Ancient Canaan: part 4

How do we know what the Canaanites believed? How did their beliefs influence the Israelites? Tablets discovered in the ancient city of Ugarit help answer those questions.

Ancient Canaan: part 3

How do we know what the Canaanites believed? How did their beliefs influence the Israelites? Tablets discovered in the ancient city of Ugarit help answer those questions.

Ancient Canaan: part 2

How do we know what the Canaanites believed? How did their beliefs influence the Israelites? Tablets discovered in the ancient city of Ugarit help answer those questions.

Review of Stories from Ancient Canaan

How do we know what the Canaanites believed? How did their beliefs influence the Israelites? Tablets discovered in the ancient city of Ugarit help answer those questions.

Best posts from 2017

Looking back over the past year, I’ve chosen some of my favourite posts that I wrote during 2017.

The Bible and eclipses

The Bible doesn’t use the word ‘eclipse’, but does describe the effects of both solar and lunar eclipses. This is a good example of how, as we understand more about the world, we understand more about the Bible as well.

Protected by God?

During his inaugural address President Trump stated that “we are protected by God”. But, is that true? What does it mean?

Best posts from 2016

Looking back over the last year it’s good to reflect on the highlights, as well as the struggles. As part of that, I’ve again chosen my favourite posts from the past year.

Jesus’ Parables

One of the major way that Jesus taught was through parables. But how do we use those stories? How do we learn from them and allow them to shape us?

A learning God?

Does God learn? How does that fit in with our theology? What would it mean if he does? What does it mean if he doesn’t?

Distorted by sin

How do we see ourselves? Do we think that we are better than other people? Worse than them? Do we recognise our weaknesses and our strengths? Do we excuse our sins, or are we too harsh on ourselves? What about a more realistic reflection on what we are like?

Ecclesiastes

What is the message of the book of Ecclesiastes? How should we understand it? It’s perhaps one of those books that we don’t spend much time reading or thinking about. However, it’s one of my favourites, so this is my sermon about it!

Translating Acts 16:34

How should Acts 16:34 be translated? Translations differ rather widely! Why does it matter? How it is translated feeds in to the theology of baptism.

Seven best posts from 2015

This has been a hard and busy year (and I’m fully aware that it hasn’t been half as hard and busy for me as it has been for others), but looking back it’s good to reflect on the highlights as well. As part of that I thought that I’d again choose my seven favourite posts…

Re-telling stories

Telling stories is an important part of how the Bible was written. But how reliable were those stories before they were written down? Recent research on the accuracy of Indigenous Australian story-telling shows how reliable it can be!