For a little while now, I have been trying to develop a clear articulation of my personal manifesto for the church. I continually find myself drawn to this phrase, 'Rooted, Reformed & Renewed'. Below is an attempt to put flesh on the bones of this phrase. (I wrote this in August, and have been working on amended versions since... I intend to flesh this out fully over the next few years in a book bearing the phrase as its title...)
Rooted
I believe the local church should recognise and respect its place as a part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of God. In this way, it should live in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, the Catholic Creeds, and find the pattern of its continuing life in the dominical sacraments.
Reformed
I believe the Church of Christ should be continually receptive to His voice in and through the reception of Holy Scripture. The continuing enterprise of seeking His voice in the prophetic and apostolic witness of Scripture may not be confined to the activity of the individual, but is a task for the corporate worshipping life of the local church.
Renewed
I believe that the local church should be seeking to live in step with the Holy Spirit. It must seek always to be subservient to the prophetic call of God by the Holy Spirit; the reception of the gifts of the Spirit for the service of the church and world; and must be seeking to undertake Christian discipleship in accordance with the fruits of the Spirit.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
What's Your Theological Worldview?
You scored as Neo orthodox.
You are neo-orthodox. You reject the human-centredness and scepticism of liberal theology, but neither do you go to the other extreme and make the Bible the central issue for faith. You believe that Christ is God's most important revelation to humanity, and the Trinity is hugely important in your theology. The Bible is also important because it points us to the revelation of Christ. You are influenced by Karl Barth and P T Forsyth.
Neo orthodox 93%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 79%
Roman Catholic 71%
Emergent/Postmodern 68%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 54%
Reformed Evangelical 32%
Classical Liberal 25%
Modern Liberal 21%
Fundamentalist 11%
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Review of 'The God Delusion'
Dear Ridleans,
If you are at all interested in the work of Richard Dawkins, and the media
hype (and frequent C4 documentaries presented by him) that surrounds him,
you might be interested to read this review of his latest book ‘The God
Delusion’.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n20/eagl01_.html
It is written by Terry Eagleton, the Marxist-socialist literary theorist. He
is highly critical of Dawkins’ work, and it is refreshing to find such a
critique from a source other than Christian theologians (Alastair McGrath
has written extensively against Dawkins) and a reminder that we have
sympathetic and respectful supporters in what we might think unusual places
(the Marxist-socialist left).
I hope you don’t mind me emailing this link, but I’m confidant that in
ministry we will all come across people caught under Dawkins’ influence, and
will need the resources to creatively engage with their views...
By the way, Giles Fraser also wrote something shorter on broadly the same
theme in this week’s Church Times.
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/80256FA1003E05C1/httpPublicPages/30EF4059217687
478025720B0052EE45?opendocument
Happy reading,
Graham
--
Graham Hunter
Ridley Hall
Cambridge
gh300@cam.ac.uk
www.myspace.com/grahamhunter
07711 070200
If you are at all interested in the work of Richard Dawkins, and the media
hype (and frequent C4 documentaries presented by him) that surrounds him,
you might be interested to read this review of his latest book ‘The God
Delusion’.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n20/eagl01_.html
It is written by Terry Eagleton, the Marxist-socialist literary theorist. He
is highly critical of Dawkins’ work, and it is refreshing to find such a
critique from a source other than Christian theologians (Alastair McGrath
has written extensively against Dawkins) and a reminder that we have
sympathetic and respectful supporters in what we might think unusual places
(the Marxist-socialist left).
I hope you don’t mind me emailing this link, but I’m confidant that in
ministry we will all come across people caught under Dawkins’ influence, and
will need the resources to creatively engage with their views...
By the way, Giles Fraser also wrote something shorter on broadly the same
theme in this week’s Church Times.
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/80256FA1003E05C1/httpPublicPages/30EF4059217687
478025720B0052EE45?opendocument
Happy reading,
Graham
--
Graham Hunter
Ridley Hall
Cambridge
gh300@cam.ac.uk
www.myspace.com/grahamhunter
07711 070200
Sunday, July 23, 2006
What Is Required Of A Pastor?
‘A man must himself be cleansed, before cleansing others:
himself become wise, that he may make others wise;
become light, and then give light:
draw near to God, and so bring other near;
be hallowed, then hallow them;
be possessed of hands to lead others by the hand,
of wisdom to give advice.’
Gregory of Naziansus, Oration, 2.71
‘A man must himself be cleansed, before cleansing others:
himself become wise, that he may make others wise;
become light, and then give light:
draw near to God, and so bring other near;
be hallowed, then hallow them;
be possessed of hands to lead others by the hand,
of wisdom to give advice.’
Gregory of Naziansus, Oration, 2.71
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
The PA Game
I’ve found it amusing, and also annoying, to have encountered a number of church leaders and teachers over the past year who have no idea how to use a diary. In fact, it seems to be a part of ‘making it’ as an evangelical church leader, to be able to demonstrate the importance and busyness of one’s ministry, by constantly referring me to their ‘PA’ to make meeting arrangements.
It’s not that I contest the question of whether such leaders are busy, and / or involved in important ministries – in fact I’m quite sure that both are true. However, my certainty is owed to the fact that both have or do apply to me as well, and yet I seem able (and certainly have no choice but to) use my personal diary for appointments. Most church leaders up and down the country have to manage their own diaries, and the question of employing a PA to manage their schedule on their behalf would seem quite ridiculous and unlikely.
I find it even more strange that today one such occurrence involved an exchange of emails, in which the church leader in question could simply have responded to my suggested dates, but rather directed me to his PA to make an appointment. Emailing his PA resulted in an ‘Out of office auto-reply’ informing me that his PA was out of the office for another two days – did the church leader in question know his PA was off work?? If our church leaders are this bad at ‘people business’, maybe we should be challenging the notion that a more busy pastor with a PA is necessarily a better pastor. Let’s schedule a meeting to discuss further... Contact my PA!
It’s not that I contest the question of whether such leaders are busy, and / or involved in important ministries – in fact I’m quite sure that both are true. However, my certainty is owed to the fact that both have or do apply to me as well, and yet I seem able (and certainly have no choice but to) use my personal diary for appointments. Most church leaders up and down the country have to manage their own diaries, and the question of employing a PA to manage their schedule on their behalf would seem quite ridiculous and unlikely.
I find it even more strange that today one such occurrence involved an exchange of emails, in which the church leader in question could simply have responded to my suggested dates, but rather directed me to his PA to make an appointment. Emailing his PA resulted in an ‘Out of office auto-reply’ informing me that his PA was out of the office for another two days – did the church leader in question know his PA was off work?? If our church leaders are this bad at ‘people business’, maybe we should be challenging the notion that a more busy pastor with a PA is necessarily a better pastor. Let’s schedule a meeting to discuss further... Contact my PA!
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Here's a joke that I stumbled across yesterday, and have been quietly giggling about ever since. It is a joke about German theologians... (It may, in fact, be the only extant non-oxymoronic use of the terms 'joke' and 'German theologians'!)
***********
Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann and Paul Tillich are taking a break together, fishing on Lake Geneva. They are having a lovely time, smoking their pipes, chatting idly.
It's hot and they are getting thirsty. So Karl Barth gets up, steps out of the boat, and walks across the water to the shore, gets some beers and returns.
It's quite hot so the beer doesn't last long. Barth tells Tillich: "your turn, Paul". Tillich gets up, steps outside the boat, walks across the water, and fetches some beer.
It is getting really hot now, and the beer is finished once again. Bultmann is beginning to sweat particularly profusely... and finally Barth asks him too: "Come on, Rudolf, your turn now." With a slight tremor in his knees, Bultmann gets up, steps out of the boat, and sinks like a stone. Fortunately he is a good swimmer; he drags himself back into the boat and sulks at the far end.
Tillich turns to Barth and says: "Do you think we should have told him where the stepping stones are?"
Barth looks at him in astonishment and replies: "What stones?"
***********
Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann and Paul Tillich are taking a break together, fishing on Lake Geneva. They are having a lovely time, smoking their pipes, chatting idly.
It's hot and they are getting thirsty. So Karl Barth gets up, steps out of the boat, and walks across the water to the shore, gets some beers and returns.
It's quite hot so the beer doesn't last long. Barth tells Tillich: "your turn, Paul". Tillich gets up, steps outside the boat, walks across the water, and fetches some beer.
It is getting really hot now, and the beer is finished once again. Bultmann is beginning to sweat particularly profusely... and finally Barth asks him too: "Come on, Rudolf, your turn now." With a slight tremor in his knees, Bultmann gets up, steps out of the boat, and sinks like a stone. Fortunately he is a good swimmer; he drags himself back into the boat and sulks at the far end.
Tillich turns to Barth and says: "Do you think we should have told him where the stepping stones are?"
Barth looks at him in astonishment and replies: "What stones?"
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