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Welcome

Welcome to my blog!  I've been toying with blogging for a little while now and have finally, with a little bit of encouragement from my friend Jenny, gotten round to it. I currently divide my time between reading, thinking, and writing a PhD (on Karl Barth's account of human responsibility, since you ask :-)) and my position as a trainee Anglican priest in Nottingham, UK. I'm interested  in issues in theology and ethics, as well as church and culture, and decided I would blog some thoughts and see how the conversation goes.

The name comes from the German for 'theological reflection' but I used it here because I particularly like the theological nuance of 'Nachdenken' which (as Barth points out) literally means 'thinking after', in this case 'thinking after God' - something that all theological reflection must do if it's to bear witness to the priority of God's grace. Anyway, this is all a bit of an experiement for me, so, welcome...and let the conversation begin...

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Paul Nimmo on Schleiermacher

Once again it's been a while since I blogged anything, but I thought I would flag-up this clip from the increasingly successful Modern Theology  Timeline created by Tim Hull at St John's College Nottingham, UK. This is a recent interview Tim did with the Edinburgh based scholar Paul Nimmo on Friedrich Schleiermacher. It is a really good interview, and will go a long way to rehabilitating FDES for those who mis-read Barth and reject him outright. Happy watching!

Floor tiles, theology, and divine interruption

Today I have had quite a cultured day: we had a family trip down to the Tate Gallery at Liverpool's Albert Dock. It was a welcome relief after a long and difficult week. One of the exhibits at the gallery got me thinking - as I guess art should - and also got me chuckling. Finally it got me theologizing. The exhibit was this: It is, as you can see, a series of floor tiles laid out in a square pattern. It's called "144 Magnesium Square" by American artist  Carl Andre (b.1935). If you are thinking that there must be more to it, you are wrong. That's it. Tiles laid out and cemented to the floor (not exactly very well either - my dad, who is a professional tiler, would not be pleased). And that's what got me thinking and chuckling. The inevitable question to ask when you witness something as plain and ordinary as floor tiles is "is this art?" For many people viewing the exhibit alongside me today, it plainly wasn't: they were saying so quite aud