As I looked,

thrones were placed
and one that was ancient of days took his seat;
his raiment was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames,
its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued
and came forth from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.

I looked then because of the sound of the great words which the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.

–Daniel 7:9-14

Today is the feast of the Ascension. At East Harling, Norfolk, late 15th Century glass shows Mary and the disciples watching Christ carried up to heaven by angels, leaving his footprints on the mountain top and just his nail-scarred feet in view.

East Harling:… pic.twitter.com/RYWQpbHapP

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) May 9, 2024

April was the Earth’s 11th consecutive month of record-breaking heat, with warmer weather already sweeping across Asia and a hotter-than-usual summer expected in Europe.

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said last month’s temperatures globally were 1.58C (2.8F) above historical averages and marked the hottest April on record. The past 12 months have been 1.61C higher than pre-industrial temperatures, exceeding the 1.5C threshold that policymakers and scientists say could threaten life on the planet.

“Whilst temperature variations associated with natural cycles like El Niño come and go, the extra energy trapped into the ocean and the atmosphere by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases will keep pushing the global temperature towards new records,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

World Extends Run of Heat Records for 11th Straight Month https://t.co/058Y6sQ6Hd

— Shehzad Younis شہزاد یونس (@shehzadyounis) May 8, 2024

The bet is that global capital will do the heavy lifting on infrastructure once the red carpet is rolled out. It is a risky proposition in a changed world order where industrial policy is de rigueur, and the new gospel is how to leverage private investment with public seed money.

But not every country has a Vaca Muerta to offer. McKinsey says the basin will need $45bn of investment over the next 10 years to reach scale, beyond the means of the Argentine state in any plausible scenario.

Foreign investors are keeping a watchful eye on the Peronist backlash, so far gaining little traction in a country hungry for a fresh start – like washed-out Britain in the 1970s after hitting bottom during the three-day week.

Mr Milei’s omnibus law has successfully run the gauntlet through the lower house of parliament after much horse-trading, but doing better in his showdown with the discredited parties of the ‘casta’ than many expected. The senate will be harder (he has only seven seats) but he carries the big stick of decree power if all else fails, like Emmanuel Macron in today’s France.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Milei’s Argentina is fast becoming the Texas of Latin America
The country’s vast shale reserves are the president’s most potent economic weapon https://t.co/KbX0liJuIe

— Paul Deaux (@deauxpaul) May 8, 2024

In the decades immediately ahead, East Asia will experience perhaps the modern world’s most dramatic demographic shift. All of the region’s main states—China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—are about to enter into an era of depopulation, in which they will age dramatically and lose millions of people. According to projections from the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic Social Affairs, China’s and Japan’s populations are set to fall by eight percent and 18 percent, respectively, between 2020 and 2050. South Korea’s population is poised to shrink by 12 percent. And Taiwan’s will go down by an estimated eight percent. The U.S. population, by contrast, is on track to increase by 12 percent.

People—human numbers and the potential they embody—are essential to state power. All else being equal, countries with more people have more workers, bigger economies, and a larger pool of potential soldiers. As a result, growing countries find it much easier to augment power and extend influence abroad. Shrinking ones, by contrast, struggle to maintain their sway.

East Asian countries will be no exception: the realm of the possible for its states will be radically constricted by the coming population drop. They will find it harder to generate economic growth, accumulate investments, and build wealth; to fund their social safety nets; and to mobilize their armed forces. They will face mounting pressure to cope with domestic or internal challenges. Accordingly, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan will be prone to look inward. China, meanwhile, will face a growing—and likely unbridgeable—gap between its ambitions and capabilities.

Read it all.

In the coming decades, all of East Asia’s main states will experience an era of depopulation, making it more difficult for them to generate economic growth, mobilize armed forces, and extend influence abroad, writes Nicholas Eberstadt.https://t.co/uELJupGylq

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) May 8, 2024

Walking past empty pews and stained-glass windows, the Rev. Victor Cyrus-Franklin, pastor of Inglewood First United Methodist Church in Inglewood, Calif., talked about how housing prices were threatening his flock.

Congregants were being priced out of the neighborhood, he said. Many of those who remained were too burdened by rent to give to the church.

As Mr. Cyrus-Franklin spoke, a 78-year-old man named Bill Dorsey was a few yards away in an outdoor corridor that led to the chapel, amid tarps and piles of clothes. Mr. Dorsey’s makeshift residence, which the church tolerates, is one of several homeless encampments that sit in and around Inglewood First’s property, which is in a neighborhood of modest homes and small apartment buildings near Los Angeles International Airport.

“We know their stories and we know how hard it is to find housing,” Mr. Cyrus-Franklin said.

Read it all.

What Would Jesus Do? Tackle the Housing Crisis, Say Some Congregations. https://t.co/Hggl8Ggk1a #PMMilestone #Projectmanager #Projectmanagement #PMP #PMOT #constructionmanager #planning #businessplanning #management #projectmanagementtemplates #construction #engineering #PMO… pic.twitter.com/sXhuJQ5kyf

— Hassan Eliwa, PhD (@hassan_khe) April 28, 2024

Lord God, who in thy compassion didst grant to the Lady Julian many revelations of thy nurturing and sustaining love: Move our hearts, like hers, to seek thee above all things, for in giving us thyself thou givest us all; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Church of England celebrates Julian of Norwich, Spiritual Writer, c.1417

Image: Stained glass depiction in the Parish Church of St Andrew the Apostle, Holt, Norfolk. Photo: David from Colorado Springs, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons pic.twitter.com/RcWCUF5QZl

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) May 8, 2024

O Almighty God, who hast created the earth for man, and man for thy glory: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and be mindful of thy covenant; that both the earth may yield her increase, and the good seed of thy Word may bring forth abundantly, to the glory of thy holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Guten Morgen 🌼🌱🌼🌱🌼🌱
🌼🌱🌼🌱 Schönen Mittwoch! pic.twitter.com/fGV65A6UPx

— Brigitta Neurauter (@BrigittaNeurau2) May 8, 2024

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

–Ephesians 1:1-10

Robin Hood's Bay ♥️ pic.twitter.com/fwx5RiY8Di

— Visit North Yorkshire (@visitnorthyork) May 8, 2024

Hospitals in eight states are at risk of running out of cash after their owner filed for bankruptcy, potentially pitting the chain’s creditors against regulators, who raced to address concerns about safety.

Steward Health Care System became one of the largest hospital bankruptcies in decades when it filed for chapter 11 early Monday. The chain, which operates 30 hospitals, has been in dire financial straits for months, failing to pay bills and burning through emergency loans.

State regulators are worried about Steward, whose physicians provide care for 2.2 million patients a year. In one Steward hospital, bats prompted the evacuation of an intensive-care unit. At others, traveling nurses left after not being paid, and executives have swapped equipment to fill gaps.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Hospitals in eight states were at risk of running out of cash after their owner, Steward Health Care, filed for bankruptcy https://t.co/QM4tFobLr0 https://t.co/QM4tFobLr0

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 6, 2024

Here was an assembly of people with a shared commitment to finding practical ways to encourage heavenly music in cathedrals and parish churches across the land; and, queuing for tea in a Regency building suffused in light and beauty, a dean, a precentor, or a director of music had the same mission and purpose as someone running a church choir that might have dwindled to single figures, but that remained a cherished expression of the divine.

The Archbishop of York put his finger on it. He was upbeat, urging his listeners never to take for granted the “precious and beautiful treasure” that was church music. He declared, in a talk, “Tuning Forks and Orchestras”, that he didn’t personally take up the offer of a tuning fork when leading responses — “I prefer to choose a note myself” — provoking from this assembly a mock intake of breath.

But his point was that the unifying single note of the tuning fork was the will of God. Those assembled were his orchestra. And whether they played trombone or kazoo, violin or spoons, they were called to sing God’s praise “for our own day . . . our own churches . . . our own communities”. The Church was seeing a renaissance of music-making in all its diversity, he suggested, thus demonstrating the gospel to be “good and true but also beautiful”.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

The Church was seeing a renaissance of music-making in all its diversity, @CottrellStephen suggested, thus demonstrating the gospel to be “good and true but also beautiful”.https://t.co/eliaNeKNWs

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) May 6, 2024

Researchers have identified a genetic trait that makes it virtually “guaranteed” a person will get Alzheimer’s, in a discovery that may pave the way to better targeted treatments and earlier diagnoses.

A study found that having two copies of a specific gene makes it almost inevitable that a person will eventually develop symptoms.

Experts said the discovery may help the development of targeted treatments and could enable genetic testing and earlier interventions.

More than 900,000 people have dementia in the UK, the majority of whom have Alzheimer’s. There is no cure for the disease, although treatments have been found to slow its progress.

Read it all (subscription).

@thetimes reports researchers have identified a genetic trait that virtually ‘guarantees’ Alzheimer’s disease.

Huge news!

Understanding more about causes can lead to new and better ways of diagnosing, treating and caring for people in the future. (1/3)https://t.co/NpTyIAt7Pg

— Alzheimer's Society (@alzheimerssoc) May 7, 2024

The Social Security and Medicare Trustees just released their annual reports on the financial status of the Social Security and Medicare programs. The Trustees project that both the Social Security and Medicare trust funds are within 12 years of insolvency and in need of trust fund solutions. Specifically, they project the Social Security Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund will run out of reserves in 2033, the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund will become insolvent by 2036, and the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) trust fund will remain solvent over the 75-year projection window. Assuming revenue is reallocated in the years between OASI and SSDI insolvency, the theoretically combined Social Security trust funds will be insolvent by 2035.

In other words, Social Security’s retirement trust fund will reach insolvency when today’s 58-year-olds reach the normal retirement age and today’s youngest retirees turn 71. At that point, all beneficiaries will face a 21 percent across-the-board benefit cut. On theoretically combined basis, all beneficiaries will face a 17 percent cut in 2035. Over the full 75-year projection window, Social Security’s combined funds faces an actuarial imbalance of 3.50 percent of taxable payroll, which is the equivalent of 1.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or 20 percent of all future benefits.

Read it all.

🚨 ANALYSIS: The latest #Medicare Trustees' projections show:

➤ The HI Trust Fund will run out of reserves in 12 years, and faces a large shortfall;
➤ Total Medicare costs will grow rapidly;
➤ Medicare's outlook has largely improved since last year, but might be far worse… pic.twitter.com/G7fyrvCILX

— CRFB.org (@BudgetHawks) May 7, 2024

As Vladimir Putin persists in his bloody campaign to conquer Ukraine, the Russian leader is directing an equally momentous transformation at home — re-engineering his country into a regressive, militarized society that views the West as its mortal enemy.

Putin’s inauguration on Tuesday for a fifth term will not only mark his 25-year-long grip on power but also showcase Russia’s shift into what pro-Kremlin commentators call a “revolutionary power,” set on upending the global order, making its own rules, and demanding that totalitarian autocracy be respected as a legitimate alternative to democracy in a world redivided by big powers into spheres of influence.

“Russians live in a wholly new reality,” Dmitri Trenin, a pro-Kremlin analyst, wrote in reply to questions about an essay in which he argued that Russia’s anti-Western shift was “more radical and far-reaching” than anything anticipated when Putin invaded Ukraine but also “a relatively minor element of the wider transformation which is going on in Russia’s economy, polity, society, culture, values, and spiritual and intellectual life.”

Read it all.

Almighty God, Lord of Heaven and earth, in whom we live and move and have our being; who doest good unto all men, making thy sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sending rain on the just and on the unjust: Favourably behold us thy servants, who call upon thy name, and send us thy blessing from heaven, in giving us fruitful seasons, and satisfying us with food and gladness, that both our hearts and mouths may be continually filled with thy praise, and we may ever give thanks to thee in thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Q: What river runs through Luton?

A: The River Lea.

The clue’s in the name; Luton = Lea Town. And here is that wonderful waterway, at nearby Wheathampstead. pic.twitter.com/ljChfnyI9Y

— Mouse Bishop of St Albans (@MouseBishop) May 7, 2024

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time.

–1 Timothy 2:1-6

I can't get enough of bluebells. They come and go too quick. pic.twitter.com/tlhT1v9L6o

— colimac (@colimac1) May 7, 2024

A Response to the Primates Meeting in Rome

Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, Chairman of the Gafcon Primates Council pic.twitter.com/6RodpHUpkd

— Gafcon (@GafconGBE) May 6, 2024

You may find the link to the text of the full letter there.

It was not so long ago that the hottest topic in American politics was the ballooning national debt. In 1992 Ross Perot had the best showing for a third-party candidate in a presidential election since 1912 on a platform of fiscal probity. Two years later the Republicans seized control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, with the first item in their “Contract with America” being a pledge to balance the budget. Bill Clinton easily won re-election two years after that, in part by negotiating spending cuts with Republicans that led to America’s first surpluses in a generation.

At the start of this fiscal hullabaloo, in 1992, America’s net debt amounted to 46% of gdp. Today it has reached 96% of gdp. For the past five years, under first Donald Trump and then Joe Biden, the federal deficit has averaged 9% of gdp a year. The International Monetary Fund says that America’s borrowing is so vast it is endangering global financial stability. s&p and Fitch, two credit-rating agencies, have already downgraded America’s debt; a third, Moody’s, is threatening to.

Yet concern about deficits and debt has all but vanished from American politics. Voters seem relaxed about the subject, which barely registers in pollsters’ tallies of the biggest problems facing the country. Although Messrs Biden and Trump both tut-tut about the dire fiscal outlook from time to time, neither has made improving it a centrepiece of his campaign. On the contrary, both would in all likelihood add to America’s debts, by spending more in Mr Biden’s case and by taxing less in Mr Trump’s. Neither candidate dares breathe a word about trimming spending on health care and pensions for the elderly, which account for the biggest share of the federal budget and are set to grow still bigger as the population ages. Yet a fiscal reckoning is coming, whether the candidates admit it or not—and given the politicians’ denial, it may take an unexpected form.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

In the 1990s the hottest topic in American politics was the ballooning national debt. In 1992 this amounted to 46% of GDP; today it has reached 96%. Yet Joe Biden and Donald Trump are all but ignoring this https://t.co/S3QseVdONa 👇

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) May 5, 2024

“It may be that God is destroying the Church of England and who am I to stand in his way?

“The real tragedy would be if, in this traumatic, confusing time, if all of the evangelicals and the broader Orthodox group fall out with each other… if we can bear with each other in our different strategies, then that will be what we need (in whatever the future in England is going to be), whether that’s within the Church of England or outside.

Charlie Skrine, the senior minister of All Souls Langham Place London, says his church (and other evangelical churches in the UK) are in a world of pain at the moment over the growing split in the Church of England.

Mr Skrine, who is speaking at the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion Conference in Sydney, says All Souls is united in it’s commitment to biblical teaching on sexual ethics, but divided on what the best response should be.

Read and listen to it all.

European intelligence agencies have warned their governments that Russia is plotting violent acts of sabotage across the continent as it commits to a course of permanent conflict with the west. 

Russia has already begun to more actively prepare covert bombings, arson attacks and damage to infrastructure on European soil, directly and via proxies, with little apparent concern about causing civilian fatalities, intelligence officials believe. 

While the Kremlin’s agents have a long history of such operations — and launched attacks sporadically in Europe in recent years — evidence is mounting of a more aggressive and concerted effort, according to assessments from three different European countries shared with the Financial Times. 

Read it all (registration or subscription).

"Russia has already begun to more actively prepare covert bombings, arson attacks and damage to infrastructure on European soil, directly and via proxies, with little apparent concern about causing civilian fatalities, intelligence officials believe." https://t.co/tnk6bFTII5

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) May 6, 2024

Consumers are voting with their wallets—and some of America’s best-known food brands are losing.

Coffee drinkers are leaving Starbucks’s loyalty program. Chips Ahoy cookies are lingering longer on grocery-store shelves. Fewer customers are ordering at fast-food drive-throughs and kiosks, pressuring companies such as Wendy’s and McDonald’s.

For about three years following the Covid-19 pandemic, food companies pushed through a series of sharp price increases, saying they needed to recoup their own rising costs—and that consumers would adjust to stick with their favorite brands. As a result, the portion of U.S. consumers’ income spent on food has reached the highest level in three decades.

Now, some consumers are hitting their limits. Restaurant chains and some food manufacturers are reporting sliding sales or slowing growth that they attribute to consumers’ inability—or refusal—to pay prices that are in some cases a third higher than prepandemic times.

Read it all.

“I’m done.” Consumers, fed up with rising prices at restaurants and supermarkets, pull back from Chips Ahoy cookies, Starbucks coffee and other big food brands. https://t.co/FiKOPd0u4G

— WSJ Business News (@WSJbusiness) May 5, 2024

God our redeemer,
you have delivered us from the power of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of your Son:
grant, that as by his death he has recalled us to life,
so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

There are many high roads and passes in the Dale, but perhaps the best known is this one. Learn more 👇https://t.co/lhefQzs6H2

📸 Buttertubs Pass | #MondayMotivation #YorkshireDales pic.twitter.com/0Eaygx9vuR

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) May 6, 2024

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”

–Matthew 13:1-9

It is a special thing to climb up Glastonbury Tor in the dense fog and as you get to the top it clears so that you can see for miles around. Trees peeping through the mist as you listen to the birdsong. This is the view from the top looking down towards the Somerset levels. pic.twitter.com/3px2x4CTZB

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) May 6, 2024

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Am fore bendigedig….mae fel petai ni uwchben y cymylau bore ‘ma👌🏼😃

What a fabulous morning…it’s as if we’re above the clouds this morning👌🏼😃 pic.twitter.com/4ajROkVVPz

— Aled Hall 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@AledHall) May 5, 2024

Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves[a] of the sea,
the Lord on high is mighty!

Thy decrees are very sure;
holiness befits thy house,
O Lord, for evermore.

–Psalm 93:4-5

Oft ist es einfacher, nichts zu sagen und nichts zu tun, um niemanden zu stören und keinen Fehler zu machen.
Aber das ist auf Dauer nicht gut.
Jeder von uns ist einzigartig und es wäre schade, unsere Talente und Ideen zu verstecken, nur weil sie vielleicht nicht allen gefallen. pic.twitter.com/tdJZgpHmyH

— Brigitta Neurauter (@BrigittaNeurau2) May 5, 2024

O Lord, who through spiritual discipline didst strengthen thy servant Monnica to persevere in offering her love and prayers and tears for the conversion of her husband and of Augustine their son: Deepen our devotion, we beseech thee, and use us in accordance with thy will to bring others, even our own kindred, to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever.

Saint Monica was an early North African Christian saint and the mother of Augustine of Hippo. A reprimand from a servant paved the way for her conversion to Christianity and she is honored for her outstanding Christian virtues. Her feast day is May 4th. https://t.co/fmk4bmhfqD pic.twitter.com/koZPa7WYzf

— Trivia Encyclopedia (@edpearce080759) May 3, 2024

Almighty God, Who in Thy wisdom hast so ordered our earthly life that we needs must walk by faith and not by sight; grant us such faith in Thee that, amidst all things that pass our understanding, we may believe in Thy fatherly care, and ever be strengthened by the assurance that underneath are the everlasting arms; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)

Good morning Twitter pals , wishing you all a wonderful weekend 👋❤️🍀📸 … Misty in the valley at home this morning … #landscapephotography #photography #StormHour #ThePhotoHour @OPOTY #sunrise #Devon #fujifilm35mmf2 #rural #skies #trees pic.twitter.com/dySylt8sDd

— Gary James (@Gazpics76) May 4, 2024

“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.

“Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

–Matthew 7:13-21

Josi Boy on a Walk
(Eleven-months-old)#ChocolateLab #springflowers #AlmostHeaven #WestVirginia #Highlands #AdoptDontShop pic.twitter.com/WotYM2daBK

— Thomas R Fletcher (@ThomasRFletcher) May 4, 2024

As so often, McGrath brings his understanding of the natural sciences into creative dialogue with theology. Although the subject matter may seem to be very different, he carefully notes the ways in which theologians and scientists share similar patterns of thought. Among the most important of these is that doctrines, like scientific theorems, are never disengaged, unquestionable abstractions that sort out all our problems for us. Rather, in both fields, the search is for the best explanation that allows for complex and sometimes competing perspectives to remain in view; for a map which draws disparate but interdependent elements into unity without eliding their individual complexity.

The highlight of the book is perhaps the final chapter in which these insights crystallise around a discussion of the doctrine of salvation, which functions as a case study for the approach of the work as a whole. McGrath concentrates on four metaphors for salvation: cultic sacrifice, restoration of wholeness, liberation from bondage, and adoption into a family. There is no single univocal theory of salvation; far less is it an intellectual puzzle. Rather, the New Testament gives us a diversity of images, which, none the less, can helpfully be mapped and woven together, as they are in the author’s expert hands.

Read it all.

In this free chapter from "The Nature of Christian Doctrine: Its Origins, Development, and Function", @alisteremcgrath offers an extended critical assessment of George Lindbeck’s Nature of Doctrine (1984).

Read now: https://t.co/LbLhlQ9uL7 pic.twitter.com/CCmQJDt66w

— OUPReligion (@OUPReligion) April 6, 2024

Of the 34 people in the photograph published by the ACO, six are not the primate of any province; one is assumed to be a representative of the Archbishop Michael Curry from TEC, who is unwell; three others are representatives of each of the ACO, the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO); one is the Archbishop of York; and the sixth is as yet unidentified!

That leaves 28 primates present- and two of those come from the same province – that of New Zealand, Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia

Accordingly, only 27 out of the 42 provinces appear to be represented in Rome – a third have stayed away.

Read it all.

Why is Welby so keen to take the photo – but less keen to let you know who is there? What's the big secret?https://t.co/GGEN3oa57S

— Anglican Futures (@AnglicanFutures) May 1, 2024