Tag: Epistemology

  • What’s the point of theology? (Ephesians 1:17–18)

    What’s the point of theology? (Ephesians 1:17–18)

    The full name of the college I teach at is “Moore Theological College”. That word “Theological” says something important about who we are. It reminds us about what we’re on about. Yes, the Bible is at the centre of everything we do. Yes, we seek to train people for ministry. Yes, we’re driven by the…

  • Knowing Christ

    Knowing Christ

    On Sunday, I preached my first sermon in my new role as Assistant Minister at St Augustine’s Neutral Bay.  

  • Identity and reality in the modern Australian and ancient Jewish diasporas

    Our family has been away from Australia for almost 3 years now. One of the funny things we’ve noticed about ourselves is how much our Australian identity is wrapped up in symbols and dreams that have little to do with reality. For example, this 1-minute ad for Tourism Australia–based on Les Murray’s poem, “The Dream…

  • Scripture and the Authority of God – again

    I notice Tom Wright has re-released his book, Scripture and the Authority of God (first published in 2005). I guess that gives me an excuse to re-post my review of the book [PDF], originally published in The Briefing 330, March 2006. HT Scot McKnight.

  • Innasense

    What’s the point of having your own blog if you can’t occasionally share a good old rant? I’ve noticed recently that educated people speaking extemporaneously in public often randomly pepper their discourse with the term, “innasense”. I have had two theories as to how this term came about. The first theory was that these people…

  • God, the universe and all that: Part 3

    From the Sola Panel: This is the third instalment of a five-part series (read parts 1 and 2.) We’ve been looking at Psalm 8 and have discovered that stargazing should make us wonder why God the creator should have anything to do with us. At this point, if you were sceptical about the existence of…

  • God, the universe and all that: Part 2

    From the Sola Panel In the second instalment of a five-part series, I contemplate the extent of our significance in the universe. (Read Part 1.) We’ve been looking at Psalm 8, and we’ve discovered that stargazing helps us to see how insignificant we really are. Just think about the size of space for a moment.…

  • The Bible doesn’t say

    A few weeks ago, Bobby died. It happened quite quickly. On Thursday, he was sitting merrily on his perch. On Friday, he was shivering and looking pretty unimpressed with life. On Saturday morning, he was standing on the floor of the cage with his eyes half open, rocking back and forth. At lunchtime, when the…

  • Sola Scriptura

    Life is full of decisions. Where do I go on holidays? What job should I choose? What should I have for dinner? Which side of the bed should I get out of? Should I get out of bed at all? Making decisions is a fundamental part of being human; we can’t avoid it, and we…

  • Is the wisdom literature of the Old Testament an exercise in natural theology?

    Introduction Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes have posed a puzzle for interpreters eager to account for their place in the canon. What, if any, connection there is between the Old Testament Law and Prophets, whose topic is the Israel’s history, and this ‘wisdom literature’, which, at best, seems only to allude to Israel’s history? One popular…

  • The Bible alone: what does that mean in practice?

    This is an imaginary dialogue between a Roman Catholic and an Evangelical written to help Christians better understand the Reformation principle of “Scripture Alone”. “Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word.” (Ps 119:169) (Nigel’s words are from an anonymous pamphlet written and distributed by a Roman Catholic…