Secret Women's Business

"If your understanding of God is radically false, then the more devout you are the worse it will be for you" - William Temple What makes for human individual and corporate thriving is a fascinating question for me. What gives life and joy and inner peace for individuals and harmony in society? Any religion that teaches people to serve others obviously has some benefits for society in contrast to narcissism and competitiveness. But it can be a problem for individuals IF the god behind it is harsh and demanding, if no matter how much you give and serve, it's never enough. That's an anxious and oppressive space to live in... you're better off psychologically being an atheist than believing in that kind of god. The image of God that has been sitting with me powerfully lately is around that primal wave of love most (reasonably healthy) people feel when they hold their newborn child. To me this gives a profound insight into the theological claim "God IS love...

The nature of God is probably the most important theological question of all. The New Testament comes up with a truly stunning answer to this most profound spiritual question: God is like Jesus. Jesus Christ claimed "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (God) (John 14:9). Jesus best friend on earth ("the disciple Jesus loved") walked and talked and ate and drank and spoke with and listened to Jesus constantly for three years. When reflecting on what God expressed in Jesus Christ looks like, he wrote a simple and profound phrase: "God IS love". (I John 4:16) God IS love. God is like the perfect parent. God is like the father in the prodigal passage, straining his eyes looking out for the longed-for homecoming of his son. God is the one who pours out abundant and amazing grace through Jesus Christ. I have just read a most thought-provoking blog post from the wonderful Rachel Held-Evans. She is absolutely right about this: while Christians might...

I have been thinking about the nature of theology. In deference to my last post, let me make clear this is with the posture of a learner rather than the posture of an expert! “Hermeneutics 101” (biblical interpretation) tells us the bible is not “even” but “weighted”. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus keeps noting: “You have heard that it was said… but I   say to you”. The teaching of Jesus carries more weight than the law of Moses. When Jesus is asked about the greatest commandments, he notes (or affirms) that loving the Lord your God with your heart, mind, soul and strength, and loving your neighbour as yourself, are the most important commandments… indeed, everything else hangs on these. In Acts, the early church was faced with the issue of whether Gentile believers in Christ were to follow all of the laws of Moses. The church leaders in Jerusalem made the decision the life of the Spirit and faith was the most important thing… that they would simply provide a few guidelines...

One of the things I wonder about is the tension between having opinions and having humility. Intellectual humility would surely involve openness to being wrong. Part of the brilliance of the scientific method is that ideas are constantly tested against reality. Results of controlled testing are published, so others are able to design new tests to see whether a hypothesis is supported or not. Other areas of academic endeavour, such as philosophy, mathematics, theology, history, and the arts, also involve the discipline of publishing research for scrutiny. The business of publishing academic work opens one up for critique: your ideas might be rejected as other opinions compete for validity.  There is a vulnerability about the best academic endeavour. I must confess there are many areas where I have formed strong opinions. For example, I have judged Complementarian theology to be very poor theology indeed, based on dreadful hermeneutics, forcing those who adopt it to accept ludi...