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		<title>Summer School 2012 &#8211; IMAGO DEI: dignified, degraded or redeemed</title>
		<link>http://www.rzim.eu/summer-school-2012-imago-dei-dignified-degraded-or-redeemed</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:24:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>RZIM Office</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[At present the Oxford Summer School is sold out! However, it is possible that a few rooms MAY be made available after 22nd February, 1012. We are therefore compiling a waiting list on a first-come, first-served basis. Please email Liz on office@rzim.eu if you would like to be put on the waiting list. &#160; &#160; The [...]]]></description>
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</p><p style="text-align: left;"><strong>At present the Oxford Summer School is sold out! However, it is possible that a few rooms MAY be made available after 22<sup>nd</sup> February, 1012. We are therefore compiling a waiting list on a first-come, first-served basis. Please email Liz on <a href="mailto:office@rzim.eu" target="_blank">office@rzim.eu</a> if you would like to be put on the waiting list.</strong></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">The belief that people are made in the image of God has been responsible for shaping humanity and civilization for centuries. But when these “foundations are destroyed what should the righteous do?” (Psalms 11:2) What happens when the image of God is erased from the definition of mankind? If the value of humanity can no longer be sustained, what will the consequences be for future generations?</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Imago Dei is an apologetics conference designed to help Christians communicate and defend their faith more effectively, as they seek to recapture the image of God for our society today. We will examine how, through time, man has grappled with contrasting ethical issues, opposing worldviews and a sea of rival religious thought in the hope of finding meaning.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><em>&#8216;We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star.&#8217;</em> (Stephen Hawking)</li>
<li><em>&#8216;Man was created a little lower than the angels, and has been getting lower ever since.&#8217;</em> (Josh Billings)</li>
<li><em>&#8216;God is that infinite All of which man knows himself to be a finite part.&#8217;</em> (Leo Tolstoy)</li>
<li><em>&#8216;His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance.&#8217;</em> (Hebrews 1:3)</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p>
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<p><small>© RZIM Office for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>Aren&#8217;t religions all the same?</title>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:01:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Amy Orr-Ewing</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[We live in a context of spiritual longing. Many people are searching for that which will satisfy an inner craving for meaning and significance. The artist Damian Hirst recently said this: &#8220;Why do I feel so important when I&#8217;m not? Nothing is important and everything is important. I do not know why I am here [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>We live in a context of spiritual longing. Many people are searching for that which will satisfy an inner craving for meaning and significance. The artist Damian Hirst recently said this: &#8220;Why do I feel so important when I&#8217;m not? Nothing is important and everything is important. I do not know why I am here but I am glad that I am. I&#8217;d rather be here than not. I am going to die and I want to live forever, I can&#8217;t escape that fact, and I can&#8217;t let go of that desire.&#8221;</p>
<p>But this does not always translate into people finding Christ and starting to follow him. There is a dizzying array of options when it comes to religion, and the culture around us says that they are all equally valid. It seems absolutely bizarre to people that someone would say, &#8220;This one way is the truth and the only truth.&#8221;  The poet Steve Turner describes brilliantly what many think when it comes to religion: &#8220;Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves. We believe he was a good teacher of morals but we believe that his good morals are really bad. We believe that all religions are basically the same, at least the one we read was. They all believe in love and goodness, they only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.&#8221;</p>
<p>In my experience, there are usually two motivations for dismissing the idea that Christ is the only way to God, and we need to examine them both. The first objection is that it is arrogant to say that Jesus is the only way. How could Christians possibly be so arrogant as to say that all the other religions are wrong and Jesus is the only path to God? Often the parable of the elephant is used to illustrate the sheer arrogance of Christianity. It goes something like this: &#8220;Three blind scribes are touching different parts of an elephant. The one who is holding the tail says, &#8220;This is a rope.&#8221; Another holding the elephant&#8217;s leg says, &#8220;This is not a rope; you are wrong. It is a tree.&#8221; Still another who is holding the trunk of the elephant says, &#8220;You are both wrong. It is a snake!&#8221; The moral of the story is that all religions are like these men. They each touch a different part of ultimate reality and therefore any one of them is arrogant to say they have the whole truth.</p>
<p>But take a step back and think about what is being said here. Do you see the breathtaking claim that is being made? Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Moses, and Muhammad are all blind, but in fact, I can see! These leaders all had a small perspective, but I am the one who sees the full picture. Now who is being arrogant? It is just as arrogant to say that Buddha, Muhammad, and Jesus were all wrong in their exclusive claims as it is to say that Jesus is the only way. The issue is not about who is arrogant, but what is actually true and real.</p>
<p>The second motivation in dismissing Christ is often a question of exclusion. How can you exclude all of these religions? Jesus may have said he was the way to the Father, but how can I follow him and become an intolerant person who excludes others? Again, we need to think carefully about this view because the reality is that whatever position we hold will exclude something. Even the person who believes that all ways lead to God excludes the view that only some ways lead to God or that only one way leads to God. Every view excludes something. Again, the issue is not about who is excluding people, but what is actually true and real.<br />
Jesus said, &#8220;I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me&#8221; (John 14:6). There are a number of possibilities here for why he might have said this, and exploring these possibilities is crucial. First, perhaps he was genuinely a good person but he was deluded.  He was sincere, but he was wrong; he believed that he was the Son of God, but he wasn&#8217;t. In other words, he was mentally imbalanced. Or second, perhaps Jesus knew he wasn&#8217;t God but went around telling people that he was the only way to God regardless. In other words, he was a sinister character purposely telling lies. Or finally, perhaps Jesus was who he said he was. Perhaps he made these radical statements because they were true and real. In other words, he is indeed the way to God.</p>
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<p><small>© Amy Orr-Ewing for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>How can you say that there is a good God of love when…..?</title>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:23:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>RZIM Office</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[People regularly ask that question when a massive catastrophe like the Japanese earthquake happens, but also in cases of individual tragedy, such as the young Mum dying of cancer and leaving her children motherless. The Christian says in response to that question: believing in a good God does not mean that we believe in a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>People regularly ask that question when a massive catastrophe like the Japanese earthquake happens, but also in cases of individual tragedy, such as the young Mum dying of cancer and leaving her children motherless.</p>
<p>The Christian says in response to that question:  believing in a good God does not mean that we believe in a God who shields us from all evil;  it does mean believing in a God who loves us and is with us in our sufferings, even through the valley of the shadow of death.</p>
<p>Christians are not surprised by earthquakes, famines or wars; on the contrary Jesus, the one who revealed the goodness of God more than anyone else, said that we should expect them.  And Jesus warned his hearers that life would often be tough for them.  He was right.</p>
<h2>Explaining suffering ……or not?</h2>
<p>But still how can suffering be explained?  Much human suffering is explicable in terms of human sinfulness.  God has made us free to choose good and evil, not robots;  and we often mess up terribly.  Wars happen, road accidents are caused by human selfishness, nuclear reactors are built in earthquake zones without sufficient precautions, and it is plausibly argued that climate change, bringing extreme weather including floods, is caused by our human profligacy.</p>
<p>But everything cannot be explained that way, and Christians have to admit that we do not know all the answers about why God made the universe as it is.  That is hardly surprising:  scientists like Professor Brian Cox in his TV series ‘Wonders of the Universe’ remind us often of how vast and amazing our world is, and so it is no surprise if we do not understand everything about the Creator’s plan and purposes. Serious scientists tell us that the movement of the tectonic plates which produces earthquakes is one ingredient in the amazingly complex ‘coincidence’ of different factors that make human life on planet earth possible, just as rain which can produce floods is essentially something good, as we all know.</p>
<h2>Is it divine judgement?</h2>
<p>But whatever the scientific explanation, the question remains about God, since Christians do not believe that the world is ever outside God’s control.  So are events like earthquakes divine judgment?  The governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, said just that about the triple whammy of earthquake/tsunami,nuclear disaster in Japan, seeing it as divine punishment for excessive consumerism. He later retracted his remarks. But the Bible suggests that that can sometimes be the case:  God’s judgment on sin can be expressed through natural catastrophe, and through the tragedies of war, and in individual suffering.</p>
<p>However, the Bible makes it extremely clear indeed that not all suffering is because of the sins of the people concerned;  look at Job in the Old Testament, or Jesus’ warnings to his disciples that they would suffer for their righteousness.  Jesus himself warned against pointing the finger at others in such situations: he said about some people who got killed by a collapsing tower in his day; ‘Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish’. (Luke 13:4) We should not point the finger, e.g. at the Japanese or anyone else, but we should take warning to ourselves, and repent of our own consumerism and other sins. The tragedies remind us of our mortality and of divine judgment.</p>
<h2>God’s love</h2>
<p>It is true that God allows suffering, but that does not mean that he likes it or is indifferent to it. On the contrary, Jesus wept with his friends Mary and Martha as they mourned the death of their brother Lazarus, and he wept when he reflected on the sufferings coming to Jerusalem. A word that the Bible uses of Jesus is splangknizo, and it means something like ‘to feel compassion in one’s guts’, to be emotionally moved.  Jesus showed us a God who cares, who brought healing to many, and who actually entered into our sufferings in the person of Jesus. He experienced first hand the sense of being abandoned by God, as his famous cry from the cross revealed ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’. Christians believe that after dying a fearful death, Jesus then rose from the dead.</p>
<p>All of this means that suffering, though often excruciating, is transformed.  Christians believe that we are never beyond the love of God, that God understands our suffering, and that God will finally conquer.  Those convictions have sustained Christians in suffering.  It is one of the paradoxes of life that in the middle of suffering and evil we often see the most wonderful courage, love and self-sacrifice demonstrated. That is not only true of Christians, but Christians have the example of Jesus to inspire and the resurrection of Jesus to give hope.</p>
<h2>Hope in suffering</h2>
<p>And the hope is not just on an individual level, but also on a cosmic level.  St Paul in his letter to the Romans speaks of the whole universe ‘groaning together’ now, and he probably has in mind things like earthquakes and famines.  But he looks forward to the day when the universe as well as those who live in it will experience God’s ‘freedom’ from evil.  He sees God’s world at present as infected and spoiled by evil and sin, but he is confident that the God who brought life out of death in Jesus will finally bring healing to the whole of creation.  It’s a great hope, of no more mourning, crying or pain, and of joy in God’s presence.  It’s a very different picture from that given by Brian Cox, whose scientific prediction is the ultimate extinction of all life and of the running down of the universe.</p>
<p>The newspaper columnist Christina Patterson writing in an article about the events in Japan (16 March) refers to Brian Cox’s perspective that we are ‘made of the stars’, but she says:  ‘he didn’t tell us if stars weep’.  Christian faith tells us of a God who weeps, who calls us to care for those who suffer (as Jesus did), and who gives us hope.  St Paul can say:  ‘who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?&#8230;.No in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.’  (Rom 8:35-37).  That is very good news.</p>
<p>David Wenham<br />
Vice Principal and Tutor in New Testament, Trinity College, Bristol</p>
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<p><small>© RZIM Office for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>Making History: The “war” between Science and Religion</title>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Simon Wenham</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[<strong>If you ask many people today what they think about science’s relationship to religion, you are likely to be told that the two have been in conflict for a very long time. There was the trial of Galileo by the Inquisition, for example, the debate between Wilberforce and Huxley, and there is still an on-going dispute over the teaching of evolution in American schools. These <em>usual suspects</em> may be trotted out whenever this topic is mentioned, but are events such as these really typical of the history of science as a whole?</strong>

Contrary to the impression given by some commentators, the <em>conflict thesis</em> between science and religion is one that has been discredited in academic circles for some time. The rise of science in the West was, of course, a very complicated affair in which many different factors played a part. There were certainly inevitable points of tension, but this does detract from the fact that Europe was a largely Christian continent in which religious individuals and institutions inevitably played a central role in the changes that occurred.]]></description>
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</p><p><strong>If you ask many people today what they think about science’s relationship to religion, you are likely to be told that the two have been in conflict for a very long time. There was the trial of Galileo by the Inquisition, for example, the debate between Wilberforce and Huxley, and there is still an on-going dispute over the teaching of evolution in American schools. These <em>usual suspects</em> may be trotted out whenever this topic is mentioned, but are events such as these really typical of the history of science as a whole?</strong></p>
<p>Contrary to the impression given by some commentators, the <em>conflict thesis</em> between science and religion is one that has been discredited in academic circles for some time. The rise of science in the West was, of course, a very complicated affair in which many different factors played a part. There were certainly inevitable points of tension, but this does detract from the fact that Europe was a largely Christian continent in which religious individuals and institutions inevitably played a central role in the changes that occurred.</p>
<p>A number of the popular misconceptions about history are addressed in Ronald Numbers’ book, <em>Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion</em>.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-1' id='fnref-3087-1'>1</a></sup> One of the most famous examples is the “debate” between Bishop Samuel Wilberforce and T. H. Huxley (1860), which was actually an after-lecture discussion on the merits of Darwin’s work. The alleged clash was largely forgotten about until the 1890s, when it resurrected by those seeking to attack the power of the Anglican orthodoxy. By this point the scientific community had become more professionalised and some of its members realised the debate could be used to promote their already growing autonomy. The event was therefore portrayed as if it had been a portentous victory for science over religion, even though, at the time, neither side was said to have won and the discussion was held on purely scientific grounds.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-2' id='fnref-3087-2'>2</a></sup></p>
<p>It is important, therefore, to be aware of how history is sometimes portrayed. Scholars no longer use the term “dark ages”, for example, because the description gives the false impression that this was a period of ignorance during which little development occurred. Rodney Stark suggests that there is a similar problem with the process known as <em>the Enlightenment</em>, because the term itself, coined by Voltaire, was part of a propaganda plot, initially conceived by militant atheists and humanists, who sought to claim the credit for the rise of science. As Stark points out, “The falsehood that science required the defeat of religion was proclaimed by such self-appointed cheerleaders as Voltaire and Gibbon, who themselves played no part in the scientific enterprise.”<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-3' id='fnref-3087-3'>3</a></sup> This depiction of the Enlightenment, as if it was some kind of clean secular break from the past, persists today, but, as John Coffey points out, it could be more accurately described as a religious process. This is because many of those at the vanguard of the movement were Protestants (though certainly not all orthodox) who sought to fuse religious and philosophical ideas together. This is not to deny the role of certain groups of atheist thinkers, but crucially these were not representative of the Enlightenment as a whole. Furthermore, Dominic Erdozain argues that you can trace a lot of the unbelief of the time back to expressly religious roots. It was a Christian conscience (rather than a secular or pagan one) that drove much of the Enlightenment thought and a poignant example of this was the way in which Voltaire often used Jesus – albeit his own interpretation of him – in order to attack the church.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-4' id='fnref-3087-4'>4</a></sup></p>
<p>It is always helpful, therefore, to bear in mind John Hedley Brookes’ comments, when he reminds us that:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8230;in many of the disputes that have been conventionally analysed in terms of some notional relation between science and religion, the underlying issues were principally about neither science nor religion, nor the relationship between them, but were matters of social, ethical or political concern in which the authority of either science, religion or both was invoked (often on both sides) to defend a view held on other grounds&#8230;<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-5' id='fnref-3087-5'>5</a></sup></p></blockquote>
<p>Why, then, do simplistic ways of understanding history, such as the conflict thesis, become so prevalent? One theory is advanced by Christian Smith in his book Moral Believing Animals. He argues that one of the central, fundamental motivations for human action is the locating of life within a larger external moral order, which in turn dictates a person’s sense of identity and the way in which they act. He claims that, whether or not they realise it, “all human persons, no matter how well educated, how scientific, how knowledgeable, are, at bottom, believers.”<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-6' id='fnref-3087-6'>6</a></sup> He suggests this is because “human knowledge has no common, indubitable foundation,”<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-7' id='fnref-3087-7'>7</a></sup> and therefore the way people choose to live and the knowledge they accumulate is all founded upon basic assumptions and beliefs that cannot themselves be empirically verified. This includes the Enlightenment ideas of foundationalist knowledge, the autonomously choosing individual and even universal rationality itself, which he argues “always and only operates in the context of the particular moral orders that define and orient reason in particular directions.”<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-8' id='fnref-3087-8'>8</a></sup></p>
<p>In order to make sense of life, he suggests that all individuals perceive the world according to an all-embracing narrative, in which factual information about different events and people is woven into a storyline that makes an overall point. The Scientific Enlightenment Narrative, for example, is one that has been popularised by the new atheists:</p>
<blockquote><p>For most of human history, people have lived in the darkness of ignorance and tradition, driven by fear, believing in superstitions. Priest and Lords preyed on such ignorance, and life was wearisome and short. Ever so gradually, however, and often at great cost, inventive men have endeavoured better to understand the natural world around them. Centuries of such enquiry eventually led to a marvellous Scientific Revolution that radically transformed our methods of understanding nature. What we know now as a result is based on objective observation, empirical fact, and rational analysis. With each passing decade, science reveals increasingly more about the earth, our bodies, our minds. We have come to possess the power to transform nature and ourselves. We can fortify health, relieve suffering, and prolong life. Science is close to understanding the secret of life and maybe eternal life itself. Of course, forces of ignorance, fear, irrationality and blind faith still threaten the progress of science. But they must be resisted at all costs. For unfettered science is our only hope for true Enlightenment and happiness.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-9' id='fnref-3087-9'>9</a></sup></p></blockquote>
<p>Although this narrative may seem to be the very opposite of a religious worldview, Smith makes the interesting observation that “what is striking about these major Western narrative traditions is how closely their plots parallel and sometimes mimic the Christian narrative”.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-10' id='fnref-3087-10'>10</a></sup> They all include a period of darkness followed by redemption, as well as a promise for the future and the identification of potential threats to the desired utopia. He explains that:</p>
<blockquote><p>So deep did Christianity’s wagon wheels wear into the ground of Western culture and consciousness that nearly every secular wagon that has followed – no matter how determined to travel a different road – has found it nearly impossible not to ride in the same tracks of the faith of old. Such is the power of the moral order in deeply forming culture and story.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-11' id='fnref-3087-11'>11</a></sup></p></blockquote>
<p>This is a fascinating observation, because it suggests that the Christian way of perceiving the world still informs the worldview of many of those who think they have jettisoned all the remnants of it. He argues that this pervasiveness is not surprising though, as “the human condition and the character of religion quite naturally fit, cohere, complement and reinforce each other,” because they link the narratives with the historical and personal significances at both the individual and collective level.</p>
<p>The fact that the message is so compelling will come as no surprise to Christians, but, above all, Smith’s work illustrates the problem faced by those who insist that they live by science, logic and empirical evidence, rather than relying on any belief. It also highlights that there is a considerable blind spot in the thinking of many people today, when it comes to appreciating the role religion has played not only in shaping their own ideas, but also in underpinning core aspects of western society. It may be fashionable to dismiss this foundation, but the final word should perhaps be left to the influential German thinker, Jürgen Habermas, who explains that the Judeao-Christian legacy is neither insignificant, nor should it be forgotten:</p>
<blockquote><p>For the normative self-understanding of modernity, Christianity has functioned as more than just a precursor or catalyst. Universalistic egalitarianism, from which sprang the ideals of freedom and a collective life in solidarity, the autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, the individual morality of conscience, human rights and democracy, is the direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of a continual critical reappropriation and reinterpretation. Up to this very day there is no alternative to it. And in light of the current challenges of a post-national constellation, we must draw sustenance now, as in the past, from this substance. Everything else is idle postmodern talk.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-3087-12' id='fnref-3087-12'>12</a></sup></p></blockquote>
<div class='footnotes'>
<div class='footnotedivider'></div>
<ol>
<li id='fn-3087-1'>R. Numbers, <em>Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion</em> (Harvard University, 2009). <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-1'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
<li id='fn-3087-2'>For further reading see J. R. Lucas <em>Wilberforce and Huxley: A Legendary Encounter</em> (available online). <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-2'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
<li id='fn-3087-3'>J. Coffey, <em>Thinking Christianly about Early Modern Religious Violence</em> (lecture), at <em>The Dark Side of Christian History</em> Conference, St Ebbe’s Church, Oxford, 5 February 2011. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-3'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
<li id='fn-3087-4'>R. Stark, <em>For the Glory of God</em> (Princeton, 2003), p. 123. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-4'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
<li id='fn-3087-5'>J. H. Brooke, <em>Darwinism and Religion: A Revisionist View of the Wilberforce-Huxley Debate</em> (lecture), at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 26 February 2001 (available online). <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-5'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
<li id='fn-3087-6'>C. Smith, <em>Moral Believing Animals</em> (Oxford, 2003), p. 54. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-6'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
<li id='fn-3087-7'>Ibid., p. 154. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-7'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
<li id='fn-3087-8'>Idem. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-8'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
<li id='fn-3087-9'>Ibid., p. 69. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-9'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
<li id='fn-3087-10'>Ibid., p. 72. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-10'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
<li id='fn-3087-11'>Idem. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-11'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
<li id='fn-3087-12'>Ibid., p. 153. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-3087-12'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<hr />
<p><small>© Simon Wenham for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>Starting with Questions</title>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tom Price</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.rzim.eu/?p=3122</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<strong>Starting with a question seems like a good idea to most people: it helps to bring a sharper focus; it's conversational; it reveals gaps in knowledge and it’s quite natural - kids seem to use questions instinctively to find out about the world. Of course, there are lazy questions and there are thoughtful questions. The difference is hard to explain, but anyone who has ever heard, or asked a great question, asked at the right time, will immediately know why good, careful, thoughtful questions are always worth asking.</strong>

Christians have often pointed to the example of God asking Adam and Eve, 'Where are you?' (Genesis 3:9), and the way in which Jesus interacts with people in the New Testament.

So, perhaps starting with questions isn't such a bad idea after all, is it? Even so, some Christians are suspicious of starting with questions.]]></description>
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</p><p><strong>Starting with a question seems like a good idea to most people: it helps to bring a sharper focus; it&#8217;s conversational; it reveals gaps in knowledge and it’s quite natural &#8211; kids seem to use questions instinctively to find out about the world. Of course, there are lazy questions and there are thoughtful questions. The difference is hard to explain, but anyone who has ever heard, or asked a great question, asked at the right time, will immediately know why good, careful, thoughtful questions are always worth asking.</strong></p>
<p>Christians have often pointed to the example of God asking Adam and Eve, &#8216;Where are you?&#8217; (Genesis 3:9), and the way in which Jesus interacts with people in the New Testament. Here are some of Jesus&#8217; questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>What are you looking for?</li>
<li>Why are you looking for me?</li>
<li>What do you want me to do for you?</li>
<li>Who do people say that I am?</li>
<li>But who do you say that I am?</li>
<li>Why do you ask me about what is good?</li>
<li>Why do you call me good?</li>
<li>Who is my mother? Who are my brothers and sisters?</li>
<li>Who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?</li>
<li>How long will I endure you?</li>
<li>Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me?</li>
<li>What are you thinking in your hearts?</li>
<li>Why do you harbour evil thoughts?</li>
<li>If you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you?</li>
<li>If you do good only to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?</li>
<li>Do you want to be well?</li>
<li>Who touched me?</li>
<li>What is your name?</li>
<li>How long has this been happening to him?</li>
<li>Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, &#8216;Your sins are forgiven&#8217; or to say &#8216;Rise, pick up your mat and walk&#8217; ?</li>
<li>Do you see anything?</li>
<li>You see all these things do you not?</li>
<li>Can a blind person guide a blind person?</li>
<li>Do you see this woman?</li>
<li>Why do you make trouble for her?</li>
<li>Where are they, has none condemned you?</li>
<li>What good is it to gain the whole world but forfeit your soul?</li>
<li>What could one give in exchange for his life?</li>
<li>Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life?</li>
<li>Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?</li>
<li>Are you not more important than the birds of the sky?</li>
<li>Who is greater, the one seated at the table, or the one who serves?</li>
<li>What is the reign of God like? To what can I compare it?</li>
<li>Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?</li>
<li>Which of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish?</li>
<li>Where is your faith?</li>
<li>Do you believe that I can do this?</li>
<li>Why are you terrified?</li>
<li>Do you not yet have faith?</li>
<li>Why this commotion and weeping?</li>
<li>Why does this generation seek a sign?</li>
<li>To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like?</li>
<li>How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?</li>
<li>Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?</li>
<li>Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?</li>
<li>Do you believe now?</li>
<li>I am telling you the truth, why do you not believe me?</li>
<li>Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?</li>
<li>Show me a denarius. Whose image and name does it bear?</li>
<li>Why do you not understand what I am saying?</li>
<li>Do you not yet understand or comprehend?</li>
<li>Are your hearts hardened?</li>
<li>Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?</li>
<li>Do you still not understand this?</li>
<li>If I tell you about early things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?</li>
<li>Do you understand these things?</li>
<li>Why do you not interpret the present time?</li>
<li>Does this shock you?</li>
<li>Why do you call me &#8216;Lord, Lord,&#8217; but do not do what I command?</li>
<li>Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?</li>
<li>What were you arguing about on the way?</li>
<li>Why are you testing me?</li>
<li>Is it not written: &#8216;My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples&#8217;?</li>
<li>Will you lay down your life for me?</li>
<li>Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?</li>
<li>Do you also want to leave?</li>
<li>Do you realise what I have done for you?</li>
<li>Why ask me?</li>
<li>Why are you trying to kill me?</li>
<li>For which of these good works are you trying to stone me?</li>
<li>Do you think that I cannot call upon my Father and he will not provide me at this moment with more than twelve legions of angels?</li>
<li>Would you like some breakfast?</li>
<li>Have you anything here to eat?</li>
<li>Why are you troubled? Why do questions arise in your hearts?</li>
<li>Have you come to believe because you have seen me?</li>
<li>I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?</li>
<li>What are you discussing together as you walk along?</li>
<li>Do you love me?</li>
</ul>
<p>So, perhaps starting with questions isn&#8217;t such a bad idea after all, is it? Even so, some Christians are suspicious of starting with questions. Many Christians are worried about being unfaithful to God if they use, and engage properly with questions. But, as you can see, Jesus used questions, which, for me, is the strongest reason to use them. And when Jesus asked a question it suddenly brought everything into focus, not just for him, but for everyone listening as well. Have you ever noticed how Jesus’ often subversive questions summarise and then lift up the prevailing authority structures, symbols and assumptions? His questions lift them high up into the air for inspection, so that everyone can see more clearly the motives, traditions, assumptions, and all the wildness that often rage under the surface.</p>
<p>Questions help us to concentrate, pay attention and think together. A good question can transform a meandering discussion into a life-changing moment, when reality breaks through illusion. In these moments, when we gently ask the right questions, we can sometimes get under a question, and meet the person behind the question, in order to open the door and speak right into their heart. And we have a message that has power, reality and the compassion to answer the deeper questions that come bursting out when the door is opened.</p>
<blockquote><p>
Oh my soul, be prepared for the coming of the Stranger.<br />
Be prepared for him who knows how to ask questions.<br />
<em>From </em>Choruses from the Rock<em>, T. S. Eliot</em></p></blockquote>
<hr />
<p><small>© Tom Price for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>Can you help us match this missions grant?</title>
		<link>http://www.rzim.eu/missions-grant</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:22:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>RZIM Office</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.rzim.eu/?p=3189</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This year, the RZIM European speaking team has been extremely busy leading missions in a number of locations including Oxford University, Canterbury, Buckingham and Sheffield. These missions, each held over several days, have also served to give our students at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (see <a href="http://www.theocca.org">www.theocca.org</a>) some wonderful opportunities to share their faith, answer heartfelt and intellectual objections to the gospel, and lead people to Christ.

A major Trust has recently pledged a significant gift to support our ongoing missions work in the UK. The Trust has stipulated that we must raise an equivalent amount before they will release their funding. We are therefore seeking to raise £25,000 in the UK to match this at the earliest opportunity.  Would you consider helping us towards this target, knowing that what you give will, in effect, be doubled by this Trust?

As Ravi Zacharias writes: “The propagation of the gospel and teaching and equipping people to defend their Christian faith is our task.  Your giving, your enabling us, gives us the liberty to accept such invitations. Please do come alongside us. Ask God what he would have you do, and whatever that prompting is for you, we would be privileged to be the receptors of that gift.  God bless you.”

As a UK registered charity, we are able to benefit from Gift Aid if you are a UK taxpayer. To donate online, please go to <a href="http://www.rzim.eu/supporting-us">www.rzim.eu/supporting-us</a>

Thank you so much for any help, however small, that you are able to give at this time.]]></description>
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</p><p>This year, the RZIM European speaking team has been extremely busy leading missions in a number of locations including Oxford University, Canterbury, Buckingham and Sheffield. These missions, each held over several days, have also served to give our students at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (see <a href="http://www.theocca.org">www.theocca.org</a>) some wonderful opportunities to share their faith, answer heartfelt and intellectual objections to the gospel, and lead people to Christ.</p>
<p>A major Trust has recently pledged a significant gift to support our ongoing missions work in the UK. The Trust has stipulated that we must raise an equivalent amount before they will release their funding. We are therefore seeking to raise £25,000 in the UK to match this at the earliest opportunity.  Would you consider helping us towards this target, knowing that what you give will, in effect, be doubled by this Trust?</p>
<p>As Ravi Zacharias writes: “The propagation of the gospel and teaching and equipping people to defend their Christian faith is our task.  Your giving, your enabling us, gives us the liberty to accept such invitations. Please do come alongside us. Ask God what he would have you do, and whatever that prompting is for you, we would be privileged to be the receptors of that gift.  God bless you.”</p>
<p>As a UK registered charity, we are able to benefit from Gift Aid if you are a UK taxpayer. To donate online, please go to <a href="http://www.rzim.eu/supporting-us">www.rzim.eu/supporting-us</a></p>
<p>Thank you so much for any help, however small, that you are able to give at this time.</p>
<hr />
<p><small>© RZIM Office for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>e-Pulse &#8211; Helping to equip you each month</title>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Jul 2011 10:00:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>RZIM Office</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[<strong>As part of our mission to equip Christians with the confidence and tools necessary to share and defend their faith, we have been looking at how we can improve the information we give you.</strong>

We are, therefore, pleased to report that we have now launched our new e-newsletter service to complement <em>Pulse magazine</em>. With Pulse magazine being printed three times a year (January, May and September), <em>e-Pulse</em> will be sent to you electronically during the other months of the year.]]></description>
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</p><p><strong>As part of our mission to equip Christians with the confidence and tools necessary to share and defend their faith, we have been looking at how we can improve the information we give you.</strong></p>
<p>We are, therefore, pleased to report that we have now launched our new e-newsletter service to complement <em><a href="/topics/pulse-magazine">Pulse magazine</a></em>. With Pulse magazine being printed three times a year (January, May and September), <em>e-Pulse</em> will be sent to you electronically during the other months of the year. This enables us to make the most of technology and send you regular links for listening to recent audio messages given by members of our speaking team. It also gives us the opportunity to tell you about forthcoming events, training days and resources (books and CDs), and to make available to you a range of apologetics articles, all designed to help you in the environment to which God has called you.</p>
<p>The next e-newsletter will be sent out in June. From time to time, we will also send out a “breaking news” email highlighting stories that have hit the media when our team has been able to communicate the credibility of the Gospel to the press. This is an area we are increasingly looking to address, and we hope such a service will help you in the inevitable conversations that you will have on such popular topical issues.</p>
<p>Still need convincing? View our e-Pulse archives for <a href="http://bit.ly/epulse1">March</a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/epulse2">April</a>. We will also send you this link with the next e-Pulse in July, so that you can access it at that point, if this is more convenient.</p>
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<p><small>© RZIM Office for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>Summer 2011 &#8211; Amy writes&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://www.rzim.eu/summer-2011-amy-writes</link>
		<comments>http://www.rzim.eu/summer-2011-amy-writes#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Jul 2011 10:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Amy Orr-Ewing</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[<strong>This year we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).</strong>

This translation had a massive influence on the English language and culture and has also played an important role in getting the Bible into the hands of ordinary people. As this anniversary seems to have captured the imagination of the media, there have been many opportunities to comment and to speak to people about the Bible.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://www.rzim.eu/summer-2011-amy-writes" title="Permanent link to Summer 2011 &#8211; Amy writes&#8230;"><img class="post_image alignnone frame" src="http://www.rzim.eu/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/amywrites.png" width="600" height="98" alt="Post image for Summer 2011 &#8211; Amy writes&#8230;" /></a>
</p><p><strong>This year we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).</strong></p>
<p>This translation had a massive influence on the English language and culture and has also played an important role in getting the Bible into the hands of ordinary people. As this anniversary seems to have captured the imagination of the media, there have been many opportunities to comment and to speak to people about the Bible.</p>
<p>My book <em><a href="/shop">Why Trust the Bible?</a></em> has come out in an anniversary edition with an extra chapter on the formation and importance of the KJV. The media’s focus on the Bible has been particularly exciting and encouraging for me, as I have been in my first few months in the role of UK Director here at RZIM Europe. As we look forward to the coming months and years, we feel led to strengthen and sharpen our engagement with the media, speaking up for Christ and His cause as the opportunities multiply. It is so wonderful to know that we are supported in prayer in these settings.</p>
<p>Last term has also been a time of great focus on evangelistic missions for us. There have been multiple opportunities for the team and we have taken OCCA missions to Oxford University, Canterbury, Sheffield, and Leyland and Buckingham. At each mission so far numerous people have made public commitments to follow Christ. Our OCCA students have been absolutely stellar this year and the deeper focus on discipleship and the close mentoring relationships between staff and students have borne much fruit. As they have stepped out on these missions it has been wonderful to witness their abilities to speak and answer questions under pressure.</p>
<p>In the last few months, trips to Istanbul and Edinburgh were also a particular highlight, as the Lord worked powerfully through the meetings I spoke in. As the team look forward to a packed final term with the OCCA, the Business Programme, summer conferences, the European Leadership Forum in Hungary, the Summer School and many other speaking engagements, we are confident that God is with us, that He is faithful and that as the scope of the ministry expands we don’t need to rely on techniques or self-confidence but on His strength.</p>
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<p><small>© Amy Orr-Ewing for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>Grayling&#8217;s Secular &#8216;Bible&#8217; &#8211; A Good Book?</title>
		<link>http://www.rzim.eu/graylings-secular-bible-a-good-book</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jun 2011 10:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Amy Orr-Ewing</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.rzim.eu/?p=3117</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<strong>In publishing his godless Bible for those with no faith, A. C. Grayling may have expected a mixed reception. The 'religious Bible' (as he calls the Christian original) often sparks controversy, so one might have assumed that his would prompt a powerful reaction.</strong>

But although there have been eyebrows raised, support given, and criticism levelled, I can’t help feeling that there is something a little flat about it all. Perhaps it is because we are in the midst of celebrating the 400-year anniversary of the King James translation of the Bible with its majestic impact on the English language, that one struggles to muster any strong reaction to this book. One of the repeated observations made about Grayling’s moral guide for atheists is that it just doesn’t seem to be as good or interesting as the original. ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://www.rzim.eu/graylings-secular-bible-a-good-book" title="Permanent link to Grayling&#8217;s Secular &#8216;Bible&#8217; &#8211; A Good Book?"><img class="post_image alignnone frame" src="http://www.rzim.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/graylingsecbible.gif" width="600" height="168" alt="Post image for Grayling&#8217;s Secular &#8216;Bible&#8217; &#8211; A Good Book?" /></a>
</p><p><strong>In publishing his godless Bible for those with no faith, A. C. Grayling may have expected a mixed reception. The &#8216;religious Bible&#8217; (as he calls the Christian original) often sparks controversy, so one might have assumed that his would prompt a powerful reaction.</strong></p>
<p>But although there have been eyebrows raised, support given, and criticism levelled, I can’t help feeling that there is something a little flat about it all. Perhaps it is because we are in the midst of celebrating the 400-year anniversary of the King James translation of the Bible with its majestic impact on the English language, that one struggles to muster any strong reaction to this book. One of the repeated observations made about Grayling’s moral guide for atheists is that it just doesn’t seem to be as good or interesting as the original. </p>
<p>Jeannette Winterson, author of <em>Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit</em>, had this to say:</p>
<blockquote><p>I do not believe in a sky god but the religious impulse in us is more than primitive superstition. We are meaning-seeking creatures and materialism plus good works and good behaviour does not seem to be enough to provide meaning. We shall have to go on asking questions but I would rather that philosophers like Grayling asked them without the formula of answers. As for the Bible, it remains a remarkable book and I am going to go on reading it.</p></blockquote>
<p>Perhaps it has something to do with what seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding on Grayling’s part: the Bible is not merely a book containing moral guidance, as he seems to think it is. While Christians would say that it does contain the moral law of God and shows us how to live our lives, the actual text of the Bible is much more besides.</p>
<p>It is the history of a people and a grand narrative of redemption for all people. At its heart, it is the story of a relationship, and not a collection of platitudes. As the New Testament opens with God coming in human form, we encounter Jesus walking the earth, not simply to restate a moral code, but to offer us peace with God through himself. It’s about a personal God to encounter, not a set of propositions to understand or laws to follow. This is drama with a capital D.</p>
<p>The Bible also contains narrative history, at its most fascinating with well-preserved accounts recording personal perspectives on historical events. Whether it be a prophet like Jeremiah, writing in the 7th century BC, or the gospel writer Mark in the 1st century AD, this is compelling writing whatever our religious convictions. Who could not notice the honesty and detail of Mark’s turn of phrase when he recounts that &#8216;Jesus was in the stern sleeping <em>on a cushion</em>, the disciples woke him and said to him &#8220;Teacher don’t you care if we drown?&#8221;&#8216; (Mark 4:38) As history alone the Bible is compelling.</p>
<p>In as much as Grayling’s <em>&#8216;Good Book&#8217;</em> cobbles together some of the finest moral teaching from our history, it will surely be useful to some. But from an atheist perspective is this really a legitimate task? Without God what is morality other than personal perspective or social contract? Do we need Grayling’s personal perspective any more than our own? And is he really in a position to tell us what a socially agreed set of morals should be? Great atheists of the past, like Bertrand Russell, rejected religious moral values arguing against overarching morality – do they really want Grayling to reconstruct one? “I don’t think there is a line in the whole thing that hasn’t been modified or touched by me,” he says. While his own confidence in his wisdom is clearly abundant, will others feel the same way? Readers might also note that from the 21st century, his is the only voice to make the cut and be included in the work.</p>
<p>In calling his worthy tome <em>The Good Book</em>, Grayling, perhaps unwittingly, references the story about a rich young ruler found in the Gospel of Mark. The man approaches Jesus and addresses him as &#8216;Good teacher&#8217;. &#8216;Why do you call me good?&#8217; Jesus answered. &#8216;No one is good – except God alone.&#8217; Jesus pre-empts centuries of philosophical debate about the nature of morality and locates goodness as an absolute in the being of God. We are challenged to question: &#8216;without God, what is goodness?&#8217; As the debate over his book continues it will be intriguing to find out how Grayling knows his godless Bible to be a benchmark of &#8216;goodness&#8217;.</p>
<p>In the meantime, no doubt the Bible will continue to top best-seller lists, and engage audiences spanning all ages, backgrounds, and cultures. I for one will keep reading it.</p>
<hr />
<p><small>© Amy Orr-Ewing for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>Summer 2011 &#8211; Michael Writes&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://www.rzim.eu/michael-writes-summer-2011</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:00:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Ramsden</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[As we reach the summer there is a great deal of excitement about the many activities that we are involved with. Our team has taken part in a number of missions across the UK, including Sheffield, Canterbury and Leyland, and it has been a delight to see people both coming to the Lord and signing up to the follow-up courses.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://www.rzim.eu/michael-writes-summer-2011" title="Permanent link to Summer 2011 &#8211; Michael Writes&#8230;"><img class="post_image alignnone frame" src="http://www.rzim.eu/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/michaelwrites.jpg" width="600" height="129" alt="Post image for Summer 2011 &#8211; Michael Writes&#8230;" /></a>
</p><p><strong>As we reach the summer there is a great deal of excitement about the many activities that we are involved with. Our team has taken part in a number of missions across the UK, including Sheffield, Canterbury and Leyland, and it has been a delight to see people both coming to the Lord and signing up to the follow-up courses.</strong> </p>
<p>It has also been a real pleasure to see the work of the OCCA students in this, as they put their training to good effect.</p>
<p>It is also great to see that our Associates are continuing to quite literally change Europe. One of THE highlights of our recent time together was the opportunity to be able to listen to the reports of how our training has changed their lives and ministries and how they have used our materials to train hundreds of others. The biggest single impact has probably been in France and we are continuing to seek to grow and support our Associate network.</p>
<p>We are also pleased to have expanded our speaking team further with Frog Orr-Ewing working as the OCCA chaplain two days a week and Os Guinness now committing half of his time to the ministry. Our hope is to grow the team further, so that we might be in a better position to take advantage of the many invitations that we receive.</p>
<p>The major prayer point for us over the next few months is discerning how we can provide greater flexibility for team members across the globe to work together in responding to key strategic opportunities. We’re already seeing the fruits of this new strategy with a major city-wide outreach planned in Washington in the Autumn and some exciting possibilities in Indonesia. We hope and pray that we will be able to have a greater and more sustained evangelistic and discipleship as a result. We haven’t yet implemented all of the necessary processes and personnel changes, but this is the major focus for us this year.</p>
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<p><small>© Michael Ramsden for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>One Way</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Amy Orr-Ewing</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Have you ever met someone and sensed that they are very suspicious of you? When my boys began their first year at school last term I made lots of new friends as I got to know the other parents. One mother seemed to take an immediate dislike to me and although I tried to be friendly, I struggled to make conversation.]]></description>
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</p><p><strong>Have you ever met someone and sensed that they are very suspicious of you? When my boys began their first year at school last term I made lots of new friends as I got to know the other parents. One mother seemed to take an immediate dislike to me and although I tried to be friendly, I struggled to make conversation.</strong></p>
<p>At a children’s birthday party this week though, I was standing with other parents chatting about the economic downturn and the challenges of our different workplaces. That week I had invited all of the ladies to attend a pilates and prayer class at my church. The one woman who had seemed so closed began to talk to me really openly – she was disappointed not to be able to come along to my group. As we chatted she began to tell me about a faith healer that her extended family had contacted in a desperate effort to see some breakthrough for a terminally ill sister. As she spoke from the heart about her conviction that there is more to life than the material universe, I sensed that God might be doing something in that moment. How wrong I had been about this lady. She said: “I don’t mind whether my family go to Church or Temple as long as they pray”.</p>
<p>She was articulating what many people today feel. There is a dizzying array of options when it comes to religion, and the culture tells us that they are all equally valid.</p>
<p>In my experience the main motivation for dismissing the idea that Christ is the only way to God is that it sounds terribly arrogant. Often at this point the parable of the elephant is used to illustrate the point. It goes something like this…</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Blind scribes touching different parts of the elephant. One is holding onto the tail and saying ‘this is a rope’. Another is holding the front leg and saying ‘No, you’re wrong, it’s not a rope – it’s a tree trunk’. Another scribe is holding the trunk and says, ‘You are both wrong. This is neither a rope nor a tree trunk, it is a snake!’</em></p></blockquote>
<p>The moral of the story is that all of the world religions are like those men. They each touch a different part of <em>ultimate reality</em> and therefore Christians are arrogant to say that they have the truth. Take a step back and think about what is being said here. Think about the two main differences between the person telling us the story and the people inside the story. The first difference is that the people touching the elephant are blind and the narrator can see. The second difference is one of perspective – the people inside the story are close up to the elephant but the narrator is standing back and has the full picture.</p>
<p>Do you see the breathtaking claim that is being made here? Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Moses and Muhammad are all blind, but I can see! They all had a small perspective, but I can see the full picture – I can see that all of those ways actually lead to God. The question now is who is arrogant?</p>
<p>In the midst of a children’s party we couldn’t go into a huge amount of detail but I could ask a few simple questions to help my friend think about these issues a bit further. Could she imagine that God might want to make himself known in the world – how might he go about it? If there were evidence that God had come into human history as a human being would that interest her? Would she be open to exploring the person of Jesus Christ and his radical claims? Would she like to meet up and talk about it some more?</p>
<p>Sometimes it is the most unlikely people, people at the edges of our lives, who are intrigued by God. If only we could see past our own preconceptions and inadequacies we would find plenty of opportunities to speak honestly with spiritually open people. Jesus said: ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few’ – this is a biblical perspective on speaking to those who don’t yet follow Christ. Plenty of people are interested, stirred, questioning and open – but are we prepared to go out and engage with those that cross our path even when they make us feel uncomfortable?</p>
<p><em>Source: Article originally published in <a title="Christianity Magazine - March 2011" href="http://www.christianitymagazine.co.uk/archive/2011/March%202011.aspx" target="_blank">March 2011 issue of Christianity Magazine</a></em></p>
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<p><small>© Amy Orr-Ewing for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>God are you there?</title>
		<link>http://www.rzim.eu/god-are-you-there</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:00:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Amy Orr-Ewing</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[I found myself watching the Channel 4 programme <em>One Born Every Minute</em> this week. Over the course of an hour I laughed cried and winced as we watched an incredibly diverse selection of women giving birth to their babies in NHS hospitals. While the church in China sees someone become a Christian every 30 seconds and the hospitals in our own country see a baby born every minute I started to wonder how often new birth is occurring here in Britain.]]></description>
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</p><p><strong>I found myself watching the Channel 4 programme <em>One Born Every Minute</em> this week. Over the course of an hour I laughed cried and winced as we watched an incredibly diverse selection of women giving birth to their babies in NHS hospitals. While the church in China sees someone become a Christian every 30 seconds and the hospitals in our own country see a baby born every minute I started to wonder how often new birth is occurring here in Britain.</strong></p>
<p>I was also reminded of my own experience giving birth to my 3rd child Benjamin a couple of years ago. After 18 hours of labour the doctors became concerned about his oxygen levels and suddenly decided that we needed to get him out urgently – with 3 pushes- or go for a C-section. A whirlwind of activity enveloped me as Frog was taken to be gowned up, machines were wheeled around and I was moved into theatre. In the midst of about 20 people a young doctor came up looked at my chart and said… “Amy Orr-Ewing – I recognize that name – how do I know you?” I replied at the top of my voice “ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN?” “Yes” he replied – “You might have heard me speak” – “that’s it he replied, I love your ministry – now I’ve always had this really difficult question” At this point Frog arrived back “Now is not the time – maybe after the delivery?” Benjamin was born safely and is an absolute delight.</p>
<p>As a result of that conversation I had the opportunity to answer the questions of lots of the medical personnel about the Christian faith. One nurse was a convinced atheist – we talked about how one can be sure of what one believes. This is a particular issue for atheists – the danger of making an “absolute negation” – saying that something doesn’t exist can be gently questioned. Imagine that instead of talking about God we were talking about the existence of green spotted stones. In order to say that green spotted stones exist what would I need to do? I would conduct a careful search until I found one. In order to say that green spotted stones don’t exist what would I need to do? I would need to conduct an exhaustive search of the world, the universe and beyond into Ultimate Reality. Only when I had conclusively combed through all of this could I say with confidence that green spotted stones don’t exist. I would need absolute knowledge of the field to make an absolute negation. In the same way claiming that I know that God doesn’t exist is very difficult to sustain – to make such a claim we would need to have absolute and exhaustive knowledge of reality. This probably leaves us closer to agnosticism – which is to say that we don’t know if God exists.</p>
<p>For the nurse I was talking to the next question I asked her was &#8211; would she like to think about evidence around God’s existence? If she is at least open to the possibility of there being a God might it not be a good idea to think about some of the evidences for Him being there? We couldn’t have a long conversation – the context didn’t allow that but I could tell her that there are multiple evidences for God, touching on all kinds of different data and realms of knowledge. Whether that be <em>cosmological</em> – around the origins and complexity of the Universe, <em>ontological</em> – around aspects of existence like love and thought which transcend chemistry but are nonetheless really there, <em>moral</em> – how we discern good and evil, <em>historical</em> – evidence for the entrance of God into human history in the person of Christ or <em>personal</em> – evidence from the lives of Christians including myself. I asked her if any of these interested her in particular so that I could give her something deeper to read and question further and she told me about her Christian mother whom she suspected was praying for her.</p>
<p>It is often at the most unexpected of times that we find ourselves in conversation with people about the Christian faith. Perhaps that is why Peter reminded us in his letter “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope within.” 1 Peter 3:15.</p>
<p>We don’t determine when the opportunities come but we are responsible for being ready to give answers – however inconvenient the timing may be. This is something I want to get better at and I hope that in my lifetime <em>One Born Every Minute</em> might be a phrase used to describe the British church. I suspect this will only be possible if every Christian in every walk of life starts heeding Peter’s advice one by one, in conversation with our friends, our neighbours, our work colleagues each of us personally rising to the evangelistic challenge facing our generation.</p>
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<p><small>© Amy Orr-Ewing for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>Does Prayer Make Any Difference?</title>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ravi Zacharias</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[There is an immense difference between a worldview that is not able to answer every question to complete satisfaction and one whose answers are consistently contradictory. There is an even greater difference between answers that contain paradoxes and those that are systemically irreconcilable.

Once again, the Christian faith stands out as unique in this test, both as a system of thought and in the answers it gives. Christianity does not promise that you will have every question fully answered to your satisfaction before you die, but the answers it gives are consistently consistent. There may be paradoxes within Christian teaching and belief, but they are not irreconcilable. To those who feel that Christianity has failed them because of prayers that went unanswered, it is important to realize what I am saying here.]]></description>
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</p><p><strong>There is an immense difference between a worldview that is not able to answer every question to complete satisfaction and one whose answers are consistently contradictory. There is an even greater difference between answers that contain paradoxes and those that are systemically irreconcilable.<br />
</strong><br />
Once again, the Christian faith stands out as unique in this test, both as a system of thought and in the answers it gives. Christianity does not promise that you will have every question fully answered to your satisfaction before you die, but the answers it gives are consistently consistent. There may be paradoxes within Christian teaching and belief, but they are not irreconcilable. To those who feel that Christianity has failed them because of prayers that went unanswered, it is important to realize what I am saying here.</p>
<p>I sat with a man in my car, talking about a series of heartbreaks he had experienced. &#8220;There were just a few things I had wanted in life,&#8221; he said. &#8220;None of them have turned out the way I had prayed. I wanted my parents to live until I was at least able to stand on my own and they could watch my children grow up. It didn&#8217;t happen. I wanted my marriage to succeed, and it didn&#8217;t. I wanted my children to grow up grateful for what God had given them. That didn&#8217;t happen. I wanted my business to prosper, and it didn&#8217;t. Not only have my prayers amounted to nothing; the exact opposite has happened. Don&#8217;t even ask me if you can pray for me. I am left with no trust of any kind in such things.&#8221;</p>
<p>I felt two emotions rising up within me as I listened. The first was one of genuine sorrow. He felt that he had tried, that he had done his part, but that God hadn&#8217;t lived up to his end of the deal. The second emotion was one of helplessness, as I wondered where to begin trying to help him.</p>
<p>These are the sharp edges of faith in a transcendent, all-powerful, personal God. Most of us have a tendency to react with anger or withdrawal when we feel God has let us down by not giving us things we felt were legitimate to ask him for. We may feel guilty that our expectations toward God were too great. We may feel that God has not answered our prayers because of something lacking in ourselves. We may compare ourselves with others whose every wish seems to be granted by God, and wonder why he hasn&#8217;t come through for us in the way he does for others. And sometimes we allow this disappointment in God to fester and eat away at our faith in him until the years go by and we find ourselves bereft of belief.</p>
<p>G. K. Chesterton surmised that when belief in God becomes difficult, the tendency is to turn away from him—but, in heaven&#8217;s name, to what? To the skeptic or the one who has been disappointed in his faith, the obvious answer to Chesterton&#8217;s question may be to give up believing that there&#8217;s somebody out there, take charge of your own life, and live it out to the best of your own ability.</p>
<p>But Chesterton also wrote, &#8220;The real trouble with the world of ours is not that it is an unreasonable world, nor even that it is a reasonable one. The commonest kind of trouble is that it is nearly reasonable, but not quite.&#8221;<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-1908-1' id='fnref-1908-1'>1</a></sup> He is right. Only so much about life can be understood by reason; so much falls far short of any reasonable explanation. Prayer then becomes the irrepressible cry of the heart at the times we most need it. For every person who feels that prayer has not &#8220;worked&#8221; for them and has therefore abandoned God, there is someone else for whom prayer remains a vital part of her life, sustaining her even when her prayers have gone unanswered, because her belief and trust is not only in the power of prayer but in the character and wisdom of God. God is the focus of such prayer, and that is what sustains such people and preserves their faith.</p>
<p>Prayer is far more complex than some make it out to be. There is much more involved than merely asking for something and receiving it. In this, as in other contexts, we too often succumb to believing that something is what it never was, even when we know it cannot be as simple as we would like to think it is.</p>
<p><em>Excerpted from </em>Has Christianity Failed You?<em> by Ravi Zacharias. Copyright © 2010 by Ravi Zacharias. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com and originally posted on RZIM.org website, section: </em><a title="Slice of Infinity" href="http://www.rzim.org/resources/read/asliceofinfinity/todaysslice.aspx?aid=10646" target="_blank">Slice of Infinity</a><em>.<br />
</em></p>
<div class='footnotes'>
<div class='footnotedivider'></div>
<ol>
<li id='fn-1908-1'>G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995), 87. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-1908-1'>&#8617;</a></span></li>
</ol>
</div>
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<p><small>© Ravi Zacharias for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>Does the Bible Condone Slavery?</title>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:48:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>L.T. Jeyachandran</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Every thinking reader of the Bible is bound to ask at some point in time, “Does this book actually condone slavery?”. To be sure, slavery is not the only issue the Bible causes us to question. The Old Testament is rife with palace intrigues, polygamy, divorce, violence and the like, and godly people are very often part of the problem. Although the New Testament is decidedly improved, it still seems to fall far short of that which twenty-first century human rights would expect. There are no women among the twelve disciples of Jesus and Christian masters do have slaves working for them.]]></description>
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</p><p><strong>Every thinking reader of the Bible is bound to ask at some point in time, “Does this book <em>actually</em> condone slavery?”. To be sure, slavery is not the only issue the Bible causes us to question. The Old Testament is rife with palace intrigues, polygamy, divorce, violence and the like, and godly people are very often part of the problem. Although the New Testament is decidedly improved, it still seems to fall far short of that which twenty-first century human rights would expect. There are no women among the twelve disciples of Jesus and Christian masters <em>do</em> have slaves working for them.</strong></p>
<p>To address issues of this kind, we need to step back and ask three larger questions: What are the theological, political, and cultural contexts in which the Old Testament narrative unfolds, and how is the behaviour of God’s people in the Old Testament expected to be different from those of other cultures? What are the major developments in the New Testament that give us a clue to interpretation of Old Testament ethics? And are we expected to further extrapolate changes in behaviour <em>beyond </em>the New Testament times to the present day?</p>
<p>To begin with, it should not be forgotten that the Old Testament narratives contain codes which are ethical, ceremonial, and social. Therefore, their application to the present day should not always be considered in literal terms. The social elements of those narratives need not apply to us, and the ceremonial ones are largely fulfilled in the completed work of Christ. It is the ethical aspects of Old Testament teaching with which we should be concerned, and there is indeed much to consider.</p>
<p>As an example, on the way to Canaan, God tells his people through Moses that the alien, or foreigner, among them should not be oppressed (Exodus 23:9). The reason given is fascinating: the people of Israel know in their hearts how it feels to be oppressed! —The word translated “<em>alien</em>” is not the same as slave, but the experience of the Israelites in Egypt was certainly that of slaves— Thus, we see the first statement on human rights: the alien was to be treated as a citizen; in fact, he was to be loved as one of their own (Leviticus 19:33-34). Even when Hebrew law and custom shared in the common heritage of the ancient world, there is a unique care in God’s Name for those people who by status were not considered people—something absent from the codes of Babylon and Assyria.</p>
<p>The New Testament further gives us a paradigm to interpret Old Testament practices. In one of their notorious fault-finding missions, the Pharisees test Jesus on the subject of divorce (Matthew 19:1-9; Mark 10:2-9). He initially appears to play into their hands, asking what Mosaic Law has to say on the subject. When they gleefully quote the permission of Moses to divorce one’s wife, Jesus lays down a method of interpretation that has to be taken very seriously. He makes it clear that certain Old Testament commandments were to be understood as concessions to the hardness of the human heart rather than as expressions of God’s holy character. He goes on to reference how this was <em>not</em> the state of affairs in the beginning—that is, before the fall.</p>
<p>The regulation of slavery should therefore be seen as a practical step to deal with the realities of the day resulting from human fall. The aberrations that lead to alienation among individuals, races, and nations are the result of a fundamental broken relationship between humankind and God. Within this tragic scenario, Scripture comes as a breath of fresh air as it seeks to redeem the situation and sets us on a path of ever-increasing amelioration of our predicament. While the Bible does not reject slavery outright, the conclusion that it actually favours slavery is patently wrong. Scripture <em>does</em> reveal that slavery is not ideal, both in Old Testament laws forbidding the enslavement of fellow Israelites, the law of jubilee, and in New Testament applications of Christ. In fact, the Bible teaches that the feeling of superiority in general is sin (Philippians 2:1-8)! The abolition of slavery is thus not only permissible by biblical standards, but demanded by biblical principles. The pre-fall statement that should guide and ultimately abolish such (and any) practices of superiority is the declaration that all humans—men and women—are made in the image of God.</p>
<p>On this principle, the Bible even lays the foundation for progressing far beyond what was possible in New Testament times by addressing the very economic discrimination and favouritism of which slavery is the worst expression (James 2:1-9; 5:1-6). Of course, lamentably, it must be admitted that the Church has taken many centuries to live out what Scripture taught long ago, and no doubt we continue to drag our feet. The time delay between the Word of Scripture and its implementation in society is often due to the “<em>holy huddle</em>” mentality prevailing among Christians who are largely unconcerned about issues outside of their immediate periphery. Another reason many Christians continue to remain silent in the face of injustice is the platonic view of the cosmos we have adopted, implying that life in the hereafter is the only issue to be addressed, while we watch the world go by in its destructive way. Both mentalities are sadly misguided.</p>
<p>Those of us who say that we believe the Bible to be the Word of God have to raise our level of awareness and involvement regarding social issues. Having failed to do so, we have let these issues pass into the hands of those who may not be Christians, but are better informed about social injustice and concerned enough to fight wrong practices through legal means. While they have no logical basis to do what they are doing, the real tragedy is that we who do have a basis to address these issues remain largely indifferent. May the Lord of Scripture open our eyes to see that God is interested in the redemption of the whole of creation and not just disembodied souls and spirits!</p>
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<p><small>© L.T. Jeyachandran for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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		<title>Lecture with Professor Alister McGrath &#8211; Lanier Theological Library</title>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Feb 2011 17:24:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alister McGrath</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[In his most recent book, The Passionate Intellect: Christian Faith and the Discipleship of the Mind, Alister McGrath discusses theology as a discipline that not only informs and sustains the Christian vision of reality, but also serves a passion of the mind to understand God’s nature and ways. While proposing that vibrant theology can have [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://www.rzim.eu/lecture-with-professor-alister-mcgrath-lanier-theological-library" title="Permanent link to Lecture with Professor Alister McGrath &#8211; Lanier Theological Library"><img class="post_image alignnone frame" src="http://www.rzim.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/lanier.png" width="600" height="131" alt="Post image for Lecture with Professor Alister McGrath &#8211; Lanier Theological Library" /></a>
</p><p><strong>In his most recent book, <em>The Passionate Intellect: Christian Faith and the Discipleship of the Mind</em>, <a href="/biography-alister-mcgrath">Alister McGrath</a> discusses theology as a discipline that not only informs and sustains the Christian vision of reality, but also serves a passion of the mind to understand God’s nature and ways. While proposing that vibrant theology can have a positive impact on Christian life, worship and faith, McGrath also explores other benefits of theology that include a deeper engagement with the culture and concerns of the modern world. </strong></p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/19245990" width="600" height="450" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/19245990">Lecture with Professor Alister McGrath</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user5842019">Lanier Theological Library</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p>Alister McGrath was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1953. He attended Methodist College, Belfast, in 1966 studying pure and applied mathematics, physics and chemistry. McGrath continued his education and eventually earned both a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and a Doctorate of Divinity from Oxford University. The interactions between these two areas of study—Christian theology and the natural sciences—have been a major theme of his research work. </p>
<p>As a former atheist, McGrath is respectful, yet critical of scientific atheism. He has frequently engaged in debate and dialogue with leading atheists, including Oxford zoologist Richard Dawkins. McGrath has explored Charles Darwin’s role in atheist apologetics and other controversial concepts of atheism, such as the “meme” in recent atheist accounts of the origins of belief in God.</p>
<p>Reproduced by kind permission of <a href="http://www.laniertheologicallibrary.org">Lanier Theological Library</a> and <a href="/biography-alister-mcgrath">Alister McGrath</a></p>
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<p><small>© Alister McGrath for <a href="http://www.rzim.eu">RZIM Europe</a>, 2011. |
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