Looking back, looking forward

Thought, Sola Panel

Whenever I look back over the history of The Briefing—all 366 issues, all 21 years—I find it almost impossible to resist thinking about my eldest daughter, who (like The Briefing) was born in April 1988. In fact, I’ve used the image so often in the past, I’m sure long-term readers are heartily sick of it by now. (more…)

Can you feel it?

Thought

Jonathan Edwards is something of a celebrity in theological circles these days. He is revered by American writers as one of their greatest sons. In the controversy over charismatic ‘manifestations’ (such as in the Toronto Blessing), he has often been quoted as a reformed evangelical who was in favour of extraordinary emotional outpourings, and who promoted revival, with all its sometimes unruly accompaniments.

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Experiencing God

Thought

In the first of these articles, we looked at the current confusion surrounding the topic of Christian experience. We noted that there is confusion about what counts as Christian experience; about what authority experience should possess; and about the place of the Holy Spirit in Christian experience (and vice versa). We concluded that there is even confusion about how the very subject of theology and experience should relate. So if you finished the first of these articles feeling somewhat confused, then I can only claim to have been successful thus far.

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Experiencing confusion

Thought

There is something of a crisis among many Christians today over the question of ‘experience’. If not a crisis, there is at least much confusion and uncertainty—a fascination and a longing—perhaps even a vacuum. This goes back some time.

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Four ways to live?

Life, Sola Panel

In our world there are no absolutes. The opinion poll has become the arbiter of moral values. Having removed God from the system, modern man has discovered that the concepts of ‘truth’ and ‘authority’ have departed with him.

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