culture
This morning. Sheer bliss. Why? Copies of The Times of India and The Hindu started being thrown up our stairs once again, complete with wrinkles. I did think about getting out the iron, but then decided against it… This morning. The second page in The Times of India. Look at it. Do you know another newspaper…
READ MORE
It is a favourite question. No one has ever given me the right answer. What is the only country in the world where the four global religions (Islam-Buddhism-Hinduism-Christianity) are each represented by at least 10% of the population? Yes, I know the official statistics suggest a different story (this happens in many countries, for good reason),…
READ MOREI have this fascination with the history of cricket in South Asia. “WOW – way to go, Paul. Great opening line. You’ve just lost 99% of your readers.” “But doesn’t speaking from out of our passion tend to gain us an audience?” “Well, yes … but cricket? … and cricket in South Asia? That is asking…
READ MORE
Rubbish. So often it is the first impression of India. It seems to be everywhere. There seems to be no system for getting rid of it, other than lighting a fire occasionally and burning it away. However, if you scratch below that surface (!) there is so much beauty in this place and in this…
READ MOREI don’t like it when I see and hear the inner narcissist in me. A glimpse here. A sound-bite there. It disturbs me. After all these years, it shouldn’t still be hanging around. So when I sighted Wendy Behary’s Disarming the Narcissist, I thought I’d give it a go. Always happy to engage with wisdom…
READ MOREAmateur sociologists and historians (like me) tend to be aware of two contrasting realities, spread two millennia apart. In the Western world of the twenty-first century, study after study demonstrates that it is difficult to distinguish the behaviour of a Christian from the behaviour of one who is not a Christian. It is not easy…
READ MOREEarlier this month, the phrase ‘fake news’ was named by the Collins Dictionary as its Word of the Year in 2017. [Dictionaries are clearly specialists in words, not numbers – because ‘fake news’ is actually two words, not one!]. They define the phrase as ‘false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of reporting.’ Two months ago,…
READ MOREWhen it is time to leave these shores, the newspapers in India are something I will miss. I love them. We get two every day: The Hindu and The Times of India. They provide the best newspaper-reading experience I’ve had anywhere, just shading the UK into second place. Why? First, a general response. They respect my…
READ MOREA ‘new history of the world’ is what the subtitle asserts. The title? The Silk Roads. Peter Frankopan’s point is intentionally plural. There were roads, not a single road. Along these roads, eastwards and westwards, flowed ideas and products. Those that controlled these roads, controlled history. It has always been this way. The Table of Contents is…
READ MOREIt had been a long trip. Two overnight flights, including one in United’s impossible economy class. I did arrive, finally, at Bogota’s flash airport at 5am, to be greeted by my friend and colleague, Jorge. It was a quick trip to his home – and a bed – only to be greeted by this confronting…
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.