Category: Blogs

The Samaritans

As a teacher you learn loads from your students. A few years ago, one of my students, decided that they wanted to look at nationalism and the New Testament. After some discussion, she decided that examining the Jew–Samaritan relationship would be useful for her project. Little did we know what new things her research would […]

Disability

I write a monthly article for Spectrum Magazine, an Adventist journal and website featuring Adventist and Christian viewpoints and news. This month I wrote some thoughts on the way the field of disability studies has informed biblical studies. I am by no means an expert on the topic (that honour goes to my friend Isaac […]

Positionality

I write a monthly article for Spectrum Magazine, an Adventist journal and website featuring Adventist and Christian viewpoints and news. This month I wrote on the concept of Positionality, which is basically the idea that everyone is positioned towards what they read and view: The idea behind it is simple: I am not neutral, and […]

I Was a Refugee

I’m from a family of refugees. My father fled cold, post-war Holland for the promise of a better future in South Africa. My grandmother’s family is descended from the Huguenots, who fled to Holland centuries ago. On my mother’s side we are Afrikaners. In the seventeenth century we fled from Holland to Cape Town, and […]

Textual Criticism or What Works?

Recently, an article by on the Guardian popped up on my facebook newsfeed, entitled Cloud Atlas ‘astonishingly different’ in US and UK editions. Just beneath that you could read ‘Academic discovers dramatically altered stretches of narrative while researching a paper on David Mitchell’s bestselling novel’. This immediately drew my attention as it is something close […]

Of monsters and men

Monsters are hot. It seems that networks are producing more and more monster shows: Penny Dreadful, The Walking Dead, and The Vampire Diaries, just to name a few. Monsters have escaped the fetters of the horror genre and broken free into blockbusters. Even classical works are being rewritten by mixing monsters with century’s old texts, […]

Utopia is Awesome

[This blog post is part of series on metamodernism and awesomeness. If you don’t know what metamodernism is, read this first, otherwise you may be left in the dark. I’m developing some thoughts here, and reactions are more than welcome.] Pete is an adventist. Pete believes in heaven. Pete believes Jesus lives there now, and will come soon to […]

Taking care of the earth

The meaning of life, for a Christian, is taking care of the earth. God’s primary wish for humankind is being a faithful steward to the earth and everything on it. Sadly, when we talk about stewardship we often talk about money and tithes. But what’s up with the world? When I was at Newbold College I was […]

Gastblog: Bijbel in Gewone Taal

Met enig regelmaat schrijf ik een gastblog voor het Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap. In de veertigdagentijd vroegen zij of ik iets wilde schrijven over het evangelie van Johannes. Het is altijd een uitdaging om iets te vermakelijks schrijven voor zo’n breed lezerspubliek, maar de volgende zinnen uit Johannes 16 gaven mij goede inspiratie: ‘Nu spreek ik nog […]

God with Us

I wrote this blog for the One project’s daily challenge, they published it on December 30th, 2014.  A couple of months ago my wife moved to another country. Don’t worry, she didn’t leave me — at least not permanently. She received a job offer we could not refuse, and for the last months we’ve been […]

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