P.S.
PS is an email and web-based blog format issued regularly by Contemporary Christianity. The format provides an online space for writers toexplore issues relating to church, culture and life in Northern Ireland, seeking to understand the times through insights from Scripture, theology, reason and the observations that flow from lived experience.
PS will never claim to have all the answers, but we hope to prompt questions that leave our readers a little closer to the answer at the end of the piece than they were at the beginning.
Our writers range from well-known names in academia and full-time ministry, to professionals with particular subject matter expertise, to lay people with passion for a subject and a gift for writing.
You can get involved in conversations by posting comments in the threads below the blogs, and if you’re interested in writing for us, you can get in touch by emailing info@contemporarychristianity.net.
The Multi-sided Public Square
Truth and mercy have met together. Justice and peace have kissed. (Psalm 85:10) “Christians frequently differ on important issues, and it is a mark of spiritual maturity if they handle those differences creatively rather than engage in damaging verbal warfare.”1...
Peace on earth?
For many months, and especially in the last few weeks, we have been seeing the war in the Middle East and its horrible effects being reported almost daily on our TV screens and in our newspapers. I can barely watch the news now. I feel helpless, angry and even guilty...
Resisting without imposing
In the 1980s Lesslie Newbigin argued that the modern multicultural worldview simply did not have the resources to stand up against absolutist worldviews. Sadly the rise of radical Islam and the results of the EU referendum and US presidential election seem to be...
Is “Freedom of Speech” the Achilles heel of the Secular Liberal Society?
These thoughts are provoked by the recent trial of Anjem Choudary and the controversy it has sparked. In the recent discussions of the issue in the media on various radio and television programmes, two opposing views emerged. On one view, Choudary, and many like him,...
The gift of time
In Michael Bond's reflection on the passing of the years read by Sir David Attenborough at the Queen's 90th birthday service he stated - “My father’s motto was - the most precious gift you can bestow on a child is your time.” A recent survey by mental health charity...
Seasons of life
Although for much of our lives we may prefer to ignore it, there are times when we are reminded, sometimes forcibly, of William Shakespeare’s definition of the seven ages of mankind: “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their...
Remembering to do better
This article was broadcast as a Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Ulster on Wednesday 27thJuly 2016 and is adapted and used with permission. On Tuesday in Rouen in France the community gathered to remember an 84-year-old priest murdered earlier that day in an atrocious...
Untangling the knots of history
I come from the generation where the sound of helicopters whizzing, bombs exploding, and even bullets ripping, provided the soundtrack for our formative Christian years. I remember listening to the RUC band play the death march at a funeral in Dungannon, as the...
EU: In or Out?
In or out; stay or leave; in favour of Brexit - or not? The complexities and the unknowns of the forthcoming referendum on EU membership will, unhappily, be boiled down to simple a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ vote on this question: Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the...
Church Conflict
The poor way we handle conflict within the Church is hurting us and damaging our witness.When we fail to treat each other with love, we are more like a horrible warning than a beautiful example.In my pastoral and mediation roles I see a lot of conflict in churches and...
Can There Be a Distinctively Christian Contribution to Northern Ireland Politics?
The following reflections are inspired by Steve Stockman’s “An Open Letter to Northern Ireland’s Political Leaders” (PS September 2015) and Esmond Birnie’s response. The central issue raised by Stockman and Birnie, is whether there is a distinctively Christian input...
Different God – Different People
God is different from us. His thoughts, His ways, His perspectives are different from ours. In fact, He is so different that He cannot be known by us unless He chooses to be known. Everything we know about God is because God has chosen to reveal it to us. What He...