Back in July, just after I’d finished reading Flow by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, I wrote this in my journal: ‘Read more fiction and ancient wisdom, and less critical theory. Theory emerges from post-scientific-revolution enlightenment rationalism, aiming to distill life to purely scientific concepts. Ancient wisdom writers and artists know that knowledge is best absorbed like nutrients … More The way of wisdom
And there was evening, and there was morning. The first day. From the opening passages of the Bible, with the account of the creation of the cosmos, immediately we hear the rhythm of the story. The rhythmic undulations of the poetry of the passage may be lost to us in translation, but a rhythm more … More Rhythm and Creation
I don’t really know much about it, having grown up in the era of point-and-shoot, take-as-many-as-you-want digital photography. A child of the 90s, the closest I got was taking a roll of film to the Kodak shop where we lived to get it processed. But we never saw how it was done. Roughly, in the … More Instructions for processing a film negative, plus how to read the Old Testament
I’ve had a copy of The Bible for Everyone for just over 24 hours now. These are my initial impressions. … More The Bible for Everyone – Immediate Impressions
I’m excited to be able to share another song video to showcase some of what’s coming on the album I’m currently working on. This one’s called ‘Rejoice My Soul’ and is taken straight from Philippians 4. As I say in the video below, I love writing songs straight from Scripture as it makes for good … More New Song taster – ‘Rejoice My Soul’
I love Tom Wright’s simple, cheerful response to the question about balancing life in the video below (at right about the 1-hour mark): “I get up very early, say my prayers, and do the next three things that have to be done.” Which for Tom Wright happen to include putting right centuries of Pauline scholarship, … More The next three things
I have been interested in Christian pacifism for quite some time. Jumped on board when I first heard about it, actually. The idea that Christians should be committed to a non-violent way of life because Jesus was non-violent was, and still is, a no-brainer. I suppose what I mean is that I was already a … More Pacifism…s
And Jesus said to them, “…whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one…” They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.” (Luke 22:35-38) If Jesus’ affirmation that two swords were enough was meant to be a call to armed resistance now for the … More On Luke 22:35-38 and armed resistance
Poetry has always been the means by which human beings have creatively expressed that which is outside ordinary everyday speech. ‘Poetry’ in this sense encompasses poetry as we know it, but also plays, songs, and even some forms of prose; anything which seeks to use metaphors and similes, symbolism and imagery, hyperbole, creative contrast, rhyme, … More Theology and Poetry
I’ve just finished listening to the latest edition of Unbelievable, on the above subject. Representing the ‘Yes’ campaign, Joseph Cummings. ‘No’, Nabeel Qureshi. This was definitely one of the best recent episodes; the dialogue was respectful and enjoyable. The conversation hovered around the issue of what we would say about Judaism for longer than I liked. (The … More Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?
Ben David Trigg 