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I few days ago I came across an anglican web site stuffed full of great (and free) resources and articles (including N T Wright, Tom Smail, Elaine Storkey etc), called Fulcrum.
I downloaded from there and printed, then read early this morning an article by N T Wright, titled ‘The Cross and the Carictures’. In terms of the various arguments about penal substitution, the major players, texts and issues over the past few years, it is the best piece I have ever read.
In it, N T Wright draws on popular books (Steve Chalke & Alan Mann), and heavy weight academic books (in particular the much endorsed new book from Oak Hill College Pierced for Our Transgressions: Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution) and UK newspapers coverage of the discussion, to provide a response, his thoughts and assessments of the hullabaloo that has taken place. If you have an interest in this ongoing discussion, it is well worth a read.
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Increasingly commentators are talking of the “feminization†of the church. I’m wondering what that means; what does the church’s “feminization†look, sound and feel like? I’m wondering too about the male narratives, images, myths, archetypes and symbols. I’m reflecting on the insights provided through an engagement with the ways in which males are portrayed in movies such as Jar Head, Once Were Warriors, American Beauty, Fight Club, Whale Rider, Elephant and the likes. Is Garrison Keillor right? “It is hard to put your finger on, but guys are in trouble. Guys are gloomy.†What are the influences that have brought us to a place in which we are “in trouble�
These questions are some of those I’ve been sitting with as part of my preparation for leading a workshop on “male spiritualityâ€; an introduction to so-called male spirituality and its implications for spiritual directors and spiritual directors.
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Jonny Baker, probably one of the most read UK emerging church bloggers, has (with several of his team mates) re-launched Proost.
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I made a post last summer about the relationship between animals and the christian spirituality in history. I haven’t seen anything on a blog before or since about that dynamic, and relationship. It still seems to be a topic that has little attention.
Any way, the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, have a conference on 18th September, at Keble College, Oxford University.
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I’ve written before about my use of the Northumbria Community prayers. I’ve used them online and in printed form. In fact I moved to the online version after trying the Divine Hours for a couple of months, and found the books to large to carry around with me.
Well I got a heads up from Paul Mayers, that there was a pocket edition for the Divine Hours. I got my review copy today, and it’s superb/lovely. In that it’s portable, usable, and simple.
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This last weekend I was fortunate enough to visit the church my parents attend in Denver, CO. It’s called Pathways and is an awesome church! They were ending a series using movies as their theme. In case I haven’t mentioned it before (or this will be a reminder) I LOVE movies! I love watching movies just to enjoy them, analyzing them, finding symbolism, deeper meanings, etc. So this was right up my alley!
Anyway, the movie they talked about was Little Miss Sunshine. If you haven’t seen it, I highly highly recommend it! It’s funny and ironic, and at the same time, infuriating… if you watch it, you’ll understand. (When they were showing clips from it, half of the congregation was in tears they were laughing so hard!)
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Simple Church is only as simple as you want to make it? Maybe…Maybe not. I’m suggesting that working through some issues as to arrive at being a simple church isn’t simple at all. I suggest that there are different ecclesiological tracks running through recent church history. And in my head I might be wishing, hoping for or even prophetising about contexualized, emerging models, in reality I’m caught up in a wave of a network consisting of church and its members, friends, camps, conferences, school, blog, and so on. Is it just me but doesn’t it seem that we are going up and down the full spectrum of ecclesiological wave (click on the image for full sized image of this wave)?
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Crispin Fletcher-Louis is the principal of Westminster Theological Centre, a training centre birthed by Anglicans in London. We’ve got Crispin to post at the Deep Church blog this week about the nature and role of institutions with regards to learning and education for christians.
It’s a profound piece, you can read it and join me in the discussion here.
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Well I’m back from vacation/holiday. Thanks to all of you who interacted with the posts I had running whilst I was away, I’ll try to catch up with the comments asap.
I’m prone to introspection and reflection, and holidays give plenty of time for that and I realized again a few things about my life, that include:
1. Action: I usually struggle with holiday times, some of that is my workaholic tendencies, which cause me to spend too much time thinking about what needs to be done when I get back. But it’s also learning that I’m wired so that I need to do something on holiday.
Two weeks of doing nothing is my idea of a nightmare. So after years of trying to do nothing on holiday, I now do stuff when I am away. This year I did a french language course, and got to practice speaking french on holiday, and I read some books, went running etc. Whilst my wife slept in and sunbathed most of the day, I was up early enjoying the sun rise, and space for recreation and learning.
I wish I had learned and embraced this about myself a long time ago.
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(originally posted on my blog November 2006)
It’s amazing how the term ‘evangelical’ has been denigrated and developed into a pejoratively so quickly. Apparently the term ‘evangelical’ dates from the 16th century, originally used by Catholics wanting to be more biblical for beliefs and activities than much of the medieval church at the time, and pre-dates the reformation.Then the term gained prominence in the reformation, until it reached its current Zenith in the western church and global south.
Yet in recent years the term ‘evangelical’ has become a word of revulsion in the media, and the doyen for most of the angst of the emerging church. And I must admit I have wrestled with and re-thought my evangelical roots and beliefs.
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