Bože! A Grace Catholic Project
OC/IC Theology – Ways of Doing Theology
Theophany & The Cloak of Noise
We live in a world of noise. We are surrounded by noise created, projected by others. We make and project our own noise. Years ago, when the Walkman was the iPod of the moment, I had an anthropology professor who talked about wanting to do a study on the effect of the Walkman. He wondered [...]
Error: Ritual Change Creates Uncertainty
Throughout Christian history, error is viewed with suspicion because it represents “novelty” and “innovation” challenging the unalterable “Tradition” and challenging revealed truth. Thus, error – and the “obstinate” maintenance of error – is treated as somehow being “impure” or “unfaithful” to Christian teaching and life. Obviously this makes the challenge of understanding and getting value [...]
Theology, Error & OC/IC Identity – I’ve Got Questions! How About You?
I recently read an article in the Guardian by Alok Jha which made a very good point regarding “error”. Mistakes, he says, happen “all day, every day”. I don’t think anyone can argue with this, it is “fact”. I’ve made a handful of mistakes already this morning and it is not even lunch time! The [...]
Cleansing & Our Sense of Morality?
What a curious article over at Big Think! The gist of it is that there is a psychological component to physical cleanliness. The examples are rather curious. Including one where as part of a study participants were asked to recall a personal immoral experience; as part of the session some were offered a cleansing wipe [...]
A Celebration of Heresy
Today is the last day of the liturgical New Year. Throughout the year we celebrate and commemorate various holy-men and holy-women who through their example – whether it is through their teaching, or their praxis – encourage us in our own understanding of, and practice of the Christian sacramental tradition. Heresy brings another level of [...]
Kindle As Research Tool
I recently bought a Kindle. Yes by and large it was peer pressure – from one particular peer – but peer pressure all the same. There was also a practical reason for my purchase. I like to read what I call “fluffy” books before going to bed – after a day of reading nothing but [...]
The Incarnation & Active Christianity
“Don’t you think that Jesus is the solution to the problems in the Middle East – that it is only through him that peace will come to the region?” This is a question posed to me by a door-to-door evangelist a few years ago. It is a question that irritated me at the time, and [...]
Free Will?
Free will is a core belief in Christianity – that is of course unless you are of the Augustinian bent. Indeed fatalism (or to use a more appropriate contemporary term – determinism) is considered sinful by late antique Christian writers. Recent explorations in to the nature of free will have shown that when you undermine [...]
Japan: The Crisis Is Not Christian Nor Atheist But Human
The other day I saw a retweet of a tweet on twitter that urged people not to donate to Christian charities – for the relief effort in Japan needs “blankets and food, not boxes of bibles & Fundamentalist propaganda”. A little digging revealed that the author was a self-professed Atheist fundamentalist. I had to laugh. [...]
Revisiting Manifestos
Back in August, having just handed in the official final draft of the thesis, I wrote asking what you would include in an “Indie Manifesto”. I found myself asking the question in relation to a number of sites I visited in the morning trawl that had manifestos of their own. I observed that these manifestos [...]
Hauerwas’ 10 Theses: Springboard For OC/IC Engagement & Reform?
Ekklesia has an interesting post today outlining Stanley Hauerwas’ Ten Theses about the church as social ethic; inviting reflection & engagement. Barrow observes that Haurwas’ theses assume that the ekklesia is a wholly voluntary community, and that its total independence from the state liberates Christians to best realise their vocation as believers.This is nothing new [...]
Broken Link? Apostolic Succession & The Church Inerrant
I have been doing some research with the aim of writing an essay on Apostolic Succession in an OC/IC context. I’ve been doing some reading in the 19th century background – on the theory that it set the tone for indie discussion and “use” of Apostolic Succession that we still (unconsciously) use today. I came [...]
Hating God
I came across this essay by Bernard Schweizer, author of Hating God: The Untold Story of Miostheism in this morning’s trawl. In it he describes a little discussed category of what he calls “misotheism” or hating God. It is not Atheism – because as he points out an atheist cannot reasonably hate something that he [...]
Getting To Grips With The Bible
Not long ago I posted asking how we OC/IC types use the Bible – how does it fit into our praxis as individuals and as a community. This morning’s trawl uncovered this fun post at the Scriptorum which explored the little book “Mastering the English Bible” by James Gray. Gray was an early Dean of [...]
Nativity For The Digital Age
Last year (at least I think it was last year) this was my favoured, fun, Christmas vid. This year – Thanks to Maggie Dawn, we’ve got this clever, and quite amusing rendition of the Nativity story told in a very modern context. So (putting this in the context of theology) what effect do you find [...]
Theology of Shopping
How do you relate shopping and theology, particularly in the current “festive” season? How does living in a consumer society affect your understanding and practice of the faith?
Theology Of The Incarnation?
This essay by Giles Fraser of the Guardian was very enjoyable. Not only does he raise the interesting question about how people percieve the theology of the Incarnation, but he also draws in some interesting elements about current approaches to theology generally. As we are approaching the feast of the Nativity how do you understand [...]
What Jesus “Meant” Was . . .
I’m doing the morning news trawl for interesting items relating to theology and found this by American vetran journalist Dan Rather. It is an interesting article about the tug of war within the Roman church between the conservative and liberal wings. I’m not particularly interested in what is happening in other churches but Rather adds [...]
Does God-blogging Matter?
I unexpectedly fell into this post, which led me to this post and it made me stop and think for a moment. Does blogging matter? Should “every” Christian blog? I have been God-blogging now for four years (I have another non-theology blog too) and average just over 100 posts a year. I would like to [...]
Too Many “Monks”?
I continue to be puzzled by the large number of “monastic” groups within the Independent Catholic movement. I wonder if clinging on to this inherited model of “community” is stunting our development – holding us fast to out-dated 19th century models of what it means to “be church”? In short do these watered down expressions [...]
Desecration: Bibles, Korans, Ikons & More
A few months ago when all the hu-hah ocurred in the American South over a fundamentalist church deciding to burn Korans I wondered – would the same sense of indignation, the same tension, and issues be raised if for example a group were to burn bibles, icons, or smash statues of Mary? At the time [...]
Scanning For Your Humanity
The other day I made a brief post wondering out loud about the new body scanners, and the associated “enhanced pat down” in American airports; asking if the process had crossed a line dehumanising travellers. Well, It seems that this is now definitely the case as this article shows. Again I’m wondering why I’m not [...]
Body Scanners: Theology & Ethics?
I’ve been reading, with fascinated horror, the many articles now available about the widespread introduction of full body scanners in American airports. Security experts, including our own Home Office and Department for Transport have stated that these scanners simply don’t improve airport safety. What they have done, however, is created a storm of protest. The [...]
The Bible – How Do You Use It?
This morning’s news trawl dropped me into a number of posts and articles that touched on what one article referred to as “biblical literacy”. That is to say, it explored the amount which people understood modern UK society to be influenced by, or shaped by the biblical narrative. It’s a fascinating idea but one that [...]