Category Archives: God

Wealth, generosity and the labourers in the vineyard

This post is based on Jesus’ parable of the labourers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16), as I am preaching on it on Sunday. If you think it reads like a sermon, that’s because it is one. It draws on a … Continue reading

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Humanity and nature: who is in control?

In a recent post I mentioned the fact that the study of anthropology began with nineteenth century atheists who struggled to understand why our hunter-gatherer ancestors all over the world made the same crazy mistake of imagining the existence of … Continue reading

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Smug Christians and Jewish sacrifices

There is a version of Christianity, still sadly all too common, that claims to accept everything in the Bible literally as divine revelation and is not interested in information from any other source. Quite often such Christians positively disapprove of … Continue reading

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Demons are bad news: can we do without them?

A short while ago I received this message from a correspondent: I do not believe in a devil, or demons. This difference in belief has lead to various familial arguments I’d rather avoided, but could not. My mother is quite … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Churches, God, Jesus, Science | Tagged | 5 Comments

The Kingdom of God: what did Jesus mean?

I’m posting this because I’m preaching on Sunday, and the lectionary readings are some short parables by Jesus on the Kingdom. What Jesus meant by the Kingdom of God has been debated endlessly. The way I was first taught it, … Continue reading

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Ivan Karamazov and God’s goodness

This is part argument, part request for information. I’m researching theodicy. Why does a good God allow suffering? One of the classic texts is Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. Ivan describes a five-year-old girl being deliberately tortured by her parents. It … Continue reading

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Life: contract or gift?

A Labour Party thinktank is proposing closer links between welfare benefits and contributions, through altering the system for national insurance contributions. The inevitable political quote goes: Senior figures believe that Labour must counter the impression that it supports a “something … Continue reading

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What does religion tell us?

This is the second of three posts on ‘religion’. The first describes how seventeenth century thinkers developed ‘religion’ as a new concept: a self-contained feature of society, a private matter to do with beliefs about God and life after death … Continue reading

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Resurrection and kingdom

In theory Easter is the biggest festival in the Church’s year. How it works out in practice is another matter. Today the main issue is that it’s impossible. Nobody rises from the dead. Some people conclude that Christianity is wrong, … Continue reading

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From tooth fairy to God

Jessica’s tooth came out when her parents were away. Her babysitting grandparents weren’t sure about standard family procedure. In the event the Tooth Fairy performed her traditional role – and is now wondering what to do with the tooth. Why … Continue reading

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