As I have taken various steps forward in my ministry over the years, I have to my surprise sometimes found very large footprints in front of me. They are the footprints of a giant: an intellectual, theological and pastoral giant named J.I.Packer. He retired as a Professor of Theology at Regent College, Vancouver some years … Continue Reading
With the death of J. I. (‘Jim’) Packer, Anglican evangelicalism has lost one of its most significant theological voices, as well as a guiding figure of the National Evangelical Anglican Congress at the University of Keele in 1967, which many consider to have inaugurated a new phase in the history of evangelicalism within the Church … Continue Reading
In my last piece; ‘Why we need a God who does not suffer’, I laid out in brief the case for impassibility: the notion that God does not suffer, held in conjunction with the adjoining notion, immutability: that God does not change. Due to space I primarily laid out my case using the Old Testament. … Continue Reading
I feel a distinct uneasiness as I attempt to write some reflections on the brutal killing of George Floyd and the subsequent events. It’s an uneasiness borne of the tension in accepting that sheer silence represents a failure to reckon with what is and has been happening, yet knowing ahead of time that words will … Continue Reading
Most people will readily acknowledge that there is more than one way to write about theology on the internet. One very common way is to draw your newly polished theological Excalibur and carve up those deemed to be in error or heresy. Another approach, perhaps more befitting of my purposes here, is that of one … Continue Reading
A paper based on Jay Colwill’s transcript, delivered at the April 2020 “Beer and Theology” session; the first to be conducted online as a Zoom webinar during the Coronavirus lockdown. Introduction There is a proverb that says: ‘when the winds change direction, there are those who build walls and there are those who build windmills’. … Continue Reading
Following the sad news of the death of Bishop Simon Barrington-Ward on Holy Saturday 2020, formerly the Bishop of Coventry, we are pleased to publish a poem in memoriam, written by Sarah Cawdell. “Lord Jesus Christ” Berlin 1954 Post war community is found where trauma is faced, sin acknowledged, forgiveness found, poetry and friendship, love, … Continue Reading
A paper based on Stephen Godsell’s transcript, delivered at the 33rd “Beer and Theology” session in November 2019. Introduction What is truth (as Pilate famously asked of Jesus when he appeared before him)? What do we mean when we say that something is true; and how do we test or measure a claim that something … Continue Reading