Category: Blog

From London Bridge to Green Park, and then Tottenham Court Road to Oval, I puzzled over Gerard Benson’s poem, Riddle. The best answer I could come up with was The Word of God – resting amongst leaves – though it falters on the lines about entering a dark tunnel and being bathed in acid. Internet… Continue reading Underground riddle

I was hugely glad to catch the film, Of Gods and Men, at the end of its London release. What a powerful picture. I found watching the character Luc, played by Michael Lonsdale, particularly moving. He seems the most reconciled of the monks as they face the nauseating uncertainties of violent death. I took it… Continue reading Of Gods, men and freedom

… the publication of How To Be An Agnostic. ‘Mark Vernon – a former Anglican priest who left the church only to find dogmatic unbelief just as unsatisfying – shows how being an agnostic can be a modern version of the spiritual life. If you are discontented with simple-minded atheism and literal-minded faith, this is… Continue reading A couple of weeks away…

The anti-alternative voters kick off by saying that AV is complicated, it lacks the democratic drama of first-past-the-post, and it’s no fairer anyway, as it’s still a majoritarian system, not a proportional one. The pro-alternative voters argue that it’s not a perfect system, granted, but it will encourage prospective MPs to engage with more citizens… Continue reading As the campaign for AV gets underway…

The debate about the differences, if any, between gay and straight relationships is a tricky one to conduct as it is so intertwined with feelings about the Christian legacy in a secular world. So perhaps we can take a step back, to a time before the secular, to a time before Christianity, and see what… Continue reading Gay marriage. What would Plato say?

The hodgepodge free-for-all approach to civil partnerships and gay marriage advocated by the campaigners, and now apparently the government – each couple, gay or straight, may pick-their-own – leaves me wary. This is an uncomfortable feeling as, whilst I’m not against gay marriage in principle, it might seem to put me on the conservative as… Continue reading Male and female He created them

I just did a Wordle of How To Be An Agnostic (out next month). The shape that came back looked suspiciously like a fish. Is someone trying to tell me something?

The archbishop of York’s presidential address to the Synod has the wrong emphasis, it seems to me – though I’m hardly qualified to comment, as someone who is only indirectly connected to the Church of England, and so has little right to comment on what it should be doing into the future. Then again, that… Continue reading John Sentamu and the church's USP

I suspect it is virtually heresy to say so in some circles. But I found the memoir of theologian Stanley Hauerwas, Hannah’s Child, odd. It’s certainly engaging, and I wanted to read it as I know Hauerwas is inspirational for some whom I admire. So I’ve been trying to work out why it feels as… Continue reading What it is to be a Christian

My PhD thesis was a reading of Plato’s Lysis, the great philosopher’s exploration of friendship. And so it was exciting, to me at least, to yesterday read Martha Beck’s book, The Quest for Wisdom in Plato and Jung, and realise that the dialogue could be read in a parallel way to how I’d done, namely… Continue reading Interpreting Plato's Lysis