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Both Herod the Great and his son Archelaus were much hated by their Jewish subjects. For good reason. Both were very cruel men. For example, Herod commanded that on his death certain leading scholars be executed to ensure there would be mourning when he died. The cruelty of Herod the Great is also attested in […]

In an extract from Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God the complaint is addressed that “those who believe in a God of judgment will not approach enemies with a desire to reconcile with them.” The argument here is that if “you believe in a God who smites evildoers, you may think it perfectly justified […]

On the way to work today I was listening to a Nigel Warburton podcast on Kant’s views on morality. Kant propounded a deontological, duty-based ethic. As we have noted in prior blogs Kant’s view of morality is reductionist, treating people as essentially rational beings rather than as full-orbed creatures. For Kant all that gives our […]

This morning my wife and I, during our breakfast devotions, read the second half of Philippians 1. One stand-out statement is Paul’s great line, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” In 1763 it was on this text that Henry Venn preached at the funeral of William Grimshaw, whose 300th anniversary will shortly be celebrated. […]

This morning as I traveled to work I listened to a podcast summarising utilitarianism. Some good points of criticism was made but I was struck by an illustration that was used which, it was thought, indicates some warrant for a utilitarian theory. The listener was asked to imagine that some had certain knowledge that a […]

In the Sinai desert are to be found Bedouin tribes. Their nomadic practices mirror many of those practised by the Israelites when they wandered through the wilderness. Apparently Bedouin tribes still observe the following practices:

Slaughtering a goat for the spring sacrifice and smearing its blood as protection
Eating unleavened bread baked quickly on open coals
Celebrating an […]

In the July/August issue of Philosophy Now Matthew Pianalto helpfully summarises some of Aristotle’s thinking on virtue and happiness. Aristotle, along with other Greek philosophers, maintained that happiness involved the cultivation of moral and intellectual virtues. When it came to moral education Aristotle did not believe people could learn how to live virtuously in a […]

“Happiness” for many psychologists refers to “subjective well-being”, how a person feels his or her life is faring; how satisfying one’s life is. On this basis many people might be described as being relatively happy.
Greek philosophers are sometimes represented as also promoting the pursuit of happiness. However, the relevant word is eudaimonia, which is better translated “human […]

Why is the doctrine of creation foundational to multicultural ministry? Because multicultural ministry is ministry to people and all people, whatever their ethnic background, are creatures.
Romans 1:19-20 stresses that there is not a person on the face of the earth who has any excuse for failing to perceive the eternal power and divine nature of […]

Last week Andrew McGowan, Principal of the Highlands College, delivered the annual Eliza Ferrie lecture at the Presbyterian Theological Centre, Burwood. He sketched the life and impact of Charles Spurgeon. One of the points he made stuck with me. Spurgeon insisted that one must accept the truth of the Bible as a presupposition. The moment […]

Last night I was at Cronulla Presbyterian Church listening to a sermon by Ian Stenhouse on 1 Corinthians 4. He opened by stressing the importance of having a proper opnion of oneself, illustrating this from the way Paul spoke about himself. Ian, drawing from an article by John Piper, drew attention to John Owen, whom […]

In his commentary on 1 & 2 Samuel Bill Arnold relates what happened to French philosopher Emile Cailliet. During World War 1, as a 20-year old youth, he was confronted with the horrors of war. He asked:
What use, the ill-kept ancient type of sophistry in the philosophic banter of the seminar, when your buddy - […]

Jihad, “stiving in the way of Allah” is very important for Muslims. Some Sunnis regard it as a sixth pillar and Twelver Shi’a Muslims regard it as one of their 10 Practices of Religion.
Many Muslims like to emphasise the meaning of jihad as “struggle”. It is then common to discriminate between the so-called “greater jihad“, […]

When Buddhist conceptions of Christ are positive they are typically highly mystical. So, having just described the hallowed presence of the Buddha, Thich Nhat Hanh continues,
When a sage is present and you sit near him or her, you feel peace and light. If you were to sit close to Jesus and look into His eyes […]

The Dalai Lama stretches to the limit the idea that everything has a cause, observing that the Buddhist Scriptures
do not assert an independent creator of the universe. Assertions of an independent self or an independent creator contradict the presentation that things arise merely in dependence on their causes (Joy of Living, 166; my boldfacing).
This Buddhist […]

In a context which accentuates the contrasts between Eli’s household and Samuel, Eli, having just blessed Samuel’s family, now rebukes his sons (1 Samuel 2:22-25). Prior to this we have been told:
This sin of the young men was very great in the LORD’s sight, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt (v17).
It is […]

It is very important in assessing the moral and ethical quality of people’s lives, outside Christ, to discriminate sharply between our human assessment and God’s assessment. Knowing that all people have been created in God’s image and knowing that this image, while seriously damaged, has not been erased, we are not surprised to find even […]

In a discussion between the Clerkenwell Symposium and Tim Keller various problems were identified in those kinds of evangelistic conversations which become “a point by point battle where our point of view is put in opposition to someone else’s point of view until one or other prevails.” I’ve taken the liberty of rewording these problems.
Firstly, […]

Peter Riddell describes a visit he made with 15 students to a suburban mosque in Melbourne. He reflects on the Christian-Muslim dialogue that followed the preliminary address by the Sheikh and his son which presented not only basic information about Islamic belief and practice but also bluntly informed them that the Bible was not the […]

We read in the Hadith: 
Al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 8, Number 397:
Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar: While the people were offering the Fajr prayer at Quba (near Medina), someone came to them and said: “It has been revealed to Allah’s Apostle tonight, and he has been ordered to pray facing the Ka’ba.” So turn your faces to […]

Prolific and highly influential Buddhist scholar Thich Nhat Hanh illustrates one of the barriers that prevent Buddhists from believing Christ, namely the pre-conception that the Buddha is the ideal model and all others models must be assimilated to it. He assimilates Christ in this way so that Jesus ends up being but another expression of the […]

In Greek society philia, friendship, described a political rather than a romantic relationship. Philia, as Stephen Clark puts it, was “the vital bond of Greek societies by which one marks off ‘one’s own’”.  The commonest type of philia was for pleasure, with philoi having fun together as they indulged themselves together in games, drink or […]

Today, on the way back from church Barbara and I listened to Sunday Brunch on ABC Sydney. Simon Marnie was interviewing Eva Cox, prominent for her outspoken views on social policy issues. In the course of the interview she reflected on the horrific things people do to each other. She made the point that everyone […]

Samuel is concerned that his life will be in mortal danger should Saul learn that he is going to Bethlehem to anoint his replacement. So God tells him to take a heifer and simply say, “I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.”
Many treatments of this zero in on the ethical problem this constitutes, since […]

African American Howard Thurman’s enslaved grandmother would not read anything written by the Apostle Paul, save for 1 Corinthians 13. Her reason? Because her plantation master would ever quote Paul’s injunction: “Servants, obey your masters” (Col 3:22; Eph 6:5). The black abolitionist, Lewis Hayden, described this same quote, which he heard preached in a Southern […]

According to the Hadith a Muslim only has true faith if he loves Muhammad more than his father, children or any other person.
Al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 2, Number 13:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
“Allah’s Apostle said, “By Him in Whose Hands my life is, none of you will have faith till he loves me more than his father and […]

Christians sometimes make the error of trying to effect spiritual reform by structural change. So we tinker with the format and content of church services. We might try to change denominational church laws by way of trying to entrench practices which we believe presuppose sounder biblical theology, hoping that by so doing the denomination will become […]

In the last blog on this subject I pointed out the obvious: that the reality of evil does not constitute an explicit contradiction of God’s goodness, omnipotence and omniscience. But does it constitute a formal contradiction? As Plantinga (God, Freedom and Evil) points out this depends on whether it is possible for the atheologian (the […]

A friend helpfully explained how the doctrine of creation is fundamental to understanding differences between Christians and Muslims.
When Christians communicate the gospel to unbelievers it is common for them to make points and emphasise truths that are taken almost exclusively from the New Testament. This poses particular problems when Christians are seeking to explain the gospel […]

In his book God, Freedom and Evil, Alvin Plantinga gives the following example of an explicit contradiction:
Paul is a good tennis player, and it is false that Paul is a good tennis player.
Technically, an explicit contradiction can be defined as “a conjunctive proposition, one conjunct of which is the denial or negation of the other conjunct” (12). The […]

My 22-year old son, Simon and myself together with an Egyptian friend were chatting with two young men from Dubai. We had a warm, friendly and very animated conversation which ended up in Starbucks. Rashid’s English was particularly good and, although very likeable, had considerable self-confidence that he had thought things through and was in […]

I was chatting with four Saudi Arabian students. We got to talking about Isa, Jesus. Predictably, they spoke of their high regard for Isa as a great prophet. They told me that if Muhammad and Jesus met they would kiss each other as an expression of their love for each other. I was told Muhammad […]

Yesterday, I was part of a group of Christians who were all talking about their common concern for Muslim friends. A number of those in the group were Egyptian Christians. A common theme was the anger they had experienced in Egypt because of unjust discrimination by Muslims against Christians in the occupational and educational spheres. Yet, alongside […]

In God, Freedom and Evil Alvin Plantinga distinguishes between various kinds of contradictions and argues that it is not possible to construct a logical set that demonstrates there is a contradiction between the reality of evil, on the one hand, and God’s goodness, omnipotence, omniscience, on the other.
The typical function of natural theology, involving philosophical […]

The vast majority of Muslims regard the Hadith (“traditions”) as being of immense authority.
Technically speaking, an hadith is a saying of Muhammad transmitted outside the Qur’an through a chain of known intermediaries. Muslims discriminate between two kinds of hadith:
1. The Sacred Sentence (hadith qudsi)
This is direct revelation in which Allah speaks in the first person through […]

Brother Andrew is known for smuggling Bibles into Communist countries in the back of his VW Beetle. Since 1968 he has traveled to Islamic countries to preach Christ’s love. He has made a point of meeting with some terrorist groups, including, most recently, the Taliban.
Matthew Vaughan recalls how Brother Andrew asked him:
Why are we filled […]

In the minds of many today there is nothing particularly unique about humans. We are just animals. Christine Kenneally appeals to hard scientific fact as demonstrating that our supposedly unique qualities are only more sophisticated versions of traits found in the animal world. She describes the human capacity for language as “the last stronghold of human […]

Henry Martyn was a great missionary whom God used greatly in many ways. His intense passion and devotion were inspirational for many. Among his many accomplishments his translation of the New Testament into Urdu had enormous influence. Yet Martyn had clay feet, like the rest of us. He shared the views of most of his […]

The famous Jesuit missionary, Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) was known in China as Li Matou. He targeted the most influential groups in Chinese society, especially the emperor and the elite official class. He introduced them to Western mathematics, science and cartography. In return he learned how to read and write Chinese and went on to translate […]

Lately, much of what I’ve been reading bears on what it means to be human. Angus Taylor, philosopher and author of Animals and Ethics, argues that consistency requires excluding some humans from the moral community and including at least some animals in it.
A ghoulish story serves as the launching pad for his argument. A Transylvanian Count was […]

I was reading an interview between Tony Payne and Oliver O’Donovan in some past issue of the Briefing.  O’Donovan was explaining that to be able to live we have to be able to act; that to be able to act we have to be able to form purposes; that in order to form purposes we have to understand […]

I enjoyed reading “Dear Socrates” in the latest edition of Philosophy Now, where “Socrates” warns against transfering the certainty of logic itself to a particular argument, pointing out that this itself is a logical error. Why? Because “it conflates validity with soundness”. A good or sound argument is not merely logical but has true premises.
This […]

In his pastoral ministry Eugene Peterson was struck by how extensively the cultural and spiritual conditions in which he was working matched the sixth century BC experience of the Hebrews in exile:
the pervasive uprootedness and loss of place, the loss of connection with a tradition of worship, the sense of being immersed in a foreign […]

Plato argued that the most profound love occurs when we are connected with ultimate truth. Ultimate truth is this: “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). The most profound love occurred when God, in his love for us, sent his Son as the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). It is when we grasp […]

He’s a former commander of the Special Air Service. He was awarded the Military Cross in Vietnam. A hard man rubbing shoulders with hard men. I would think that Michael Jeffery, Governor-General of Australia, has heard his fair share of crudity in his time. So it’s a bit of a wake-up call when such a […]

In today’s Good Weekend I was fascinated to read about brain scientist Susan Greenfield’s theory about the influence of IT on young brains. As explained by John Cornwell, she argues that
The more we play games the less time there is for learning specific facts and working out how those facts relate to each other. This […]

Leaders from the people for the people. It’s a basic principle for effective cross-cultural ministry. And it’s well illustrated by the fate of Nestorianism in China. 
Nestorianism is a heresy which developed in the 5th century. Nestorians do not see Jesus as having two natures but as being effectively two separate people - human and divine. Nestorianism […]

The Apostle Paul plainly states, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your  faith” and again, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17). Nothing could be plainer. The bodily resurrection of Christ is absolutely foundational to […]

In his book Transforming Mission, David Bosch recalls John Stott’s observation that
the Bible does not just contain the gospel; it is the gospel. Through the Bible God is himself actually evangelizing, that is, communicating the good news to the world.
The gospel proclaims the dynamic rule of God (”the kingdom of God”; Matthew 4:23; 13:19; 24:14; Mark […]

After hearing God’s great address Job says,
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6)
Well, his friends had been telling Job that his sufferings were caused by sin, hadn’t they? And he had countered by insisting that he was innocent and that […]