Thinking Faith blogs

A science of science: Dick Stafleu's 'Theories at Work'

Posted by Richard Gunton in Faith-in-Scholarship blog on Tuesday 28th May 2019

To find a series of books that join up the dots in whole swathes of one's previous education is a wonderful experience.  That's my experience of the writings of philosopher Marinus Dirk Stafleu, which I first discovered a year ago.  His multi-volume project Philosophy of Dynamic Development flows from his career as a Christian studying physics and philosophy: from a PhD in quantum mechanics to teacher-teaching in Utrecht, in his native Netherlands.

Tags: 
book reviews
natural sciences

Jodie Chesney, knife crime and the false worship of maths and science

Posted by Mark Roques in RealityBites blog on Tuesday 21st May 2019

Jodie Chesney, a young woman, aged 17, was knifed in the back near a playground in Harold Hill, Romford, on March 1, 2019. Police chiefs have recently warned that the scale of knife crime in the UK has become a national emergency.

Can I tell you a parable?

Tags: 
materialism
scientism

Iron sharpens Iron: Fifty Questions for Radical Disciples

Posted by Mark Roques in RealityBites blog on Tuesday 30th April 2019

Here are fifty questions that I have crafted to help Christians in mission and discipleship. Can you think of any others?     

1) How does the Bible begin and how does it end?

2) Can you summarise the biblical story in one sentence?

3) What is the cultural or creation mandate?

4) Did God want humans to build cities, invent helicopters and play football?

5) How did Adam and Eve's rebellion plunge the creation into ruin and futility?

6) What were the six relationships twisted by sin and idolatry?

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questions

Review: Christianity and the University Experience

Posted by Richard Gunton in Faith-in-Scholarship blog on Tuesday 23rd April 2019

Christianity and the University Experience should be read by everyone concerned with ministry to students.  It's the outcome of a project in 2009–2012 across thirteen English universities, investigating patterns of religious commitment among undergraduates identifying themselves as Christian.  And perhaps the most striking finding of all was that 51% of all respondents identified

Tags: 
book reviews
Christian postgrad groups

The vine and the branches

Posted by Mark Hutchinson in Faith-in-Scholarship blog on Wednesday 17th April 2019
Purple grapes on a grapevine

As we approach the most significant point in the Christian calendar – the weekend where we remember the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of Jesus, our saviour – it is good to return to some of the core truths that he taught about himself whilst on earth. I've been struck recently in particular by one of the last things Jesus says to his disciples as he prepares for death, in John 15:

Tags: 
theological reflections
devotion

Tudor History and Evangelism

Posted by Mark Roques in RealityBites blog on Monday 15th April 2019

Tudor History is a gold mine for evangelism. Porcine, flatulent Henry the 8th is on the throne. You are a prisoner in one of his foul-smelling dungeons and the vicious torturer is placing heavier and heavier stones on your chest. You are suffocating and the pain is unbearable. Suddenly Jesus comes into the prison, disarms the torturer and throws him against the wall. He takes off the heavy stones. He washes your rank, rancid body and He heals all your wounds and then He leads you out of the malodorous prison. You emerge into the warm summer's day.

Tags: 
mission

Catalysing Postgraduate Ministry: a special conference

Posted by Faith-in-Scholarship in Faith-in-Scholarship blog on Monday 8th April 2019
Catalysing Postgraduate Ministry: group photo

On 15-17 March 2019, about ten invited delegations of academics, postgrads and postgraduate ministry leaders gathered in New College, Oxford for the first Catalysing Postgraduate Ministry conference organised by the Oxford Pastorate as a spin-off of the Developing a Christian Mind conference. Both conferences took place in parallel, which fuelled exchange between the groups.

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events
Christian postgrad groups

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