Blog

  For all the mysteries, engines, instruments, wherewith the world is filled, which we are able to frame and use to thy glory. For all the trades, variety of operations, cities, temples, streets, bridges, mariner’s compass, admirable picture, sculpture, writing, printing, songs and music; wherewith the world is beautified and adorned. From Thomas Traherne, A […]

  “I think one of the great questions we can ask ourselves is, What is my question?  What is the question I am living, what question have I been living since the moment I was born, what is the essence of the pattern, and what’s the fierce, leading edge of that pattern and the way […]

  I thought this worth pondering upon..… A leading commentator on Middle East issues has said that faith and civic leaders in the region have a responsibility to challenge “regimes that muzzle and polarise their peoples” along with the “religious totalitarianism” that fuels violence, discrimination and hatred towards minorities. Writing on the website of the […]

Learning by suffering—pathei mathos in Aeschylus’ phrase; but this means more than being undeceived: ‘what a man has to learn through suffering is not this or that particular thing, but the knowledge of the limitations of humanity, of the absoluteness of the barrier which separates him from the divine. It is ultimately a religious insight—that […]

Basing theology on the lived experience of God has another important benefit: by including the experience of the whole person, rather than just their intellect, it allows for a theology that is as much of the heart as of the mind. Theology is not compartmentalised, kept separate from the rest of the spiritual life, but […]

Distraction serves a purpose. Like gargoyles guarding the roofline of a cathedral, distractions first serve to ward off those who lack proper motivation. In an age when people claim to be ‘spiritual, not religious’–not really knowing what they mean by either-lack of proper motivation is common. We must long for truth, freedom, loving communion with […]

My suggestion is this: that what forgiveness looks like is an ongoing process, again and again, of learning to behave as if death were not, which will mean coming gradually to stand up against those whose being depends on death, and running the risk of being persecuted by them, and maybe even killed by them. […]