» 2005 » July

English theologian Alister McGrath has been in town recently proclaiming the “Twilight of Atheism.” I didn’t get to hear him but here’s an edited report of his views. For the full story click here.

McGrath contends atheism was relevant and important for 200 years, but is now weary, frail and tediously eking out its last days [...]

If you want to do some reading on the expansion of the early church I suggest Stark’s Rise of Christianity and Fletcher’s Conversion of Europe.

“The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal, Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force ….” (Rodney Stark)

“The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity” (Richard Fletcher)

Enjoyed dropping into the Forge Summit over the weekend. Over 500 showed up from around Australia and beyond. The Emerging church is becoming a movement. On the movement lifecycle “birth” occurs when people make a commitment to an idea whose time has come. The next stage in the development of a movement is to [...]

Here’s just three of the reasons for the expansion of the early church.

1. The Legacy of Judaism
The Judaism of the Hellenistic world was an evangelising faith. At the dawn of the Christian era there were significant Jewish communities to the east of the Roman Empire in Armenia, Iraq, Iran and Arabia and throughout the Mediterranean [...]

I’ve been neglecting my blog. Had a great but demanding week. First of all our CRM leadership conference. Then the Forge Summit. Ready for some down time chipping away at a dry stone wall I’m building in our backyard.

At the Forge Summit, Ruth Powell from the Australian National Church Life Survey updated us on the [...]