Monthly Archives: January 2012

Eating and the Perfection of Our Nature

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Alastair Roberts

Another old post. Bear in mind that you should conduct yourself in life as at a feast. – Epictetus (55AD-135AD) We are not infrequently reminded of the reality of our animal nature, of how much we share in common with the … Continue reading →

Posted in The Sacraments | 6 Comments

Forgetting What We Read

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Alastair Roberts

Although I had rather a long break from formal blogging, I wrote a lot in various other contexts during my absence, and thought that I might as well occasionally post something that I come across in some random and neglected … Continue reading →

Posted in My Reading, Quotations | 3 Comments

Summary of Edwin Friedman’s ‘A Failure of Nerve’: Part 2

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Alastair Roberts

Other Posts in Series: Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 Friedman advances the thesis that contemporary America has a climate of chronic anxiety, leading to ‘an emotional regression that is toxic to well-defined leadership’ (53). He points … Continue reading →

Posted in My Reading, Reviews | 21 Comments

Why There Are No Theological Problems

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Alastair Roberts

Jacques Maritain somewhere makes a distinction that I find helpful between a ‘problem’ and a ‘mystery’. A problem admits of a solution – ‘can you prove Fermat’s last theorem?’ ‘is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe?’ ‘does the Higgs … Continue reading →

Posted in The Blogosphere, Theological | 2 Comments

Summary of Edwin Friedman’s ‘A Failure of Nerve’: Part 1

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Alastair Roberts

Other Posts in Series: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 I am presently reading Edwin H. Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, a provocative, stimulating, and eminently quotable book which challenges … Continue reading →

Posted in My Reading, Reviews | 13 Comments

Matt Colvin on Missionary Support

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Alastair Roberts

Matt Colvin blogs on the subject of missionary support: One of the goals of giving a handout to a bum is to avoid entering into any deeper relationship with the beggar: toss him some money and walk on. By contrast, … Continue reading →

Posted in On the web, The Blogosphere | 1 Comment

Tebow’s Faith and Ours

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Alastair Roberts

A friend just alerted me to Daniel Foster’s thought-provoking article on Tim Tebow. I am sure that a number of you will have read it before, and will be familiar with (and perhaps exhausted by) the discussion surrounding Tebow’s faith … Continue reading →

Posted in In the News, On the web | 5 Comments

‘Symbol and Sacrament’ Chapter 3: Subjects and Mediation

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Alastair Roberts

Symbol and Sacrament Posts: Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2:I, Chapter 2:II, Chapter 4:I, Chapter 4:II, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7 Reality always comes to us in a mediated form, being constructed by the symbolic order. This symbolic order designates the system of connections between the different elements … Continue reading →

Posted in My Reading, Philosophy, Reviews, The Sacraments, Theological | 11 Comments

A Couple of Days in London

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Alastair Roberts

Some of you may have noticed that things have been quieter here over over the last couple of days. I spent Wednesday and Thursday down in London, looking around the city, and meeting up with friends old and new. The … Continue reading →

Posted in My Doings | 4 Comments

Terry Eagleton’s Vision of Christianity

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Alastair Roberts

Over on Curlew River, John H writes on Terry Eagleton’s vision of Christianity: Prof Eagleton is not a Christian, but he is (a) highly sympathetic towards the account of Christian faith he first encountered as a student “with the aid … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, The Blogosphere | Leave a comment