I have just found my recently misplaced 1889 copy of The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, the 14th century Catholic mystic, and one of the world's most read books. It can be bought from any decent bookshop, but also downloaded as a PDF here, something I'm sure Thomas would have approved! In the... Continue Reading →
T. S . Eliot once wrote, 'humankind/Cannot bear very much reality.' Not that people hate or despise reality, or that people constantly pursue reality, but that, in the end, too much reality, about ourselves, the world, God, is all just a bit too much. It is especially the Ultimate that is a problem for people: God. Prayer.... Continue Reading →
"Today, I came home to a real fire burning in the grate and enjoyed a splendid real apple pie topped with real cream whilst watching a reality TV show about the virtues of real ale, followed by a rather intense conversation with a friend. He shared whether his sense of being followed the other night... Continue Reading →
Have you ever wanted to shake your fist in the face of God? Have you ever read the story of the ancient Israelites and wondered why on earth they were such a dopey bunch of failures? Have you ever read the Psalms and wondered why so many of them seem so angry, so confused, so... Continue Reading →
P. T. Forsyth is rousing my theological interest on a number of fronts at the moment. I am desperate to read his Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind, but only have a flaky copy on my computer, and that won't do. Nevertheless, do not feel sorry for me. I found this paradigm changing comment Forsyth... Continue Reading →
Death is really important to think about, affecting approximately 100% of humanity. In the Western world especially, it remains a stunning source of perplexity why so many people in their old age, 70's+ often seem less to contemplate the inevitability of death. Just recently whilst visiting an elderly sick man in the church, it seemed... Continue Reading →
Most of us love stories. I was read to as a child. When my dad was on shore leave from the Navy we had a gluttony of stories (mostly the classic fairy stories, but it was because dad was reading that it became an event)! Stories are scripts! They can be about anything, teaching us... Continue Reading →
Many of the 1960's civil rights workers Robert Coles consulted in his psychiatric research came from middle-class families. Their parents nagged the kids about getting a real job and making something of themselves. One of them responded to his mother's concerned prayers over him: 'I wonder what Jesus said, listening to her prayers! I felt... Continue Reading →
Last night whilst having a beer(s) with a friend, we hit upon the idea of reality. What is reality, and how is one person's existential reality to be evaluated as any less a reality than mine, or yours? It was, for all intents and purposes, a discussion based on the material and subjective immediacy of... Continue Reading →
Dr Rob Knowles writes on the critical imperative of making ourselves open to challenge and thus prepared to live our lives in the central room, a centre that governs and shapes all thought, motives and views under the authority of God's Word. Communion and Criticism: Openness to Challenge by the Real In a postmodern world,... Continue Reading →
Gralefrit Theology 