Negotiating challenges and change in Christian marriage In the previous four articles, I argued that faithful love is best understood as a lifelong practice in which affection, friendship, desire and altruism are shaped by compatibility, commitment, companionship and character. I suggested that Christian marriage embodies this love as adaptive fidelity: a covenant in which two persons …
The Art of Faithful Love (Part 3)
The ideals of contemporary Christian marriage In the past decade, in Australia and elsewhere, what used to be understood as Christian marriage has been subject to criticism and in some cases ridicule. We have emerged from that cultural moment with a broader definition of marriage, a better understanding of the complexity of modern social practices, …
As for me and my house
A young Barack Obama, who would one day be the first Black President of the United States of America. It was nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who coined the phrase, “a long obedience in the same direction.” In Beyond Good and Evil, he argues that the enduring achievements of civilisation arise through sustained discipline not fleeting inspiration. …
A happy ending
A sermon by Rod Benson Ruth 4:1-22 Call me David. And let me tell you a story from the time before my birth, in the days when the judges ruled Israel. Life is closing in for me, and I’m not long for this world. As you know, I am the second King of Israel, the …
Being single, being Christian
A sermon by Rod Benson Twelve days ago, I stepped off a subway train at 15th Street in central Philadelphia, in search of the Clothespin, a large public sculpture created by Claes Oldenburg in 1976. I ascended the subway stairs to street level, and emerged in the sunlight, facing the magnificent City Hall, and looked …
All Told 