Carried by grace

What kind of year has it been? What have you learned? How have your challenges shaped you? How have you grown and changed? How would you personally rate the year 2025 on a scale of 1-10? For me, this year has been one of new experiences and new learning. I have been enlightened and inspired …

A guide to the Beatitudes

In what would be his last sermon, Pope Francis emphasised a contrast between the way of the world and the Way of Jesus. He said: Todayโ€™s builders of Babel tell us that there is no room for losers, and that those who fall along the way are losers. Theirs is the construction site of Hell. …

New Ecumenical Council general secretary eyes greater church unity

Sight Magazine โ€“ April 16, 2025 โ€œAt its heart, the ecumenical community is a community of prayer โ€“ for one another, for all who seek to follow Christ, for people everywhere of all faiths or none, and for our world. As theologian Karl Barth said, โ€˜Prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder …

Isn’t theology supposed to be prescriptive?

Welcome to The Theology Whisperer,ย  a series of short blog posts on theology and theological education.   The task of theology has to begin somewhere, and a good starting point is description โ€“ or, as I noted in my last post, the task of clarifying the content and practical implications of the Christian faith. But …

Jesus or the Bible

Several years ago, around the time when he was President of the Baptist Union of Australia, I recall the Revd 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. ย I canโ€™t recall the issue on which they disagreed, but …