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‘Let no one who is not eager for truth and peace enter here’ (Plato)

Articles on this site express varying points of view, to encourage mature thinking on serious issues. The assumption is that you will want to study a controversial topic from various angles before you arrive at a conclusion, rather than simply believe what someone told you when you were impressionable! (So some stuff here is ‘hot’. Proceed at your own risk!). See the Statement of Faith for John Mark Ministries' theological stance.

Michael Hardin, The Jesus-Driven Life: Reconnecting Humanity with Jesus

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ February 3, 2012 ⋅ One comment

The Gist of Michael Hardin’s The Jesus-Driven Life: Reconnecting Humanity with Jesus, JDL Press, 2010. When well-read Christians list the most influential exponents of their faith the names include Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Barth, Bonhoeffer, Tillich, C.S. Lewis… Michael Hardin says we must now add the name Rene Girard. Girard’s main contribution to Christian hermeneutics? [...]

The Jesus Driven Life

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ January 8, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

From: Nathan Nettleton <nathan@laughingbird.net> Subject: Book Review: The Jesus Driven Life I’ve just finished reading an outstanding book called “The Jesus Driven Life: Reconnecting Humanity with Jesus” by Michael Hardin (Lancaster: JDL Press, 2010). It is not easy to find, but can be ordered online from the author athttp://www.preachingpeace.org/jdlpress/ It comes with enthusiastic Foreword and [...]

Paul: ‘inspired’? What does that mean?

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ January 5, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

(Sent by a friend: in what sense was Paul ‘inspired’ differently from, say, you or myself? Challenging article). What, or Who, do I seek from Paul? All documents have a context which shapes how we read them. We read a scientific paper with different eyes and expectations from those we hold for a newspaper article [...]

25 LISTS OF EVERYTHING INTERESTING/IMPORTANT

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ December 30, 2011 ⋅ One comment

Dear friends I’m making 25 lists of 25 important/memorable/helpful items/ideas. Anything missing? We’ll have to factor it in to one of these (watch this article): 25 LISTS OF 25 1 MOST INSPIRING PEOPLE WHO’VE EVER LIVED 2 MOST MEMORABLE PASSAGES IN THE BIBLE 3 GREATEST CHRISTIAN HYMNS/SONGS 4 GREATEST SERMONS EVER PREACHED 5 GREATEST [...]

Miracles and the Virgin Birth etc.

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ December 23, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Excerpt from an interesting Facebook thread: • Daniel – That Jesus lived is beyond question. That he was raised from the dead has a lot of compelling arguments to defend it. So, if we walk backward from this through the texts of the New Testament, it doesn’t make it infallible, but it does allow the [...]

Coping with Grief (John Claypool)

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ December 19, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

John Claypool “Hopeful Coping with Grief” December 1 , 2002 Biography Dr. John Claypool is rector emeritus of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and theologian-in-residence at Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans. John is the author of many books and is one of America’s great preachers. ~~ “Hopeful Coping with Grief” At least [...]

HOW ONE MUSLIM BECAME A CHRISTIAN…

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ December 11, 2011 ⋅ One comment

Note from Rowland Croucher, December 2011: Here is a compelling story of one person’s journey from Islam to Christianity. He writes: ‘After I told my father I was a believer in Jesus Christ as Lord, he immediately disowned me. I never saw him again, until three days before his death in 1999…’ [seventeen years later] [...]

Homosexuality & Divorce: why not treat them the same?

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ December 7, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Dr. Smedes, a retired minister in the Christian Reformed Church, was a former ethics professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, and the author of a dozen bestselling Christian books including To Forgive and Forget and All Things Made New. LIKE THE WIDENESS OF THE SEA? Lewis B. Smedes I remember the first time that I watched [...]

Philip Yancey’s Second-best Book

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ September 14, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Philip Yancey, What Good is God? On the Road with Stories of Grace, H&S, 2010. Anyone who reads Christian books knows Philip Yancey. In his 20+ publications this ‘Progressive Evangelical’ popular writer is renowned for his stories, excellent research, readability, and global appeal. This one’s more autobiographical than most. Eg.: ‘I should mention that on personality tests [...]

Did “Officials” in the New Testament Church receive a Salary?

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ September 13, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Something we used to debate about in the Brethren Assemblies I grew up in was whether the early Christian leaders received a ‘stipend’. When the New English Bible translation came out (my late teens) there was this astonishing version of 1 Tim 5:17: ‘Elders who do well as leaders should be reckoned worthy of a [...]