For Scripture: Imagining the World in Light of the Word

What part does imagination play in your spiritual life? You might think it should have no place at all. We should be about truth. Many of us know people who cook up all kinds of funny ideas about God and his will for their lives using their imaginations—exactly the kind of thing that the Bible specifically denounces in places such as Ezekiel 13 and Jeremiah 23:16-17. The imagination (or heart) is a thoroughly unreliable source for theological knowledge. An Imaginative Book for Imaginative Hearts Even so, the Bible is full of imagination. When it describes God as building his house...

Andrew Moody

Against Liturgy: The Word of God is Enough

Peter Orr

“Desiring the Kingdom” – A Review: (5) Disagreement

Mark Baddeley

“Desiring the Kingdom” – A Review: (4) Different Paths

Mark Baddeley

“Desiring the Kingdom” – A Review: (3) New Perspectives on Lifestyle

Mark Baddeley

“Desiring the Kingdom” – A Review: (2) New Paths in Anthropology

Mark Baddeley

Mark Baddeley continues his review of James K. A. Smith’s Desiring the Kingdom (See part 1 here). In this second part he critically reflects upon the vision of humanity offered in the book and reflects on five ways that its view of us as desiring worshippers can help us in our allegiance to Christ. 1. The Roots of Sin The first way Desiring the Kingdom helps Christians is to makes better sense of our experience of sinning. Imagine two people experiencing sin problems in their Christian walk. The first person’s sin begins with bad theological views: they are so out...

“Desiring the Kingdom” – A Review: (2) New Paths in Anthropology

Mark Baddeley

“Desiring the Kingdom” – A Review (1)

Mark Baddeley

James K. A. Smith’s Desiring the Kingdom is a book which has the potential to revolutionalise people’s approach to preaching and the Christian life for the better. And yet it is unlikely that many will persist in reading it. Its 200+ pages represent the struggle of a professional philosopher to talk about the nature of humanity, the shape of our culture, a new vision for the Christian social life (particularly church and higher education)—all in a non-academic way. The prose varies from gripping and clear to anaemic and opaque from one page to the next. It is not an easy...