I remember being 15, give or take a year, and walking to school with my best friend. In that 10 minute journey, I remember bombarding him with what I considered to be bulletproof arguments for the existence of God, pulled directly from the first couple of chapters of Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for a…
Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn – Review
While I’ve written about board games before, this is my first ever post dedicated to a single board game review. Tabletop gaming of one sort or another has been a hobby of mine since the first year of university (about 4 and a half years ago!) so I thought it was about time I had a…
The Books I Read in 2017
In the past I’ve attempted to review all of the books I’ve read in a year, but I’ll be honest with you – that takes a long time. It’s much easier just to list them like I have here, with some brief summary details, and let you look up the ones that interest you. I find most…
Me and DC in 2017
2017 is the year that I truly fell for DC comics, to the extent that I would say I actively prefer reading them over Marvel comics. Although I subscribed to the Batman and Green Arrow titles from DC Rebirth in 2016, it was in 2017 that almost all collected editions I bought were DC, that…
My COMPLETE Ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Infinity War is on the horizon. This immense crossover will undoubtedly be the culmination of every Marvel Cinematic Universe film so far, so I decided that now would be a great time to release my definitive ranking for all those films. This was a tricky task, and so that you can see how my rankings compare…
Christians Need Religion
This is not the first time I have written on the false choice Christians in my circles are told to make, again and again, between ‘religion’ and ‘relationship.’ In 2016 I wrote a similar post in which I argued that this false dichotomy has caused charismatics/evangelical Christians to push away traditional rituals and practices that millions…
The Board Game Revolution
I want to take a break from my usual fair to talk about one of my main hobbies: board games. I’m not just talking Monopoly and Articulate (though both are great games), I’m talking about games across a multitude of genres, with innovative mechanics, varying levels of strategy and, often, beautiful artwork and compelling back-stories….
Mark’s Jesus: the Powerful Son of God
As I said in the first post in this series, on Matthew’s presentation of Jesus, an author’s introduction of a character tells us a lot about what they want us to think about that person. My earlier post looked at how Matthew introduced Jesus – emphasising his authority as a Jewish Davidic Messiah, king and…
Theology isn’t scary
Here’s a question that stumps me: why is theology seen as scary or dangerous in some parts of Christian culture? I’ve genuinely heard the word said in exaggerated whispers, or speakers warning congregations that they’re about to embark on a more ‘theological’ section of the sermon. The implication is pretty clear: theology is beyond the…
Worship through work
A few weeks ago I listened to theologian and former pastor Dr Matthew Kaemynck discuss a theology of work that completely transformed my way of thinking about it. I have been working on and off, full-time or part-time, for about 8 years now, from starting with a few hours a week dropping ads through people’s…
Matthew’s Jesus: the Jewish King
First impressions are important. They don’t tell the whole story, but it’s hard to move too far away from your initial perception of a new person. It follows that how a character is introduced to you in a book is also incredibly important. You can learn a lot about what the author is trying to…
What Christians can learn from the Romans
This last Monday I was in Pompeii, the Roman town whose occupants were famously wiped out by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD. There are countless interesting things in this well-preserved ancient town, but something that struck me on reflection was the recognition of the gods in pretty much everything. The main forum (town centre…
Brightest Day 