culture
Recently I visited the Blue Penguin Colony in Oamaru. Having been ushered through the Visitor Centre 50 of us gathered in a little grandstand to wait and to watch – and to listen to an expert tell us about the blue penguin. She knew her stuff! She described what the blue penguin looked like and…
READ MOREI took my parents to see Miss Potter at the Lido in Auckland. As we walked through the doors into their intimate little cinema on the ground floor I saw a sight I will never ever forget. The front row is lined with these luxurious laz-e-boy chairs. Leaning all the way back in them with…
READ MOREIn response to a posting on 18 April (‘the doors’), Stephen Garner commented on some research that points to ‘moralistic therapeutic deism’ (MTD) being the religion of younger Christian people today. I’ve been a bit distracted by this research all year! In a nutshell – this is what is meant by MTD: “Good, kind, nice…
READ MOREThe comment which provoked the most response while teaching in Zambia was when we came to the ‘submission’ passages in 1 Peter 2:11-3:7 and I suggested that we needed to avoid two errors: (a) the ‘cut and paste’ errorThis occurs when we ‘cut’ these verses out of the context of this letter and the occasion…
READ MOREThere’s plenty of chat about consumerism today, isn’t there? I have just finished Duncan MacLaren’s Mission Implausible (Paternoster, 2004) and towards the end he identifies various characteristics of a society driven by consumption: (a) The primacy of individual choice(the path to personal freedom – a long, long way from obligation, duty or loyalty)(b) The expectation…
READ MOREHaving read Bono on Bono – and to give you something on which to reflect as you wait for the delayed U2 concerts (in NZ anyway!) – here is my countdown of a ‘first eleven’ bytes from the book: #11 on hypocrisyAs you get older your idea of the good guys and the bad guys…
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.