The Consolations of Fantasy
Hobbits, notes J.R.R. Tolkien at the start of their eponymous story, are easily forgotten, largely overlooked, and have little or no magic about them. Or not. In the 75 years since he penned those words, The Hobbit has sold more than 100 million copies. In its opening weekend, Peter Jackson’s first instalment of the movie version broke records around the world. Clearly there is something a little magical about hobbits after all. The interesting question, however, is what that magic is. Why should an English boffin’s fairytale of elves, wizards and dragons continue to command such devotion? What craving does it satisfy? The interesting question is what that magic is. What craving…
The Queen is D … More Alive than Ever
Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves—from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person—neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive. (Queen Elizabeth II, Christmas message, 2011) We thanked God for Queen Elizabeth over breakfast today. We thanked God for Queen Elizabeth over breakfast today. We thanked him for her long life and faithful service. We thanked him that she acknowledged Jesus as her True King and that she has now received a rich welcome into his presence because of his death…
Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Let me make things simple. If you love C.S. Lewis—specifically, if you love the Narnia books—I think you will very much like Susanna Clarke’s novel Piranesi. If you need a break from our dreary-yet-furious present and want to think about things that are true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, commendable and excellent (c.f. Phil 4:8) then this is the book for you. If you need a break from our dreary-yet-furious present … then this is the book for you. Piranesi is a difficult book to describe, however. The name originally comes from Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the Renaissance printmaker famed for his fantastical depictions of vast vaulted dungeons (see above, for example). When I…
The Power: Book Review
Please note that this is a (very) secular novel which contains some explicit and potentially upsetting material. It is discussed here, not so much for the purpose of recommendation, but as a useful representative of one important contemporary viewpoint. In Naomi Alderman’s speculative fiction novel (and now, TV series) The Power, women have achieved dominance. It’s a feminist’s dream—and nightmare. With the sudden emergence of a latent ability in women that allows them to generate and deliver shocks like electric eels, women suddenly find that they are able to outclass men in physical contests. As the power spreads, women begin to grow in self-confidence and men start to lose their swagger. Young…
Pixar’s Soul: Jazz Under the Sun
Warning: Spoilers for Pixar’s latest movie, Soul follow. Pixar takes many years to develop their movie projects, so it is impossible that they could have made their latest production with the COVID crisis in mind. But their latest movie, Soul could scarcely have come out at a better time. Soul tells the story of Joe Gardner, a high-school music teacher whose shot at becoming a professional jazz musician comes to a tragic end when he falls down a man-hole on the way back from his tryout. Soul could scarcely have come out at a better time. As he hovers between life, and what the movie calls the “Great Beyond”, Joe gains…
Happy Halloween!
Christianity commits every Christian to believing that ‘the Devil is (in the long run) an ass.’ (C.S. Lewis, “A Preface to Paradise Lost”) The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn. (Martin Luther, Table Talk) In Book 2 of Milton’s Paradise Lost, Satan holds council in Pandemonium with his fallen angels in the wake of their expulsion from heaven. Moloc presses for further war. Mammon suggests that devils should form an independent republic, preferring “hard liberty before the easie yoke” of heaven. Beelzebub proposes that hell might exact revenge on…
Postcards from the Ineffable
What part does imagination play in your spiritual life? You might think it should have no place at all. We should be about truth. Many of us know people who cook up all kinds of funny ideas about God and his will for their lives using their imaginations—exactly the kind of thing that the Bible specifically denounces in places such as Ezekiel 13 and Jeremiah 23:16-17. The imagination (or heart) is a thoroughly unreliable source for theological knowledge. An Imaginative Book for Imaginative Hearts Even so, the Bible is full of imagination. When it describes God as building his house above the firmament, or coming down to judge, or smelling…
Child Sacrifice – From Moriah to Peru
Archaeologists in Peru recently discovered a terrible instance of child sacrifice: 140 children killed at once—their ribcages still bearing the trauma of the brutal removal of their hearts. It’s a horror that reminds us that religions are not all the same, not always benign—and that there is no limit to human depravity. But, before we’re too quick to claim the moral high-ground, there’s an awkward incident in the Old Testament that’s sometimes cited as evidence that biblical faith is no different: God’s command to Abraham that he should sacrifice his son: [God] said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah,…
Surviving the Age of Apostasy
In recent days, evangelical Christianity has been disturbed by a series of defections and deconversions. Many prominent writers and leaders have given up on orthodox Christianity. Here are seven things to remember and do in the new age of apostasy: 1. We shouldn’t be surprised. In Matthew 24, when his disciples ask him about the signs of the end of the age, Jesus speaks of an increase in lawlessness that will cause “the love of many will grow cold.” (v12) But, of course, the pattern of Jesus’ own ministry bears out the same pattern. The same crowds that flocked to him ultimately turned away—and finally turned on him. Paul speaks similarly of…
Seven Signs that Easter Happened
Scholars and apologists often point to the Easter resurrection as the most important piece of historical evidence for the truth of Christianity. That of course, is right and proper—Paul himself uses it (1Cor 15:5-7). But I think there are some other little bits of evidence in the Easter story that are persuasive in other ways. Here are seven odd and incidental details that that point to the eyewitness origins of the Gospel accounts. 1. Mystery Streaker And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, 52 but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. (Mark 14:51-52) The first…
