Dar es Salaam street level drawing
Came across this site via Creative Roots (a site I’ve grown to love): Dar Sketches, is a project set up by a London trained artist, Sarah Markes, who has lived in the Tanzanian city for a few years. She works to encourage the arts in Dar es Salaam, and these sketches are tied in with […]
Richard Dawkins’ Faith-Free School – spot the inconsistency…
The UK’s new Coalition government has recently announced plans to allow for so-called Free Schools. This means that charities and faith groups will be allowed to set up schools within the state sector and funded by the Dept of Education, but which will be free from certain state controls. Of course, there have been faith […]
A cultural adventure: Maggi Dawn’s The Writing on the Wall
In early 2009, the then poet laureate, Andrew Motion gave an interview in the Guardian in which he lamented the pervasive ignorance about the Bible. He made it quite clear that he is not a believer; he is merely concerned about biblical illiteracy for cultural reasons. For such ignorance effectively closes the shutters on swathes of […]
‘Quod scripsi, scripsi’ and the omniscience of Google
Earlier this week, I was speaking at a consultation of international seminary teachers (organised by Langham) about the educational potential provided by new technologies. We got onto blogging and its pros/cons – and especially how careful one needs to be about editing before posting. For everything uploaded gets downloaded by Google – and remains in […]
Steve Turner’s EVERYTHING
While we’re in the mood for poetry, here’s a nice little pithy number. EVERYTHING by Steve Turner Looks aren’t everything. Luxury’s not everything. Money’s not everything. Health is not everything. Success is not everything. Happiness is not everything. Even everything is not everything. There’s more to life than everything. from Up To Date (1993), p137
Kit Wright’s Only the Lonely
Q’s been getting a bit too heavy recently – so here’s some silliness from the wonderful poet, Kit Wright. The Orbison Consolations Only the lonely Know the way you feel tonight? Surely the poorly Have some insight? Oddly, the godly Also might, And slowly the lowly Will learn to read you right. Simply the pimply Have […]
A profoundly encouraging book about a pastoral minefield
This is a review I’ve just written for Themelios, out next month. Tim Chesteris an old friend who writes with great clarity and compassion. His is not an easy book – it is not an easy subject. For many in our culture, the very notion of why one might actually want to live porn-free seems utterly […]
Cold war faith in Romania
Having visited Romania a couple of times, and talked to a number of Romanians when in Hungary for the ELF, I had heard amazing stories of what Christians did during the dark days of the Ceauşescu regime. So I thought it was time to share a few. Pastoral training … incognito in the shadows I’m acutely […]
The best book on parenting I’ve read – and I’m not just saying that to be nice
It is one of the easiest things in the world: making a parent feel guilty. Well this one, at any rate. There’s always something one’s done wrong, or haven’t done, or overdone or underdone. And the myriad numbers of books that remind / correct / reevaluate / deconstruct parenting methods is overwhelming. I’m not sure […]
Q joins the British Library web archive
The British Library has been archiving all kinds of UK websites for 6 years now. It’s an extraordinary project. Bizarrely enough, they decided to include Q (I filled out a form once when I was there, not imagining for a second that it would lead anywhere). So if Q gives up or something happens to […]
Hanging by a thread: Michael Dobbs’ account of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Michael Dobbs‘ account of the Cuban Missile Crisis (he’s not to be confused with the British Michael Dobbs of Francis Urquhart/House of Cards fame) must surely qualify as a definitive account, at least for this generation. Despite the gallons of ink spilled over those fateful 13 days, this recent book (out in 2008) has much […]
The Tabernacle… in rural Norfolk!
Staying with the folks in Norfolk again for half term. In a nearby village, a friend of theirs (Lorie Lain-Rogers – see below) is part of a group (Call2Prayer) that has set up a 1:1 scale reconstruction of the OT Tabernacle. I don’t know much about this group, but recreating the Tabernacle is a fascinating […]
