On Wednesday, 19 October 2011, Andrew Sloane of Morling College gave the 2011 John Saunders Annual Lecture, presenting a biblical and theological framework that justifies advocacy as a legitimate component of Christian involvement in the world, calling on ‘power’ to be used justly for the poor and disadvantaged.

Why would restoring a church have caused Muslims to be enraged? Why would church renovations be a topic for a Friday sermon in a mosque? Why would Egyptian military stand by and do nothing? Or run over protestors? Why was the attack denied and covered over by the media? The answers are theological: they involve Islamic political theology.

“Let’s you and him fight!” The old comic-book trope is good advice for bystanders as Mark Galli’s God Wins counters Rob Bell and his book Love Wins. The two are respected evangelical leaders, an editor and a pastor, who attract headlines and readerships as they debate “Heaven, Hell” and the “Good News.”

It is Jesus, Christians are privileged to confess, who is coming to establish His Kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven. With all our neighbours, we live as the bearers of His image. Despite continual compromise and our total failure to live in obedience to His rule, we are still called to give cogent expression to this Image in how we serve our neighbours with justice. Among all the many things we are called to do in this life, it is a privilege to give political expression to the patience and mercy of the Lord in our lives as citizens.

Reflections on the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution.

Nurturing Justice 13 (2011) June 21st – Comments on debates over the advocacy for same-sex marriage – with links to earlier articles on substantive theo-political issues around this debate

Quite simply, this is one of the most profound books I have ever read. In a world where we are seeing a plethora of natural disasters, many of which are the type forecast by climate scientists to be what we can expect more of in the future, Fretheim’s excellent volume is timely indeed.

In recent weeks a series of incidents in Egypt give evidence that, post-Mubarak, the Copts are being pressured to assume the time-warped status of dhimmis, a captive people in their own native lands, whose status is to be tightly circumscribed by traditional sharia law.

Mark Durie, a member of the ETHOS Islam Think Tank, reflects on the relationship between popular movements for democracy in the Middle East and the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’

Gordon Preece reflects on our identity as ‘boat people’, both in a biblical sense and historically in Australia