Articles, thoughts, essays, and content from Brian as well as students – our budding theologians.
Grand Bassam: On a Terrorist Attack…
I wonder what you felt when (and if) you read of the terrorist attack in the coastal town of Grand Bassam, Republic of the Ivory Coast, last week. Perhaps you shrugged your shoulders and asked in despair ‘What is the world coming to? So much violence.’ Or in your impatience to get to the sports page, perhaps you paid this bad news item no attention. For Audrey Francis, a student at Vose Seminary who served with her husband as a missionary in the Ivory Coast for 10 years, this was not a news item she could simply shrug off. She has...
read moreManaging Monday with Bonhoeffer – take two…
Last week I posted three quotes from notable German theologian, and victim of the Nazi regime, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Here are a few more… five actually. One a day until Good Friday… Silence in the face of evil is itself evil – Bonhoeffer If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the opposite direction – Bonhoeffer The blessedness of waiting is lost on those who cannot wait, and the fulfilment of promise is never theirs. They want quick answers to the deepest questions of life and miss the...
read moreEvangelicals and the Bible
Rosemary and I set off for Auckland tonight, where I will be teaching a graduate course in Evangelical Theology at Laidlaw College. It will be good to be back on our old home territory. I have often said to people that we feel enormously privileged to consider 3 countries as home, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and whenever we have not been able to get to one for a while, it feels as though something is wrong. It has been a couple of years since we were last in New Zealand, so a visit is overdue. While we will do our best to catch...
read moreGraduation Reflections…
You probably know that I serve as the principal of Vose Seminary. Last night was our graduation ceremony. I always find it a bitter sweet event. On the one hand, students start their studies with the hope of graduation in mind. The evening is about ‘mission accomplished’. Of course it is something to celebrate. And celebrate we do. Ours are not dry and dusty graduations. We delight in God’s presence and we raucously and cheerfully acknowledge each student’s success. But it is also about saying goodbye. We’ve had...
read moreManaging Monday, with Bonhoeffer
While most theologians from the 20th century are quietly fading off the radar, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one whose work is gaining greater and greater appreciation. Not only was he a great thinker and theologian, he lived out his beliefs, even as he agonised over them, and struggled to find an appropriate path forward in the nightmare of the Nazi regime in Germany. Most would know that he participated in the unsuccessful plot to assassinate Hitler, which saw him being hung to death just two weeks before the end of World War 2. We will look at...
read moreDementia… Forgetting or Forgotten?
Discussions on dementia are rightly becoming more frequent. It is a pertinent topic, and one which deserves careful theological and pastoral reflection. Someone wonderfully qualified to do this is Kerryn Monger, a graduate of Vose Seminary, currently studying a master’s degree in Ageing and Pastoral Studies at Charles Sturt University. She is a chaplain in residential aged care with Bethanie with a passion for ministry with seniors. I am grateful to her for this excellent article written specifically for this blog. I have wonderful memories...
read moreRetirement musings…
No, I don’t have plans to retire any time soon (how could you even think it?), but I recently attended a function to celebrate the retirement of two colleagues. One, Peter Lu, had worked for the Baptist Union of Western Australia for over 20 years, and the other, Terry Hicks, for 17 years. A lot of intellectual capital was finishing up that day, and there were naturally mixed emotions in the room. Both men have served the denomination with great loyalty and enthusiasm and leave it in a significantly stronger position than it was when...
read moreManaging Monday… Some Tillich Quotes
Last month we introduced ‘Managing Monday’ with 3 quotes each week from the great theologian of the church, Augustine. We will carry on with the three quotes each week format, but from different thinkers each week. Here are three quotes from American/German existentialist theologian from the last century, Paul Tillich (1886-1965). While he had many notable insights (though theologically I differ from him on many, many points), these are the three most frequently cited Tillich quotes… Enjoy… The first duty of love is to...
read moreFanning into Flame the Gift God has Given You
I serve as principal at Vose Seminary, and our new academic year got underway this week. With a record enrolment of students, things are looking really positive, and you could sense the energy and optimism in the room at our opening chapel service. I spoke at it, looking at 2 Timothy 1:6-7 where Paul instructs Timothy to fan into flame the gift within him. I explored what this might mean for our students as they begin their journey with us, and after speaking it struck me that what I said would be relevant for the majority of those who read...
read moreCan bitterness be beaten? Redeeming Emotions (4)
You’ve probably been in the company of someone who is bitter as the result of significant hurt or disappointment in the past. It could be that the company is your own – and that try as you might, you can’t keep your mind from replaying scenes which cause you anger and emotional pain. That smouldering resentment becomes a deeper and deeper bed of bitterness. So what is bitterness? Gregory Popcak has suggested that ‘Bitterness is unforgiveness fermented’ – and I think that is richly suggestive. Perhaps the...
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