I came across this twitter thread today. It’s not always easy to be certain when dealing with subtweets but I have an inkling that the target of the thread is Kevin DeYoung who recently wrote an article on The Gospel Coalition website about what it means (and doesn’t mean) to “weep with those who weep.”… Continue reading On weaponising the words of Jesus – a modern retelling of an old parable
Good and bad reasons for Psalm singing
I’ve been engaging on the question of Psalm singing in church recently. It is probably worth reminding readers of this. I love the book of Psalms, it plays a crucial role in Scripture. I also love singing Psalms (both songs that very closely follow the wording and structure of Biblical Psalms and those which are… Continue reading Good and bad reasons for Psalm singing
COVID-19 risk management for churches update
Here’s my latest update on what we are seeing regarding the data at the moment. We’ve recently seen a substantial fall in COVID cases across the UK reflecting falls in daily reported cases in both Scotland and England. However, over the weekend we saw growth in week on week cases. Here’s the chart plotting average… Continue reading COVID-19 risk management for churches update
Post truth
One of the major concerns that was raised about Brexit was that going ahead risked undermining the Good Friday Agreement. One of the requirements of that agreement was that there must never be a hard border on the island of Ireland again. We all know that fact weel don’t we? Except it’s not true. The… Continue reading Post truth
Calvin on marriage
I’ve been sharing Calvin’s thoughts on the relationships between slaves and masters, parents and children and, wives and husbands with a little bit of commentary. I’ve been doing this because despite presumptions that the concept of mutual submission is a modern egalitarian idea, we find that Calvin writing 500 years early understood Ephesians 5:21 to… Continue reading Calvin on marriage
A lens to look through
In this week’s #FaithrootsLive we continued to examine the issue of male and female leadership roles in church by beginning to look at hermeneutics. How do we know that we are interpreting and applying the passages that talk about men and women correctly? In order to answer the question, we are considering a case study… Continue reading A lens to look through
Calvin on parents and children
Having had a look at what Calvin has to say about slaves and masters based on Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 5-6, I thought it would be worth having a look at his comments on the other two issues treated there, first on parents and children, then on wives and husbands. Calvin picks up on the… Continue reading Calvin on parents and children
Shemima Begum
In 2019, Shemima Begum left Britain as a 15 year old to join ISIL along with two other school girls. In Syria she married a Jihadist and had children with him that died. She was later found in a refugee camp. The Home Secretary with Tribunal support determined that she should be stripped of her… Continue reading Shemima Begum
Calvin on slavery
I thought it might be of interest to have a look at one of the Reformers and see how he handled the question of slavery in Scripture. So here’s some commentary on how John Calvin handles Ephesians 6. Calvin is of particular interest because as I’ve argued previously, he seems to argue from Ephesians 5:21… Continue reading Calvin on slavery
Should we lament our lack of Psalm singing?
I love the Psalms. I love reading from them, meditating on them, preaching them and I love singing a few of them. I also enjoy spotting when other hymns and songs draw on the language and themes of the Psalms. But I don’t think that we must sing the Psalms and definitely not all of… Continue reading Should we lament our lack of Psalm singing?
