Inspired by Walter Brueggemann and a bill, here I am blogging with intent.

The Brueggemann inspiration comes from his new book, Real World Faith, which is a collection of the blogs he has posted at Church Anew. He says, ‘It turns out that blogs are just the right genre for an old man who still has a lively critical thought, but lacks the energy for extended exposition.’ (pix).

Well, I’m not as old as Walter (he has a good twenty years on me). And I am not as critically accomplished (few are). But I am an aging man with a head full of ideas that need to et out to be tested in the ether.

So, I am committing myself to the blogging endeavour. Over the coming weeks my interests will spill out on these pages, thoughts about refugees and the way we treat them, thoughts about Paul and why he continues to be an enigmatic inspiration, and thoughts about the real world of money and economic policy (a fixation of mine since my days writing about the Thatcher economic experiment back in the 1980s, an experiment whose fall-out still blights so many lives). And there will also be thoughts about the church, about how the community of Jesus followers can embody his gospel more faithfully and visibly.

Brueggemann talks about being rooted in the tradition of Calvin, German pietism and Reinhold Niebuhr (among others). My tradition is rooted in Eugene Peterson, Jacques Ellul, evangelical engagement with scripture, and increasingly anabaptist spirituality. But it leads me to the same place Walter occupies, namely one ‘that believes that the claims of gospel faith voiced in the Bible concern our common life and the practice of civic responsibility.’ (pix)

Hopefully some of what you find here will make sense, some will provoke conversation, and a little will cause you to pause and think and maybe see the world n a slightly different way.

The bill is because this site charges to use as a platform so I need to get bang for my buck. So, watch this space.