Christians hold a very high regard for the notion of 'The Word of God' and rightly so. But it does seem to me at least, that we confuse categories and blur boundaries. There are three Words: The Word that is Scripture The Word that is Christ The Word that is Preaching Evangelicals (and I count... Continue Reading →
It's always helpful to have working definitions of theology interacting with each other, rather than one, flat, bland and bloodless offering; a few definitions are floating around this blog somewhere or other! Michael Jenson has got a great little book out called 'How To Write a Theology Essay' designed to help new theological students write... Continue Reading →
Re-reading Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I have been re-staggered by his sheer realism of Kingdom perspective. Bonhoeffer is no religious hack mass producing religious visions of a utopian ideal - an ideal that only serves to wear thin before wearing out the Christian community. "Innumerable times a whole Christian Community has been shattered because... Continue Reading →
I love the Bible and I love preaching from the Bible. Today alone I tried to prepare a sermon for Sunday. I tried scattered prayer and random reading of various books. I even ate a bag of Cadbury's Dairy Milk 'Marvellous Mix-Ups' with Maynards (which were freakin delicious by the way), in the hope of some... Continue Reading →
At the turn of the 21st century, I studied the whole Bible over nine months. It was the most dramatic and faith building event in my life up to that point. Studying the Bible before studying any formal theology was a life-saver. I have found that most (99%) theological colleges assume a certain amount of... Continue Reading →
Peter Taylor Forsyth refers to the Sacrament of the Word as the distinctly Protestant Sacrament that invests the pulpit with dignity. In an 1885 sermon, he bemoaned the tendency of his age to depreciate the power of the spoken word. He cites fellow preachers who bemoan their Sunday Sacramental duty, contemptuously attending to Sundays when they would... Continue Reading →
Sermons are a duty and a joy. A duty that is born out of the calling of God to preach the Gospel of Christ in the power of the Spirit, which is also a joy at the same time. This strange combination and the outworking of it always amazes me, and always motivates me, it... Continue Reading →
The task of a prophet is not to smooth things over but to make things right. The function of religion is not to make people feel good but to make them good. Love? Yes, God loves us. But his love is passionate and seeks faithful, committed love in return. God does not want tame pets... Continue Reading →
Gralefrit Theology 