“Why are you still a Christian? What keeps you in faith?” My answer when a friend asked me these questions
A friend recently asked me why I’m still a Christian. She asked because she was having trouble holding onto her […]
Church
sometimes I wonder… if Rachel Jankovic understands scandal (a response to her criticism of Kaitlin Shetler’s viral poem)
Over the last week or so, a #poemfortheresistance by Kaitlin Hardy Shetler has been making waves on the internet. Both
How I used to interpret Deuteronomy 22:13-21, and how I explain it now (in fewer than 500 words)
Deuteronomy 22:13-21 is one of the scarier passages for impressionable young Christian women, as it seems to hold up pre-marital
About that virginity test in Deuteronomy 22: it’s not what you think
There was some justifiable outrage recently when rapper T.I. said that he had a gynaecologist annually test that his daughter’s
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Deuteronomy 22, Moonlight, Virginity in the Old Testament
Shameless about…? On hearing Nadia Bolz-Weber at Southwark Cathedral
“Breathe in the good s***, breathe out the bulls***.” As I told a friend I was going to hear Nadia
Shameless about…? On hearing Nadia Bolz-Weber at Southwark Cathedral Read Post »
Firelight, My faith
Are your thoughts and prayers with … the system? Maybe they should be.
I’m grateful to say that gun violence is something quite remote from my experience and everyday life. The UK has
Are your thoughts and prayers with … the system? Maybe they should be. Read Post »
Firelight, My faith, The church and hope
“Just don’t do it” review: a zany swipe at abstinence culture — but can it find its audience?
Where do I begin? This is a two-woman show about the failings of church attitudes towards sex and sexuality, complete
I heard a talk on penal substitutionary atonement; here’s what happened when I complained
You’ll get the most out of this post if you first read the previous one. Basically, I went to a
I heard a talk on penal substitutionary atonement; it tainted the ‘good’ in Good Friday
So, last week I heard a man in paid ministry explain why Good Friday is good. I took notes. I
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Firelight, The church and hope
Let’s talk about sarx! When Paul criticised ‘the flesh’ he wasn’t being body-negative
(Photo credit: Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash) I reckon one of the biggest chasms between Christian thought and sex-positive thinking
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Sex (and divorce) in the New Testament, Sunlight
Dear Christians: non-conformity is not the path to transformation
The book of Daniel often gets cited as the model for Christians to follow because he doesn’t acculturate, famously refusing
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Sunlight, The church and hope
Dear Christians: Daniel is not the distinctive role model you think he is
One of my bugbears about the church in the UK and US, is the strong emphasis of non-conformity. We’re told
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Sunlight, The church and hope
When we don’t explain the Trinity, the gospel gets ugly (especially for wives)
Last week, I met up with a good friend, also a blogger, whose areas of interest overlap with mine particularly
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Firelight, The church and exclusion, The church and hopeWhose values will I embody? On recent politics, St Paul, and Frozen.
Historically, I’ve not been one to put much store in icons of saints. Coming from a Protestant background, visual images
Whose values will I embody? On recent politics, St Paul, and Frozen. Read Post »
My faith, Starlight
What exactly is a pledge? Exploring the types of commitment seen in the Bible
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about purity pledges. For the uninitiated, these are when Christian teenagers (both male and
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Sunlight, The Bible and other studies
Books of 2017: Titles for those who are looking outside the box
As I finally come to write reviews of this last cluster of books from 2017 I realise that I’ve probably
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UncategorisedBooks of 2017: Titles of interest to theology lovers and Bible students
I read all of these from cover to cover. Only kidding! The themes for 2017’s theological reading seem to have been
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Uncategorised
Good Gifts for Growing People: A sermon on Romans 12:1-8
So, there is this idea that women have the ability and commission to preach just as much as men. This
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Uncategorised
Always reforming: 95 statements on hope, sexuality and consent
It is 500 years to the day (well, sort of, if we don’t worry about the shift to the Gregorian
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Sunlight, The church and consent
Why purity-as-separation undermines the church’s covenant calling
Last Christmas I realised something that made me so angry I wanted to pick up my laptop and smash it
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Uncategorised
A brain-dump about purity: this time, I think I really might change the world
When I was a plucky secondary school pupil, I had an idea for a perpetual motion machine. I was beyond
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Firelight, The church and hope