Archives: peter-bolt

Wonder at my work

Life

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There are rumours afoot that the key thing to think about when it comes to theological students is how much work they are not doing. A very strange shift has taken place somewhere, and it makes you wonder.

It is not unusual in our world-that-is-running-madly-after-Mammon to concentrate on (that is, be anxious about) busy-ness. Didn’t Jesus himself say that it takes a lot of crazy running around to make sure you get enough of the good things God wanted you to have anyway? You would hate to miss out on those, so get up early, steamroll your way to work, overload your timetable, pressurize your body and relationships—you know the drill.

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While we are newly respecting women, why not newly respect men too?

Thought

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The thing about western individualism is it is just so individualistic. If I remember my ethics properly, there is an underlying ‘ethical egoism’—that is, ‘I’ (the ‘ego’ in ‘ego-ism’) make my moral decisions on the basis of what is best for me.

Apparently, if Australian men (with footballers as the focus and pinnacle of that group) learned to respect women, then they would have better sexual behaviour. I’m not sure of the connection between those two things myself, but, as I mentioned in the last post, it is certainly difficult to object to.

But perhaps there is another way out of my confusion. Rather than objecting to it, why not adopt it, and then demand some of the same treatment?

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Is respecting women an ethical maxim or just a political slogan?

Thought

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I don’t know what happened in Christchurch. I have never watched The Footy Show. And I missed the interviews on the television.

But I did hear a lot of conversations in the weeks after the latest football ‘kiss-and-tell’, both on talkback radio, in the press and (amazingly enough) even in real life.

It struck me as rather odd that the feminist lot seemed to expand it to all Australian men (of whom the footballer is apparently a subclass) needing to learn to respect women.

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Reading the Bible with your ears open

Up front

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You read what you hear. Even with the Bible, you read what you hear.

Let me explain. Study leave got me to England in 10 inches of snow. Beautiful. Because it closed the airports, it almost got me to France. How would I have explained that to the college board? Then driving around a country not my own just confused me; there were so many signs supposedly telling me what to do, but I didn’t have the right framework to assimilate them so that they actually made sense. On the freeway: “Spray may be possible”. What, was I going to be ambushed by a tomcat? Coming into Colchester: “The oldest town in Britain. Please drive carefully.” If I don’t, will it break? In an alley way in London next to a huge dumpster: “Fly tipping will be prosecuted”. It’s going to take a lot of flies to fill that bin, for sure.

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Reading the Bible with your eyes open

Life

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You read what you see.

You knock on the door of the dingy inner city terrace. You probably did see a whole lot of Harley Davidsons outside on the footpath, but obviously you weren’t thinking. The door opens, and now you see a room full of leather-clad, patch-emblazoned, hairy types of the bike riding persuasion. You were supposed to invite the happy householder to a gospel thingy at the local church. If you go along with that plan, you suddenly see a different future stretching out before you—and it doesn’t seem to stretch that far any more.

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Reading the Bible with your ears open

Life

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You read what you hear. Even with the Bible. You read what you hear.

Let me explain. Study leave got me to England in 10 inches of snow. Beautiful. Because it closed the airports, it almost got me to France. How would I have explained that to the college board? Then driving around a country other than mine just confused me; so many signs supposedly telling me what to do, but I didn’t have the right framework to assimilate them so that they could actually make sense.

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Flexibility and the theological college express

Pastoral Ministry

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Apparently the (or a) problem that is restricting churches growing is now the ‘inflexibility’ of the theological college. If ever we want to grow better (read ‘bigger’ or ‘more’; these words are now interchangeable) churches then we need to have a ‘flexible’ theological college.

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Time out to learn and grow, undistracted and exposed to the word of God

Pastoral Ministry

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I am on study leave at the moment—a lovely privilege of being a lecturer at Moore College—‘time out’ from the normal routine in order to enable all kinds of extra thought and reflection, which is always refreshing and productive. I talk to friends who don’t have such a privilege, and they are immediately envious and immediately see the value of it. (more…)

So you think you can spell?

Up front

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The Higher School Certificate (the final school exams before university entrance in New South Wales) is a strange beast: apparently it is the biggest test you will ever face in your life. Whoever got that rumour going among the high schools has obviously never tried to understand a mobile phone contract. But the rumour lives on, and it can be used to generate pressure on the students—sometimes a pressure that is too great for them to bear. It is sad to see such high hopes placed upon one exam. It is even sadder to see those high hopes end in tragedy. (more…)

The new principalities and powers #5: So you think you can spell?

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The Higher School Certificate (HSC) is a strange beast: apparently it is the biggest test you will ever face in your life. Whoever got that rumour going among the high schools has obviously never tried to understand a mobile phone contract. But the rumour lives on, and it can be used to generate pressure on the students—sometimes a pressure that is too great for them to bear. It is sad to see such high hopes placed upon an exam. It is even sadder to see those high hopes end in tragedy.

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The new principalities and powers #3: The mythical self

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Principalities and powers: the controllers of our destinies—forces beyond ourselves.

But how ‘beyond’ ourselves are they really? And what is the ‘ourselves’ that they are beyond? The question of identity is a big one. The old ‘who am I?’ question has been around for as long as the human being. The question stays the same, but the answers appear to change, for better or for worse, in sickness …

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