A Christianity that “Deserves to Perish”
On June 3, 1959 Karl Barth was a guest at the Basel chapter of the Swiss Student Association Zofingia, a fraternity established 200 years ago in 1819, and of which Barth himself had been a member in his student days. The photo …
“Slow Conversion”
The Western Australian Churches of Christ journal On Mission Journal has published a brief article I wrote. My article is on the idea of Slow Conversion, based on the Patristic practice of the catechumenate. It is a ‘practical’ adaption of my longer recent …
An Ethos of Pastoral Care – Gerard Manley Hopkins
In a class on pastoral care yesterday, we read and discussed Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem, “In the Valley of the Elwy.” Hopkins was a Jesuit priest in nineteenth-century England seized with a deep sense of missionary vocation. After his early death, he …
Academic Argument
Brian Smith for The Chronicle Review I was interested to read the chapter on academic argument in Winning Arguments by Stanley Fish. That is what you have to do to earn your bona fides as an academic: enter an ongoing conversation about …
Stanley Fish: Winning Arguments (Review)
Stanley Fish, Winning Arguments: What Works and Doesn’t Work in Politics, the Bedroom, the Courtroom, and the Classroom (New York: Harper Collins, 2016) ISBN: 978-0-06-222665-5 Stanley Fish, distinguished professor of law in New York and Florida, argues quite simply that “argument is …
Guretzki, An Explorer’s Guide to Karl Barth (Review)
David Guretzki, An Explorer’s Guide to Karl Barth (Downers Grove, Il.: IVP Academic, 2016). Pp. xiii + 223. ISBN: 978-0-8308-5137-9 Last week I reviewed Galli’s recent introductory biography of Karl Barth for evangelicals, and expressed the hope that evangelicals might engage with the …
Galli, Karl Barth for Evangelicals (Review)
Mark Galli, Karl Barth: An Introductory Biography for Evangelicals (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017). Pp. xvi + 176. ISBN: 978-0-8028-6939-5 Mark Galli entitles his recent book on Karl Barth an ‘introductory biography for evangelicals.’ As a biography it is a faithful though simplified …
New Issue of Crucible is Out
The new issue of Crucible has been published and includes several articles and other resources to do with homiletics. I note that the editors have called an hiatus on the journal for now, given their work loads and other commitments. If you are …
Ash Barty, Don Bradman, Grace and Virtue
I have enjoyed watching Ash Barty play tennis for several years now, and her win in Paris last weekend—her first Grand Slam title—was the icing on the cake. What is it I like? To begin, she has extraordinary talent. Ash is …
Re-Thinking Baptism
The new edition of the Pacific Journal of Theological Research is now available. I am very pleased to have been part of this issue. It began when I was asked, over a year ago now, to speak at the induction of my friend, …