Artificial intelligence: a guide for the perplexed

A former airline pilot, Simon Cross left industry to complete a PhD focusing on the metaphysical tensions in scientific perspectives on divine action. For the past four years he has worked for the Church of England researching technology ethics and the regulatory and governance challenges AI poses for society. He has written a fantastic Grove … Continue Reading

What can revival teach us about the renewal of the church?

Dr Ian Randall has had a long interest in questions around spirituality, evangelical identity, and revival. He has just published a fascinating Grove booklet on Revival: learning from history in the Spirituality series. I was able to ask him about the booklet, and his reflections arising from his study of revival. IP: There often seems to … Continue Reading

How does the Bible depict the relationship between men and women?

Andrew Bartlett has written the outstanding study Men and Women in Christ: fresh light from the biblical texts which I think should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in this question. Here, he reviews another book on this subject, Men and Women in the Church: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction (Crossway, 2021) by Kevin DeYoung. Looking at … Continue Reading

What does it mean to ‘Stick with Love’?

Doug McHardie writes: Stick with Love is an Advent devotional book by Arun Arora. Arun was born in Birmingham to a Hindu mother and Sikh father, and studied and practiced law before being ordained. He was for some time Director of Communications in Church House, and is now bishop of Kirkstall in the Diocese of Leeds. I was … Continue Reading

How can we meet with God in the great outdoors?

Richard Tiplady has written a fascinating Grove booklet in the Discipleship series, Following Jesus in the Great Outdoors: Learning about Discipleship from the Mountains. He has a fascinating personal history of involvement in the ‘great outdoors’, but also offers some really interesting theological reflections on the subject. I had the chance to ask him about … Continue Reading

Queer Holiness: A Review and Critique IV: Revelation, Scripture, and Science

Joshua Penduck writes: In this long review, I have explored several critiques of Charlie Bell’s book Queer Holiness. In Part II, I looked out how despite all the merits of his book (some of which were outlined in Part I), his polemical rhetoric has led to problems of internal inconsistency, privilege, strawmanning, othering, a lack of … Continue Reading

Queer Holiness: A Review and Critique III: What has gone wrong?

Joshua Penduck writes: Let’s review. Bell has argued that the Church of England must reach the point of accepting gay marriage as well as implying some kind of concordance with contemporary sexual ethics in the modern West (his suggestive reference to aggiornamento on p 159 is revealing). Although the Bible has a narrative function within this, … Continue Reading

Queer Holiness: A Review and Critique II: A (Very) Flawed Text

Joshua Penduck writes: In Part I of this review of Charlie Bell’s book, Queer Holiness, after outlining his overall argument, I noted that the hints and implications of some of his arguments lead to a ‘sacralisation’ of contemporary Western norms for sexual ethics, that is, equating our current culture with divine revelation. As such, I proposed … Continue Reading