Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 78 (March 2015)

Sacred Treasure

• Josh Byers over at Visual Theology has produced a GREAT infographic summarising all the arguments for the historicity of the Resurrection
• Cranmer rightly notes the increased levels of Christian engagement in the next UK General Election (see last month’s Q treasure). And here’s his great reflection on Andy Flannagan’s book Those Who Show Up.
• Ian Paul covers the ground on Stephen Fry and God

Time to stop doubting and learn to love immigration

RANT ALERT (This is v abnormal for me, but I’m quite exercised about it!)

I’m getting tired of people complaining about immigration, and just wish politicians would have the courage to speak up for it. The UK has ALWAYS been a country of immigrants – you just have to look at the history of London’s East End over the last 5 centuries to see this.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 77 (February 2015)

Sacred Treasure

• Show up: a fantastic campaign endorsed by scores of different outfits – to encourage Christian involvement with politics generally, and May’s General Election specifically.
• It isn’t a battle; it’s a pilgrimage: helpful wisdom for anyone, not just those struggling with porn issues
• Michael Wenham is someone with Lou Gehrig disease and so uniquely qualified to consider the Stephen Hawking movie, Theory of Everything.

There but for the grace… pastors escaping the power-trip pitfalls

We could call them the ‘pastor’s power pitfalls.’ There are many. Too many. It’s actually scary how much power a pastor wields – for good… and ill. It’s one of the key issues that has preoccupied me a lot about in the last few years while writing my culture of suspicion book (out VERY soon at all GOOD bookshops!). And I’ve witnessed (and struggled) under power-trip pastors. The worst thing, though, is how blissfully unaware they are of it. As one friend said of a church boss he struggled under for several years, “he’s like a drunk driver who never looks in the rear-view mirror.”

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 76 (January 2015)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Have a fab 2015

watch this space because there are some big changes afoot for Quaerentia in the coming months…!!

Sacred Treasure

• AN Wilson on cracking form: it’s the Gospel truth – so take it or leave it
• Ministry through the dark night: very helpful consoling piece by someone (!?) about depression and despair in ministry
• Interesting piece in the Washington Post: Gay Christians choosing celibacy emerge from the shadows

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 75 (December 2014)

Hurrah! Q Treasure Maps have reached a 3/4 Century!

Sacred Treasure

• I know a number of the people involved in making this doc on Jesus’ claims to be the Son of God – made in Turkey for those from that part of the world. Looks great!
• The Pope draws in Tom Wright, Rick Warren, Michael Nazir-Ali and others to the discussion about family. Unprecedented?
• In particular, here is fmr UK Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks’ remarkable speech in full.
• Ros Clarke is an old friend who recently completed a PhD on the interpretation of the Song of Songs – she’s set up a great website to offer the fruit of all her labours more widely.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 74 (November 2014)

Sacred Treasure

• Emma Scrivener on form yet again her: lovely piece on the Both/Ands of the Christian life.
• She’s also got a great A-Z of Christianity – check it out!
• Nell Goddard writes beautifully and poignantly on When Christians cause the suffering
• The importance of plural leadership – yet another interesting thought from Chris Green

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 73 (October 2014)

Sacred Treasure

• C S Lewis on Friendship
• Are the Apocryphal Gospels true? Ian Paul picks up Simon Gathercole’s address at the recent British NT conference
• If you missed it, this is an extraordinary episode of BBC’s Panorama about the Christians working in North Korea for Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (30 minutes – definitely worth watching in full).

Faith under fire in Bethlehem: Mitri Raheb’s FAITH IN THE FACE OF EMPIRE

At last year’s launch of veteran travel writer Dervla Murphy’s remarkable book, A Month by the Sea – Encounters in Gaza, she made a simple but telling point. “The Palestinians’ predicament is that they are the victims’ victims”. Of course, in Faith in the Face of Empire, an equally remarkable book by a Palestinian Christian pastor, victimhood (despite its postmodern attractions) is a dangerous mantle.

U2’s Songs of Innocence (3): A Disquieting Lullaby (SLEEP LIKE A BABY)

U2 can be pretty shocking. If you’ve followed social media recently, you’ll know they’ve caused global offence by giving away their Songs of Innocence album for free (oh, and a nice tidy cheque from Apple for $100 million). I do think that the sum is pretty obnoxious. There’s no way that anyone needs that kind of cash, least of all the world’s most successful band in history (more or less). I’d say it represents, at the very least, a rather grim error of judgment. I have enjoyed some of the memes that this has provoked, though (esp Who is U2 anyway?). But even though that all now seems rather an inadvertent PR disaster, the album contains some genuine shocks which are clearly more artfully deliberate.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 72 (September 2014)

Sacred Treasure

• Cranmer has been on form: 1. None dare call it evil, except Justin Welby; 2. I have forgiven Islamic militants
• Interesting stuff here from Tyndale House on Simon Gathercole’s work on the Gospel of Thomas
• “Your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here…” from the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul
• The stigma of being an atheist in the USA…

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 71 (August 2014)

Sorry this late – It’s been an absolutely CRAZY month (including finishing a job, moving house and going on a couple of week long meetings.) Soon, normal Q service will resume, I promise!

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, I SUPPOSE.

Sacred Treasure

• This is important: Paul Vallely’s much linked (rightly) article: Christians: the world’s most persecuted people
• Nice interview with my Langham US colleague, Ben Homan, on preaching globally
• Damian Thompson as provocative as ever – about that other agent provocateur, Richard Dawkins, and his new offensiveness to the Left.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 70 (July 2014)

Sacred Treasure

• We refuse to be enemies. This is an astonishing story from a family of Palestinian Christians living in Bethlehem.
• Dominic Lawson (son of former Chancellor Nigel, brother of celeb chef Nigella) writes wonderfully about his 19 year old daughter with Down’s Syndrome.
• Abp Justin Welby’s address at the National Prayer Breakfast, on 17th June – some great stuff
• Chris Green asks whether or not we should preach like TED talks

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 69 (June 2014)

Sacred Treasure

• God raises the dead – even for preachers like Chris!
• Why Emily Letts filmed her own abortion…
• The Twitter Disconnect: Why Christians are more loving in real life… some good stuff here
• A Nick Cave service??! Looks a lot of fun (H/T Maggi)

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 68 (May 2014)

Sacred Treasure

• This is good: John Piper gives 10 lessons from a hospital bed 
• I’m not busy… so says Ian Paul apparently
• Larry Hurtado deftly sorts out the whole Jesus Wife document farrago here and then a follow-up here

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 67 (April 2014)

Sacred Treasure

• Giles Fraser nails it on euthanasia
• Kevin de Young on celebrity pastors etc
• Andrew Brown writes an inspiring obituary of Margaret Spufford (mother of one of my literary heroes, Francis)

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 66 (March 2014)

Sacred Treasure

• Why Benedict Rogers, a Christian, opposes the very idea of a Christian political party
• So a mural artist in Montenegro considers Tito, Marx and Engels deserves to be depicted in hell… what do you think?
• Some good news from Cranmer: highlighting all the UCCF outreach efforts this term

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 65 (February 2014)

Sacred Treasure

• Mikhail Kalashnikov was apparently in ‘spiritual pain’ over his (in)famous invention
• Dave Criddle has some wisdom about engaging with the likes of Ricky Gervais on Twitter
• Andrew Brown is pretty good here, at least in what he affirms (if not in what he denies).

The Uncertainties of Contingency: What if Franz Ferdinand didn’t die in 1914?

I have stood at the very spot where Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot by Gavrilo Princip 100 years ago. And the impossible “What If” question occurred to me even then. So when I noticed that eminent historian Ned Lebow had published an examination of the issue, I leapt at it. The assassination was such a fluke, so preventable, so absurd that the yearning for a different outcome of that moment is great. As he says at the start (having summarised some of the counterfactual options),

None of these what-ifs strains our understanding of the world because most royal processions do not stray from their intended routes, and most security details would have rushed the archduke and his wife to safety at the first signs of violence. In this instance, the so-called factual, not the counterfactual, is what strikes us as unrealistic and incredible. (p16)

Odds and ends: some random book reviews on China, Marriage… and Auschwitz

So, there’s been seriously long radio-silence from Q in recent weeks. But this is not the result of inactivity. Far from it. Regulars will be pleased to hear that my book is seriously under way – with 5 out of 10 chapters now completed in draft. Phew!! There’s going to be lots to blog on when it’s done – but I don’t have the energy or brain to do both at the same time! Nevertheless, I’ve been keeping up reading and stuff. Here are a few reviews of recent freebies I got on the Amazon Vine programme. There might be something of interest to someone…