Themes & Thoughts
For the Church of England's Future - look to America
How Should Christians Respond to Evils done in Our society?
Home – A glimpse of eternity in every-day life.
Want to Die Forever? That’s the world we exist in, if the truth is faced
A Nation Bound For Chaos - What is the role of “private” beliefs in the governing of a country?
The Most Important Thing. Of all the kinds of worship we offer, of all the blessings we receive, this is the very greatest ...
Abuser or Sufferer? The misunderstanding of the nature of God at the heart of a present-day misunderstanding of Atonement
The Message of Sex - Somehow humans just can’t get it right
It’s Not About Homosexuality … - The Anglican church/communion faces a crossroads, a choice between two different kinds of church.
Talking won’t solve all the world’s problems – humans are to blame …
Do I need to Get You In? – Well, no, actually …
What's in a Name? - look at the way names and labels operate in contemporary British Christianity.
Is it really a church? - Do Christians have to be more discerning about place and space?
"Liberation" - so called ... does it actually free people ...?
Praying for Small Things? - Many of us feel a bit awkward about the idea of praying for minor things, little things we think we need - somehow, it doesn't feel right - but maybe that's not how we should think ...
Evolution of Ethics? - I don't think so ...
Nature and Promiscuity - Current belief in the legitimate demands of a person’s nature can lead in unexpected directions, and once our feet are on that road …
Separation and Atheism - In Britain, we have never had it – but many countries have. The idea of separating religious denominations and government often started out as an attempt to prevent conflict – but today, in many places, it is simply a weapon by which materialists/atheists can enforce their own particular creed …
Contents-Label Church - Want to know exactly what you’re getting? Want to make an informed choice? Why shouldn’t churches/clergy be just like the food on the supermarket shelf?
Future Crisis - Christianity in the West is fast approaching a crossroads. Many church leaders and prominent Christians seem to prefer to ignore the fact. One who has spoken out is Jayne Ozanne …
The World We Live In Now - Is "postlapsarian" one of your words? Are you OK about things fallen? Or maybe you confuse this present reality with that which God created? Too many Christians, today, seem to think and reason as though this is how our world was always meant to be ...
Absolutely Anything But a Good Man - Today's reductionists, "modernists", or critical theologians - call them what you will - would have you believe that Jesus was just an ordinary man. Oh really? I find that totally unbelievable ...
Let's Hear It For Matthias! - Barely recorded, hardly known, this man chose to risk everything for a lost cause - following a dead and dishonoured itinerant preacher, with only persecution, torture and execution in prospect. Welcome to the Christian faith ...
Church Compliant - It used to be the "Church militant here on earth", in the world but not of the world, fighting against this-worldly values for the things eternal - but that was a long time ago ...
Glimpses of Glory - In this short 1940s sermon, C. S. Lewis expressed, I believe, the most significant and valuable religious insight of the twentieth century ...
Feelings & Reason - Dominated by how you feel, in so many situations? Brought low by the turmoil inside? Reason and argument are the great ally; they're on your side ...
The Optimistic Doctrine - "Original Sin" doesn't sound very nice, for sure - but in fact it is the only hopeful, and ultimately joyful, way to understand human nature; the alternative can only lead to despair ...
Good to be Green? - These days, everybody's a conservationist; environmentalism is politics, religion, and probably other things as well. But what might be the Christian attitude to all of this?
Oughtism - Time and again, many people - including Christians - manage to believe, as truth, whatever they think ought, or ought not, to be the case; indeed, there are times when I get to think that oughtism, of one kind or another, is the most prevalent religion around today ...
Balance - So often, the Christian faith involves holding together two alternatives, or even seeming-opposites, keeping two different things in balance ...
008 Will Replace Me - James Bond knew that if he couldn't complete his mission, M would send out someone else. The Holy Spirit does just the same; the important thing is to do what you can ...
The Unsuccessful Californian Evangelist - It's not how many people you reach, it's what you communicate - and how many people they reach ...
Different Paths Lead Down To .... - We've all heard the notion that all religious people are going in the same direction, despite their starting-point; I don't believe this for one moment - but I do believe the opposite: that all illusions lead, from many different places, to the same end ...
Inside & Outside - Christians today live surrounded by people with little or no faith at all. It's vital to realise that these people (outside, and maybe not looking in), do not see things just a bit differently from us, but totally differently ...
Something Nice For Me ... - For too many, today, religion - Christian or non-Christian - is all about doing something one finds agreeable, satisfying, or just plain nice. This is not real Christianity; we are called to witness to the truth, that alone ...
Now-ism - It seems to be almost normal, these days, that people just accept whatever they think everybody does, and do the same ... go along with the crowd; and certainly, we are constantly fed the idea that "This is what we all believe nowadays, don't we?"
The Cause of Crime - "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime!" - was the slogan of Britain's Labour government, when it first took office in 1997; but what, exactly, are the causes, or cause, of crime? I'd really like to get an answer ...
Darwins Chair - We often hear the idea that Charles Darwin outraged Victorian society because he "dethroned" mankind, by showing that people were not the most important thing in creation, but merely its final - accidental - product. Actually, I think the opposite is the case ...
Converting Christianity - What E. L. Mascall once wrote of John Robinson may or may not have been correct about Robinson - but it was certainly true of the whole enterprise of modern theology and much of modern Christianity ...