Author Archives: The Briefing

Underworld resurrected

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One of the job hazards associated with working as an editor is that you sometimes have to read things faster than you would like to in order to make a quick and dirty assessment of it. Peter Bolt’s Living with the Underworld (Matthias Media, Sydney, 2007) suffered this treatment recently when, as a matter of conscience, I flicked through it at a great rate of knots to determine whether or not I could recommend it to people who asked about it.

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A Luddite revolution?

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It occurred to me recently that we may need a Luddite revolution in our attitude towards ministry.

Now, if you know who the Luddites were, you’ve probably already picked up an irony in the fact that I’m blogging about the need to become Christian Luddites. The Luddites were basically a group of tradies in 19th-century England. They saw the threat posed by the spread of industrial technology, and protested against it—even sabotaging local wool and cotton mills.

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Environmentalism

Life, Word Watch

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It’s the ‘ism’ that makes all the difference. The ‘environment’ is just all the stuff around us. ‘Environment’ is first recorded in 1830, and comes from the much earlier word ‘environ’, which, in turn, is first recorded in one of Wycliffe’s sermons from 1375. ‘Environ’ comes from an Old French word meaning “that which makes a circuit (or veers) around us”.

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Visions of God

Couldn't Help Noticing

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All sorts of people have claimed to see visions of God, of Christ, of Mary or of the saints over the centuries. And, from time to time, the Roman Catholic church has endorsed such visions and used them to encourage people in their allegiance to the Roman church. But Martin Luther, the great Reformer and opponent of Roman Catholic teaching, also saw visions— sometimes in considerable detail. Here he describes one such appearing:
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It gradually gets worse

Couldn't Help Noticing

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In August 2007, Victorian Premier John Brumby initiated a legislative process which will almost certainly result in the decriminalization of abortion in Victoria, Australia.1 This process allowed community groups and churches to write to the state’s Law Reform Commission, expressing their views and wishes concerning the issue. (more…)

More Anglican fuss

Couldn't Help Noticing

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Gene Robinson is apparently upset that he has not been invited to attend the Bishops’ conference at Lambeth this year.1 The theological differences between Bishop Robinson and evangelical Anglicans over homosexuality are well-known and well-traversed. But what I find interesting is what this report reveals about the different way he views Anglican polity. He refers to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, as his “chief pastor and shepherd”. I seriously doubt you’d ever hear Peter Jensen or any evangelical bishops from around the world referring to Rowan Williams as their “chief pastor and shepherd”. For a start, that’s not how they would understand the official relationship between their church and Canterbury. But secondly and more importantly, I think they’d probably think that there is someone better qualified to be their chief pastor and shepherd—someone who sits on a heavenly throne, not a throne in Canterbury. Where might they get suchan idea? Well, one place would be The Book of Common Prayer service for the consecration of a Bishop where Jesus is referred to as the “chief Shepherd”. They’d also get it from the Bible (e.g. Ezek 34:15, John 10:11). (more…)

All my worldly

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It was only a silly TV comedy, but it got me thinking—thinking about weddings and divorce, prenuptial agreements and the nature of marriage. (more…)