Is our apologetics ‘frightfully early 2000s, darling’?
Jon Barrett
Controversial opinion: much of our evangelism and apologetics fails to scratch where non-believers are itching, because it seeks to answer questions they’re not asking.
Or, perhaps more accurately, we remain methodologically committed to answering questions they once were, but are now no longer, asking. With the exception of that old chestnut of theodicy (the ‘why suffering’ question) much of our apologetics output still seems to be looking to undercut the objections born out of the Enlightenment or the era of scientism, and I’m less than convinced that those once-pressing issues now represent the focus of the emerging generation’s attention and curiosity.
the ENd word
How questions about the resurrection are changing in 2025
Jon Barrett
Alistair Begg recently said that preaching is often “less about telling them something new, but more about reminding ourselves what we mustn’t forget”.
He’s right. As a preacher I’m well aware that, to borrow a line from Oscar Wilde, “I have nothing original in me but original sin.” That’s not to say that I steal other preacher’s sermons (I don’t), but is an admission that I’m very unlikely to spot something brand new in a text that’s never been spotted before by anyone else. The truth has already been “once revealed to the saints” and my job is to bring out the meaning of what God has previously made known in the pages of Scripture.
the ENd word
How vulnerable was Jesus?
Jon Barrett
One of the habits we’ve developed as a church staff team is to have a book that we commit to reading and discussing as part of our weekly staff meeting. Normally we opt for something theological but occasionally, to keep things lively, we go a bit rogue.
Recently we’ve been on one of our excursions into left field and have been working through Brené Brown’s bestselling book on the subject of vulnerability, Daring Greatly. In all honesty, to employ a clerical metaphor, it’s a bit of a curate’s egg of a book.
Abel, a hero ‘by faith’
Readers of a certain vintage might remember a 1986 chart hit which had the title Calling all the Heroes.
Despite the lyrics being some nonsense that seemed to mash up fairy-tale sagas and images of ancient raiders attacking a community, the song (probably due to its catchy power ballad tune) somehow managed to reach number six in the charts. Ephemeral pop song it may have been, but its title would have made a pretty good chapter heading for Hebrews 11, with its procession of heroes of the faith.