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.
Reasons to be Hopeful
The news headlines over recent weeks have been as dispiriting as any recent period I can remember.
Reflecting on Northern Ireland at 100 years
Reflecting on Northern Ireland at 100years Of the 100 years since Northern Ireland was formed, I, as an Ulsterman born in the sound of Lambeg drums, have spent over one third of its existence, in the Republic of Ireland. The rationale of Northern Ireland was an...
Reflection on Northern Ireland at 100 years
Reflection on Northern Ireland at 100 years How did we get here? The creation of Northern Ireland looks, to me, as cynical and short-sighted as Brexit. But the ensuing problems served only to protect those who could protect themselves. By “offshoring” the question of...
Reflection on Northern Ireland at 100 years
'Reflection on Northern Ireland at 100 years' I was born into a Protestant and Unionist family in Ballymoney in 1953. Some family members were in the loyal orders and “B” Specials. Early in life I imbibed a unionist and orange mindset, but was brought up to treat...
Reflection on Northern Ireland at 100 years
Reflection on Northern Ireland at 100 years Identity Matters… “So, what are you, Danielle?” asked my 10-year-old friend, Grainne as we walked up the town to deliver a message for her mum to the nun at the local chapel. We were purposefully taking our time as we felt...
Reflecting on Northern Ireland at 100 years
Commemorating 100 years of Northern Ireland evokes conflicting emotions. For those who lived through the ‘Troubles’, the Good Friday Agreement seems much more recent than 1998.The pallor of suffering and enmity still casts its shadow. The diminution, if not complete...
Welcome To The New Look …PS…!
Welcome to …PS…, an email and web discussion forum from Contemporary Christianity. Virtual and voluntary, we normally issue …PS… once or twice each month. Next week, look out for a 5 day series of blogs …. From next Monday, 21 June for five days we will be issuing a...
PS…February festivals
Fasting and feasting holidays are the events in the Jewish calendar around which life is orientated. Many of these ‘festivals’ have their origin in the laws which God gave to the people of Israel after they left Egypt and were on their way to the Promised...
‘Fake news’
In my early years as a professional Geologist and a Christian, I was dismayed and puzzled by the defence of the literalist interpretation of Genesis 1 stating that scientists were in a conspiracy of deception. Why scientists might do this was never articulated, as the...
How many too questions are too many questions?
Like a good evangelical Christian, every morning my day starts with quiet time. The Lord’s prayer, then other prayers, setting my day up, giving it over to God. And from prayer I go to Scripture, helped in that discipline by Bible Reading notes. A verse or a question...
Every little helps
It’s November and I’m sad. Over the years I have come to dread November, because if anything goes wrong, it goes spectacularly wrong in November. Perhaps this was a self-fulfilling prophecy, perhaps it’s SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), but it always seemed to...
Why the news needs to be good
The Queen rarely makes comment on matters of public debate, but a few weeks ago she gave a message of support to the British newspaper industry, praising traditional media outlets. She said that “having trusted, reliable sources of information, particularly at a time...