Thank You

I've just finished reading John Stott's book 'The Radical Disciple'. This is a very easily read book and would be an excellent gift or recommendation to any Christian person.

John Stott is radical in a different way from Shane Claiborne. I find Stott's radical more balanced (one of his chapter titles), which may seem odd - a balanced radical!

We do need to be radical in our discipleship, but I always find error creaps quickly in where we are not well balanced.

In the preface Stott comments on the difference between 'Christian' and 'disciple':
Both words (Christian and disciple) imply a relationship with Jesus, although perhaps 'disciple' is the stronger of the two because it inevitably implies the relationship of pupil to teacher. ... One wishes in some ways that the word 'disciple' had continued into the following centuries [after the time of the apostles], so that Christians were self-consciously disciples of Jesus, and took seriously their responsibility to be 'under discipline'. (p. 16)

An interesting challenge about how we think and talk about our Christian living, or our lives of discipleship!

John Stott's book are always worth reading, over the years I've found his work invaluable and would commend any of his books most warmly. To a radical disciple then, let me say thank you.

Good Questions and 'Good' Answers

Another day in 121 made more enjoyable by finishing Chris Wright's book 'The God I Don't Understand' (2008) on the train.

I've posted on Chris Wright before - here. Chris, in my opinion, is one of the finest biblical scholars presently serving the church. His books on Deuteronomy and Ezekiel are very good and his larger 'The Mission of God' is excellent. I must have read 'The Mission of God' the autumn before beginning my blog so there are no posts on it, so there's a good excuse to read it again!

In this book Chris identifies some questions which are hard to answer, e.g. Why suffering? What was all the fuss about the Canaanites? The Cross: Why, What, How? And the great climax, what's the end all about?

Chris' aim in the book is to reflect on what the bible actually says about these matters and then to draw lines within which we can study and gain understanding and beyond which we will, in this life, never fully understand our God and his ways.

On suffering Chris very helpfully writes of a proper Christian response to suffering, as modelled in Scripture, being: lament, grief, anger, disgust and protest. Not resignation, not transferring blame to 'the curse' or 'the judgement'. In summary:
The Bible compels us to accept that there is a mysteriousness about evil that we simply cannot understand (and it is good that we cannot).
The Bible allows us to lament, protest, and be angry at the offensiveness of evil (and it is right that we should). (p. 55)
This is a much more biblically robust way to respond to the evil of suffering than a resigned grin and bear it, or don't worry it will be better in heaven kind of approach which really helps no one and only brings the gospel into disrepute.

In the section on the cross Chris writes very well of the Trinity and how we cannot set the Father against the Son: i.e. The Son wins a grudging forgiveness from an unwilling Father, or the Father makes an unwilling victim of his Son. We don't understand the mystery of the Trinity but we know the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father and the two always work in perfect harmony. So any presentation of the cross or the atonement that falls down here will fail to do justice to the biblical presentation of Christ's work on the cross. A timely reminder and challenge to those otherwise minded.

A good book, easily read and very highly commended.

The Irresisible Revolution

I've finished Shane Claiborne's book The Irresisible Revolution.

Some final quotes to share:

We live in a world of dangerous extremes. "These are extreme times," Dr King said. "The question is not whether we will be extremists but what kind of extremists will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?" (p. 270)

A good question, the followers of Jesus should indeed be 'extremists for love and grace.'


I used to think that those of us who hope for things we cannot see and who believe that the world can be different than it is were the crazy ones. We are usually called that by people who spend their lives trying to convince everyone that the crazy things they do actually make sense. Now more and more people are starting to imagine that mabye another world is possible and necessary and actually imaginable. I'm starting to wonder if, actually, we have gone sane in a mad world. In a world of smart bombs and military intelligence, we need more fools, holy fools who insist that the folly of the cross is wiser than any human power. And the world may call us crazy. (p. 343)

Do we have the confidence in the gospel to believe that the whole world may be mad but believing in Jesus is the only kind of sane there is? This challenge works on so many different levels.

On the whole Shane's book is challenging, although some of the later chapters are repeating, or let's be positive, reinforcing points made earlier in the book. I can understand Shane's zeal for this kind of Christian living he has found and experienced, but, and this is a big but, he is not describing 'normal' Christian living. I'm well aware there's a huge debate about what 'normal' Christian living may be, but any one description doesn't do justice to the width and variety of Christian living.

Alpha Scotland

At the beginning of February Fiona and I went to the Alpha Scotland Vision Day. Nicky Gumble's talk from the opening session is on-line, either as audio or video here.

It is worth checking out.

I've Done It

Just before Christmas I got this poster of two pages from Codex Sinaiticus from the British Library shop. See me earlier post here.

There is no note on the poster as to which pages are on view. But, I worked it out. Sorry for sounding so chuffed, but there go you.

The first line of the first column on the left hand page is from Luke 22:20b,

the first two characters are the final two letters of the word touto 'this', to poterion 'the cup' and the final charater is the feminine definite article which goes with the phrase 'the new covenant'.

The final line on the eigth column, or the forth column on the right hand page is from Luke 23:14c,

again the first three characters are the end of a word, umon 'you' the final characters make the word anakrinas 'examine', in this form an active Aorist participle. There are from the phrase 'after examining him before you', which Pilate says to the Jews.

So the poster covers the text from Lk 22:20c to Lk 23:14c. Of interest in this section is 22:43-44, which are in double brackets in NA27 and marked in English versions as not being included in some manuscripts. The NA27 footnotes suggest omission of these verses as not being in papyri 75 nor in aleph 1 (codex Sinaiaticus 1), however, they text is found in aleph 2 (codex Sinaiticus 2) which is what is reproduced on the poster!
Metzger has a helpful note on these verses in his textual commentary.

A Prayer For Chile

I've copied this from Pete Philips blog postmodernbible.

Prayer for Chile


Lord of all creation, We pray for the people of Chile, rocked by an earthquake. We pray for those who have lost loved ones,and for those who have been injured. We pray for those who have lost property,and for those seeking to bring order to the chaos. We pray for those who are scared, and for those who wait in fear to see if more damage will be done. We pray for the Church in Chile,that it will be a beacon of hope and security for those in need. We pray for peace and stability in the midst of confusion. Amen.

via http://www.methodist.org.uk/

Tearfund At Work in Chile

Tearfund is sending £20,000 to help local churches in Chile respond to the massive earthquake there that left at least 700 people dead and 1.5 million homes damaged.


The quake on Saturday, measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale, is being described as a `catastrophe’ by the South American nation’s president. (Read the rest of this report here).

Give thanks for Tearfund and the opportunity we have in partnership with Tearfund to share God's love with the poorest and most needy people in the world.