The other day, a Christian woman announced on twitter that she’d completed her BA in pastoral ministry. This drew the following response from a US Theology professor. There has been an ensuing debate around the rights and wrongs of women studying at seminary particularly in a complementarian context. Complementarians understand that men and women are… Continue reading Why I believe women should pursue degrees in theological AND pastoral studies
Category: Opinion
The future of Northern Ireland
Last week, Sinn Fein topped the poll for the Northern Irish assembly at Stormont. This means that it is likely that a nationalist will be the First Minister for the first time in the province’s history. Elections and devolved government in Northern Ireland are complex and so simply being the largest party doesn’t tell us… Continue reading The future of Northern Ireland
“Talk softly and carry a big stick” – latest thoughts on the Russian- Ukrainian War
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine I argued that such a move did not fit with Vladimir Putin’s known and declared ambitions. It was not that I believed such an invasion could never happen, certainly not that I claimed the ability to predict the future. It’s just that Putin’s ambitions were understood to be the… Continue reading “Talk softly and carry a big stick” – latest thoughts on the Russian- Ukrainian War
COVID Spring 2022
It’s been a while since I wrote anything about COVID-19 however, I thought it might be worth a little update. Since I stopped updating charts daily, there have been substantial changes to testing and reporting including the ending of free Lateral flow tests. For that reason, I am not going to report on positive test… Continue reading COVID Spring 2022
Boris, Rishi #Partygate and standards in public life
We now know that the Prime Minister and his wife as well as the Chancellor of the Exchequer have been fined over the so called #Partygate. Meanwhile there are questions about Rishi Sunak’s wife -and therefore him benefitting from her Non Dom status so that she did not pay tax in the UK. Some people… Continue reading Boris, Rishi #Partygate and standards in public life
Don’t forget who the real enemy is
Back after 911, there was a particularly intense period when anyone of Asian or middle eastern appearance was at risk from backlash. Not only did people conflate the attack by Islamist extremists with an attack from all Muslims but also people who were not even Muslims but rather Sikhs and Hindus were conflated with the… Continue reading Don’t forget who the real enemy is
Why predicting the future is a risky business
A friend of my was teasing me the other day that my predictions about Ukraine not turning out to be very good. He was referring to my argument here that if Russia’s aim was to strengthen its position on the international stage, become the primary regional player in Eastern Europe/Central Asia and push back western/NATO… Continue reading Why predicting the future is a risky business
The end of The World is not in Putin’s hands
One of the things people are most afraid of concerning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the potential for this to be escalated into a conflict between world powers with NATO sucked in and then the possibility of nuclear weapons being unleashed. Over the weekend, Vladimir Putin escalated the language on this. First, he warned that… Continue reading The end of The World is not in Putin’s hands
Ukraine War: What should we pray?
As Russia invades Ukraine, I’ve shared some opinion pieces talking more generally about the conflict and In this article, I want to talk specifically about how we as Christians respond to what is happening in Ukraine. How specifically do we pray? I want to suggest five specific things that we should pray: We pray specifically… Continue reading Ukraine War: What should we pray?
Russia and Ukraine -what next?
Today there is war in Europe. We cannot underestimate the size of this conflict. Ukraine has a population of around 41.46 million, a little smaller than the United Kingdom, Russia is a permanent member of the UN security council with a population of 146 million and one of the largest nuclear powers. The conflict is… Continue reading Russia and Ukraine -what next?
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