Theology. Philosophy. Life.
It should hopefully go without saying that followers of Jesus are called to be involved in their local communities, and that this will inevitably be political in some way. Since we are called to love our neighbours, it follows that this will involve some kind of engagement with public life. The question therefore, is what […]
I hate dating. It’s superficial, it’s awkward, and it’s weird. People are never themselves, even if they try. But the thing I hate most about the whole experience is that we treat each other like objects to consume rather than people to love. We have literally devalued the other person by forgetting their humanity. But […]
I know a lot of people are struggling with self-isolation, but I must confess, this has been a wonderful time of growth for me. Generally people think of staying put as boring and mundane, and they fantasise about hitting the road (or the airport) and leaving everything behind for a life of travel. They equate […]
About a year and a half ago, I asked the Lord for an unusual News Years gift. “Lord,” I prayed, “please can you make this coming year really really boring?” He did, and it was excellent. Almost everything in my life had become far too complex, and I had developed some very serious anxiety. I knew […]
One of my lecturers recently asked our class a question: Why did God create us? And, as theologians tend to do, we proudly regurgitated the dogmas we were taught at Sunday school. “Because he loves us.” “Because he’s an artist.” “Because he wanted relationship.” But the more we thought about it, the more we realised […]
Covid-19 has revealed weaknesses in our existing systems, and panic-buying in particular has revealed that we do not think about how our consumer choices affect others. Although there is plenty of toilet paper to go around, we now have an unequal distribution because with heightened anxiety, a handful of buyers have first considered their own […]
[NYC subway, 2013] The concept of secularism is based on the idea that a culture should aspire to religious neutrality. And yet there is no such thing. Every concept you inhabit, every habit that you form, and everything that you aspire to be has been informed by some kind of philosophical ideology. I repeat: […]
Or perhaps more specifically: let’s talk about how we talk about abstinence to unmarried Christians. This is story is less about abstinence itself and more about Christian attitudes towards it when advising people who are not married. Here, I am going to outline two differing Christian views on abstinence by exploring the influence of two particular […]
[Notre Dame, Paris 2017] I left the mega-church scene at age 21, feeling somewhat stranded and very confused. I knew that I loved Jesus, but I also knew that I no longer fancied the razzle-dazzle shiny church experience that I was raised in. Church life had always placed a heavy emphasis on the celebrity prophet/preacher/worship-leader/healing-pastor […]
A few years ago, a woman whom I had never met before was praying for me. We were at one of those big Christian music festivals, and she had simply offered some words of encouragement. However she said something that has been bugging me ever since: “If you were the last person on earth, Jesus […]
Sarah Coppin 