2017-12-01 18:41
“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” -This quote (By Garry Kasparov, or… Read More
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not-nearly-random-enough loggings of what feeds my promiscuous curiosity. Your pay-off is some useful[?] links and provocative thoughts but also more insight than you may care on my thought-processes.
2017-11-30 19:12
Now I quite like app maps for some things: they can map out a route more quickly and help you to follow it and they don't tend to blow away in the wind. I'm a bit of a technophile and genera… Read More
2017-11-04 11:16
Recently I happened to be talking with one of my bishops and we both noted how smaller churches tend to show up in studies as being better at making disciples than big churches. This P… Read More
2017-06-04 09:20
Here's something I learnt today in an article which definitely deserves pondering by those concerned with culture, social justice and keeping an eye on corporate tactics.In 1861 a shopkeeper… Read More
2017-05-12 10:44
What attracted me to getting hold of this book and reading it was the prospectus that it would help '"to apply the insights of contemplative spirituality and spiritual direction to entire fa… Read More
2017-05-12 09:26
I have to say that I'd never heard of the Blue Ocean network, and when I read what they were about I had a bit of a 'where have you been all my life?' moment.So, what's the 'blue ocean' thin… Read More
2017-04-29 13:09
A recent THES publish and interview with the author of Love and Lies, Clancy Martin. I've put the book on my 'to get' list. Meantime there is the interview to go on and which has raised issu… Read More
2017-04-29 12:57
I grew up thinking, because everyone else around me seemed to think or take as read, that what is now being called 'lad culture' was something we just had to accept. And while I was so… Read More
2017-04-29 10:39
This excerpt from a talk by Tom Wright resonated with some things I've been thinking about in relation to the nature of creation centred in time and space on Christ. +Tom says:... if cr… Read More
2017-04-27 08:52
The focus of the article that is linked to the title is different to what I'm thinking about here. But I did find it helpful to see someone else articulating my own concerns about the 'magic… Read More
2017-04-27 08:47
I've been leading mindfulness and more general meditation for a while now; quite typically two or three times a week in the university I work with. Sometimes further afield. One of the thing… Read More
2017-04-25 15:28
Another story of forgiving. In this case of a man forgiving the driver of a car which killed his wife. The central part of this seems to be this:[I]f things had been just a little different… Read More
2017-04-10 21:00
I have a back history in coming to this book which I think I would be well to declare upfront. I'm a bit of a lefty. There: what you could probably guess by looking at other posts on this bl… Read More
2017-03-19 13:48
Photo by Mike Wilson | UnsplashThe internet is full of beautiful mountains, sunsets, plants, scenes and other wondrous natural productions in photographic glory. Many times they have w… Read More
2016-12-03 14:53
I've been enjoying various things about this book. One is that the theology is interesting and put over in an unpretentious and potentially helpfully expressed way. I'm guessing that for som… Read More
2016-11-12 14:56
On Wednesday morning I realised that I didn't really understand why people like me might vote for Donald Trump and yet clearly, rational well-intentioned people had done so. But I wouldn't b… Read More
2016-09-28 08:51
I am reviewing this book having had a free e-copy for the purposes of review but my review is not obliged to be favourable because of that.So what do I make of this book? I was drawn to it b… Read More
2016-09-24 19:32
I happened to be rostered to preach and preside at Communion on St Matthew's day this year, a few days back It was one of those occasions when I found myself saying more than planned and l… Read More
2016-05-29 19:26
Recent research told us of an ... acceleration in the numbers of people not only not practising their faith on a regular basis, but not even ticking the box People of no rel… Read More
2016-05-28 20:38
Okay, so the season is well over, but perhaps, while it is fresh in our memories, we could think about how to improve things into the future?The article has some interesting thoughts but I d… Read More
2016-05-28 20:23
One of my resolutions over the next year or so is to investigate further the literature on meditation , spiritual practices and wellbeing. And this caught my attention. The body of scie… Read More
2016-05-28 20:18
The article I'm about to reference is about sentimentality and how it shows up in art and also, interestingly, business. It reminded me very much of an insight I had when I was more in… Read More
2016-05-06 07:41
For many years I have been reading bits and pieces of Ellul's work. I find myself drawn to his critique of the idolotry of technology or 'technique', and yet I keep finding myself unconvince… Read More
2016-03-20 18:06
I've been involved in a small group in my university of staff concerned about so-called 'lad culture'. I share the group with feminists and gay-rights activists. We talk a lot about issues o… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
I've been asked to chat with some clergy about 'spiritual warfare' which prompted me to think about what I'd say and realising as I did so that I needed to be able to say it succinctly and c… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
I have tended to think of self-esteem in individual terms. I guess if pressed to think further, I would have probably said that cultural values and the esteem of others would play a pa… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
On the basis of this article: All Give and No Take | George Monbiot.On the basis of it I have just written to my MP. You might do the same, perhaps.I was pleased to receive your respon… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
Analogy: human to divine and back again Recently I re-read a series of my posts from last year on forgiveness and atonement. I noticed that one of the issues I'd posed in the fir… Read More
2016-02-27 20:27
It's a provocative title but it needs to be. And by putting together in one phrase the Arabic word jihad and the latinised Hebrew name Jesus -with all the freight each of them carries- Dave… Read More
2016-01-23 09:22
I got hold of this book because it looked like it was going to scratch a couple of itches for me. You see, I'm involved in spiritual direction and I tend to find that I am interested i… Read More
2016-01-19 14:29
When people ask me about my calling, it seems almost always assumed to be "a priest". But I'll let you into a secret: that's not how it looks and feels to me. I think that I (and everyone el… Read More
2016-01-14 11:24
Jack Lewis meet Matt Fox ... Matt, this is Jack. Matt, you may recall Jack by his nom de plume: CS Lewis. Now, I've brought you two together because you have both influenced me in a congruen… Read More
2016-01-01 21:33
I found myself very intrigued by this report of research. Partly because it sems to contrast markedly with a lot of research which indicates that te pattern is reversed in adults who tend to… Read More
2016-01-01 21:19
This intrigued me when I thougt about corporisations as creatures (that is created things).I'm trying to figure out whether 'inappropriate' should be 'appropriate', though. All creatures hav… Read More
2015-12-24 21:44
I can well appreciate the concern that Edward Dowler articulates in his article on 18 December (subscription link though may become available after a few weeks). I think, however, that the i… Read More
2015-12-02 13:58
Just recently, I came across a blog post in which the first comment mentions my name. Unfortunately it was from a couple of years ago and comments now seem closed, so I can't get the misrepr… Read More
2015-11-29 21:36
Here's an email I recently sent to my MP. Dear Nick,As you may know, on 2 December, the bill presented by Jonathan Reynolds, Labour and Co-operative MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, is to b… Read More
2015-11-18 13:37
Just after the Paris shootings/bombings on Friday last, one of the people I follow on Twitter tweeted:creeped-out by calls to "pray" for the victims and families. Abrahamic monotheism is pro… Read More
2015-11-18 11:40
Read Arthur C. Clarke's Super Short, 31-Word Sci-Fi Story, "siseneG" | Open Culture: “siseneG,” a story story — a very short story indeed — Clarke sent in to Analog m… Read More
2015-11-18 11:35
I was very recently asked by a Christian student at my university with regard to a set of meditation sessions I had just advertised under the title 'Learn Calm and Carry On'. "May I as… Read More
2015-10-20 19:20
This is pretty much the very thought that a few years back moved me into a different and richer appreciation of Biblical literature:the men who compiled and edited the Hebrew scriptures two… Read More
2015-09-01 18:37
So, it's done. Last night the last movement of the Long Slow Eucharist at Greenbelt was concluded. You may recall that I advertised it beforehand a post or two back. I have a few reflections… Read More
2015-08-14 13:59
So... this year's Greenbelt festival... Looks like I'm leading a strand of worship. Here's how it is planned to play out.They're all scheduled for the Forge venue.Friday night, 9pm. Long Slo… Read More
2015-06-27 18:39
I've attended a number of funerals in the last few years as a support to mourners. Mostly the deceased have been students, most young people in their 20s. A number of them have been non-re… Read More
2015-06-08 15:18
One of the things I like about crafting liturgy is working with the perichoresis between theology, expression and context. I choose the word 'perichoresis' because it has the sense of 'danci… Read More
2015-05-29 17:39
Last week Bishop Martyn Jarrett argued in the Church Times that PR is a better way to elect a parliament. This week there is some pushback, first from Peter Ould:It is an entirely subjective… Read More
2015-05-26 22:13
One of the things that British opponents of PR allege is that PR inevitably means weak government. Well, I think that looking at Spain might be something of a refutation to that. Spain has… Read More
2015-04-26 19:58
It's an interesting little window that this opens up into British Christianity. At first I was not sure whether the results of the survey were indicating that of the c.50% who held more 'lib… Read More
2015-04-11 19:49
An internet buddy in many things missional, Matt Stone, recently wrote in a post on Facebook something that reminded me of posts (one here and the other here) I'd made before on this blog an… Read More
2015-04-06 22:05
The board game monopoly was originally designed to educate people about the dynamics of rentier capitalism with a view to advocating measures like a land value tax to control the worst exces… Read More
2015-03-29 11:11
On Wednesday last, it fell to me to give a homily on the Annunciation at a lunchtime communion service, it being 9 months before Christmas day. I had two possible tacks suggesting themselves… Read More
2015-03-15 16:13
A question on a Christian-Muslim forum I am part of, from a Muslim:What are the reasons why Christians do not believe that Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was a of Allah?My respons… Read More
2015-03-14 22:33
This is a book that reads like a PhD thesis which has been slightly redacted for more public consumption. As such, it is not a book that many will find easy going: it has a lot of detail; it… Read More
2015-03-03 21:22
I've been reading* Andre Rabe's book Desire Found Me. It aims first to introduce us to mimetic theory (hence one strand of my interest in it) as propounded by Rene Girard. 'Desire' in the ti… Read More
