The most basic definition of mimesis is to mimic or imitate. In this essay we’ll explore three levels of mimesis and how they relate to Jesus’ imitation of the Father and our imitation of God. A few years ago we visited friends in Haarlem in the Netherlands. They knew we loved art and organized a…
Many of you know us because we met during our ministry travels, or you have connected via youtube or our online academy. But few know what we are up to when we don’t travel. When we decided to make Hermanus a home-base from which to minister, Mary-Anne began working with children in a local community….
Were humans created mortal or immortal? Two recent events pressed this question upon me. First, I booked out some time to focus on the writing of a book, part of which considered the Genesis creation texts. The second event was unplanned… … then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed…
In this session, I will attempt to summarize what we have done over the past eight sessions. Remember, we are looking at how we give our personal stories meaning by interpreting them in the light of bigger stories, or meta-narratives. By the end, I hope you will see why this is relevant to your life/story….
Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament (sky above) proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to…
Observing the way in which nature co-exist, the flow of life and death, seems to reveal a designed harmony. But what is not immediately observable is the tens of thousands of species that went extinct in order to produce the current order. And so the design we observe is not the usual way we would…
Evolution is a subject that evokes strong emotions for some, but no matter what your stand is, I trust you will find the next few sessions informative and exciting. Even those of you who are not really that interested in the topic of evolution, I think you will be pleasantly surprised about the theological possibilities…
Fall or Birth? Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked (3:7) Shortly before we read that they were both naked, but unashamed. Now they are naked and they know it. So a sense of lack-of-being, allows desire to be twisted. Instead of finding fulness of being in relationship…
Serpent Symbolism Genesis 3 begins by introducing us to the serpent: “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” Modern Christianity almost exclusively sees serpent symbolism as evil. Consequently, the serpent of Genesis 3 is identified as Satan without much further thought. However, the authors…
The Boundary of Meaning. The way we interpret the Genesis origin stories often begins with the question: What went wrong? Life is not always what we would like it to be, and God does not seem to intervene as much as we would like him to and neither does He bother to explain Himself. And…