Though I wouldn’t self identify with the label Charismatic, I certainly believe in what are commonly referred to as the ‘gifts’ and have observed the tradition close up in recent years. With all this said, the recent events have highlighted to me once again that the charismatic tradition needs to take a long hard look at it’s self. Lakeland was not a one-off mistake and drop of guard but as with most things of this nature, a symptom of a wider mentality held within this corner of the church. With this in mind I found my way to the Ceruleum Sanctum Blog which has a two part series on the revisions which the charismatic church (and indeed all of us who would identify as believers in the gifts) need to look at, the full 2 part series can be found here (1) and...
I only had time to add the technology links from last weeks end of week round up, so here are a few that were left off but still deserve to be plugged. The Center for Barth Studies publishes a new version of the Shorter Romans Commentary Christian Audio are giving away Augustine’s Confessions as a free audio book. HT: Scotteriology Michael Patton at Parchment and Pen writes a long long post on the emerging church which acts as a very helpful and informed introduction. Trevin Wax has an interesting interview with Rabbi Derek Lemen who talks about a balanced hand when dealing with tradition before regarding all Jewish tradition within faith as pharisaic. Scot McKnight hammers ahead with Mission of God and I am not keeping up with the reading unfortunately.
The Mission of...
After work today we are driving down to Glasgow for our good friends Martin and Lindsay’s wedding, so I’ve posted the end of week a little earlier than usual. I was waiting for this to happen: so called ‘tethering’ turns your iPhone 3G into a wireless modem with 3G Internet speeds (thanks to an app) where ever you are…What’s that I hear operators nervously applying download caps to their unlimited iPhone data packages? This is a rather geektastic display of the top ten crazy monitor setups. iPhone 3G is going out to more countries, so maybe I wont have to worry about roaming a pick up a PAYG 3G when O2 releases it earlier this year, (not looking forward to data charges though!) Delta are rolling out wifi in 2009 for all domestic flights - Would...
“My dear brother, we must not mind a little suffering for Christ’s sake. When I am getting through a hedge, if my head and shoulders are safely through, I can bear the pricking of my legs. Let us rejoice in the remembrance that our holy Head has surmounted all His suffering and triumphed over death. Let us follow Him patiently; we shall soon be partakers of His victory.” —Charles Simeon, quoted in John Piper, The Roots of Endurance (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006), 77 HT: Of First ImportanceSimilar Posts:None Found...
“There is no deep and stable spirituality that does not acknowledge what an utterly profound privilege it is to know God and be reconciled to him by the crucified Messiah.” - D. A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Baker Books, 2003), 52. HT: Of First ImportanceSimilar Posts:None Found...
Its interesting to see some visual interpretation of the words used recently on this blog. Thanks to Wordle - A great solution when there is no time to blog. HT: TSK & JasonClark Similar Posts:None Found...
Here’s a great place to find free religious audio books of a catholic persuasion TheologyForum have written an interesting post on the nature of Apologetics IPSUM ESSE has written some useful reflections on Aberdeen’s Francesca Murphy’s book "God is not a Story" which cannot be purchased for any less than £60 according to my research whilst trying to find it. Brian Brock was right, he does write the cheaper books at the faculty in Aberdeen (just kidding Brian) faith and theology writes a review of Engaging the Doctrine of God which Aberdeen’s John Webster contributed to.New Kid on the Blog: theological scribbles from Robin Parry takes on a big one, Israel and the Church in his quest to lose his friends. Here is a well balanced review of The Shack,...
Scotteriology asks a good question: "We are entering a time where it is very probable that we will be asked to bring the Kingdom of God into North Atlantic areas in ways that will be challenging and unique. How do you minister to the “least of these” that are still among the world’s elite? If a family has lost the ownership of a house and their nest egg, but still has their health, food, and a roof over their heads (which makes them very rich by global standards) how do you minister to the broken heart of those experiencing relative poverty?"Similar Posts:None Found...
Scot McKnight draws out this useful bit of Exegesis from The Mission of God Phil 2:9-11 needs to be read alongside Isaiah 45:22-23, so I want to put them both down right here. Here’s Isaiah: “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow;by me every tongue will swear.” Here’s Phil 2: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! Therefore God...
Theres plenty to get through today, normally there is a bit of a smorgasborg of topics, so decided to divide the round up a bit more topically this week (needless to say the topic headings are hopelessly inadequate), let me know if that is useful: Theology/Church Stuff: Scot McKnight just started blogging through a book Rachel gave me for my Graduation - The Mission of God by Christopher Wright Ill be reading it along with this series.
The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative
John Stackhouse has written an excellent post for people considering a PhD, well worth a read, it certainly quelled my fantasies of Post Grad work! Jason Clark gives you a peek into his PhD research. Andy White writes a helpful post on the subject of why your visions should be...
Jamie posted a list of the classics he has read after reading sonja’s list, This is from something called “The Big Read” from the NEA. They came up with a list of their top 100 books, and they estimate that the average adult has only read 6 of these books. I will highlight the ones I’ve read. Cut and paste into your blog and let us know which you’ve read. and here is mine. Italics for want to read. Try it out yourself - 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (A Level Eng Lit.) 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (Fellowship only, Im a cheat) 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6 The Bible 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (A Level Lit.) 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 9...
Thanks to Zach Neilsen for pointing to this:The body of my friend Tim Eimer is weakened by what may be a fatal cancer. His spirit is finding strength in the gospel. Recently he wrote this practical exhortation:"In recent years, God has taught me not to hold on to my life so dearly. For what we cling so desperately to, we soon begin to fret and worry about. Fretting and worry lead to fear; fear results in poverty–poverty of spirit and heart and hope. I have been struck this week with the thought of living life generously, of spending my life like the wealthy man that I am because we cannot hoard our days in a bank account or investment. This week I have been writing letters of encouragement, writing furiously in the journals I am leaving to my boys (I’m up to page 115 for...
I had a particularly hectic week last week with graduating at the start of the week (see pictures here) , then working in London for a few days yet not getting to see any action at Wimbledon!..now I am back on terra firma and able to give a tour of my rss reading catch up. Dropbox was highlighted by Lifehacker again, I have been using it now for about a month now and can say it is by far the best fil;e transfer app available…I’m just waiting for it to come out of beta so I can get more than 2GB! Holla in the comments for an invite to the as-yet private beta. Floyd and Sally have included some great photos from their community giving an insight to what is going on there. View from the basement gets into a quick exploration of Pastoring in a Media age and how the Sunday...
I was hoping to continue the 21st Century Missions series earlier this week but I have had no time to get the responses together. Thanks to everyone who has responded so far though, there are some great thoughts and it will be well worth the wait. Theologian Douglas Knight shares some interesting Barthian thoughts on Marriage from CDIII.4. Do you know of any other theological treatments of marriage? Also there is a sample chapter available from the new edition of the Church Dogmatics which will include translations of all Latin and Greek texts, presented alongside the original texts. Tom Smith at SoulGardeners writes a great reflection on how as Jesus-followers, University education should not be primarily motivated by money-making or getting the advantage but by being equipped to...
Yes, only one post since last weeks round up and I have a plethora of posts for you. I am wondering if these round ups are overkill, but I do enjoy cataloging the finds for my own use at any rate. Andy White has re:launched his site with a fancy new design and lots of ‘:’s. Andy is a great blogger and I’m looking forward to reading more of his technology, blogging and Big Life words. I’m starting a new blog series on Missions in the 21st Century, it will focus on responses from guest bloggers and I’ve had some great responses already which I am excited to post over the next few weeks, so keep checking in for that. Cool Tools is a great blog that I keep bookmarked, it features reviews on great books, gadgets and software and always picks up on...
Just a few things to keep you interested over the weekend Christian Resources charity Demarus has published some good resources for using the Narnia movie, a theme I picked up a little while ago in a round up. Trevin Wax posts a great insight into missions in his post ‘When the Missionary Honeymoon is Over’ - Trevin will hopefully be a guest on this site in the next few weeks as a part of a series I’m starting answering some questions on the subject of missions, so stay tuned for that. Theology Blog Inhabitio Dei has posted a template for reading the New testament in a week which I am planning to attempt along with my good friend at YWAM and lapsed blogger John Gillespie! I stumbled across a good web designer here in Scotland who created the episcopal denominations...
“The theologies from Europe and North America are dominant today in our churches and represent one form of cultural domination. They must be understood to have arisen out of situations related to those countries, and therefore must not be uncritically adopted without our raising the question of their relevance in the context of our countries. Indeed, we must, in order to be faithful to the gospel and to our peoples, reflect on the realities of our won situations and interpret the word of God in relation to these realities. We reject as irrelevant an academic type of theology that is divorced from action. We are prepared for a radical break in epistemology which makes commitment the first act of theology and engages critical reflection on praxis of the reality of the Third World.”The...
Here’s a post I found interesting from Trevin Wax who worked/s as a missionary in Romania about his journey of learning romanian."So, one day, I decided not to speak in English anymore to anyone.
The only time I would use English was when I did not know how to say
what I needed to say in Romanian. In such a circumstance, I would say
the desired phrase in English and then ask how to say it in Romanian.
When I would find out how to express myself in Romanian, I would repeat
the phrase or sentence in Romanian. That way, I would be learning even
when I didn’t know what to say.
Making the decision to speak only in Romanian was like taking the
training wheels off a bicycle. Yes, I fell off a lot and the bike kept
going wobbly for a while. But at least I was riding! And every...
There is an interesting post about the new Narnia film depicting Susan fighting in the battles when she does not in the books at the CBMW and how the director argues that he want to represent secular opinion on women fighting on the front lines stating: "When the issue of Susan not participating in the fight for Narnia was
introduced in the first film, I rejected it then. I was like, ‘Well if
she’s just gonna make sandwiches then give her a plate and a knife.’
It’s something that I don’t agree with so I wasn’t going to make a
movie like that." As the CBMW highlights: Lucy is presented as a model of steadfast faith in the face of
adversity. After she apologizes to Aslan for not obeying him the first
time and announces her determination to follow...
Busy Mondays! But theres plenty to keep you busy on this weeks Round up… Intrigued to check out ReadAir, an offline syncronised extension of Google Reader (which is obviously the best feed reader by far!)lifehacker listed the top 10 things you forgot your mac can do. If your a fan of Lost like me (yeah, some of us are still hanging on) then check out Jorge Garcia’s (hurley) blog, a few good tips on up and coming lost episodes!Scot McKnight talks about the evangelical manifesto and how the term evangelical is ecumnical not primarily confessional or as he puts it: Evangelicalism is essentially “gospel ecumenism” instead of
“theological conformity.” Evangelicals unite around the gospel but
tolerate all kinds of diversity theologically. Thus, from the time......
Since moving to Aberdeen I have been having some interesting conversations with my new flat mate Willy, all this resulted in me telling him, "you really need to start a blog!" so he did! Hoping he wouldn’t join the list of some of my other failed converts see here, and here, I didn’t add him to the blogroll straight off the mark, but he seems to be blogging aplenty, watch this space.We’ve also been hanging out with Rebecca Agnew from Atlanta who is here in Scotland for the summer with the Mission Society working on cataloging a missiology library (she gets free books, Im jealous). She has been blogging on her dotmac account for a while but has seen the ‘light’ as it where, and has started a wordpress blog here.Similar Posts:None Found...
Probably the first of its kind in the UK, Worship Central, a really superb ministry from Holy Trinity Brompton, has worked with Kings College London to produce an MA in contemporary worship. Tearfund have begun publishing Daily prayer podcasts, though somehow whilst moving house last week I lost my iPod!Trevin Wax writes well on the subject of being ecumenical. A new free (ish) UK service called freesat is being launched which offers digital HD broadcasting and a good number of channels, even to those areas (like up here in the depths of Scotland) where you can’t get freeview.Had I not recently broken my canon SD300 I would be doing this in a second, lifehacker have featured free software which you can load onto your point and shoot canon through the memory card to...
I have the day off work today which is great except I am in the library studying Barth’s soteriology and have been the whole weekend, but I shoudl hopefully be finished today as I have to spend the rest of the week packing up the house and moving down to Aberdeen.
Today the first post of Scot McKinghts series on Wisdom from Pastors by Kent Anderson, pastor of a Covenant church in Naperville Illinois:
"the one thing I would make sure of if I was starting over again is this – read the Bible…Why do this? In every other element of my position I know that there are people in the church who know more about leadership and vision casting, finances, building construction and maintenance, pedagogy and the care and feeding of copiers. But I need to know the...
Hopefully you’ll find something of interest here:- Johnny Baker flagged up a couple of interesting ebooks about management for people in creative jobs and related that church planting can be considered within this field. - Jamie wrote the best sentences Ive read all week in one of his posts about Francis: "We must never forget that our words, while important, have only the
level authority to which I lives, through the power of the Spirit, lend
them credibility."- Scot McKnight is starting an excellent series called Pastors Wisdom which he will be the result of asking a series of seasoned pastors this question: If you could start
all over again, knowing what you know now, what would you focus on?" I’ll be trying to listent with all ears.- Abraham Piper has...
Ive been drowning under the weight of being busy at work, moving house, attempting my uni work and being ill for the last few days and have not been suceeding at any of them (yes, Im even not good at being ill), so I would appreciate your prayers. Other than that I’m looking forward to getting my house handed over and moving into to Aberdeen.Prof. Alister McGrath has moved from Oxford to Kings College LondonA Great piece in the Times on Savoj Zizek (right) who is the envogue philospher of date, and a very interesting guy.This is a good cartoon on how to spot a Christian blog just by looking at the stats!Interesting piece of photojournalism on Boeings new Dreamliner..looks cool.A New John Mayer film coming up, release set for 01/07/08. Can’t wait to see this, I’ve...
I am just about to embark on a fairly busy weekend and don’t plan to blog, there are some offshore bundle tow projects starting this weekend that I have to keep an eye on, tonight I have Craig’s (Rachel’s brother) wedding rehersal, then tomorrow the wedding, service, meal, dance (that will be good fun scottish celidh dancing!), then I’m driving everyone home, missing church on sunday and am going to try and work on my Barth piece, we’ll how the last one goes!Before I go though, I came across a cool post by Scott Prather who blogs at Swords to Plowshares, Scott is a post-grad student at Aberdeen where I am working on my MA. He has written a nice introduction to the theological landscape at the University of Aberdeen by going through the faculty staff.Scott...
Plenty of News and good blogging going right now, these are in no particular order there is tech, apple, theology and everything else crammed in:The mighty design software company adobe has released a beta version of free web based software called Photoshop Express. It has some great tools for retouching and free storage. Best of all you get your own address .photoshop.com so I snapped up liam.photoshop.com I havent had the chance to put anything up on it, as the most of my photos are on flickr.Maggi Dawn features a link which shows us why not to aspire to look like cover girls (or boys for that matter)Very Interesting post on ex-communication, something the 21st Century Church doesn’t like to talk about. John Piper explains that excommunication although seemingly harsh is in fact...
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UPDATE/APOLOGY: To those reading the RSS feed (who likely wouldnt read this update anyway) I published this before some re-formats and spell checks and so it may look a horrendous mess in the feedreader. …and plenty of it! I have been busy this week, but not to busy to pick up some interesting news, links and posts. Apologies for the massive length of this post, but its two round ups in one as I didnt manage my normal mid week round up this week, enjoy:Apple is thinking about offering subcription-based unlimited iTunes downloads Ft reports: "Detailed market research has shown strong appetite among consumers
for deals bundling music in with the cost of the device, or in exchange
for a monthly subscription, executives said. One executive said
the research had shown that consumers...
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Heres the round up for this week, but first I am finding a trend in my feed reading, I am consistantly having about 200 unread items in my feed so I may have to make some difficult decisions in terms of unsubscribing from certain blogs. Interestingly it is the blogs that are particularly volumous that I am most tempted to unsubscribe from, maybe quality instead of quantity, I wonder if this is the same for you? It may indicate an interesting message for bloggers.- Jim Martin has an excellent story about a surprise phone call which taught him that people are not easily written off.- Donovan Palmer says we can choose to have a happy heart, this was an encourgement to me yesterday.- An Island 600 miles from the north pole is getting the sun back, I felt just like this a few weeks ago,...
My Birthday! This week has gone quickly, thought I haven’t done quite as much work as I maybe could have Ill put that down to a pre-birthday celebration (which is on sunday!)Much to Rachel’s annoyance I havent quite gotten into the birthday spirit, but we are having dinner at a nice southern mediteranean restaraunt in Aberdeen called Rustico’s tonight which should lighten things up! If you are feeling especially generous (or are a member of family contractually obliged to give a present and are currently freaking out thinking you have forgotten my birthday) Id be VERY grateful for anything on my wishlist at Amazon(UK).Book Buying Tips Which leads me onto another tip for the week which is DON’T BUY BOOKS ON AMAZON. I love amazon, its a one stop shop,...
