culture
Every year the controversy swirling around the Halberg Sports awards seems to be increasingly cyclonic. Goodness me, we’ve even had a judge spit the dummy and resign because the ‘supreme’ award went to the wrong person/team… I am numbered among those sports fans who are disaffected by it all. So, here is the approach I…
READ MOREI’ve been spending some time reflecting on the similarities between the contemporary advertisement and the ancient parable as part of my DMin thesis. [Some reflections on the similarity of the political cartoon and the parable can be found here.] May I introduce you to one of my companions? It is Mario Pricken. While he has…
READ MOREOne of the definitive Indian experiences is to travel through the dirty and chaotic city of Agra, turn a corner, and be stunned so suddenly by the marble magnificence of the Taj Mahal. This juxtaposition of rubbish and beauty captures so much of India. You see it on any visit to any bazaar. Noise and…
READ MOREI’ve been spending my early mornings in Bangalore reflecting on the similarities between the political cartoon and the parable (and have even produced 6000 words for my supervisor to show for it!) May I introduce you to two of my companions? 1. The first is Herbert Block – known simply as ‘Herblock’. Triple Pulitzer Prize…
READ MORESometimes my heart is so cold and hard. For example, last month when the TV News gave the first ten minutes to the story about the stranded whales in Northland, it barely moved me. In fact I was aghast that the story hogged so much headline time. I could argue that my heart was more…
READ MOREA recent post was about ‘converted, always converting’ and related some of the areas where I have changed my mind in recent years. I want to pick this theme up again, but this time in a more practical area. But first I need to explain something both about my past and my personality. I am…
READ MOREYes, that’s right – I have digested yet another Philip Jenkins’ book. It is becoming a compulsive behavioural disorder (particularly when I see the next one already on my desk). This one is a sane and measured response to the fear that Europe is becoming some sort of Eurabia where Christianity’s prospects, currently being dismantled…
READ MORENike has done it again. Another great advertisement (and far better than the Tiger Woods one at the time of the Master’s last month!)… But I suffer from a compulsive behaviour disorder. I love reading cultural texts theologicially. When I do so four observations surface. the indispensable word Amidst the staccato imagery and the throbbing…
READ MOREYes, it IS as good as they say it is. I liked Andre Agassi’s Open: an autobiography (Harper Collins, 2009)for all sorts of reasons. 1. The story moves from his hatred for his father to his love for Steffi in a journey of self-discovery. It is the old cliche about “you don’t know who you…
READ MOREI am in South Asia at the moment. Lahore in Pakistan and now Colombo in Sri Lanka. While living in this region can have its frustrations, God gave the clues on how to survive when he placed certain animals here. Camel. Elephant. Buffalo. There is something about the slowish pace, the undistracted persistence, and the…
READ MOREAbout Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.