Category - Nicholas Lash

The terrifying truth about God

Simon Barrow — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:14:41 +0100

Often Christians behave as if their central convictions about God has little practical bearing on the world and its problems, says Simon Barrow. On the contrary, being engaged by the Trinitarian mystery of God is central to facing up to the world's lesions with realism and hope.

The battle for truth?

Jordan Tchilingirian — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:05:48 +0100

Start: 07/10/2008 - 18:30

End: 07/10/2008 - 20:00

Does science lead inexorably to atheism?

The God elusion

Simon Barrow — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:11:34 +0000

The current media-propelled debates about God are mostly hopelessly out of touch with their own intense fallibility, says Simon Barrow. He tries to explain why God-talk will always be helpfully elusive if it is faithful to what it seeks to point to.

What difference does God make today?

Simon Barrow — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:34:58 +0100

In a society which is publicly sceptical of Christianity and which often assumes that all 'God talk' is superstituous or merely subjective, this paper suggests how the basic grammar of Christian belief can make sense today, and how it can be mapped in relation to key issues like globalisation, responding to human suffering, and the crisis of communication within mixed-conviction societies. Unlike many of Ekklesia's research papers, it is not directly tackling public policy issues, but instead is an extended essay exploring (especially through the work of Nicholas Lash, and others) some fundamental questions about how Christian convictions are shaped and articulated in the public realm. This is important, because much of our work and commentary employs explicitly theological language - although usually at a more popular level. The paper seeks to show that the meaning of 'God' is widely misunderstood, both by believers and sceptics, and that Christian theology offers some distinctive and robust resources for coming to terms with the demands of daily life, politics, culture, economics and society - but not in the easy, prescriptive way that is usually supposed. It includes a brief historical look at how and why talk of God became meaningless for so many in Western culture - before moving on to show how Christian thought becomes intelligible and effective once more when it is embodied in relationships, passionate conversation, shared living and action for change, rather than in abstract metaphysical categories. The essay does not presuppose wide theological reading, but it is a fairly dense exploration of some foundational issues. [Updated July 2007]

Simon Barrow

Three ways to make sense of one God

Simon Barrow — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 16:05:36 +0100

To some the doctrine of the Trinity looks to be modern Christianity's achilles heel in a rationalistic age, but Simon Barrow argues that it points to the coherence of God-talk as well as the challenges the Gospel poses.

Why we need to rid ourselves of the 'god of the slots'

Simon Barrow — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 01:15:44 +0100

The church looking for ‘God slots’ in relation to culture is like religion seeking a ‘God of the gaps’ in relation to science: a huge mistake. The Gospel points us elsewhere.