Category: ethics

Complementarianism, Egalitarianism and the messiness of arguing from history/tradition

This is kind of a long footnote to what I wrote the other day about the supposed novelty of complementarianism.  In some respects, you could sum up my response as “it’s more complicated than that.”   More complicated than the claim by some (not all) egalitarians that complementarianism is the novel usurper. It isn’t for the… Continue reading Complementarianism, Egalitarianism and the messiness of arguing from history/tradition

Is Complementarianism novel?

This question crops up from time to time on my social media feed. It’s there at the moment I presume because the Southern Baptist Convention is meeting and in the light of developments at Saddleback Church where it’s former pastor, Rick Warren has now reversed his position and apologised to women, the topic is a… Continue reading Is Complementarianism novel?

Boris Johnson resigns again

Yesterday evening I shared some thoughts about Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.  A Prime Minister can recommend people for honours when they resign from the job. Even as I was writing, Johnson was resigning again, this time as an MP. The reason for Johnson’s resignation was that he had seen the draft outcome of a… Continue reading Boris Johnson resigns again

No AI won’t wipe out humanity -but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an ethical issue

The Daily Mail lead with a headline the other day that “AI could wipe out humanity” (cue far too many obvious jokes at the Mail’s expense).  It’s long been the stuff of Science Fiction.  Some of us grew up on films and stories about robots taking over the world.  Things that looked impossible only a… Continue reading No AI won’t wipe out humanity -but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an ethical issue

What the Old Testament teaches us about marriage, sex and relationships

This is part two, following on from my attempt to set out the framework of Biblical and Systematic Theology.  I said in that post, that to talk properly and pastorally about marriage, sex and relationships that we would need to dig into a little more detail.  So, here goes, an attempt at a summary of… Continue reading What the Old Testament teaches us about marriage, sex and relationships

How might we talk about sex?  – A Biblical Theology of Marriage and Relationships

In recent posts, I talked about where evangelicals have gone wrong in attempting to talk about sex, particularly in attempts to create a theology of sex. My argument was that talking pastorally about sex and relationships requires a Biblical Theology not of sexual intercourse itself, anatomised from its proper context but of marriage.  In this… Continue reading How might we talk about sex?  – A Biblical Theology of Marriage and Relationships

Can we talk about sex? Is a theology of sex possible?

I’ve recently engaged significantly with Josh Butler’s new book “Beautiful Union: How God’s Vision for Sex Points Us to the Good, Unlocks the True, and (Sort of) Explains Everything”, culminating with this review.  The title of Butler’s book suggests that it wasn’t aimed so much at being a pastoral book on relationships -though some pastoral… Continue reading Can we talk about sex? Is a theology of sex possible?

Antisemitism, The Guardian, The Spectator and Editorial Standards

Last week, the chairman of the BBC resigned.  The Guardian’s Martin Rowson chose to depict this with a cartoon showing Boris Johnson sat on a pile of money with Richard Sharp walking away holding a box.  Now, there is nothing unusual about those bare details. It’s usual to depict someone leaving their job, especially if… Continue reading Antisemitism, The Guardian, The Spectator and Editorial Standards

Antisemitism, Amnesty and the IHRA definition

Amnesty International report that they’ve joined with a number of civil rights organisations in writing to the UN asking them not to adopt the IHRA’s definition of Antisemitism.  They are arguing that the definition can and has been used in order to suppress legitimate protest against the state of Israel, particularly in relation to its… Continue reading Antisemitism, Amnesty and the IHRA definition