Speaking words of wisdom

I suspect that “fake news” is a piece of trashy political sloganeering that will blow away when the wind next changes direction. But the larger picture is troubling: digital technologies, in different ways, on different levels, are undermining our sense of what is real. Katherine Viner wrote in the Guardian a few months back:

We once talked about fake news; now it is reality itself that feels fake. The majority of global citizens doubt their ability to distinguish truth from fiction online. Who can blame them?

What can we do about that?

The dominant story in the Bible is the one about kingdom. It begins with the calling of a people to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” in the midst of the nations (Exod. 19:6) and ends with the overthrow of pagan Rome and the reign of Christ with the martyrs for a thousand years (Rev. 18:1-20:4).

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The “voice of a god” and the “form of a god”
I think that something quite straightforward is going on when Paul writes that Jesus was en morphē theou—literally, “in form of god” (Phil. 2:6). English translations usually render this “in the form of God” or perhaps something like “in the nature of God.” But if there’s one thing that… ()
What can we learn from “urban monasticism”?
In the Christian West, in the pre-modern world, the parish church met the religious needs of people living in the parish. It was necessitated by and sustained by a culture that had been in place, in one form or another, since the conversion of the Roman Empire under Constantine and his… ()
Between Jesus and Paul: where did it all go right?
The relationship between Jesus and Paul is much disputed. You will often hear people say that Paul turned the generous, kind, and progressive religion of Jesus into a monstrous theological and ecclesiastical system from which we are still recovering. Or that Jesus died for our sins and Paul told… ( | 6 comments)
What does it mean to be spiritual?
A narrative-historical approach brings into view the large-scale, national and civilisational events and processes that frame “theological” reflection. What it comes down to is that we cannot properly understand Jesus without taking into account the foreseen war against Rome, or understand the… ()
Hope in an age of anxieties
The standard evangelical response to the climate crisis is that the church should preach and practice creation care as a witness to the good news about Jesus. ()
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We screened the People’s Emergency Briefing film in the week before this message, so the climate crisis loomed menacingly. In the film, Jennifer Saunders of Absolutely Fabulous fame asks a good question: “What’s the matter with us?” What is the matter with us as a civilisation? ()
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For most of us, subjectively, the everyday experience of being human probably hasn’t changed very much, but we may be aware of a storm of questions blowing furiously outside the house, rattling the windows and loosening tiles. What does it mean to be male and female? What is a “normal” state of… ()