OrrWhat?

Category: Faith

  • Ministry geek?

    Is there such a thing as a ministry geek? If so, I think I’m turning into one. Standing at the washhand basin this morning I was thinking about our new boiler. It’s a combi type so our hot water tank has gone. I now have to wait for the water to heat up but with…

  • Confusion

    I’ve uploaded the short talk I used for my speech training session to the downloads page (and fixed the non-working downloads while there). It’s called ‘Confusion’ and is a slightly different take on John 4 and Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. It developed out of a passing thought as I was…

  • Looking back, looking forward

    I haven’t blogged properly for a little while and so the beginning of a new year seems like a good place to pick it up again. But first the formalities – I hope those who may be reading had a relaxing and joyful Christmas and that you are blessed in the coming year. I don’t…

  • Oh what a mystery I see

    I’ve heard many conversations this advent about the ‘real’ Christmas story. I don’t know if it’s simply a fashionable trend or whether there are more people genuinely seeking answers, but it’s been surprising how many conversations there have been that including such statements as “There was no donkey!” or “It wasn’t actually a stable!” or…

  • Good enough

    I have been doing some cramming for tomorrow’s exams and one of my topics was Barth’s take on Providence. I came across a comment about creation and it brought to mind a previous discussion on the goodness or fallen-ness of creation. Barth was making the point that creation was good enough – good enough to…

  • Unfortunate headline

    Maybe the headline editor wasn’t quite awake when they wrote this BBC News headline and summary, but I can’t help but think how awful it reads. There’s an implicit sense of shock that anyone would continue with the pregnancy of a Down’s syndrome baby. To be fair the article is much more positive and I…

  • Only probably?

    Professor Richard Dawkins is supporting a publicity campaign to have London buses carry ads saying that “There’s probably no God”. I can’t help but think that he could have been a bit more positive about it given his hard-line atheist stance. Surely he’s not having doubts? I also wonder if it won’t backfire somewhat. Surely…

  • A year on

    This time last year I was struggling with Schleiermacher. Today’s Biblical Interpretation class was dealing with another chunk of Schleiermacher and shock! horror! I actually more or less understood it. I’d like to think that it’s because I’m more knowledgeable but I suspect it was an easier read than the last one. That’s not to…

  • Biblical interpretation – again

    Yesterday’s class was a whistlestop tour of the main phases of Biblical Interpretation since the first century. Interesting enough but nothing earth-shattering. It was followed, though, by an interesting discussion on more recent approaches to scripture. Much as the traditional historical-critical methods are useful and interesting, I struggle with some of the inherent flaws present…