Flourishing and Fragmentation. Ministry in all seasons – including Covid

Miroslav Volf and Matthew Croasmun, in their book For the Life of the World. Theology that makes a difference, articulate a vision for a relevant Gospel-centred theology in this century. Written before Coronavirus, it nevertheless contains much that is applicable to our situation. For them, theology must be measured by its ability to promote “human flourishing”, in a holistic sense, in all areas of life.

However, realistic about our fallen world, and the as-yet unconsummated nature of God’s kingdom, Volf and Croasmun recognise that every empirical realisation of the gospel is also “fragmented”. In this half-time, this overlap, of the ages, our attempts at living out the new creation will be flawed, inadequate, and partial (1 Co.13.9-12) - although no less significant for all that.

The Mysticism of Covid

This week, I cycled through the deserted streets and squares of London’s central university district. The recently opening stores, with their queues, had made me forget how abandoned the city still is. I talked with one coffee shop worker, fearing closure; with their usual clientele absent – professors, students and office workers.

White Consciousness and Black Lives Matter

(My friend Nathan McGuire asked me to write this for his blog. You can see the article there - https://www.nathanlmcguire.com/blog/white-consciousness-and-black-lives-matter)

It could have been expected that the worldwide Covid pandemic would produce worldwide socio-political convulsions. The health crisis has brought to the surface deep underlying inequalities and injustices. In particular, of course, we see this in the unrest and uprisings sparked by the killing of a black man in Minneapolis. In one sense, nothing unusual; we’ve seen many of these. But coming during the tensions caused by inefficient and unjust responses to Coronavirus, it exploded into a global reaction.