Tag: bible

Would a good judge (of character or anything else) be necessarily a good – or even just – person?

December 13, 2025

To be good at judging the character of others clearly indicates some skill, knowledge and values (developed to a high standard) in the activity of ‘judging’ – and in this case of ‘judging character’). But what loaded words these are! Being, for instance, a ‘judgmental’ person is rarely seen as the quality of a good … More Would a good judge (of character or anything else) be necessarily a good – or even just – person?

‘Be near me’: A good neighbour is one of those near to me who are willing to be still closer.

October 7, 2025

‘Be near me’: A good neighbour is one of those near to me who are willing to be still closer. I will keep the English spelling of neighbour that is not used in the prompt question, that question having come from the United States who dropped the ‘u’ in words ending ‘-our’ long ago. However, … More ‘Be near me’: A good neighbour is one of those near to me who are willing to be still closer.

Though I do not, some queer people need God to validate their being and their capacity for love! It has taken me decades to understand and accept that. This is a blog on Harry Tanner (2025) ‘The Queer Thing About Sin: Why the West Came to Hate Queer Love’; a book about a lot more than than that however.

September 29, 2025

Though I do not, some queer people need God to validate their being and their capacity for love! It has taken me decades to understand and accept that. This is a blog on Harry Tanner (2025) The Queer Thing About Sin: Why the West Came to Hate Queer Love, London, Bloomsbury Continuum. It’s a book … More Though I do not, some queer people need God to validate their being and their capacity for love! It has taken me decades to understand and accept that. This is a blog on Harry Tanner (2025) ‘The Queer Thing About Sin: Why the West Came to Hate Queer Love’; a book about a lot more than than that however.

Having is less than Being and Being is less than Doing!

September 27, 2025

I have always felt the words of the New Testament contained the truths by which we could and perhaps ought to live – and continue to respect them whilst being in a state of absolute non-belief in the existence of a god, or gods. Recently as I thought about this question I again came across … More Having is less than Being and Being is less than Doing!

Do we understand that  ideals that are constructed, often out of resistant and crude raw materials, are more significant than our hope in there being something transcendent in which to believe. This is a blog on the making of angels in art.

March 18, 2025

When Adam in Book VIII of Milton’s Paradise Lost gets the chance to quiz the Archangel Raphael (man to man, as it were) he has one thing on his mind. He wants to know how to sort out the confusion he has about the satisfaction he feels as a result of loving Eve, created for … More Do we understand that  ideals that are constructed, often out of resistant and crude raw materials, are more significant than our hope in there being something transcendent in which to believe. This is a blog on the making of angels in art.

‘Ecce Homo!’ To ‘have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, …’. He changed me.

December 9, 2024

Caravaggio’s Ecce Homo (1605) available via: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_homo Let Wikipedia have the first word of explanation of my choice of title: Ecce homo! (this links to the full Wikipedia article). And let this happen before I justify, as a non-believer and atheist, the choice of the Christian tradition (and in particular, that of the High Anglican … More ‘Ecce Homo!’ To ‘have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, …’. He changed me.