An all-encompassing Christian worldview I've been reading Creation Regained, a little book (117 pages plus postscript) by Al Wolters. It's really very good. I thought I'd share a few extracts ...
Good news to the poor and release to the captives Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (The New International Commentary on the New Testament) A substantial commentary on one of the synoptic gospels can ea...
Is this your religion? What is the dominant worldview — or religion — of people in the West? Arthur Jones identifies the "Western Religion" as being materialism, with the rela...
Life, liberty and property Ideas can stick around for a long time. I've been watching some lectures on political philosophy: Justice, with Michael Sandel. The episode below is abo...
Why work? A day or two before many of us return to work, here are a couple of quotes from a 1942 essay by Dorothy L. Sayers, entitled Why work? [W]ork is not, pri...
Is an interest-based economy a bad thing? In case you hadn't noticed, our economy is in a bit of a pickle. And our economy is also built around charging interest on loans of money. The Old Testa...
Gloria in excelsis Deo And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying J.S. Bach, Mass in B minor, Gloria
Physics and astronomy: worth billions? As folk at CERN prepare not to announce the discovery of the Higgs boson (apparently), other folk have been discussing whether it's worth the money. On...
The Christian gospel in a nutshell Here are two attempts to summarise the Christian gospel. Do either of them seem familiar? What are the most striking differences? Are there any points o...
Not ashamed to suffer shame? Apparently tomorrow is "Not Ashamed Day". I'm trying to work out whether I should be ashamed of that. Not Ashamed is a website, declaration, logo, rang...
Good News to the Poor I've just finished reading Tim Chester's excellent little book, Good News to the Poor: Sharing the gospel through social involvement. Here's a summary, ...
The widow’s mite [Jesus] looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, "Truly I ...
Should Christians bank with Barclays? A provocative question, perhaps, and not one that I will be able to answer definitively. But I think it is a question that rarely even gets asked. For m...
William Lane Craig and the material world "Is the material world all there is?" This was the question posed by Christian philosopher William Lane Craig at the start of his lecture yesterday at I...
A prayer to the Markets Photo by Andrew Magill A moment's thought may have led you to think that speaking of the markets doing this or that is just shorthand for speaking of...
The house on the rock In Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock is situated on a famous rock known as Temple Mount. The rock is so called because it used to be the site of the hous...
HerMES point source catalogues Well, it's finally here: HerMES: point source catalogues from deep Herschel-SPIRE observations, by yours truly and lots of other people otherwise known ...
An open letter to the British Humanist Association Dear BHA, After re-loading your website home page a few times, I found on it the following quote by Ariane Sherine: "All children should be free to grow...
Has the USA improved since 9/11? I don't know what to make of the USA. On the one hand, it is in many ways the most Christian nation on the planet. But on the other hand, I'm coming to ...
Eat lots of meat or feed starving people? As part of a very gradual process of repentance, I've decided to cut down on how much meat I eat. The Guardian had an article a few days ago asking Is ...
Why would a Christian join the Green Party? Yesterday I joined the Green Party. I said a bit about my journey from political indifference to to political ... difference (?). Today I want to say a ...
I’ve joined the Green Party Apparently, "In 2005, only 1.3% of the [UK] electorate [44 million] was a member of one of the main political parties", with a few tens of thousands in...
Sorry I have an apology to make. I have been living as a Christian in a world dominated by greed. And yet this hasn't bothered me at all. I have thought it is...
Massive arms fair - subsidised by your taxes! Video from Britain! Stop arming the world! Among the hard facts: In 2010, the UK sold tear gas, crowd control armament and sniper rifles to Libya ...
“Does York Need a Mega Mosque?” So began a bizarre and anonymous sheet of paper that came through the door yesterday. Bizarre, because no one is asking that question. (And a building ...
What is consumerism? Thinking aloud, I wonder if we could characterise consumerism as being a view of the world in which the sensory aspect is the only aspect that matters. ...
A rant about riots At times like this it is difficult to resist the temptation to make unsubstantiated generalisations and rant uncontrollably about what you think is wron...
The Myth of Religious Neutrality I've now reached the end of Roy Clouser's book, The Myth of Religious Neutrality. Normal service will now resume, with long periods of silence punctuate...
A non-reductionist theory of reality The final chapters (11-13) of Clouser's The Myth of Religious Neutrality (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) present a brief overview of Dooyeweerd's philos...
Is God less divine than his attributes? The first part of chapter 10 of Roy Clouser's The Myth of Religious Neutrality (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) covers some previous material in more depth. ...
The effect of religious beliefs on psychology What makes me who I am? Is it the laws of physics, operating on the cells in my body? Or is it the pressures of society, forcing me into its mould? (Nat...
How do religious beliefs influence physics? We're continuing our "Casebook" in the middle of Roy Clouser's The Myth of Religious Neutrality (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), looking at how religious beliefs ...
Is mathematics religious? What a strange question, I hear you say! But if everyone's beliefs about everything are shaped by their own religious beliefs, as has been claimed, then...
How do religious beliefs control other beliefs? If I believe something because it is in the Bible, then how might that affect my beliefs about some other area of reality, such as geology or history? F...
A brief history of faith and reason 1. Religious belief controlling theoretical reason So far (1, 2, 3, 4) in The Myth of Religious Neutrality, Roy Clouser has been arguing for a view of t...
What are universities for? I've had this lecture opened in my browser for months, and have just got round to listening to it. Here's a sentence to whet your appetite: And yet, if ...
How do religious beliefs affect all beliefs? Roy Clouser's contention in The Myth of Religious Neutrality is that anyone's understanding of anything is strongly affected by their religious beliefs....
Why vote yes to AV? Just a reminder that, for me at least, May is the month for saying "Yes!" And here is why I would recommend a "Yes!" vote in the alternative vote (AV) ...
Types of religious belief The common factor shared by all religions, according to Roy Clouser, is belief in something that is "divine per se", that is, something that is "uncondi...
The resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of his people Christians celebrate today (on good evidence) that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. But they also believe that they themselves will share in Jesus...
What is a religious belief? The claim made in Roy Clouser's book, The Myth of Religious Neutrality, is that all of life is religious, that is, that for every person, every part of ...
All of life is religious How much of your life is affected by your religious beliefs? Not much, surely? For a start, many people are not religious at all, so the answer for them...
No more tactical voting under AV Since last week's voting flowchart I've been pondering whether tactical voting is sensible under AV. I don't think it is. Under FPTP, tactical voting is...
How complicated is the Alternative Vote? I've been slightly bemused by claims that the Alternative Vote (AV) is more complicated than the voting system we currently endure in the UK, First Past...
Intelligent Design: a Bayesian summary This post concludes my recent splurge on Intelligent Design (ID). I have been trying to argue: That ID is basically anti-evolutionism That, as an...
Should Intelligent Design be taught in schools? I don't see why not. Many people in the UK believe in Intelligent Design (that is, they don't believe in modern evolutionary theory), 51% according to o...
Complexity and design The basic argument of anti-evolutionism (Intelligent Design, ID) is that chance processes cannot account for the complexity that we see in living things...
Can science point to an intelligent designer? I find myself in full agreement with the basic presupposition of Intelligent Design (ID): that a world in which an intelligent agent has acted might be ...
Darwinian speculations? One of the quotes Michael Behe showed at Monday's Darwin or Design? evening was the following: "We should reject, as a matter of principle, the substitu...
Is Intelligent Design science? Countless hours have been wasted poring over this most uninteresting, pedantic and pointless of questions. Rather than seeking to answer the questions r...
Is Intelligent Design creationism? No. But there is a connection. Intelligent Design (ID), being essentially anti-evolutionism, is half of an argument for creationism. Basic scientific ar...
Michael Behe: what is “Intelligent Design”? Last night I called in at Westminster Chapel for Darwin or Design? An Evening with Michael Behe, hosted by Justin Brierley, presenter of Premier Christi...
The love of God Great talks by Mike Reeves on the love of God from a recent UCCF event (hat tip: Dave Bish). This was the trailer... Transformission 2010 from Dav...
The life you can save I wouldn't say I'm the biggest Peter Singer fan in the world, but this is pretty powerful (hat tip: Make Wealth History).
Disciple the nations The commission is not to "make disciples" in our modern individualistic sense. That is included, and amen to it. But the commission as the Lord worded i...
Kepler on the value of blue-skies research Is scientific research worth doing only if it serves an obviously "useful" purpose? Kepler thought not: For has not the all-merciful Creator ... given e...
You might be my sixth cousin I'm a bit behind on my Guardian Science Weekly Podcasts, but I learned this evening that you might well be my sixth cousin (according to Steve Jones). Y...
Una extravagant wedding This has to be one of the most extraordinary things I've ever seen or heard - and we're doing part of it in the wonderful Brighton Early Music Festival ...
Is there no alternative? For a long time I've been aware of the Jubilee Centre in Cambridge, but only recently have I started to delve more deeply into their resources. Tonight'...
AV again: support or preference? As I mentioned a few days ago, I'm strongly in favour of electoral reform, and given the choice between the Alternative Vote (AV) and First-Past-The-Pos...
Does the AV guarantee majority support? The "Alternative Vote" is clearly a huge improvement on the "First Past The Post" system currently used to elect MPs in the UK, mainly (in my opinion) b...
The triumph of the Gospel One of the most remarkable brute facts of history is the coming into existence of the Christian church. What was it that caused a group of uneducated J...
John Walton audio resources on Genesis 1 Recently I've been aware of a strong positive correlation between the phrases "John Walton" and "Genesis One". In order to investigate this further, I'v...
The sound of freedom Wonderful talk by Jeremy Begbie on the topic of freedom and Christian faith. We tend to think that if we allow God into our lives, in the way that the C...
Creation or evolution: do we have to choose? This question (also the title of a recent book by Denis Alexander) is one over which evangelical Christians often sharply disagree. Some ("young-earth ...
A Christian approach to science Science conventionally proceeds by "methodological naturalism", meaning that it does not "allow consideration of any hypothesis that implies, e.g., that...
The main purpose of preaching Why do Christians listen to so many sermons? Is it a matter of filling their minds with lots and lots of information? Well, yes, but that's not the main...
Generating LaTeX authors lists for MNRAS and A&A Okay, a bit boring, but as promised, here are some Python functions to generate LaTeX source for long authors lists for MNRAS and A&A.
Save the crêperie! The best café at Sussex University is facing closure. Do sign up to show your support. However, I was intrigued by this comment: In a letter to Michael ...
Adam and evolution I could be wrong, but there seems to have been more discussion recently amongst Christians within the evangelical church about how to fit Adam and Eve i...
Happy first birthday, Herschel and Planck! It's one year ago today that Herschel and Planck were propelled up into space to survey the Universe—the "cool" Universe, to be more specific—on behalf ...
Defending first-past-the-post? Just read Is this the time for electoral reform? on Times Online, in which Ken Ritchie, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, says "Yes", and...
MNRAS line wrapping in authors lists In case anyone else using the MNRAS LaTeX class has been tearing their hair out inserting line breaks manually into long author (and institution) lists,...
Bayesian number counts Here’s a simple bit of statistics for a Friday lunchtime. You count the number of galaxies in a certain area on the sky (with the galaxies satisfying so...
On The Christian Institute’s Election Briefing How should Christians vote in the General Election? That's not an easy question to answer. Politics is messy, government is messy, politicians and polit...
#NAM2010 opening Flew over most of GB today to Glasgow University for the National Astronomy Meeting (NAM) 2010. The opening speeches are taking place now (suppose that ...
NT Wright: did Jesus rise from the dead? Historical Resurrection of Christ? NT Wright responds (Hat tip: Adrian Warnock)</p>
On the shoulders of (medieval) giants What did the Middle Ages ever do for us—for science in particular? Not a lot, I hear you say? The Greeks laid the foundations, and then, after the fall ...
Red, green or blue? Right, I'm going to do something very countercultural, so hold tight. No, don't worry, I'm not going to leave Facebook or switch my mobile phone off. M...
How do I know God exists? Lots of little gems on the Vimeo page for A Passion for Life. Here's my favourite, featuring the legendary Don Carson on fine form:
Herschel for everyone I've just learned that the Herschel Science Archive has been opened up to the world, so any old Tom, Dick or Harry can download the data and start writi...
Alice in Wonderland (2010) Right, Mr Burton, I'd like a new film please. How about "Alice in Wonderland"? That will draw the crowds in by the title alone. What, you can make it 3D...
L’Abri talks online L'Abri (French for "the shelter", or possibly "the cheese") is a network of residential study centres committed to providing "honest answers to honest q...
A proper UK keyboard layout for Mac Macs are marvellous. So many differences. Better in every way. But, having said that, some of the more trivial differences just plain irritating. For ex...
Brighton going Green? I'm quite excited about this General Election thing. For one thing, struggling to overcome my very British apathy and cynicism, I'm beginning to find po...
Haiti in The Onion The Onion - "America's Finest [satirical] News Source" - light-hearted, harmless, chuckle chuckle, how amusing, better get back to work now. Not this pi...
Astropython You (both of you) might well be interested in the new Astropython site, which looks excellent. Here’s the site’s own description: Research in astron...
Initial results from Herschel A bigger venue now, for the first scientific results from the Herschel Space Observatory. Not sure how much I can reveal right now (the presentations w...
Buenos días from Madrid! Day 1 of the Herschel Science Demonstration Phase Data Processing Workshop. Until Wednesday we will be based at ESAC, some 20 miles or so outside Madri...
Off to Madrid Just back from a week at RAL developing software related to the Herschel Space Observatory. I'll be off again tomorrow, this time to Madrid for a big He...
Free speech As a Bible-believing Christian, I am deeply committed to freedom of expression and to tolerance (for example, of those with whom I deeply disagree). I'...
Stand up for research The UK government appears to be under the impression that it should preferentially fund scientific research that has direct economic value. This, of cou...
Gmail on Apple Mail Well, Sussex University email is hopelessly (yes, hopelessly) broken this weekend, so now seems a good time to switch to a proper email provider for my ...
Astroinformatics Data volumes from multiple sky surveys have grown from gigabytes into terabytes during the past decade, and will grow from terabytes into tens (or hundr...
Freecycle Brighton recycled? I've been using Freecycle Brighton for a few years now. Since I blogged about it in 2006, I've successfully used it to get rid of an upright piano, a ta...
Pixelating a 2-D Gaussian with Python They’re coming thick and fast now. Here’s a Python function to accompany the previous post. It’s not maximally efficient, but should make sense…
On the normalization of PRFs Yesterday I said that the PRF for a map in Jy/beam (or similar) should be normalized so that that peak is 1. But this is true only for an idealised (not...
Estimating the flux of a point source You have a map and you know what a point source looks like. How do you filter the map so that the value of each pixel is now the most likely flux of a p...
How to vote ethically I know nothing about politics. Okay, I know what I think about a few controversial moral issues, but the rest - the other 99% or so - is a complete myst...