hermeneutician78.blogspot.com
Hermeneutician78: December 2012
http://hermeneutician78.blogspot.com/2012_12_01_archive.html
Monday, 24 December 2012. 8230; and “we wish you a happy Christmas". Three years ago I made a musical discovery. I was introduced to Sufjan Stevens, a. Singer-songwriter from Detroit, Michigan, who is described as mixing ‘autobiography, religious fantasy, and regional history to create folk songs of grand proportions.’. Since 2001, Sufjan has recorded an annual EP of Christmas songs – although not the sort that you will hear on the radio. Yet, although it perhaps takes a patient ear to hear it, I wonder ...
hermeneutician78.blogspot.com
Hermeneutician78: September 2012
http://hermeneutician78.blogspot.com/2012_09_01_archive.html
Saturday, 22 September 2012. Everlasting arms. ' - the problem of the doctrine of original sin in postmodernity. And underneath are the everlasting arms.' (Deuteronomy 33.27). I have recently engaged in an uncomfortable pastoral conversation about the doctrine of original sin. And the ideas of justification by faith and repentance; important propositions found Scripture, alighted upon during the Protestant Reformation, and expressed within the evangelical movement of the modern era. Whatever stage of phy...
hermeneutician78.blogspot.com
Hermeneutician78: Farewell Article
http://hermeneutician78.blogspot.com/2014/08/farewell-article.html
Tuesday, 12 August 2014. Preparing to leave a place with significant memories is never easy. In our house the other day I stumbled upon a pot of mystery keys – every home must surely have one; mystery keys which as far as I can tell open all the houses we’ve ever lived in, and all the padlocks on the sheds and garden gates! It was time to sort out the pot, and I felt the Holy Spirit speak. The kingdom of this world knows nothing of heaven. It remains a mystery, locked, hidden away. Sometimes it’s b...
hermeneutician78.blogspot.com
Hermeneutician78: August 2013
http://hermeneutician78.blogspot.com/2013_08_01_archive.html
Wednesday, 7 August 2013. The Shopping Mall as Ceremonial Centre. My curiosity about public spaces in post-modernity and in particular the sociology and aesthetics of shopping centres such as the Birmingham Bullring (pictured below), has recently led me to a work by Ira Zepp. Jr (Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Western Maryland College) titled The New Religious Image of Urban America: The Shopping Mall as Ceremonial Centre. As a Christian minister shopping centres offer both an opportunity to ...
hermeneutician78.blogspot.com
Hermeneutician78: August 2014
http://hermeneutician78.blogspot.com/2014_08_01_archive.html
Tuesday, 12 August 2014. Preparing to leave a place with significant memories is never easy. In our house the other day I stumbled upon a pot of mystery keys – every home must surely have one; mystery keys which as far as I can tell open all the houses we’ve ever lived in, and all the padlocks on the sheds and garden gates! It was time to sort out the pot, and I felt the Holy Spirit speak. The kingdom of this world knows nothing of heaven. It remains a mystery, locked, hidden away. Sometimes it’s b...
hermeneutician78.blogspot.com
Hermeneutician78: Journeying Out
http://hermeneutician78.blogspot.com/2014/07/journeying-out.html
Thursday, 31 July 2014. Journeying Out: A New Approach to Christian Mission. Provides refreshing insights into how the local church might engage with community. A brilliant book. Some reflections on key concepts. The principle of Obliquity. This is a fascinating insight garnered from business studies, further reflection might be useful on whether it holds water theologically. To what extent do we see salvation history or the great commission work on the principle of obliquity for instance? Pp 95-106) ,.
hermeneutician78.blogspot.com
Hermeneutician78: February 2014
http://hermeneutician78.blogspot.com/2014_02_01_archive.html
Wednesday, 5 February 2014. Jesus - homeless wanderer (or host of the banquet? Traditionally it is thought that when Jesus of Nazareth walked this earth he did so as a homeless wanderer. 8216;…‘Foxes have holes, and birds have of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head.’ Jesus says to the enthusiastic Scribe. However, there are a couple of places where it looks as though Jesus set-up his own home. Matthew writes, ‘He left Nazareth and made his home. Sometimes we must play gues...
hermeneutician78.blogspot.com
Hermeneutician78: July 2012
http://hermeneutician78.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html
Sunday, 22 July 2012. Healing the heart: unblocking the 'u' bend. The most significant healing we receive from God is a healing of the heart; the healing from being alienated from God and alienated from our true selves. I wonder whether the biggest and hardest lesson we have to learn in this life is how much God loves us. I. F we feel unloved or believe that we are fundamentally unlovable, then it will be nigh-on impossible to love others. To be a people of grace we need a healing of the heart. What does...
hermeneutician78.blogspot.com
Hermeneutician78: Virtual Worlds
http://hermeneutician78.blogspot.com/2014/06/virtual-worlds.html
Tuesday, 3 June 2014. Sporadically over the past few years there has been comment in the press about the impact of virtual media on society…. Stories range from parents neglecting their children because they are addicted to 'Second Life' ( www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2455567/Parents-immersed-video-game-daughter-nearly-starved-death.html. To online bullying among young people (see NSPCC Statistics. And the way social networking sites have acted as a catalyst for political protest.]. For a theological...
hermeneutician78.blogspot.com
Hermeneutician78: September 2013
http://hermeneutician78.blogspot.com/2013_09_01_archive.html
Wednesday, 25 September 2013. Something strange happened in my garden the other day. There was a eucalyptus tree lying in the grass in a place where you wouldn’t normally expect a eucalyptus tree to be. It turns out the eucalyptus tree took a disliking to the snow in December 2010. Months later when spring arrived, the tree decided not to bother putting out leaves, preferring to remain asleep. Eventually the tree died, and that was that. And so it is for those who follow Christ. When I saw the tree on th...
