it does. It helps to explain why faith works it way out one way in some people, and so very differently in others. But let me be a little more systematic. It’s a topic I explore in my recently published book When Faith Turns Ugly (Paternoster, 2016). I start by talking about some of the pioneering work done by Gordon Allport in the field of personality theory, and do so in...
read morePolitics and the race to the bottom…
The American presidential election has become so bizarre that it has provoked me to move out of my ‘minimal political comment’ zone. At so many levels it is deeply disturbing. The selection of candidates who have such obvious character flaws, is worrying. If we accept this, will it become the new normal for the future? Almost as distressing has been the insistence of many (far too many) evangelical leaders to back Trump, come what may. Now I don’t doubt that they have their reasons, and clearly expect a political return in...
read moreManaging Monday with Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) was a Dutch born Roman Catholic priest, academic, author and theologian. Nouwen reached the top of the academic ladder with posts at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard, but made the surprising (though liberating) decision to leave academia and to work with physically and mentally handicapped people at the L’Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He introduced the concept of The Wounded Healer with his book of that title, and some of his other significant works (which have been published in more than 30...
read moreWhen mental health is the issue…
Most of us are sympathetic when family or friends face an obvious physical ailment. We are often a lot less certain how to respond when it is a mental health issue. Yet all the statistics indicate that large numbers of people struggle in this realm. It’s something we talk about too little. Pleasingly, and going against the trend of silence, the latest edition of the Advocate is devoted to exploring issues of mental health. For those not familiar with the Advocate, it is an award winning Perth based Christian newspaper produced on a...
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