March 20, 2017
The Dutch elections were not the only show in town last week in The Netherlands. While a large gaggle of foreign journalists focused on Geert Wilders’ pending populist victory which never came, several events in Holland last week reflected on Martin Luther’s far-reaching upheaval of Europe’s established order five hundred years ago. On Thursday, when […]
March 13, 2017
Concerned with how some politicians have been using the Christian tradition as a stick to chase migrants away from Europe during the Dutch elections, two theologians recently drafted a manifesto now signed by many other theologians, church leaders, publishers, broadcasters and prominent believers. Janneke Stegeman, ‘theologian of the fatherland’, and Alain Verheij, self-styled ‘theologian of […]
March 6, 2017
FEAR NOT! said Jesus during his ministry on earth, urging his disciples and followers to trust in the Heavenly Father. Fear not! said Pope John Paul II to a million-strong crowd in communist Warsaw in 1979, and sparked a spiritual revolution which led to the downfall of communism a decade later. May your choices reflect […]
February 27, 2017
Fear of populism is causing our European political leaders to backtrack on promises and betray the declared European values of solidarity, human dignity and equality all across the continent. Even without being in government, populist parties are already shaping policies and platforms of mainstream parties who fear losing votes. Populists don’t need to win power […]
February 20, 2017
What can the heritage of plucky little Malta, smaller than the Isle of Man, teach us in Europe as we face our current challenges? This question frames the next State of Europe Forum, to be held in Malta’s capital Valletta on May 7 & 8. A Europe needing hope, healing and a reminder of the […]
February 13, 2017
Marriage Week started last Tuesday in sixteen European nations and ends tomorrow, Valentine’s Day. Richard Kane, founder of Marriage Week, says if you’re fortunate enough to be in a marriage relationship, you should look after it. Starting in the United Kingdom twenty years ago, Marriage Week encourages married couples of all ages to invest time […]
February 6, 2017
Years ago I took my life in my hands travelling by public bus from Nairobi to Kitale in the north of Kenya. As we passed several wrecks of buses at the side of the road, I began to wonder the wisdom of my choice of transport. Hopefully the situation has changed since, but then it […]
January 30, 2017
Given the numbers of Jesus-followers supporting populist politicians on both sides of the Atlantic, it would be easy to assume that Jesus was a populist in his day. In one sense, he was; if you take the dictionary definition of the word as meaning ‘support for the concerns of ordinary people’. Matthew (9:36) tells us […]
January 23, 2017
The world has entered a new era with Friday’s inauguration in Washington. Only time can tell what sort of era that will be. Are we witnessing the start of a conservative nationalistic renewal leading to moral and economic recovery, as many enthusiastic evangelical presidential supporters believe? Or the birth of the Banana Republic of the […]
January 16, 2017
‘Luther’ and ‘Populism’ are two words we will encounter frequently this year. In this 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation, populists are expected to influence elections in some fifteen European nations. Inevitably, the claim will be repeated that Luther was a populist. So, was he? That depends on what we mean by ‘populism’. […]
January 9, 2017
How can we bring hope into a year that offers few prospects for optimism? A daunting task seems to await us, given the following scenarios: • growing populist influence across Europe and some 15 elections this year in European countries, including France (March), the Netherlands (March) and Germany (September?), promoting politics of fear, blame, polarisation, […]
January 2, 2017
Spectacular displays of fireworks welcomed the New Year in yesterday around the world from Auckland’s Skytower to London’s Big Ben, a tradition originally believed to chase away demons. If only ghost-busting was that easy. For New Year predictions include the return of the old demons that have haunted Europe’s past, spirits unfamiliar to unsuspecting postwar […]
