Regulars will know that John Stott is a frequent focus here. I've just finished reading Alister Chapman's excellent, scholarly engagement with John Stott's legacy: Godly Ambition. A fuller review may come in time... But I will say this. Having spent 12…
Yesterday was an unusual day. Which is, of course, not exactly news. In these turbulent times, each day tends to reveal its strangeness, especially if you read a newspaper. But for me, it marked the end of a decade's invovlement…
Sacred Treasure Former LibDem leader, Tim Farron has been saying some really important things in the last week about the state and nature of western liberalism. Here is his original Theos lecture: What Kind of Liberalism do we want? Then…
I saw this advert the other day. It sums it all up really. People in power are up to no good. They have ulterior motives. Journalists are crusaders for truth. They will uncover those motives. Seems perfectly reasonable. And indeed,…
My father has been going through the diaries of his grandfather, Fra (for Francis) Meynell. For reasons that I won't bore you with now, the family name was originally Wood, and Fra's 1st cousin was the Holy Fox, Edward Wood,…
We are so much more aware of the sociological contexts for the public square, these days - or if we're not, we should be, because they will be pointed out soon enough! This means that the background of whoever is holding forth…
Revolutions invariably eat their children.
It’s an almost inevitable fact of history. The expression was coined by a royalist journalist during the French Revolution, Jacques Mallet du Pan. But perhaps, if tweaking was needed, more often than not revolutions eat their parents. Think Robespierre in France; Trotsky in Soviet Russia; Röhm in Nazi Germany. (more…)
John Stott was scrupulous in attempting to do this. It was a key element of the respect that he garnered amongst those he debated or disagreed. He would unfailingly attempt to honour an opposing position by seeking to understand it from…
Sacred Treasure These are spectacular - ancient monasteries in Armenia: definitely on my bucket list. Chris Green on the cons and pros of pastors using social media And while I'm on his blog, great news about the volume of Mike…
I can't get yesterday's tweet from veteran BBC man John Simpson out of my head. It was a relief to read it, to be honest. It's retweets and likes meant I'm far from the only one to feel it. June…