In Depth:  Paul Blackham

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The intense danger of a ‘comfortable life’

The intense danger of a ‘comfortable life’
Paul Blackham
Paul Blackham

How did the church win over so many ancient civilisations, and how could that be done again?

The Libyan Christian martyrs on the beach in 2015 made an immensely powerful witness to the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ. If He offered any of us the opportunity to do the same, would we accept that?

Transparency in church: A Biblical call for confession

Transparency in church: A Biblical call for confession
Paul Blackham
Paul Blackham

The concept of confession isn’t new. In ancient times, sins were openly confessed within the community – as we read in the Law of Moses.

Leviticus 1:4 described how ancient saints pressed their hands onto the head of the sacrificial animal when it was to be offered for their sin. If we compare that with Leviticus 16:21 when the high priest confessed sins as he pressed his hands onto the animal, it is reasonable to assume that this act of confession was included in all such sacrifices.

Technology and the vision of a Christ-centred cosmos

Technology and the vision of a Christ-centred cosmos
Paul Blackham
Paul Blackham

A technological revolution is happening in the way information is handled. It has been happening for at least 20 years but has achieved a level of impact and accessibility to make everybody sit up and take notice.

The modern world could be defined not as the Bronze or Iron Age but as the Ink Age – because words were the most powerful resource, beginning with the Renaissance and Reformation, through the Enlightenment and into the era of mass media through radio, television and information technology. This trajectory already indicates that words have been turned into pictures and images as a primary form of communication.

How do we respond to fading Christian heritage?

How do we respond to fading Christian heritage?
Paul Blackham
Paul Blackham

There are many cultural expressions of the Christian faith – from the obvious things like Christmas trees, Christmas cakes/ puddings, Easter eggs and Shrove Tuesday pancakes through to ashed foreheads on Ash Wednesday, Lenten fasts, all kinds of Christian music/songs (carols, Mass, chants) and symbols like crosses and Bible verses on posters.

There are many other less well-known Christian traditions involving all kinds of rhymes and recipes, songs and stews, feasts and festivals. Some have become completely secularised so that nobody has any memory of their original Christian nature (like the croissant, which was associated historically with the defeat of Islamic armies, and thus was banned by Islamic State in 2013).

Comment: It's interfaith dialogue in the CofE

Comment: It's interfaith dialogue in the CofE
Paul Blackham
Paul Blackham

Those of us in the Church of England have been engaged in interfaith dialogue: not at a mosque, temple or synagogue but in the General Synod.

Many of those watching from a distance and those of us within the Church of England are asking - what is going on? It is obvious that there are two fundamentally different worldviews in collision here... but how can this happen with Church? And what are we going to do about it?

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