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- Cambridge professors and Evangelical beliefs 13/08/2026
- Dickens ex machina 07/08/2026
- Rehashing double causation 06/08/2026
- The extended God hypothesis 01/08/2026
- The lab-leak is slowly leaking out 26/07/2026
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Category Archives: Theology
Cambridge professors and Evangelical beliefs
How do you complete a close study of the Book of Acts, and conclude that it teaches that miracles are to be expected routinely (though they “sometimes” don’t occur) without noticing that the book specifically attributes miracles only to “the apostles,” and overwhelmingly to Peter and Paul?
Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology
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Dickens ex machina
I’ve had some further thoughts prompted by my use, in my last post, of Charles Dickens as the quasi-deity creating the world of Oliver Twist. One of the weaknesses of Dickens as a writer, especially in his earlier books, is his use of unlikely coincidence, or deus ex machina, in resolving his plots. It’s not uncommon for his characters to be rescued from difficult situations by bumping into people who happen to have been friends in far-off places and times.
Posted in Creation, Philosophy, Theology, Theology of nature
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Rehashing double causation
One of the problems atheists have with theism is the doctrine of double causation. This is usually demonstrated by their belief that finding efficient causes in nature excludes the need for God. Whilst they may find pause for reflection in the Big Bang, every other reference to God in the world is taken to be “the God of the Gaps.”
Posted in Creation, Philosophy, Theology
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The extended God hypothesis
I’m reading Steve Meyer’s Return of the God Hypothesis as part of a self-imposed refresher course on science-faith matters. My reading follows directly on from another fairly lengthy book on cosmological fine-tuning, A Fortunate Universe, by Lewis and Barnes.
Posted in Creation, Philosophy, Science, Theology of nature
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The lab-leak is slowly leaking out
I was quick to become sceptical about the whole COVID civilisation-bust of 2020 and onwards, as a mountain of my posts here from March 2020 demonstrates. But I believe my first mention of the possibility of the escape of a manufactured virus was only that September, and it took several more months before the evidence I was seeing for a lab-leak became overwhelmingly convincing.
Posted in History, Medicine, Politics and sociology, Theology
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Another reminder that genre is crucial to biblical interpretation
I came across an observation on Genesis (via another YouTube video, I’m afraid) by the late Jewish scholar Nahum Sarna. He noted in the 1960s that the unnaturally high ages of the three founding Patriarchs of Israel may actually be represented by one mathematical formula, suggesting that the ages had numerological and theological, rather than chronological, significance.
Posted in History, Theology
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Faith in feelings
I’m getting tired of how many Bible Studies nowadays seem to base all, or most, of their questions on the formulae “How did X feel when ..?” or “How would you feel if…?” or “How does this make you feel?”. I question how much progress in the Christian faith can ever be made by exploring (and discussing) either one’s own feelings or those of Bible characters, on which Scripture is notably reticent.
Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology
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Cognitive dissonance – the midwife of wisdom
Cognitive dissonance is usually seen as the enemy of reason. For example, in the science-faith field, the old trope is that the Christian indoctrinated in the superstitions of the Bible, when confronted by the facts of science, becomes mentally scrambled and simply fails to perceive obvious realities. This criticism extends to the highest levels, for example in Jerry Coyne’s attempt to exclude Francis Collins from becoming head of the NIH some years ago, on the grounds that he was a Christian and therefore not scientifically reputable. But in fact, cognitive dissonance can often free the mind to pursue truth.
Posted in Creation, Science, Theology of nature
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Conceptual divergence
A couple of decades ago, when I still lived in the world of general medical practice, one of the local GP appraisers persuaded me and another GP, John, to run a course on spinal manipulation for the next generation of medics. Both of us had learned the same stuff, from the same pioneering doctors, John Paterson and Loic Burn, when we were young GP partners in the early 1980s.
Posted in Creation, Science, Theology of nature
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The Church in Ezekiel’s shoes
Rupert Lowe’s Rape Gang Enquiry has been published, and is here. Where it isn’t is anywhere in the Main Stream Media, nor under passionate discussion in Parliament, where a sparsely populated House of Commons seems to have received it with a general sense of ennuie. They’ve heard it all before… or at least, have studiously missed debates on the matter to avoid hearing about it.
Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology
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