ICYMI 3 In case you missed it … cooperation, gender, assisted suicide, politics, Picture-in-Picture, vestries, aging, hymns, Proms, SSL forwarding, WhatsApp.
Church schools: some reading Many children are in Church of England schools. I’ve been reading a few bits and pieces to help me to understand what church schools are all about.
ICYMI 2 In case you missed it … organs, Monteverdi, leadership, Tom Holland, Justin Brierley, Selah, Catherine Heymans, Jeremy Begbie, Dawkins, Allan Bibles …
O Sing Unto the Lord: A History of English Church Music (Andrew Gant) The book covers both sides of the divide between professional (choral) and congregational music, but I focus on the latter in this post.
Jonathan Chaplin on disestablishment Calls are growing to disestablish the Church of England. Surely Christians ought to resist these calls, right? Not according to Jonathan Chaplin.
ICYMI 1 In case you missed it … Alamire, friendship, local archaeology, Vaughan Roberts, Mastodon, psalmody, Auckland Project, Stellarium Mobile, Andy Byers.
Michael Sacasas on technology Is technology neutral? We usually think it is. Michael Sacasas argues that it isn’t. ‘Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral’ (Kranzberg).
OK Google, define ‘discriminate’ I was busy setting up Google Workspace for Nonprofits when I was confronted by this: ‘First, confirm that … Your organisation does not discriminate …’
The star of Bethlehem It’s still Epiphany (just), so here is my article for the January ‘Crossways’ newsletter for St Paul’s Church Spennymoor and Whitworth Church.
Things can only get better? With COP26 in the news, my article for the November ‘Crossways’ newsletter for St Paul’s Church Spennymoor and Whitworth Church.
Biblical Theology of Culture (Christopher Watkin) How can we make sense of the world around us? Here are a couple of great videos by an old friend of mine, now a lecturer in French philosophy in Australia.
What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done (Matt Perman) This is the kind of book I should have read years ago: a Christian distillation of recent wisdom on productivity, time-management, and personal leadership.
Whatever happened to the New Atheism? It’s probably time to look back on the New Atheism as something historical. Rationalist blogger Scott Alexander has attempted to chart its history.
Advent organ music Two of my favourite pieces of organ music for the season of Advent: Bach’s Nun komm’ (BWV 659), and the first movement of Dupré’s Symphonie-Passion.
The roots of the sexual revolution Fascinating lecture by Carl Trueman, examining the origins of our contemporary attitudes to sexual identity.
Monteverdi Vespers In anticipation of the Monteverdi Vespers in October (Durham Singers and I Fagiolini), I think I’ve found the best recording: La Compagnia Del Madrigale.
Why pray for politicians? Have we misunderstood what the Bible says about praying for our political leaders? Why are we told to pray ‘for kings and all those in authority’?
What is the worldview of the West? What is our dominant worldview in the West? Consumerism? A New Gnosticism? Let’s see what happens when we analyse it using four basic worldview questions.
Forget the New Atheism: what about the New Gnosticism? A movement that some are calling the New Gnosticism has taken almost complete hold of the centres of Western society. How can we make sense of it?
Alastair Roberts on Brexit and the divided nation Brexit has revealed many deep divisions within British society, chiefly between ‘cosmopolitans’ and ‘provincials’. What drives these two mindsets?
The Three Brexiteers Why did people vote to leave the EU? My hunch is that there are three groups: idealists, pragmatists, and the chronically disaffected and disempowered.
Three cheers for the EU! Solidarity, subsidiarity, democracy: three reasons why I’ll be voting to remain, in the EU referendum.
The mission of the church and the decline in voluntary organisations Voluntary organisations are declining as consumerism rises. This affects the church too. How should we respond? How should we do church in this context?
Watching the English The ‘core’ of Englishness, says Kate Fox, is our acute social dis-ease. This is reflected in our use of humour, our aversion to earnestness, and more.
Disconnected? I’ve been trying to cut down on my usage of social media, and of the internet in general. This is what I’ve been trying…
Why are we so obsessed with gender? It might not be overstating things to say that we find ourselves at a turning point in Western history. History is moving forwards at a considerable pac...
I’m not a person of faith There are two types of people: normal people, and everyone else. How you unpack that depends on what you think of as normal. So there are Brits and fo...
Faith at the ballot box: Greens Over on Thomas Creedy’s blog there has been a series of posts, in which Christians from various political parties answer a set of questions. I took part...
Coding for Christ? There was a post of mine on the Faith in Scholarship blog a couple of days ago. It begins as follows… While I was an academic astronomer, I probably...
General election Bible study I cobbled this Bible study together at the weekend. It is unrefined and untested, but I post it here in case it might be useful. The main inspiration is...
Trident dilemma What if… North Korea has nuked London. Trident is ready. You are in charge. Pyongyang will be destroyed. 2.5 million will die. Do you press the button?
On the (social capital) deficit Any who are concerned about the sharp decline in “social capital” over recent decades would do well to read Harvard professor Robert Putnam’s 2000 class...
Christianity and the Green Party A little flurry of online activity on this topic over the past few days. First, there was Gillan Scott’s post on Archbishop Cranmer, entitled Green Par...
A Christian guide to the General Election: Votewise 2015 If you’re a Christian thinking about how to vote (or whether to vote) in the 2015 General Election, and if you read just one short book on the topic, th...
Keep it in the ground Major new campaign from the Guardian, in partnership with 350.org. We’re heading for disaster if we burn the vast quantity of known fossil fuel reserves...
On the Green Party’s policies A couple of people asked me what I made of the Telegraph’s recent article on Green Party policy, Drugs, brothels, al-Qaeda and the Beyonce tax: the Gree...
Christians in Politics: will you #ShowUp? In politics, it has been said, decisions are made by those who show up. Christians in Politics launched a new campaign today: The Show Up campaign ...
Election 2015: Christian comment from KLICE The excellent Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics (KLICE) has a new page devoted to the 2015 (general) election. You can read all about it in th...
Weapons cause wars: Alan Storkey on the First World War I first heard Alan Storkey give a talk about the arms trade in 2010, at a WYSOCS event, and it had a deep effect on me. He made me realise something tha...
Astronomy through a Christian telescope There’s a post of mine on the Faith in Scholarship blog this morning. It begins as follows… One of the motivations for Faith in Scholarship is the c...
The real environmental problems and how to solve them Just came across this quote1 by Gus Speth, a professor of law and former administrator of the UN Development Programme, in the latest issue of Tearfund’...
Vote Green on 22 May! I haven’t had much time for blogging lately, but I interrupt my (non-)blog silence for a brief party political broadcast. I’ll be voting for the Green ...
Government orders “lazy” population to get out of bed earlier The British population has been described as “lazy” and chided for “excessive lie-ins”, in a scathing attack by the Chancellor. “The reason the economy...
I’m a Christian and this is why I vote Green I’d love to write a post under this title, but, fortunately for me (and for you!), fellow Green Party member Stephen Gray has saved me the hard work! ...
Climate change is here now: an urgent call to action Harsh though it may sound, I’m glad that we are experiencing yet more crazy weather here in the West. Not glad for those people suffering real hardship,...
Why winds explain the warming hiatus There has been a lot of talk recently about a suppose “pause” in global warming. Well, a study led by Professor Matt England of the University of New So...
Wirral wind power I seem to have found my way onto the letters page of this week's Wirral Globe. Here's the letter (title is editorial): Wind power debate is full of hot ...
Hope in an Age of Despair (review) I had this review published in the Winter 2013/2014 edition of Green Christian, the magazine of the Christian Ecology Link (CEL). It's now on their webs...
Monday Monteverdi A bit of Monteverdi to brighten up your Monday. One of my Christmas presents was the CD Monteverdi - Teatro D'Amore by L'Arpeggiata. Here's a video of o...
They followed the Scriptures: Hugh Ross on the Christmas star Hugh Ross is an astrophysicist who is the president and founder of the science-faith think tank Reasons to Believe. He has some helpful short videos (am...
How does the universe make you feel? Poll results Since 17 March 2009, I've had a poll on this site about the universe. The poll is now closed! Here is how it looked: Before I give you the results, I w...
Dupré: Variations sur un Noël Way back in 1999 (that's 14 years ago), I used to be not too bad on the organ. (I say "I", but all the atoms in my body have been replaced a couple of t...
The organ of St George’s Hall, Liverpool Liverpool is a great city for unleashing one's inner organ-geek. Two of the biggest and best pipe organs in the country are here. Liverpool Anglican Cat...
Philippines: pray, give, act Pray: O loving Creator, bring healing and hope to those who, at this time, grieve, suffer pain, or who have been made homeless by the force of flood in ...
The environmental crisis (but don’t mention the warming) Some people remain unconvinced about anthropogenic global warming and climate change. I remain convinced that they are wrong, and that they have swallow...
Money doesn’t get spent or saved Money is a funny thing. When you pay out some money (when you "spend" it), the money doesn't actually get spent. That is, nothing happens to the money. ...
An optical illusion for climate sceptics Sometimes appearances can be deceptive. Here's an image from the 2013 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5) (part of Figure...
Sex without bodies: understanding LGBT(QIA) What is it that unites those people who identify as LGBT—or LGBTQIA? Andy Crouch answers, in an excellent Christianity Today editorial: There is really ...
Willem-Alexander: born with a destiny (like all of us) No one asked Willem-Alexander what he wanted to be when he was older. When he was born, his grandmother Juliana was Queen of the Netherlands, and his m...
Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women In Desiring the Kingdom, James K.A. Smith describes the mall (shopping centre) in religious terms (see here for a previous post and video). He sees the ...
Nuclear Holocaust app to deliver world peace Violence could become a thing of the past, thanks to a new Nuclear Holocaust app. Studies of violence in various contexts have shown that, in general, a...
Venison and apples to be exported to New Zealand and then re-imported To deal with a surplus of deer and apples in the UK and an increasing demand for imported venison and apples from New Zealand, the government has announ...
Green Party Conference The Green Party is celebrating its 40th birthday this weekend in Nottingham at its party conference. I'll be there (from tomorrow). It will be my first ...
Freedom from nature Your goal in life is to be free. Free from nature. You were born with a particular body, into a particular family, into a particular geographical, socia...
Same-sex marriage: anyone for a punch? Would you like a punch? "Punch" is an example of a word with more than one meaning. It might look like this in a dictionary—and you'd better be clear wh...
Why should Christians care for creation? Great video from the Christian conservation charity A Rocha. It's a few years old (2006), but still has an excellent set of questions and an excellent l...
Green politics: policies and practice The second half of Derek Wall's The No-Nonsense Guide to Green Politics (part 1) deals with the policies and practice of green politics. Chapter 4 looks...
Green politics: holistic politics Halfway through reading the second of my Christmas present books, The No-Nonsense Guide to Green Politics, by Derek Wall (2010). Derek Wall is an econom...
The Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir This guy's a legend. And this film is awesome. Seriously! The Reverend Billy is on a mission to save Christmas from ... the shopocalypse! Pack the malls...
Creation care: an urgent call to action The Lausanne Global Consultation on Creation Care and the Gospel took place recently in Jamaica. The outcome was an urgent Call to Action. Here are some...
Abortion: if a woman is denied her autonomy, is she denied her humanity? I can understand why someone would be zealously opposed to abortion. But it's been less obvious to me why someone would be zealously pro-abortion. I've ...
Progressive language Here are some commonly-used words and expressions. On their own, they are completely neutral. But we don't hear them as neutral, because they are about ...
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett visits York Natalie Bennett has been the leader of the Green Party for around 52 days. She's travelling around a lot, and visited York on Wednesday. I managed to ca...
Madrid to York by train I've never been a particularly frequent flyer, but I've been trying in recent years to keep my air miles low, mainly for environmental reasons. So, with...
Why Christians should be environmentalists Peter Harris has done great things in the environmental movement through Christian conservation organisation A Rocha. If you can spare just 10 minutes t...
Could rules on vandalism be relaxed “to boost the economy”? Planning rules are to be relaxed, so that people can vandalise their neighbourhoods by building ugly extensions, in order "to boost the economy". But I'...
Is it un-Green to oppose same-sex marriage? The Green Party—of which I am a member—has a clear commitment to equality. It's a commitment that resonates with me as a Christian. But what does "equal...
The Story of Stuff I've been watching some, erm, stuff from The Story of Stuff Project. It's about our patterns of production and consumption, and how they are all messed ...
Global warming sceptics convinced The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) project published some new results a couple of days ago. Here's what they said: According to a new Berkele...
The consumerisation of democracy "Consumerism was a way of giving people the illusion of control, while allowing a responsible elite to continue managing society." Part 4 of Adam Curtis...
Will you sponsor me to… Some of our social customs are so familiar that we don't realise how weird they are. Sponsorship is one of them. Here are two things a person might say,...
The roots of consumerism Why did women start to smoke? Why did people start buying lots of stuff they didn't actually need? What led to the Wall Street Crash? What led to Hitler...
The Economics of Happiness (2011) Went to see The Economics of Happiness at our local Picturehouse cinema last night. The basic message: globalisation bad, localisation good. The first p...
Transforming culture Great quote from James K.A. Smith: At its heart, the Kuyperian tradition has emphasized the lordship of Christ over all things and hence affirmed creati...
Krauss got plenty of nothing The title of Lawrence Krauss's book, A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing, might have led you to believe that the theoret...
Responding to climate change I thought I'd share a video from Tearfund, which I saw on Saturday as part of an event in York looking at a Christian response to climate change: ...
Astronomy through a Christian telescope ...is the title of a talk I'm due to give later in April, to a Christian group in Leeds. Here's the summary: Is there a distinctively Christian view of ...
God and Government God and Government is an accessible, recent (2009) multi-author book, aimed at stimulating Christian thinking about political issues within the UK conte...
Coalition For Marriage: an open letter to fellow Christians Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I know many of you have been encouraging others to support the "Coalition For Marriage". And I fully respect you fo...
Keep politics out of marriage If you've signed the Coalition For Marriage (C4M) petition, or the Coalition For Equal Marriage (C4EM) petition, or indeed both or neither (and I think...
Magnificent Bach Just over a week to go... Bach's Magnificat, Easter Oratorio and Ascension Oratorio, with the Yorkshire Bach Choir and Yorkshire Baroque Soloists, at St...
WALL-E (2008) We watched WALL-E (2008) last night. It's a great story. It's about planet earth, a planet that was supposed to be beautiful—in its landscapes, in the ...
Those whom the state has joined together? A few thoughts on the proposals for allowing same-sex marriage. It seems to me that the Christian view on marriage can easily be lost in the discussion....
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...
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...