I’m interested to see that Joe Rigney’s book “The sin of empathy” is continuing to generate a lot of passion. New Testament scholar, Robert Gagnon has posted a short article on facebook reacting to an article under the headline “Christian nationalists decided empathy was a sin, now it’s gone mainstream”. He complains about the … Continue reading Is the empathy debate really just about “untethered empathy”?
Posts
Have we tried too hard to be “unchurchy” when people want “churchy-church”
Steve Kneale raises an interesting question for us here. Have we been too focused on attempting to be less “churchy” when that is exactly what people ar looking for, something that looks, feels and sounds like we expect church to be. This is a helpful question, coming at a point when reports, anecdotal evidence, and… Continue reading Have we tried too hard to be “unchurchy” when people want “churchy-church”
The baptism of Naaman
I wonder if you’ve ever preached on Naaman at a baptism service. Of course there could be a very cliched and unhelpful way of doing this, simply focusing on the fact that Naaman goes down into water and out again, baptism by immersion QED. You might end up with some iffy practical application there, Are… Continue reading The baptism of Naaman
The stories the preacher needs to tell
In a recent sermon on Luke 6, I observed that as we read the Gospel, we can actually see three stories being told. There’s the story of Jesus, the one we obviously expect to be there. However, Jesus is also retelling, or rather acting out the story of Israel. God’s people had experienced exile in… Continue reading The stories the preacher needs to tell
Some reflections on Confidentiality and the church
Steve Midgely, writing for the Journal of Biblical Counselling notes that churches often operate with a mindset that their confidentiality reflects the medical world’s approach. He quotes the Hippocratic Oath as saying: “Whatever…I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning… Continue reading Some reflections on Confidentiality and the church
What if your pastor is your therapist and your therapist is your pastor?
I saw this article the other day arguing that your pastor is not meant to be your therapist and vice versa. I can sympathise to some extent with the argument. On the one side of things, there can be a tendency to treat church like a self help process. This doesn’t just affect one to… Continue reading What if your pastor is your therapist and your therapist is your pastor?
Having the nature of sin
There’s an interesting little phrase in the Thirty Nine Articles, it appears in article 9 which discusses original sin. In full, the article says: “Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk;) but it is the fault and corruption of the Nature of every man, that naturally is… Continue reading Having the nature of sin
Picking fights or picking your battles?
One of the challenges about engaging in discussion online, whether through blogs or social media (in fact Twitter/X was originally described as a ‘microblog’ site) is that it can sometimes feel like the conversation has got tense. It can feel like that in a conversation, both as you read what others say to you and… Continue reading Picking fights or picking your battles?
If not here, then where?
Regular readers will have observed that from time to time I include guest posts here on Faithroots. That might include where I’ve simply wanted to give someone a platform or to share something that I thought was worth wider reading. It might also include occasions where I thought it was fair to offer a right… Continue reading If not here, then where?
conversations on the Cross and the Trinity
I’ve just watched this podcast discussion from Affinity. It features a discussion between Graham Nicholls, the national director of Affinity which is a kind of coalition of Evangelical churches and organisations with a more reformed/conservative focus than the Evangelical Alliance, Tom Brand, ministry director of the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches and Pete Sanlon, a… Continue reading conversations on the Cross and the Trinity
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