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.
Watch Your Language!
It has been noted that economics is an ‘imperialist beast, claiming the relevance of its general approach ... to a very wide range of human activities’.1 Thus economic models and language have come to predominate in institutions previously organised in different ways....
An Interpreter speaks…
What makes a good interpreter? Someone with a mastery of the languages (and cultures) she is working with. Someone who goes behind the speaker's words to grasp their meaning and who is able to faithfully convey that meaning, not betraying the speaker. Someone who...
Racism and the Church in Ireland
I left my office about 11pm after the Prayer Meeting. Some of our church members had stayed behind after the meeting to fellowship. The last two stragglers had gone out a few seconds ahead of me. As I was locking the door I heard shouting coming from the front of the...
Come with me: A way of welcome
It’s been one year since I arrived in Belfast. In one year I’ve gone from feeling like a stranger in a strange land to feeling quite at home. I’ve mastered the aisles at the local grocery store, figured out the shortest routes around town, made a few friends and found...
The Other Side
Earlier this month shortly after his installation, the new Moderator of the Presbyterian Church was criticized for using the term “the other side” when referring to Sinn Fein in his first interview on Good Morning Ulster. I don’t want to add to the criticism, as I...
A little fame.
So ... another round of honours awards. Does it matter? There are those who would wish to reform and rename the UK honours system. They argue that giving top honours to business, military, diplomatic and civil service big-wigs and entertainment celebrities is an...
Health and Poverty
Can you imagine having to dispose of an asset or investment simply to pay a medical bill? It might be a piece of land, or money that you have set aside to pay for your children’s next term at school. I am writing as one of the privileged few in the world to have the...
Vive la revolution.
A reflection prompted by Matthew 5 – 7 and recent world news. The stories of revolution in the Middle East cannot have failed to capture our attention in recent months. The world is changing before our eyes. Whilst we might worry about oil prices and al-Qaeda, most of...
Assisted Suicide – Legislation with a stern face and a kind heart?
Rarely a week passes without media coverage of a high profile public figure expressing support for the introduction of assisted suicide (AS) legislation in the UK. Opinion polls are already reported to show a majority of the public in favour of such changes and a...
On being counted – or standing up to be counted
The workings of Government are very closely interwoven with the gospel story. Tax collectors and soldiers, courts and politics are all there. Did you ever think what the Christmas story would have been like if Caesar Augustus had not decided to hold a census? No...
Something is better than nothing …
For many years, I taught in the American Studies Program on Capitol Hill, an interdisciplinary semester of study focused on nurturing in undergraduates the vision and virtues required to take up vocations in the public square. Formed by a deeply wrought understanding...
Outsiders
For the last 10 years, I have been living in a tribal society in the Middle East. Family connections are strong and are used to secure jobs, licenses, benefits, healthcare, education, etc. The system works well for those who are part of it, but for those on the...