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.
Sunspots, floods and souls
‘Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that His glory may dwell in our land. Love and faithfulness met together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.’ Psalm 85: 9-11...
Facing our Fears- A Gospel Imperative?
Last year I was involved in facilitating an introductory peacebuilding course in a Protestant church in Belfast. We invited members from other churches to come to a meeting that did not involve worship and share their experiences in building peace. I later found out...
Lawyers: Who Needs Them?
I found myself asked recently to give a talk to Christian lawyers entitled: ‘Does God Love Family Lawyers?’ The title hinted at the anticipated ambivalence of the likely analysis. The short answer – ‘yes, but not all your fellow Christians may be so sure...’, set me...
Welcome – Failte!
Romanians and Bulgarians can now come and work here unrestricted and there are concerns about how some of them may abuse the benefits system and about the additional burden on our already creaking public health services. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has claimed...
Wolves and lambs stories
Each Sunday Renata Hughes sings in the choir in First Armagh. She is 83 years old. On the surface Renata appears as the typical Presbyterian choir member. However Renata grew up in Germany before the second world war. She was a member of Hitler Youth. Her father...
Are Evangelical Men Ready for Reconciliation?
October’s re-launch of For God and His Glory Alone reminded us of the key role that evangelicals have played in promoting reconciliation on this island. But only a few short years ago, when I surveyed faith leaders (clergy, pastors, and ministers of various religions)...
Imag-ine
Throughout history, human beings have been willing to sacrifice the lives of human beings, made in the image of God, for the sake of a flag, an emblem, a symbol, a piece of earth, a form of ideology, even a familiar way of doing things. Since human beings are created...
All storied out: an appeal for greater diversity in our use of metaphors
I recently attended the Catherwood lecture hosted by Contemporary Christianity and with around 130 others enjoyed and benefitted from David Porter’s beautifully crafted address. Alongside the mainstream, my mind was drawn to a back eddy of musing on the number of...
Faith in the Future …
According to a BBC news report two Japanese government ministers and dozens of lawmakers recently visited the Yasukuni shrine on the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. The shrine is a testimony to Japan's past militarism under a 'divine emperor'...
In My Father’s House
Last year on a quiet Sunday evening my father died. For weeks I’d visited him in a hospital ward and sat by his bedside window as the autumn light faded. The doctors had made it clear that his life was ebbing away. But that did not prepare me for the end of a...
Without a vision …
The BBC’s Fergal Keane recently filed a report from South Africa where he recalls how few people, in the closing days of Apartheid, had much hope for the country, most expecting it to be torn apart by a bloody race war. No one imagined that within a decade, South...
Where have all the young men gone
Note: This post originally appeared on www.eamonmallie.com and is reproduced with the author's permission Many in the educated liberal classes view the Armed Forces with ambivalence. They are necessary for national security but war is evil and its consequences...