Every Friday I’m posting links to things I’ve read this week that I think you might find interesting too,

Theology

• In recent months, I’ve been pushed back to realy re-examine how we use the word ‘Gospel’ and what it means to share the gospel. Here Scot McKnight alludes to a couple of ways in which we might be sharing a narrower gospel than the biblical text proclaims;

• An old prof of mine who I am forever indebted to for discovering the beautiful intersections of theology, mental health care and chaplaincy, John Swinton writes about his nominating of Jean vanier founder of L’arche communities

• Krish kandiahresponds convincingly to theologian Wayne grudem’s defense of Christian gun ownership. Although, I’m increasingly convinced as I have these conversations that there is a cultural impasse between our cultures (US and UK) despite our common(ish) language.

• Over the last couple of years the importance of understanding God as triune has sky-rocketted. This strange (and, by name not explicitly referenced) doctrine is often relegated to the complicated and mysterious (and therefore expendible) in most daily Christian practice. I thought Greg Boyd wrote an excellently clear piece explaining why this matters. Most significantly is that for God to be love, there needs to be more than a single person at play!

Miscellany

I am long disonnected from the regular rhythm of US colleges, but seemingly people are graduating right about now, I thought these 3 tips by Jeff Goins were great!

1)Don’t worry about what to do. Worry about who you are and who you are becoming. Focus on continued growth and learning, and what you’re meant to do will become clear over time.
2) Stop looking for the perfect job and start creating it. The best way to do what you love is to build the perfect job for yourself. Start a small business, if even as a hobby, so you’re never completely on someone else to earn a living.
3) Instead of chasing your dream, serve someone else’s first. This will save you years of pain and accelerate your growth in ways you can’t imagine. And it will humble you.

How do defend against thinking just like the age an culture which surrounds you? Read this quote from CS Lewis biography by Alister McGrath this week (HT: Tides and Turning) which made me want to dig into some old tomes;

Lewis argues that a familiarity with the literature of the past provides readers with a standpoint which gives them critical distance from their own era. Thus, it allows them to see ‘the controversies of the moment in their proper perspective.’ The reading of old books enables us to avoid becoming passive captives of the Spirit of the Age by keeping ‘the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds’ (Alister McGrath, C.S. Lewis – A Life, p. 187).

Productivity

• I’ve been looking at a couple of desk ideas recently, and have been playing with the idea of a ‘standing desk’ which has become popular over the last decade or so. I’m just not so sure I’d want to stand all the time.

• This could be a pretty neat and elegant solution! HT: Tools and Toys

• Tools and Toys also published a great review of apple’s new macbook. From this review it seems like a great buy for 90% of non-power mac users.

• I use a calendar app pretty regularly, not because Im esepcially timetabled, but for some sense of knowing where my time is going and has gone. I even put events in my calendar after they have passed so I can remember what I did. I’ve been using Fantastical for both mac and iOs and really enjoyed its funcationality. Especially its natural language parsing¹

• Finally, and again, from Tools and Toys (Yes, I do read other blogs), some great suggestions for music to work alongside.

I agree that mostly instrumental works best for me, I get to share a spotify account and enjoy these tunes recently as I work;

• Sean Feucht – Sacred Mountain
• Jose Gonzalez – Vestiges and Claws
• Anything chill from Bonobo

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