Principles for Christians in politics

By David P. Gushee March 30, 2000 The religious bickering between candidates John McCain and George W. Bush and their respective ministerial allies during their primary battles requires careful reflection. There are lessons to be learned here that transcend the politics of the moment. The immediate context of these bitter arguments was the white-hot contest …

Reflection for Good Friday

Detail from Salvador Dalí, “Christ of St. John of the Cross” (1951). Novelist Peter De Vries wrote The Blood of the Lamb about his eleven-year-old daughter, Carol, who died of leukaemia. At the children’s pavilion in the New York hospital the book’s main character, Wanderhope, gets to know other parents going through similar ordeals, including …

Growth in grace as a control belief for theological method

A paper by Rev Rod Benson for a meeting of the Commission on Christian Ethics, Baptist World Alliance Annual Gathering, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, 3 July 2013. This paper examines the need for ethical control beliefs for theological method, outlines options suggested by Stanley Grenz and Brian Harris, and commends “growth in grace” (2 Peter 3:18) as …

Prayer for a service for those lost at sea

I was asked to offer a prayer for Australians as part of a Service of Commemoration for those lost at sea to be held at St Barnabas' Anglican Church, Broadway, Sydney, on Sunday 23 June 2013. Almighty God, in whose prophets through the ages we have seen and heard your love and justice clearly proclaimed, …

Getting to know the Holy Spirit

Artist's rendition of St Augustine of Hippo (354-430). Matthew 22:35-36 According to tradition, the great fourth century Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo was walking along the beach one day, puzzling over the doctrine of the Trinity, the idea that God is one being known to us as three Persons.  After a while, Augustine observed a …