Category: Theology
-
The Empathetic Civilisation | Dirty Heaven [3]
I’ve been thinking about Jeremy Rifkin’s talk on ‘The Empathetic Civilisation’ which he gave at the RSA last year. It sparked my interest because of this quote: “There is no empathy in heaven, because there is no mortality. There is no empathy in utopia, because there is no suffering.” This made think a little about…
-
The Empathetic Civilisation | Dirty Heaven [2]
Jeremy Rifkin’s talk about empathy leads us to some interesting conclusions about heaven. Because empathy is about engaging with those who are other, and experiencing some of their pain, heaven – as traditionally seen – must be a place where there is no empathy, because pain cannot be experienced. The typically Christian view of heaven…
-
“Lord I just…” | Do you believe in Prayer? | Speaking into the unknown
A couple of times recently I’ve been in situations where people have said ‘let’s pray together.’ It’s struck me that there are some interesting group dynamics going on when we do that, which I thought would be good to air. Firstly, if God is God, then why do we need to pray aloud? The answer…
-
Who Do You Say That I Am? | Should Christians be ‘Non Self-Identifying’?
When was the last time someone questioned you about your faith? Whereas once the question would have been ‘are you a Christian,’ the phraseology is now more often along the lines of ‘would you call yourself a Christian.’ The first is an objective statement of being, an absolute. The second a subjective assessment – you…
-
The Gods Stoop to Touch Us | Loving David Beckham | Pete Ward’s New Book
Very interesting story creeping up the ‘most read’ lists on the BBC today: David Beckham stopped to help someone who’s car had broken down on the A10. The man blessed by this appearance professed to be ‘in absolute awe’ that Beckham himself had stooped to help him when his Nissan Primera broke down: He asked…