The groaning of creation

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?

There is no eco-crisis in the New Testament, but we often read Romans 8:19-21 as an expression of Paul’s conviction that the whole of creation will eventually be set free from the consequences of the fall of humanity.

I think that misses the historical point.

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Forgiveness and the wiped out document nailed to the cross
One of the implications of a narrative-historical hermeneutic is that the community, not the individual, is made the locus for New Testament theological reasoning. So, for example, eschatology—the “end” stuff—is not about what happens to individuals when they die but about what happens to… ( | 17 comments)
A couple more problems with the narrative-historical premise. Will it never end?
In The narrative premise of a post-Christendom theology, which stands as an introductory piece for the approach to reading the New Testament that I think an “evangelical” church somehow needs to take on board, I suggest that:  The New Testament presupposes, describes, and predicts a… ( | 3 comments)
God, theology and history
In response to my attempt to correct the impression that the narrative-historical approach to reading scripture has an “ultimate weakness”, Justin and his brother Daniel kindly explained that I had got hold of the wrong end of the stick. The problem that they highlight is not so much that firmly… ( | 4 comments)
The strengths (and weaknesses) of the narrative-historical method
In a discussion of John 14:6 on the podcast site Home Brewed Christianity Justin makes this comment with reference to the narrative-historical hermeneutic that underpins much of what I have written on this blog and in my recent books:…what I think is good about Andrew (as well… ( | 12 comments)
The Great (apocalyptic) Commission
I recently received an email from someone who has a friend who had a couple of points to make about the so-called Great Commission. She wants to know what I think.Since Jesus tells his followers to make disciples of all “nations” rather than of all “people”, what he means is something like “make… ( | 13 comments)
Reading the parable of the mustard seed after Christendom
As I see it, a narrative-historical theology is bound to recognize that the collapse of western Christendom is a profoundly significant event in the story of the historical people of God—as significant as the exodus, the exile, Pentecost, the destruction of Jerusalem, the conversion of the empire,… ()
Discipleship means giving up everything to follow Jesus. Or does it?
Lloyd Pietersen’s post-Christendom reading of the Gospels leads him to stress the fact that for Luke “discipleship means giving up everything to follow Jesus” ([amazon:978-0836196177:inline], Kindle version, loc. 657). Jesus tells his disciples that “it is your Father’s good pleasure to… ( | 1 comment)