Tag Archives: Christianity

“Jesus” by Humphrey Carpenter

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Houyhnhnm

One of Carpenter’s most well-known biographies, part of the “Past Masters” series of short books on influential thinkers. Overall Carpenter seems to go as far as he can in sympathising and admiring Jesus, stopping short just at the point beyond … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

“Unapologetic” by Francis Spufford

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Houyhnhnm

This book was greeted with huge triumph and relief by Christians, mainly fading Anglicans, as a new candidate for the project of doing-religion-without-actually-believing-it’s-true-in-the-way-that-we-think-people-in-the-past-did. Like Don Cupitt and Karen Armstrong, Quakers and Unitarians. So does it pass muster? Yes, in that … Continue reading →

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Empty Church

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Church has been likened to sport, concerts, or anywhere else where people gather, face the same direction, and share the same experience. But what’s the difference about church? It’s that at football people watch the football, and at a concert … Continue reading →

Posted in Stuff | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“The Tao Of Pooh” by Benjamin Hoff; “The Secret Message Of Jesus” by Brian Maclaren (the latter only skimmed)

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Both try to explain how life should be lived, and to that extent are self-help books. Maclaren writes from within an orthodox US Christian perspective, but reinterprets Jesus’ message as a call to a radical politics and a suspicion of … Continue reading →

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ”, by Philip Pullman

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

A bit of a surprise. Some disappointingnesses: why does Pullman “explain” the miracles (e.g. the Feeding of the Five Thousand a result of sudden sharing, and the Resurrection… Well, I’ll try and get on to that later)? I did Scripture … Continue reading →

Posted in Novel, Reading | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Sanctity of Life

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

Christians talk about life being sacred, yet apply this with an inconsistency that is at once strange and immoral. For they concentrate their attention on areas where the lives they are protecting are of the least value, where the loss … Continue reading →

Posted in Stuff | Tagged , , | Leave a comment