Having entered my fifth year of blogging, and past my 25oth post (which puts me about two years and 100,000,000 posts behind My blogging hero), I thought I would try out a new look and new name for the blog. Being only moderately committed to the new setup (I quite like the semi-nerdy connotations of this name, though), I’d love any feedback. Love it? Hate it? Keep it? Lose it?
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I have an article in this month’s edition of Quadrant. It is titled “The Comforting Myth of the Heroic Unbeliever”. (The original title was “Who’s Afraid of the Infinite Spaces: Questions for the Heroic Unbeliever”, which I thought was a bit better because I don’t quite say heroic unbelief is a myth, but it’s not as catchy.) I’d love it if you had a look. It’s not online, but many libraries have it, and you can buy it. It’s been a work of love for me, thinking through the idea that unbelief is courageous, the nineteenth century roots of this notion, and then critiquing it by reading Marilyn Robinson’s novel, Gilead. I’d love to hear what you think.
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P.S. Byron, if you read it, please ignore any surrounding articles on climate change.
I have put a new version of my series of studies on the book of Proverbs on the Resources page. It is now ten studies instead of nine, and I think the introductory material is much better. If you need help with this, or if you want a different file format, just let me know.
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I want to start a series of reflections on the local church and its mission. I’ve started series before that have not been finished (sorry); and this may prove one of them (hence picture!?). But my goal is more reasonable this time. I want to reflect on the theology of the local church and its implications for ministry practice in my setting. Hopefully this will be of interest to you. My plan, however, is not to work through a series I’ve already plotted out, but to throw connected thoughts together, oscillating wildly between theological reflection and practical consideration. God-willing, this will build up a coherent picture over time—but that might be asking a bit much.
I’m doing this partly because I have just accepted a role as assistant minister at St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Newtown, Sydney.
As we go, I’d love your help. Tell me what I’m doing wrong or right!
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“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades.” (Revelation 1:17–18)
Long-term readers of this blog will remember a series entitled Jesus and Government. This series has now formed the basis of an article titled “Speaking about Christ in the Public Square”. It’s now published by the Moore College online student journal and you can have a look at it here. Please do!
Every now and again I have to write a brief blurb about myself. I find this a humourous but also sort of dangerous or somewhat arbitrary task. How do you go about doing it? Here’s my latest “effort”:
Andrew studies and teaches the Christian faith full time and also likes surfing, camping, good conversations, and being underwater.
Maybe the key is to not think too much about it.
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I’m sorry to have been slack of late in my posts. But to begin a return to what I hope will be more regular blogging, I’d like to announce that my essay, “Can we trust what the Gospels say about Jesus?” (an earlier version of which was once available on this blog), has been published and is now available as a nice little booklet! You can have a look at it here (I’m assured by the publisher that it is now in stock).
This booklet is designed to be a brief and readable introduction to the questions that bear on the historical reliability of the Gospels. There are good books on this question out there already; but in my experience, not many people bother to read whole books on this topic — and giving a friend a book can be a bit daunting. I’ve been using this material for a couple of years now and think it can be really helpful for all kinds of people. And what I really hope is that God will use this to lead people to discover Jesus afresh in the Gospels.
So, please have a look, buy it if you’d like, and maybe encourage your church to buy a bunch if you think it’s worth it (there’s a discount on bulk orders):). I’d also love to hear any feedback you might have. Please feel free to email me: andrewerrington[at]gmail[dot]com.
My wife and I recently returned from a trip to South America. Without turning into a travel blog (fear not), I hope over the next few weeks to post a few sets of photos. Even though it’s a bit different to the normal fare of this blog, I hope you enjoy them. To begin, here are some photos of one of the world’s most beautiful deserts: the Atacama of Bolivia.
