Alan Chambers, president of the ex-gay conversion therapy ministry Exodus International. I heard overnight of the decision by Exodus International to wind up its operations and cease ministering to people wishing to be rid of same sex attraction (see, for example, here and here). The spiritual and pastoral needs of the LGBTI community have never been …
The moral case for sustainability
By Rod Benson A recent study has found that encouraging people to adopt ecologically sustainable behaviours based on the moral rather than economic case may be more effective. The Guardian newspaper reports that in an experiment conducted at a Dutch petrol station, researchers compared two messages aimed at persuading people to get their tyre pressure checked …
The Labyrinth of the World
Labyrinth beach art, Scotland. John Comenius (1592-1670) was a renowned Czech educator, and author of one of the most significant works of Czech literature, The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart (1623), republished in the series “Classics of Western Spirituality.”[1] Its themes are fellowship of the believer with Christ, and the …
Jesus or the Bible
Rev. Tim Costello AO. Several years ago, around the time when he was President of the Baptist Union of Australia, I recall the Rev. Tim Costello writing an opinion piece in response to an article by one of the leading Sydney Anglican heavyweights published in The Sydney Morning Herald. I can’t recall the issue on …
Cooperation and cobelligerence between NSW Baptists and other faith communities
A paper presented by Rod Benson to an ICOBS/ABRF Conference on the theme "Interfaces: Baptists and others," Whitley College, Melbourne, 17 July 2009. At the beginning of their discussion of Christian responses to other faiths in Modern Christian Thought, James C. Livingston and Francis Schüssler Fiorenza observe that [s]cholars who study modernity appear to agree that …
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