What is time? We’ve probably all pondered that baffling question at one ‘time’ or another. The best answer ever? ‘Time… is what keeps everything from happening all at once.’ So true! And yet it sounds like a joke from a Christmas cracker. That ingenious answer was posited by the eminent physicist John Wheeler in a …
Whenever a question of biblical interpretation comes up, the first and foremost consideration must be context. In my days at theological college, the absolute importance of context was drilled into us. So in my very first lecturing role in hermeneutics (interpretation) at Domboshawa College in Zimbabwe, I taught my students to remember the phrase: ‘Context …
We’ve all heard of the argument called ‘the slippery slope’. Put one foot on the slope and it slips down further, try to correct it and it slips further again, and soon there’s no way back. A similar proverb claims: ‘What the parent allows in moderation, the children will take to excess.’ Christians often apply …
Everything that exists must have a beginning, right? Hmmm… It’s not as straightforward an assumption as we often think. Does a river have a beginning? Numerous explorers lost their lives attempting to find the source of the Nile – yet even today, it remains inconclusive. Lake Victoria is claimed (by Uganda) as the source of …
What does it mean to be ‘created in God’s image’? It’s a question theologians, scholars and ordinary Christians have pondered for centuries. Lots of ideas, no consensus. Everyone recognises that human beings are unique amongst the animal kingdom. But unique in what way? Morality? Use of tools? Ability to reason? Language, cooperation, rationality, intelligence, a …
I often use the analogy that learning to read the Bible is like learning to drive a car. Driving a car is surprisingly easy – in an open field or a clear road. Anyone can do it. Driving a car in London is another story. The same can be said about the Bible. Anyone can …
Will machines become more human, or will humans become more like machines? The answer is both are happening at a rapid pace. It’s no longer, ‘the robots are coming!’ The robots are here. Yet the language is slippery: robots, androids, cyborgs, synths, replicants, artificial intelligence, nanobots, droids… what do we mean by all these? …
Who knew that the humble Easter egg actually has a long and noble theological history? Going way back to the early church, the practice developed of teaching new converts the basic foundations of the faith before they were baptised. Along with learning, they were expected to undertake a serious time of fasting, prayer, and spiritual …
The devastating pictures of the war in Ukraine bring to mind for some Christians Jesus’ description of ‘wars and rumours of wars’ as a sign of the end (Mat 24:6). Eschatology (the study of the last things – or the end times), is a controversial and often dangerous practice for Christians – a magnet for …
‘In the Beginning, God created…’ Certainly this ranks among the most recognisable opening phrases of any literature known to mankind, yet what does it really mean? Do we ever stop to ask, ‘in the beginning of what?’ When we read ‘In the beginning’, it’s a bit like ‘Once upon a time’. They both immediately …
