This is a timely and in many ways terrifying comment from Alan Jacobs. You wouldn't think that the transgender moment and allegations of Satanic ritual abuse had much in common, but perhaps they do:

One clever little speciality of adult humans works like this: You very carefully (and, if...

Steven Pinker thinks the world is getting better, and he has the statistics to prove it. His latest book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress, is a chart-filled epic that purports to demonstrate a) that by virtually every conceivable measure the world is getting...

There is a difference, it seems to me, between ordaining something and permitting something. The difference gets blurred in some Calvinist accounts of providence, but since I discovered the way Jonathan Edwards handles it, I have frequently referred back to it. What I didn't realise was that the...

“The difference between the sexual laws of Lev. 18 and the laws of clean and unclean flesh in Lev. 11," writes Ephraim Radner, "cannot simply lie in their respective relation to the category of ceremonial character.” That is, we cannot go through the Torah separating out...

Visual representations of the Trinity are incredibly problematic, write Amos Yong and Jonathan Anderson in Renewing Christian Theology. How do you picture a three-in-one God? Rublev's famous icon has three figures, but no oneness; other pictures have one figure, but no threeness; and some attempt...

"The Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret," says Samuel to Saul, "for he is not a man, that he should have regret" (1 Sam 15:29). But then, just six verses later, the author announces: "And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel" (15:35). Biblical contradictions don't come...

Duke Kwon, as I've said before, is a gift to the Church, and one of the most important thinkers anywhere on issues of racial relations, reparation and reconciliation. This thread of his from a few weeks ago raises a number of hugely insightful and challenging points, which are well worth thinking...

Increasing numbers of nonconformist evangelicals are observing the Church calendar. Low-church Charismatics, whom you might expect to run a mile from such things, are giving things up for Lent, using Advent to shape their preaching programme, and making mention of Epiphany on social media. But why?...

I’m struggling to work out what I feel about humanity and I think cinema is, too. Films are responding to a perceived climate of hopelessness in one of two ways. They’re either doubling down on hopelessness or they’re providing a solution in the form of humans fixing the problems...

My new book, Echoes of Exodus: Tracing Themes of Redemption Through Scripture, is now out in the US (it is officially out in the UK in May, although a few bootleg copies have already been smuggled in). I've co-written it with Alastair Roberts—to whom, frankly, is due the credit for virtually...

Like Andrew (fear not – he returns next week) I have been greatly enriched by reading Fleming Rutledge’s The Crucifixion. Our Good Friday service this year is based around the eight motifs of the cross that Rutledge describes. The breadth of these would fill many Good Friday services.

Of...

I always approach movies based on Bible stories with some trepidation. Being highly invested in the truth of the Bible tends to create a certain defensiveness – it matters if the film messes up because the story matters so much. This also means I have certain preconceived assumptions about...

Parenting isn’t especially complex. Yes, it is often attended by complexity – things that don’t work out as expected, health issues, financial pressures – but the actual process of procreation and childrearing is straightforward enough. People have been doing it for a long...

Apparently Think is the twelfth most popular 'Pop Culture Christian blog'.

This is from stats pulled together by Jared Moore over at Pop Culture Coram Deo. I’m not sure I’ve ever thought of Think as being a pop culture blog, but it’s always nice to get a bit of recognition, and...

Recently I got talking to a Muslim about Jesus while visiting a huge mosque in the Arab world. What follows is a guest post from a friend of mine based in a Muslim-majority nation - I wish I'd read it before that conversation!

When we first moved to the Middle East, we had many discussions with our...

What is it with America and guns?

In all the similarities and differences that exist either side of the Atlantic it is surely the American fondness for guns that most baffles the British. Probably the majority of Britons have never handled any kind of firearm and find it inconceivable that so many...

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Isaiah’s indictment of the corruption in his generation is an all too obvious summary of late modern western culture. The moves - ever...

It was a huge privilege to spend last week in Nepal. Some highlights and observations.

Kathmandu. Yes, by western standards the Nepali capital is poor, chaotic and dusty but it is also vibrant, colourful and exciting. It was actually refreshing to be in a context where things are not as regulated...

That there was a time when 85,000 Africans a year were taken against their will from their motherland to work the plantations of the Caribbean and America is appalling to us. That the human rights of those so transported were utterly ignored appals us. The hypocrisy of respectable, morally upright...

Mika Edmondson covers a remarkable amount of ground in two minutes here, and gives a great answer to the question: "How Can White Christians Stand in Solidarity with Minority Brothers and Sisters?" It's one of those videos where the less likely a person is to watch it, the more they probably need...

I just read Glen Scrivener's marvellous little book Divine Comedy, which is the kind of book you can read in an hour, but will have you thinking for a year, or even a decade. Glen's central question is delightfully simple: is life a tragedy, or a comedy? Is it shaped like a frown, like a...

I've been reading Origen's Against Celsus recently, and finding it a fascinating text when it comes to miracles, spiritual gifts and signs & wonders. I had already come across a number of places where Origen refers to the ongoing presence of miracles in his day (around 250), but I didn't know...

Ugly modern edifices notwithstanding, the streets of London are absolutely drenched with history. You could probably take a tour of the same streets with a different theme every week. But one I can guarantee will be both fascinating and inspiring is the City of London Christian Heritage walk, led...

The provocative brilliance of Camille Paglia's Free Women Free Men: Sex, Gender, Feminism begins with its title. What does it mean? Is the word "free" a verb or an adjective? Is the title a call to action (liberate women! liberate men!), or a statement about reality (liberated women tend to...

Here’s a great piece from Joseph Heath on the problem with “critical” studies. It is easy to mock critical theory as faddish, already outdated, departmentally bubble-wrapped and intellectually stagnant, but Heath does a good job exposing its frequent...