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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Why are the nations in the new heaven and new earth?
The popular view is that when Christians die, they go to heaven to be with God for ever and ever. This is a sub-biblical notion that has to some extent been corrected in recent years, thanks not least to Tom Wright. We are now much more likely to recognize that the biblical narrative terminates not… ( | 12 comments)
Revelation and the defeat of pagan empire
We had a very interesting session on the Book of Revelation in Harlesden last Tuesday evening. The big hermeneutical question it raised, in my view, is whether we live in the story it tells or after the story it tells. Barney suggested that we live in it and compared its complex… ( | 5 comments)
Where I stand on Reformed theology, Calvinism and the doctrines of grace
This question was put to me via the contact form. It’s brief and I’m not entirely sure where it’s coming from. My guess is that the questioner is from a Calvinist background and wants to know whether my writings are safe to read, but I could be wrong, and it doesn’t much… ( | 10 comments)
Wright and how God became king over Caesar
A four hour ferry journey across Lake Van gives me the opportunity to write up some reflections on chapter seven of Tom Wright’s [amazon:978-0281061464:inline], in which he describes how the clash between God and Caesar plays out in the story of Jesus. These rusting boats have for a long time… ( | 1 comment)
Wright and the mission of the early church
Chapter 6 of Tom Wright’s How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels is entitled “The Launching of God’s Renewed People”. I read it on a rather scary bus ride through the mountains from Diyarbakir to Tatvan on the western edge of Lake Van, in eastern Turkey.… ( | 1 comment)
Wright and the divinity of Jesus
In order to distinguish his own approach from well-meaning but misguided attempts to prove that Jesus was divine, Tom Wright argues in How God Became King: Getting To The Heart Of The Gospels that the Gospels do not aim to prove Jesus’ divinity; rather they presuppose it.… ( | 118 comments)
Wright and the rescue of creation
Yesterday we made it all the way from Dubai to Duhok, in what used to be Assyria, via Abu Dhabi and Erbil. All in all a rather uneventful journey. I got a good 80 pages into Wright’s [amazon:978-0281061464:inline], and so far I think my main prejudgment stands. He does his usual excellent job… ( | 9 comments)