fake: long overdue update

Categories

places i'm speaking

rothesay vineyard - sunday 17th june
"defeating the principalities and powers - practical and mundane spiritual warfare"
jesuit conference - april 10th-12th 2007
hayes conference centre, derby, uk speaking on social justice and conflict resolution (particularly in the context of northern ireland) - what should we as christians be doing? trying to deconstruct the 'us' and 'them' boxes to stagger closer to reconciliation.

words words words

Walter Wink: Naming the Powers: Language of Power in the New Testament (The Powers : Volume One)
i like wink a lot. anyone who can write an essay entitled "how i got snagged by the seat of my pants while reading the bible" is an instant hit in my book. couple this with an astute academic mind and a sincere desire to discover what it means to follow god in this generation and the man rises to virtual sainthood! this is the first in wink's series on the principalities and "powers" mentioned throughout the bible. it is necessarily the most academic of the three as it sets the groundwork for the subsequent conclusions he pulls out on the other two books. but he writes well and covers the technical ground well. this is an important book (particularly for the evangelical church i feel). wink's central thesis is that both the evangelical tradition (in believing the 'powers' to be wholly other-worldly, AND the liberation theology tradition (in locating the powers solely in this present world) are mistaken. both are challenged here - though his writing will raise the heckles of conservative evangelicals moreso than the liberationists i think. this is a welcome surefire antidote to the inane and socially irresponsible teaching that spiritual warfare is conducted solely (or even mostly) on one's knees, rather than on the picket line, in the workplace, in the voting booth, in the day-to-day of normal living. read it and buy an extra copy for your pastor! (***)
David Bodanis: E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation
an immensely readable account of the equation most people are likely to be able to quote but few can explain. bodanis takes each element in the equation and tells the tale of the people responsible for the major discoveries in that area to show upon whose shoulders einstein stood and what the consequences for the 20th and 21st centuries and beyond have been and are. don't be put off by the scientific nature of the subject matter, it really is written with the non-expert in mind. neat appendices tucked away at the back of the book and a web-site are where those wanting more detail are directed so as not to intimidate or overwhelm the masses. it really does read more like a social commentary/biography than a science book. enlightening and light. a rare combination. nice. (****)
Peter Rollins: How (Not) to Speak of God
How_not_to_speak_of_god_cover how (not) to speak of god is an important and beautiful book. we are living in a fractured time. we do not yet know what we are let alone where we are going other than (in rollins’ words) “away-from-here.” we are defined by what we are not (postmodern) and by the fact that we are moving, or emerging, but not yet by what we are or by any final destination. it’s easy to lose hope in this generation. all the enlightenment promises of certainty, provability and universal Truth now look jaded in the cold and often terrifying light of postmodern philosophical thought. into this arena steps my good friend, peter rollins and he is like a breath of fresh air. rollins is uniquely positioned to write this book of popular philosophical a/theology. he hails from the evangelical/charismatic tradition, so he is perfectly placed to offer a sensitive critique to that community; he has a doctorate in philosophy, so he is well-versed in nietzsche, jaques derrida, meister eckhart, jean-luc marion, hans-georg gadamer and so on and is able to appropritate their insights and criticisms into his and our theology; he has been a youth-worker and a conference speaker, so he has well-honed gifts in communication and is adept at making the profound intelligible to ordinary plebs like you and me; and he is actively involved in leadership of a christian community, so these issues are not theoretical to him, but deeply personal and practical. if you’ve heard pete speak you’ll know how passionate he is about these issues. if you have heard him on more than one occasion, then to be honest there will be little new here for you. but that is a long way from saying that the book is not worth buying and reading. i read my copy in one sitting and will no doubt return to it again and again. as i do with every book i read this with a pen and a yellow highlighter in hand so as to be able to remember the important bits and note where i disagreed or was provoked to think about something. it’s now with some sense of dismay that i flick through a book where practically every page has a radioactive glow to it! one of pete's chief gifts is in analogy and parable. how sad it is that jesus’ parables no longer take our breath away. truly great parables always have the audience nodding their heads as the story starts, thinking they know the ending right from the get-go only to be slapped in the face and completely offended by the shocking twist-in-the-tale. rollins stories are clever, poignant, offensive and often very moving. this is not a book of dull theology. this is a book of poetry. rollins’ concern is that people often ask him what he believes but never how he believes. in his view belief should always be transformative “the reversal from ‘right belief’ to ‘believing in the right way’ is in no way a move to some binary opposite of the first (for the opposite of right belief is simply wrong belief); rather, it is a way of transcending the binary altogether. thus orthodoxy is no longer (mis)understood as the opposite of heresy but rather is understood as a term that signals a way of being in the world rather than a means of believing things about the world… it is an approach which emphasises the priority of love: not as something which stands opposed to the knowledge of god, but, more radically still, as knowledge of god… orthodoxy, as believing in the right way, as bringing love to the world around us and within us … that will cost us everything. for to live by that sword, as we all know, is to die by it.” (pg 3.) if you find yourself agreeing with everything rollins says here, he’d probably say himself that you’re not reading carefully enough. this is a book to rock our comfortable boat, to provoke thought, to engage and begin a conversation with the reader. don’t read this if your theology is rock-solid and water-tight, this book will either shatter that faith completely or make you want to crucify the author as a heretic! i guess my only criticism of this book is that it’s left me hungry for more. i wish it had been two books rather than one. the first half of the book is the argument/discussion/theory; the second a series of ten liturgies, used by the ikon community in belfast to attempt to outwork the implications of living for christ today. liturgy needs to be experienced/said/shared to be truly effective. i want more of the thought-provoking insight contained in the first half. roll on book number two. i’m concerned that this review doesn’t do justice to the book. rollins is a much better communicator than i am. his words are much more poetic than mine. if i’ve made it sound dull, philosophical and high-brow i’ve misled you. if you think this is another book of wishy-washy new-age theology again that’s probably my fault, for nothing could be further from the truth. read this book and if you ever get the opportunity, go and listen to this humble pilgrim. it sounds like i’m on his payroll. to be honest i struggle with much of rollin’s insight and thought. as paul tillich points out, “most human beings of course are not able to stand the message of the shaking of the foundations. they reject and attack the prophetic minds, not because they really disagree with them, but because they sense the truth of their words and cannot receive it.” i may disagree with his thinking at times (though I fear he is right more than i like to admit) but his commitment to and love for god are never in question. this book is a call to love god and love people. sit up church. the voice of one calling “in the desert prepare the way of the lord.” there is a transformative message here for those who have ears to hear. (*****)
Bruce Ellis Benson: Graven Ideologies: Nietzche, Derrida & Marion on Modern Idolatry
ah what a welcome book! at last an evangelical who actually understands and takes seriously what nietzsche, derrida and marion (as well as many others such as husserl, heidegger, leotard, gadamer...) say. i'm so tired of reading christians, who really ought to know better, wailing a lament for a non-existent time past when everyone 'knew' the Truth, God could be proved and placed in a little rational box, and everyone knew right from wrong. these writers herald deconstructionism and phenomenology as simple relativism leading to inevitable nihilism; they set postmodern philosophy up as a straw man, astonishing (and sedating) us with their intellectual prowess, as they proceed to scare the big, bad, postmodern bogeyman away. benson points out that not only is this bogeyman not going anywhere fast, but he should be welcomed as a friend.

foundationalism is dead and gone - everyone (with the possible exception of the christian writers referred to above) knows this. the enlightenment deceived us. rather than nietzsche being the nihilist, benson points out that he simply pointed out the inevitable nihilism which results from modernism, and the christian morality which ties itself too closely with it.

now that we know that there is no foundation for knowledge (and never has been) which cannot be undermined somehow, benson forces the evangelical church to sit up and ask, 'what now?' here we find help in surprising places (at least for some). benson shows how the three thinkers in his title offer us some possible paths through this crisis.

his writing is clear and engaging and one quickly realises that this is somone who has read beyond the flycover of these authors - he has grappled with their thought at length. this would be a great first introduction to these philosophical greats, and really ought to be read by every thinking christian to see how we in the church ought to 'be' in our time.

brilliant. go. read.

now.

that is all. (*****)
Stanley J. Grenz: Renewing the Center: Evangelical Theology in a Post-Theological Era
stan grenz died in march 2005. his voice will be much missed in the contemporary debate within evangelicalism. although holding on to (too?) much traditional evangelical orthodoxy, grenz argues that evangelicals harken back to enlightenment principles (such as decartes' foundational view of epistemology) rather than facing up to the realities of the current thinking and new philosophical discoveries. this book is useful again as it addresses evangelicals in their own terms. no evangelical will be alienated by this book, but will find themselves gently nudged leftwards. therein lies my only criticism: the evangelical church needs dragged kicking and screaming and i wonder if this nudge is too subtle to really do the job. (***)
carl raschke: the next reformation: why evangelicals must embrace postmodernity
raschke writes from within the evangelical community. he writes with academic acumen and passion - a rare combination. this book is a really great introduction to the genuine postmodern debate, rather than the characature or straw man often presented in evangelical circles. raschke neither demonises nor lionises postmodernity, but simply shows the opportunities now facing church as a result of this new zeitgeist. rather than ignoring or rejecting culture outright, the church must realise that culture is amoral - available for appropriation and shaping - NOT immoral. that being the case, raschke is unrelenting in revealing just how completely the church has bought in to (or sold out to) modernity. the new challanges postmodernity presents us with as christians cannot be disregarded any longer. fore-warned is fore-armed. this book is apposite counsel. agree or disagree with raschke, he will not be easily dismissed. he is too briefly dismissive of the radical orthodoxy movement and his last couple of chapters are less rigorous and academic than the rest - he seems to come close to suggesting that the charismatic movement is the ideal representation of postmodern church. this could have been remedied by more rigorous editing as it is obvious they would be better suited to a more testimonial-type book. the rest, however, is excellent. (****)
E.P. Sanders: Paul: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introduction S.)
this is a lovely series of books - beautifully simple presentation. this one is a reprint of sanders earlier "paul" (1971). he single-handedly changed the way the apostle paul is studied in theology - reponsible for the so-called "new perspective on paul". this is a very readable and enjoyable introduction to the most important christian theologian of all time. whether you've studied theology or not this tiny little book will whet your appetite for more! while you're at it buy a copy for your pastor/minister/priest. easy to fit in your pocket and read in a couple of hours on the train. (****)
John Caputo: On Religion (Thinking in Action S.)
ok so jack caputo's a total heretic. tell him something he doesn't know! this book is beautiful. caputo is an inspirational writer. his most mundane prose still rings with a poetry that puts most authors (never mind theologians!) to shame. his thoughts are always challenging (especially to those of an evangelical persuasion) but this is postmodern theology at its best. you don't have to believe everything he says to appreciate the beauty of his thinking. highly recommended. (****)
James D. G. Dunn: A New Perspective on Jesus: What the Quest for the Historical Jesus Missed (Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology)
a genuinely fresh insight. james dunn's book attempts to do for jesus what he has previously attempted to do for paul - get back to the original. traditionally trying to get back to the 'real' jesus results in 'the jesus seminar' type approach - religating anything which smacks of the supernatural to get back to 'the historical jesus.' dunn argues tis approach is doomed to fail; that the ONLY record we have of jesus is that written through the eyes of faith. jesus' disciples talked about him, wrote about him, followed him BECAUSE they believed he was the messiah. the 'historical' jesus is therefore synonymous with the christ of faith. wonderful insight. easy to read and thoroughly engaging. a great counter to post-liberal scholarship. a valuable voice in the continuing debate over the nature and identity of jesus. (****)
Alain Badiou: Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism (Cultural Memory in the Present)
an interesting find this one: an atheist writing on paul! now before you turn away in disdain, he's got some really interesting and profound insight. it's only 128 pages so it's not going to suck up your entire life to take some time looking it over. he argues that paul sees the world in terms of jews and greeks who look to prophets and philosophers respectively as sources of authority. badiou argues that paul is able to appeal for universal acceptance of the truths he proclaims by appealing to apostolic authority in opposition to jewish and greek authority figures. interesting, challenging and insightful. (****)
ed. Merold Westphal: Postmodern Philosophy and Christian Thought
i liike westphal. this book is clear and challenging and includes many diverse responses to postmodernist thought. there is no doubt at all that we are moving beyond modernism yet (as with most things) the church has been slow to respond. this reader, although academic, is very approachable and clearly written. Contributors include: Steven Bouma-Prediger, John D. Caputo, George Connell, Andrew J. Dell'Olio, Garrett Green, Lee Hardy, Brian D. Ingraffia, Walter Lowe, Jean-Luc Marion, Gary Percesepe, Merold Westphal, W. Jay Wood, Norman Wirzba, and Edith Wyschogrod. if there's not someone in that group who gets under your skin and makes you itchy for more, you're just not trying! (****)
Brian D. McLaren: A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished CHRISTIAN
What a breath of fresh air Brian McLaren is. He's another one like Jimmy Dunn who encourages me to stay within the evangelical church. he's DELIBERATELY provocative and abstruse to encourage and open up discussion rather than close it down (a point many of his detractors seem to forget!) He tries to take the best from the many traditions within Christendom while generously overlooking their weaknesses. of course i don't agree with all he says. but of course i've never found an author with whom i totally agree. How dull if i did! that's what makes them thought-provoking and challenging to me! fresh and inspiring. (*****)
D. A. Carson: Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church : Understanding a Movement and Its Implications
ok so it's carson so you prety much know from the outset where he's coming from. I'm fascinated by the emerging church movement (no doubt you'll read more and more about it on this site.) The biggest criticism i have of the it is that often it's a movement in search of a theology. although carson critiques the movement from the right he gives a more sympathetic hearing to emerging church than you might think. it's certainly a good book to introduce mainstream to conservative evangelicals to the opportunities (as well as what carson sees as some pitfalls) presented by living in our times. (***)
G.K. Chesterton: Orthodoxy
what do you mean you haven't read this???!!! Stop wasting your time on the internet and GET THIS BOOK!!! I first read this book 15 years ago but i think it's only now that i'm appreciating the sheer genius of the man! If anyone can read chapter 4 'The Ethics of Elfland' without a huge smile on their face i'll eat ... well at least a donut on your behalf!! Truly postmodern apologetics at it's best. Chesterton argues persuasivley that the MOST real and factual things we know do not come through science or mathematics but fairy tales. GENIUS!!! (*****)
Leonard Sweet: Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives
Another book that gives me hope. The Church in general and the evangelical church in particular seems hell-bent on ignoring culture at best or, in the scant attention it does pay, seems to be focused soley on denouncing rather than on understanding and assimilating where appropriate. This book is a good popular attempt to support a dialogue within the evangelical church on various options for progress. The foramat of this book is also novel and interesting. Each of the authors writes their owb chapters (coming from very disparate theological stances within evangelicalism) which are interspersed in grayscale with supportive or argumentative responses from the other authors. [Not really sure i'm communicating that well. Take a wee look at the book and you'll instantly understand what i'm talking about.] The overall impression becomes one of an emerging conversation and discussion rather than a univocular polemic. This isn't an academic book (i mean that in a good way!) so definitely pick it up and give it a go. (****)
Anthony C. Thiselton: The First Epistle to the Corinthians (New International Greek Testament Commentary Series)
Well it's not exactly a quick read weighing in at an astounding 1480 pages but this commentary is EXCELLENT. What can i say. I've had the privilege of being taught by Anthony. He's a legend. Reading Anthony is like reading EVERYONE who's ever said ANYTHING theological about 1st Corinthians. It's easy to become overwhelmed with the sheer enormity of the research this volume represents, but Anthony's style is always fresh and engaging. He gives his own translation from the Greek and then gives lucid and (IMHO) balanced comment on the various positions that have been taken on this letter while not hesitating to nail his own colours to the mast. This is highly recommended for anyone who has an interest in hermeneutics or Pauline theology in general or 1st Corinthians in particular. (*****)
James Dunn: The Theology of Paul the Apostle
jimmy dunn's a bit of a star. he's one of the authors that keeps me calling myself an evangelical. if there's room for the likes of him there's room for me. his writing is easy to read, scholarly and engaging - an unusual mix! add to this dunn's ability to take on board the latest theological discoveries on Paul without losing the wonder of the salvation Paul himself seeks to describe and proclaim and you've got a great theology text. (****)
Bible & Culture Collective: The Postmodern Bible
an interesting collection of essays on various approaches adopted by postmodern theologians to biblical criticism - including reader-response, deconstructionalist and a host of others. (***)

sites to see

atto :: helloatto.com
this is the site of my good friends pete and heather. you've just gotta take a wee look. they're doing some really lovely things in visual communication. their main focus at the moment is on interactive children's books which are really quite delicious. pete worked for me when madministries was a thing. he made me look good. the site's still there (www.madministries.com) if you want to go see though mad* has expired long ago and is no more. everything that looks lovely here, from web design to posters for cheap date all originated in his wee head. how clever!
emergingchurch.info : a touching place for the emerging church
this is a place which intrigues me. you'll be challenged, provoked, infuriated and hopefully enlightened (maybe even altered?!) especially check out pete rollins wee interview at http://www.emergingchurch.info/stories/cafe/peterollins/index.htm. nice.
ikon - belfast
a rare and beautiful thing: an emerging church with thought and theology behind it! the founding guy behind it, pete rollins (philosopher/theologian/prophet/guru/teller of tales) is a good friend of mine. i miss seeing him more regularly now we live over in chester but i don't think there's anyone in my life who challenges my thinking more than pete. he's probably the smartest person i've met but isn't totally arsey with it - another rarity! we disagree frequently and vigorously but pete has an integrity linking his theology to his life which means he is always worth listening to and learning from. he says people ask too often what he believes but rarely want to know 'how' he believes; how his belief alters him, betters him, makes him more like jesus. in this vein i think pete believes well.
madministries.com
well the site may look a little outdated now but back in the day it was way ahead of the field thanks to the genius of pete kerr. what's more important is the content. i founded mad* in 1999 and worked for it for three very happy years before moving over to Chester. read some of the testimonies of people who where impacted by this ministry. it was such a privelege to be involved. hopefully Fake will take things in a new and even more exciting direction.
Third Way Magazine
i've subscribed to Third Way for over a decade now. every issue there'll be at least one article which will cause you to think. the only christian magazine in the uk worth handing over your hard-earned cash for. essential reading!
wee alli's page
this is the page of my beautiful, smart wee wife alli, with all her thoughts and musings on life and stuff. click constantly on it as she's much more faithful at updating than i am! o and she's nice.
Welcome to Emergent Village
it was brian mclaren who first switched me on to this project. come and be.

where do i begin? it’s been a while. i’ve been silent (silenced) too long i think. time to ease my way back into this thing. i’ve generally been feeling uninspired over the last few months, very few people were reading what i was writing anyway, so it felt like it wasn’t exactly a huge loss to the blogging community to go on hiatus.

that being said, i’m back – without much rhyme or reason really.

first things first: to those of you who don’t know already, i’m going to be a dad come january! talk about major life change! alli’s growing bigger by the day and so far the baby looks to be healthy and happy. everyone keeps asking us if we know what we’re getting – i’m holding out for human and caucasian. it’s not that i have anything against fros, you understand, it’s just that if my kid has one, alli and i’ll be in for a long chat!

we decided not to ask what sex the baby’s going to be. alli would really like to know most days, but then she’s the kind of girl who wouldn’t wait till Christmas day to open her presents – there’s just no reasoning with some kinds of madness!

apart from the whole romance of actually finding out on the day whether i’m going to be a daddy or a mummy, the main reason we’re not asking is because there’s an overly large margin of error in the prediction. our health worker has regaled us with nightmarish tales of times they have gotten it wrong. one couple had three ultrasounds, the last of which occurred in the 35^th week of the pregnancy, and each time it was confirmed that they were having a little girl. the woman had to have an emergency c-section and when she awoke from the general anesthetic there was a baby boy in her arms! it took her many months to bond with the child as she was convinced that this was not her baby.

boys and girls each have strengths and weaknesses, joys and turmoils associated with them. at the moment we don’t care at all which one we have, but if they were to tell us we were having a boy, we couldn’t help but get ourselves orientated in that direction and get all excited about having a son, then, were we actually to have a daughter, i can’t help but feel that we’d feel slightly disappointed.

better to remain excited either way at the moment and find out in less than 3 months!

i’ll be writing much more about this no doubt as it is quite a major event – understatement!

but there’s lots of other things going on too. at long , long last i have a job! like a real one; with a pay cheque and everything – not a very big one, it must be said, but a pay cheque nonetheless! i’m working for the john howard society in a residential home for young people dealing with complex mental health issues. at the moment, 90% of my work is really boring and feels a lot like baby-sitting. 10% of the time, it’s pretty frenetic, trying to de-escalate potentially volatile situations. i’m pretty much at the bottom of the food chain at the moment and really hope it won’t be long till i climb the ladder a bit. i’m not really in a position yet to influence policy decisions or to pose awkward questions to those in power, regarding new brunswick’s atrocious provision for those suffering from mental illness, its poverty, illiteracy, obesity… again, much more on this at a later date.

so, we have health care, a work permit and a social insurance number now. when added to our house, our friends and community here it makes quite a nice little package. you just wouldn’t believe the bureaucratic hoops we’ve had to jump through to get to this point, but here we are. next step is permanent residency. alli is working on the application as we speak. hopefully we’ll have that sorted in less than a year. that’s the point at which they can’t throw us out and we can do pretty much anything we like. after that it’ll be only a year until we can apply for full citizenship. the hard part is permanent residency as far as we can tell. the citizenship part is simply a paperwork exercise, involving quite a substantial amount of money.

but that’s all for the future.

for now, hey, we’re here for a while longer – pregnant and working.

that’s about it for this gentle reintroduction. sorry it’s information-heavy and fact-full. i really will try and give this whole blogging thing another shot and try to provide you with a bit more heart stuff (and maybe even one or two more things to make your head itchy!) next time.

thanks for hanging in there, the few of you who are left.

Comments

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hey shane - nice to see you posting again.
even though i didn't comment often - i read everything! i guess that makees me a stalker of some description. but anyway - you both look great, i can't believe that your good wifey is going to drop in 3 or 4 months - she's tiny. you'll be able to carry your firstborn in one of her ickle bags.
congrats on the job and hope the residency thing rolls along nicely.
take care both of you - and keep posting dude.
yours in Him.

Posted by: gaz | Tuesday, 07 October 2008 at 04:34 PM

still here...still reading...sorry for not posting all that often

Posted by: andi | Thursday, 09 October 2008 at 12:50 PM

Hey, it's good to see you're still active! I almost gave up on checking this!
Congratulations on the baby to you both, Shane. That's pretty awesome. :)

Posted by: Joanna | Thursday, 09 October 2008 at 11:29 PM

I will admit that I stalk you both here and on facebook and am SO happy to see you posting again. I look forward to your challenging thoughts and opinions on life, faith, science, politics and everything in-between.

Posted by: Sarah D. | Friday, 10 October 2008 at 08:54 PM

Good to see you posting again. Congrats on the baby and the new job!

Hope to see more soon

Posted by: Brian | Sunday, 12 October 2008 at 12:09 PM

Dear Shane. In a recent 'what im doing now' you wrote
'still feeling very much like an outsider looking in when it comes to the whole organised christianity thing yet bored by most things 'emerging''.
I would like to both ask you a couple of questions on this and also comment on it. First of all when you say 'organised christianity' what do you mean? Is it the main Christian churches i.e Catholic, Church of England, Baptist, Methodist etc. If so then I understand your frustration as in all of them, there seems to be a lack of consistency with what the individual churches believe, teach and how they worship. Yet they still say that they are part of the one body that is the church. If the church is the 'pillar and ground of truth' then which truth is right? Even within one individual church there is no agreement on many fundamental truths of the faith, i.e the virgin birth. It is worth pointing out also that many of these churches teach that we inherit the sin of Adam and so as soon as we are born we are sinners even though we haven't committed any sin of our own yet. This is the teachings that St Augustine introduced and as a result the western church, i.e catholics and all the different protestant churches, have had to try to cover up and justify by making up different false doctrines like purgatory, limbo and predestination. As such their worship is affected as they cannot worship in the truth and they cannot walk in the fullness of the faith. This is what has led the western church in the division of the churches to a point that there are thousands of groups who all claim to be part of the church that Jesus is the cornerstone. Yet each group say that they base their church and their beliefs on the New Testament. It is also clear that they seem to each worship a different Jesus as for one he is vengeful and for another He is their mate and nothing more, for another He is the second person of the Trinity and so on. Jesus can't both Love and at the same time hate someone, just as we can’t at the same time both Love someone and also hate them. Jesus is Truth and Love.

Eastern Christianity, i.e. the Eastern Orthodox Church do not have this confusion. What they teach and believe about the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit One God, is the same everywhere. What they teach and believe about the Christian faith is the same everywhere. Throughout history they have believed, defended and died for the faith of the apostles. There has been times when people and Bishops have gone into error and lead some astray, but the Holy Spirit has guided the Church back to the truth. An example of this is the Seven Ecumenical Councils. The faith of the Orthodox Church is the same as it was in AD33 and has not changed. The only change is their understanding of that true faith, i.e, their Faith of the Trinity has not changed but our understanding of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, their essences and energies, God the Son being fully God and fully man, our understanding of this has developed, as it has been reveled by the Holy Spirit.

The worship of the Orthodox is not an expression of, nor does it come from the understanding of the theology of the Church, but from the worship of God and the experience of God in this worship comes their theology. In the hymns is the theology. In the sacramental life of the Church we meet with God in His energies. I should point out here that a sacrament or ‘Divine Mystery’ is when were God meets us. The Orthodox Church hold to the same seven sacraments that the catholic church have but don’t limit them at seven, as any time we meet with God it is a Mystery or sacrament.

If you ever go to an Orthodox Church service to be a spectator you will definitely be an outsider looking in. But if you go and embrace the worship and join the people in worshiping God, He will reform your heart.

I am posting this as a comment for this blog but if you want to move it somewhere else that is ok.
Also I would like to state that the opinions in the first paragraph are my own observations and are not the teachings of the Orthodox Church, as the Orthodox Church only teach on what is within the Church.

Servant of the Lord,
Paul Totten

Posted by: Paul Totten | Monday, 13 October 2008 at 05:30 PM

love you guys. can't wait for you to become parents x

Posted by: caroline | Tuesday, 14 October 2008 at 07:23 PM

good to see you posting again. ive missed you thoughts. been many days in the UK, where i'd be having converstions with the youth and think of you and alii in my room doing something similar. all the best fot the new arrival

xxx

Posted by: dee | Wednesday, 22 October 2008 at 08:53 AM

Hey shane, good to see you blogging again...

I do enjoy your posts

Dave

Posted by: Dave Luke | Tuesday, 28 October 2008 at 06:26 PM

I almost gave up on you, brother.
Congrats on the baby and the job.

Looking forward to fresh posts.

Shalom

Posted by: Nathanael | Monday, 17 November 2008 at 01:53 PM

Hi Shane and Alli
Fantastic news about the baby hope all goes well !!
We are now the proud parents of 4 Robbie was born in March and everybody loves him dearly.
Joel now in 2nd year at Belfast high, Zoe in P5 and Neve in P2.
Lovely to see you both looking so well.
Love Trish Paul Joel Zoe Neve and Robbie xox

Posted by: trish | Thursday, 20 November 2008 at 10:17 AM

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