Category Archives: Theology

Understanding Putin

An old university friend who also follows The Hump wrote to ask me about the sources I use most on the Ukraine conflict, and shared some of his own with me. Among them is Postil Magazine which carries some weighty and worthwhile articles. One which I highly recommend is this one by Etienne de Floirac, giving a deep insight into the political (and irreducibly religious) basis of Vladimir Putin’s vision for Russia. It confirms what I had suspected since the start of this war, that to see Russia’s role apart from its spiritual aspect is an almost universal error in the West. To what extent that neglect is deliberate, and … Continue reading

Posted in Philosophy, Politics and sociology, Theology | 1 Comment

Nothing to see in Canada…

Since the news is hot, I may as well comment on it, knowing in particular that I have some Canadian readers who are unlikely to get it on CBC.

Posted in History, Politics and sociology, Theology | 2 Comments

Powerful ju-ju 2022

The confusion of paganism – especially if not regulated by a highly formulated priestly cult – lay partly in that one was never really sure why anything happened, and so predicting what would happen seemed a fruitless pursuit. Some god might start something going in nature or human experience, only to have it overturned by the caprice of a jilted goddess, or modified by a maledictive curse from some neighbour. The best explanations for the inexplicable became arbitrary stories from magical thinking.

Posted in Politics and sociology, Science, Theology | 2 Comments

The world of stupid

So the Russians offered a safe passage for Azov fighters holed up in the Azovstol Steelworks in Mariupol, including even the foreign fighters who, on Russian estimation at least, are technically mercenaries not covered by the Geneva Convention.

Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology | 1 Comment

British unexceptionalism

Just as COVID threw into sharp relief the capture of of our institutions by dark forces, acting as confirmation to those of us who had suspected we were being led into serfdom through propaganda, so the Ukraine war has clarified to what extent the mythos of the American military-industrial complex trying to impose its hegemony over the whole world is, in fact, sober truth.

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Black in tooth and claw

Just a brief nature note today. Back in 2015, in a post on genes, I mentioned the serendipity of noticing a wild black rabbit out of my study window as I was writing it.

Posted in Creation, Theology | 5 Comments

Subversion, schism and reformation

Apparently the inevitable has happened this last week at the Baptist Union, as it has in so many denominations in the western world. Although I only have the story through a casual conversation, it seems as if a group has introduced a motion for the Union to allow the ordination of openly gay ministers, although there is as yet no official change in policy even on the 2014 affirmation of traditional marriage. In response, a petition has been started in defence of the historical view of marriage. Fisticuffs will follow.

Posted in History, Politics and sociology, Theology | 5 Comments

What you feel is real

So we had an old college friend to stay, a female Anglican vicar… sorry, priest … who is the same age as us and not a young product of the woke educational system, though she did do her seminary training in the age of the Anglican Church as “The Labour Party at prayer.

Posted in Medicine, Politics and sociology, Science, Theology | Leave a comment

Equipped for war?

After five years my term as a church elder has finished. And at the same church meeting suggestions for the future direction of the fellowship were solicited.

Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology | 2 Comments

Anomalies

Anomalies are often the key to truth: the annoying aberration of a fact from one’s view of the world can lead to new insights that completely overturn your reality.

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