Oliver O’Donovan, Professor of Christian Ethics at Edinburgh University Divinity School, talks to Tony Payne in The Briefing Lounge about evangelical ethics (MP3).
Archives: thought
What is the gospel?
Thought
The surprising face of Hillsong
Thought, Sola Panel
Tony Payne and Gordon Cheng report from Hillsong Conference, 2006.
The sound hits you like a wave. The bass is throbbing. The drums kick through your diaphragm with each beat. The guitars thrum and swell. The lead singer is a good-looking guy with unkempt hair and stubble. He stands, arm raised, head thrown back.
Mansions
Thought, Word Watch
As a child, I found the architecture of heaven a little baffling. What puzzled me was John 14:2: “In my Father’s house are many mansions” (KJV). According to the Macquarie Dictionary, a ‘mansion’ is “an imposing or stately residence”. A ‘house’, on the other hand, is a suburban cottage—the sort of place I lived in with my parents and brothers. So how do you fit mansions into a house? Is heaven like Dr Who’s Tardis—bigger on the inside than the outside?
A different Jesus
Thought
The prosperity gospel promises health, wealth and success this side of heaven. Its message is dangerous, but not just because it raises unrealistic expectations. Andrew Heard argues that the real problem lies in its representation of Christ.
Dawkins’ dilemmas
Thought
A vicar was travelling on the train one day when a scientist happened to sit next to him. The scientist was an astronomer, and he smiled as he saw the vicar reading his Bible. He said, condescendingly, “I like to think that religion can be summed up by the words, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’”. The vicar, having discovered the scientist’s profession, replied, “Yes, and I like to think that astronomy can be summed up by the words, ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are’”.
Is the Reformation over?
Thought
Mark Noll and Carolyn Nystrom contend that because differences between Roman Catholics and evangelicals have lessened,the Reformation is basically over. Are they right?
Biography
Thought, Word Watch
Are the four Gospels biographies of Jesus? At one level, this can be answered by New Testament scholars who study the genre of biographical writing in the first century. But there is also a linguistic answer to this question—and linguistically, all four Gospels are most definitely biographies.
The four judgements of God
Thought
Sons laid down their lives
Thought
Something heartbreaking happened to a family at Black Point at Easter two years ago.
Black Point is an isolated place, accessible only by four-wheel drive, on the south coast of Western Australia, and the Stallard family travelled there to fish. The parents, Ron and Debbie, lived in the south-west of the state, but their two sons, 25-year-old Paul and 19-year-old Andrew, lived in Perth. So the fishing trip was something of a family reunion too.
Is polygamy a sin? A consideration of polygamy and the Bible
Thought
Conservative Christians in the Anglican Communion—especially those in Africa—have fought a long, hard battle against the acceptance and blessing of homosexual activity. Now, some Western Anglicans are charging the Africans with hypocrisy for arguing against one sexual deviancy whilst accepting another—polygamy.
Social involvement and evangelism (Part III): Some final reflections
Thought
So far, we’ve looked at the strong cases that can be made for both evangelism and social involvement, and at how they relate together. Mike Raiter concludes our series by reflecting on the recent Lausanne conference, and on some lessons from history.
Social involvement and evangelism (Part II): How they relate
Thought, Sola Panel
In the first part of this essay (in Briefing #316), Tim Chester looked at the strong case that can be made for Christian social involvement, as well as the strong case for proclamation of the gospel being central. We now come to the question that has bedevilled evangelical discussion of this subject for the past 30 years: What ought to be the relationship between social involvement and evangelism in Christian ministry and mission?
Social involvement and evangelism (Part I): Two strong cases
Thought
Let me introduce Albert. Albert calls himself a post-evangelical. He says there are many good things about the evangelical church in which he grew up, but he himself has grown out of evangelicalism’s narrowness. Like his postmodern friends, he is wary of truth claims and instead he wants to emphasize symbols and images. This makes him much more comfortable with social involvement than evangelism. Evangelism makes him uneasy because, as he puts it, ‘we are all on a faith journey’ and he thinks that evangelism among the poor is simply manipulative. His catchphrase is ‘don’t force your truth on others’. Instead we should walk with the poor, care for them and help them on their faith journey while expecting them to enrich our own faith journeys.
Is there any point being ‘evangelical’?
Review, Thought
Note to Briefing readers: If you have already read this article in the paper edition of Briefing #313, the ‘web extra’ component is the section under the heading ‘Looking forward’, which was cut from the printed version for space reasons. You might like to skip forward to this section.