BETWEEN THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT
Christians live between life here on earth and the life to come. Sometimes life here seems rather mundane – we are washing dishes, picking up the washing, taking out the […]
Review of John Newton’s Diary, 1766
Review of John Newton’s Diary, 1766, edited by Marylynn Rouse for the John Newton Project, 2021. This is Newton’s diary for 1766, under the theme of ‘developing a pastoral ministry’. There […]
A WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
At Thessalonica, Paul and the early Christian evangelists were accused of being men who had ‘turned the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6). Actually, they were trying to turn it right-side […]
RESURRECTION AND PERSECUTION
At first glance, resurrection and persecution may not seem to be related, unless linked by martyrdom. After all, Richard Dawkins has claimed that religion was invented as a ‘comfort-blanket’ to […]
Review of James Macpherson, Notes from Woketopia, Redland Bay: Connor Court Publishing, 2021.
The next candidate to be a judge on the US Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, was recently asked for her definition of a woman. She replied that she could not […]
Review of Lindsey Tollefson, Psalms for Trials, Moscow, Idaho: Canon Press, 2018.
Lindsey Tollefson has produced a set of reflections on 44 Psalms, all to do with the trials which we face in life. The result is worthwhile, although the result is […]
ALL THINGS IN MODERATION?
There is nothing like a breath of fresh air after a bout of mask-wearing or a lockdown, and the same is true in looking at life, and the claims of […]
THE GRIEF OF WAR
If anyone has exposed the human condition more incisively and pungently than Blaise Pascal, I have yet to read him or her. At present we live with the drums of […]
Review of Edgar Stubbersfield, Ruth: A Somewhat Different Commentary, Eugene: Resource Publications, 2021.
Apparently Edgar Stubbersfield is an expert in timber structures, which seems an unusual qualification to write an Old Testament commentary. Then again, Ben Chifley was an engine driver, and became […]
GOD’S QUIET AND MYSTERIOUS WORK
God moves in a mysterious way,/ His wonders to perform. So begins one of the finest hymns in the English language. It was penned by one of the most depressed men […]
SEX SELECTION, FEMINISM AND ABORTION
Sin has a way of undoing itself. Jacques Mallet du Pan was a Huguenot who saw the folly of the French Revolution, and in 1793 made the acute and oft-repeated […]
NAVIGATING MURKY WATERS
Commenting on celebrities and social events has its hazardous side. We are warned that even a fool can be considered wise if he keeps silent (Prov.17:28). The death of Archbishop […]
THE FABLE OF THE RELIGIOUS COMMISSIONER
Some of the frogs in the marsh came to think that they needed someone to lead them. It is true that they already had a parliament of owls, but, although […]
Review of David Furse-Roberts, God and Menzies, Redland Bay: Jeparit Press, 2021.
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies was Prime Minister of Australia from 1939-1941 and again from 1949-1966. He often referred to himself as ‘a simple Presbyterian’, and in 1916 he was president […]
Review of Sharon James, How Christianity Transformed the World, Fearn: Christian Focus, 2021.
It is common in the modern West to portray Marxism as a progressive force, while Christianity is the backward enemy of humanity. Yet in its wildest dreams, the Spanish Inquisition […]
THE RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION BILL: A VIEW FROM THE BLEACHERS
There are those who thought that Statler and Waldorf were the funniest part of The Muppet Show. Whether a jaundiced bleat from the bleachers always gets it right is another issue, […]