Tag: Christianity

In the opening chapter of his treatise ‘On the Resurrection of the Flesh,’ the Christian writer Tertullian (c. 145—220 A.D.) gives us a brief survey of the views prevalent in his day concerning the afterlife. The range of views — Christian and pagan — which he presents still sounds surprisingly modern. On the Resurrection of

Given that it is still fashionable for the literati of Western society to regard Christians as imbeciles, it was refreshing to hear the writers of the BBC and Netflix’s Dracula, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, who describe themselves as “a couple of ageing atheists,” acknowledge the genuine value of Christianity both as a rational faith

We have looked previously, in our series of reflections on Augustine of Hippo’s 5th-century text On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis, at some of the good science which it is to be found in it. To some of us, the level of scientific understanding which Augustine shows more than 1,500 years ago may come as

“I hate Christians,” said the young woman — let’s call her ‘Maya’ — who was standing next to me in 1998. I was attending a demonstration that day against the proliferation of nuclear power in the UK. This is not something I would be particularly inclined to demonstrate against these days; nevertheless, there I was.

In a previous post (#2) I promised to show how Augustine’s 5th-century text On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis has some remarkably good science in it about the earth (not flat!) and about the cosmos. I would like to give five examples of his good science below. Amongst those who like to spend their time

A couple of weeks ago I received a reply letter from BBC Audience Services regarding my complaint to them over how they ‘cut’ the Christian faith of Brandt Jean, the witness in a U.S. court who publicly forgave his brother’s murderer Amber Guyger. The way the BBC cut the video footage of Brandt Jean in

A few days ago I finished reading Tom Holland’s excellent new book, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind. It really is worth reading if you want to understand how ideas sown at the very beginning of Christianity — the idea that all people are created equal, “Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and

On 3 October the BBC News website shared a remarkable video from the trial of former U.S. policewoman Amber Guyger for the murder of Botham Jean. The video showed Botham Jean’s brother, Brandt, declaring his unconditional forgiveness of his brother’s murderer before embracing her in the middle of the courtroom. Except the BBC’s ‘cut’ of

On 3 October the BBC News website shared a remarkable video from the trial of former U.S. policewoman Amber Guyger for the murder of Botham Jean. The video showed Botham Jean’s brother, Brandt, declaring his unconditional forgiveness of his brother’s murderer before embracing her in the middle of the courtroom. Except the BBC’s ‘cut’ of

By Graham Harter I was interested recently to see that historian Tom Holland, in his new book Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, refers to the change in the meaning of the word ‘saint’ down the centuries of Christianity. Anybody who has read the New Testament will be aware that, there, the term ‘saints’