Saturday blog-sweep

Eric Metaxas (of Bonnhoeffer biography fame) has 'A fireside chat with Timothy Keller'. If you have ever wondered about creation and evolution, about heaven and hell and are interested in a bit of his story then you will find this truly fascinating. It's well worth 55 minutes of your life. I like his concise definition of what it means to be evangelical.

"The original idea of evangelicalism that goes right back to Luther is that you need to have a conversion experience, it's not enough just to go to church....there has to be a personal encounter and that for me is the essence of what it means to be evangelical"

Facing up to depression: so now it gets personal

'So I was open about my own struggles over the last 7 years. A very weird business really. And I had hugely mixed feelings about doing so. But as I said during my first talk, it was not out of a desire for therapy by ‘over-sharing’ public confession; nor was it because I’m expert on the subject; and it was definitely not in order to become the go-to-guru in All Souls for any similarly struggling (I’d lose it completely if that happened!). But it was simply to break the taboo… and to be a help to those who need to know they’re not alone.'

Pornopoly

'True sexual morality is seen as inane and archaic. Sex and sexuality are governed by the immoral, and the pornographic mindset has cornered the market on all sex. In short: we live in a Pornopoly.'

David Keen offers some compelling, depressing and thorough analysis on the state of the C of E in The Leading of the 5000 (inspired title David!)

'Whoever our next Archbishop is, the CofE needs some serious strategic thinking if we're not to collapse under our own weight. Despite a bewildering array of measures of church attendance, there isn't a single one that at the moment is out of the red. We have to face the facts of being a shrinking church if we want to stop being a shrinking church'

10 Fun summer reads: Non fiction and Novels

The page that changed my life

'This is, simply put, one of the most eloquent statements I've ever read on the purpose and meaning of life'


George Orwell offers four interesting reasons for 'Why I write'


I realise as an extrovert and as someone who is a work in progress that I need to learn to listen better. I stumbled on this called 'How to take care you listen' and I hope it may help me and might help you too,


Finally, the Bible's grand narrative shown through art