Thoughts on Milbank’s Twenty-Five Theses on Empire

What follows are my brief reflections on the Philosopher John Milbank's Theses on Empire originally published on the Theopolis Website. I originally wrote these as notes for an online discussion I had with the authors of the blogs: Scripture and Cities and Fiat Lustitia. My responses in some places are fairly informal given the conversational …

Is paedobaptism a prerequisite for Christendom?

Having a minority view on Baptism (That of a mixed approach accepting both paedo and credo approaches, albeit assuming a credo mode as normative) within my tradition means I spend a long time having to justify my position repeatedly to critics. What follows is a reflection on a recent criticism on paedobaptism being a prerequisite …

Reimagining the Parish and Beyond

Off the back of my recent post redesigning my Parish church after reading about the tradition of the Church of England when it came to the Lord's Supper I've been thinking about how Parishes, Dioceses, and potentially Provinces could be organised. What follows, I think makes sense, but I'm not under any illusions that there …

What I have changed, what I retain, what I wish for more in practice

I don’t know how appropriate this is but with my recent reflections I’ve been wrestling with some of the cognitive dissonances I’ve been feeling about my place in the Church. Becoming a Father has raised a lot for me and prompted me to examine what I believe on a range of issues. I've also been …

On Baptism and it’s timing. Part Four: Conclusion

Introduction Having looked at Baptism I am left with a number of impressions. On the one hand we hear everyone who is saved is baptised. On the other hand not everyone who is baptised is saved. What is more is that baptism takes a panoply of forms. It can be in the ark of Noah, …

Buffered and porous sexuality

There is no easy way to talk about what I'm about to mention, even anonymous I'm trying to be light on the personal details of the issue. Yet recently I've been challenged by my view of sex as one that is arguably sub-Christian. I think my view is one that many Christians in and in a …

Pushed up into the world

Over the last few years I’ve been noticing a particular shift in my beliefs. I don’t know why, because it isn’t intentional and it feels in many ways out of my control. What seems right or decent today is something I’m not sure the me a decade or even five years ago would necessarily agree …

The basis of society

For a long time I thought of myself, or rather the individual, as the basis of society. Like pixels on a screen make an image individuals en masse make a society. I didn't really think the church had a great deal to say on this matter, to my mind it was something so basic that it went unchallenged. …

Whatever happened to discipleship?

The morning of writing this I watched a squat young blackbird following its parent through my cramped back garden. They'd often visited, at first the parent would leave and fetch food for its offspring, now they are looking for food together. Soon the young bird will be looking for food by itself, until it has its …