The Post-Evangelical – 3

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Why are many people irritated by certain aspects of ‘evangelical culture’?  This is the question addressed in chapter 3 of Dave Tomlinson’s book The Post-Evangelical.  A summary and a brief comment follow.

Even in New Testament times, people were arguing that Gentile believers must submit to the Jewish law in order to be real Christians.  Throughout the Christian era, the missionary enterprise has been dogged by similar problems – requiring indigenous peoples to adopt not only a change of heart but also a change of culture. …

The Post-Evangelical – 2

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Chapter 2 of The Post-Evangelical, by Dave Tomlinson, is entitled, ‘We’ve Never Had it so Good!’

Here, the author asks why, if evangelicalism has experienced such a resurgence over the past 30 years, many people have become dissatisfied with it.

Tomlinson notes a very considerable transformation that took place in British evangelicalism between 1980 and 1990.  This was due to a considerable extent to the ‘charismaticizing’ of mainstream evangelicalism.  Whereas the charismatic movement in its early days in the last 1960s and early 1970s was seen by many as a threat to evangelicalism, the former has been assimilated by the latter to a remarkable extent, so that much of the energy of current evangelical activity derives from charismatic believes and practices. …

The Post-Evangelical – 1

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My reading on the emerging church has taken me back to Dave Tomlinson’s The Post-Evangelical.  First published in the UK 1995 (but not until 2003 in the US), this book is regarded as something of a seminal piece amongst a number of emerging church people.  It gave a voice to the disillusionment with evangelicalism that many felt.

You can read Dave Tomlinson’s own account of the writing of this book here.  You can see reviews here and here. …

Wright on the resurrection

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I’ve been listening to N.T. Wright’s lecture, given at the The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, in May 2007, entitled, “Can a Scientist Believe in the Resurrection?”

It is most lucid exposition, demonstrating that only an empty tomb and a transformed body do justice to the historical evidence.

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The exceptionality of miraculous healing

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Reflection of the subject of miraculous healing has led me to the conclusion that such healing should be considered really possible, yet exceptional.  The rationale for such an approach is well put by Craig Blomberg in the article ‘Healing’ in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels.  He writes as follows:-

Though some would argue that there is healing in the atonement (Mt 8:17), clearly no one receives full physical healing until the life to come, since all die.

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Dawkin’s God

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I would like to draw attention to a fascinating exchange between the well-known scientist and atheist Profession Dawkins and Dr Francis Collins (former director of the Human Genome Project and a Christian).

The debate is summarised in Time magazine and the relevant bit is found here.  Dawkins was asserting that we are ‘profoundly ignorant’ about questions such as, “Why am I here?”, and “What happens after we die?”

Interviewer: “Could the answer be God?”

Dawkins: “There could be something incredibly grand and incomprehensible and beyond our present understanding.”…

Col 1:1-14 – Beginning and continuing with Christ – sermon notes

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Paul’s letter to the Colossians is an absolute treasure. For warm, practical, joyful, Christ-centred, Christ-honouring teaching there is nothing quite like it.

The small city of Colossae was situated in the Lycus valley in modern-day Turkey. Paul had never been to Colossae. However, he had evangelised other cities in the valley, such as Ephesus. Among his converts had been a man named Epaphras, and it was he who had taken the gospel back to his home town of Colossae and founded the church there.…

Prayers of St Paul

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I’ve been reading and studying Paul’s great prayer in Colossians 1:1-14.  An article in the New Bible Dictionary reminds us that ‘in his Epistles Paul is constantly breaking out into prayer, and it is instructive to glance at some of his prayers because of their content.’  The article goes on to summarise some of the main prayers of Paul recorded in his epistles:-

1. In Rom. 1:8-12 he pours out his heart to God in thanksgiving (v.…

The Bible in Action

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The Bible contains some very rich metaphors of its practical effects.  It is

1.  A judge, discerning our thoughts and intentions, Heb 4:12
2.  A shower of rain, refreshing and reviving us, Deut 32:2; 2 Sam 23:2-4
3.  A seed, producing fruit in our lives, Lk 8:11; 1 Pet 1:23
4.  A sword, piercing sharply, convicting and converting, or condemning, Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12
5.  A hammer, breaking and then fashioning us, Jer 23:29
6.  A fire, refining us, Jer 20:9; 23:29
7. …

Is healing in the atonement?

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Physical sickness came as a result of the fall and the subsequent curse, and leads eventually to physical death.  By his atoning death, Christ lifted that curse, Isa 53:4f, and there is consequently both spiritual healing (1 Pet 2:24), and physical healing (Mt 8:16-17) in the atonement.  Christ purchased for us complete freedom not only from sin, but also from bodily infirmity; however, the full possession of these benefits will not be ours until he returns, 1 Cor 15:23.…