Reflections of a Toaster
Tony Watkins' blog on life, work, books, contemporary culture and who knows what else.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Nehemiah 5
An MP3 recording of my most recent sermon in Above Bar Church is now available to
download from this site. It's on Nehemiah 5, which is about the people of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile trying to rebuild Jerusalem's walls. Having faced significant opposition from neighbouring rulers, Nehemiah found himself dealing with some serious complaints about some of his fellow Jews. Nehemiah, as usual, tackles the problem head on, and in doing so illuminates some major problems of our own world, in particular slavery.
The day I preached this sermon, the
Sunday Telegraph published an article on sex slaves in Britain:
Revealed: The gangs busing sex slaves between towns (by David Harrison, 21 May 2006). How can we let such things go on in our world?
For more on the issue of trafficking, see
Stop The Traffik.
Getting Da Vinci-ed out!
I'm beginning to feel like I've overdosed on Dan Brown's
The Da Vinci Code. Hardly suprising I guess since it's been such a huge bestseller since publication and especially given the amount of over-the-top hype from Sony (which is, frankly, setting people up to be disappointed with the film - all the advertising makes people expect one of the finest cinematic experiences of their lives). I've been researching various aspects of it for a year now - and loads in the last few months while we were waiting for the film.
I've spoken at three Da Vinci Code events so far (click on the 'read more' link below for recordings of two of them) and have another half dozen lined up. I enjoy the events themselves, even though I'm fed up of the book and film. The next one is at
Above Bar Church, Southampton tomorrow, Wednesday 31 May. This one will be a double act with David Couchman from
Focus who has also done an incredible amount of research. It should be a lot of fun - come along and ask hard questions!
You can read my articles on
The Da Vinci Code, incidentally, on the CultureWatch website:
Dan Brown's Secrets in which I end up naughtily suggesting (tongue firmly in cheek!) that Dan Brown himself is at the centre of a global conspiracy. As soon as you formulate a far-fetched scheme like it, any counter-arguments to the idea immediately become evidence in its favour. Just like any conspiracy theory - including Dan Brown's.
The Quest for the Sacred Feminine - a much more significant article in which I discuss the Goddess spirituality which Dan Brown is advocating. It's easy to see why it's attractive, but there is a much better alternative!
Truth Wars: Talking About Tolerance
The second book (technically it's number 2, but it was published at the same time as
Sex and the Cynics) is on one of the hottest issues in our culture: how do we relate to people with different worldviews and moralities? What does tolerance really mean?
Here's the blurb and contents list:
‘Why can't you be more tolerant? Surely Jesus isn't the only way to know God.'
Christians increasingly face this challenge in today's fragmented society. Does tolerance mean we have to accept every perspective as equally true? Can we still stand up for the uniqueness of Christ and for Christian morality? Truth Wars: Talking About Tolerance is an accessible and exciting introduction to thinking about these issues.
Contents
Introduction to the Talking About series
by Tony Watkins
Introduction by Nick Pollard
Ministry of Dissent - (read this sample chapter)
by Nick Pollard
All Inclusive – a biblical perspective on tolerance
by Tony Watkins
Testing Tolerance - Jerry Springer: The Opera and Behzti
by Tony Watkins
Lip Service - Saved!
by Louise Crook
Saved! – study guide
by Louise Crook
Hero – study guide
by Louise Griffiths
Not the End of the World (Geraldine McCaughrean) – study guide
by Tony Watkins
Doctor Who – study guide
by Tony Watkins
Definitely Maybe – the philosophy of David Hume
by Peter S. Williams
Background to the quotes
Further reading
Sex and the Cynics: Talking About the Search for Love
The Salvation Army published a very positive review which you can read on their
website. Here's the blurb and contents of the first book in the Talking About series.
Love: one of the deepest longings of the human heart, yet increasingly viewed with cynicism. Many people have been hurt too often to believe in love any more, or they just think that it can never last – and they settle for sex as an end in itself. How can Christians say that we were made for love – and that God loves us – in a context like this? Sex and the Cynics: Talking About the Search for Love is an accessible and exciting introduction to thinking about these issues.
Contents
Introduction to the Talking About series by Tony Watkins
Introduction by Nick Pollard
Happily Never After? (read this sample chapter)
by Nick Pollard
Up Close and Personal – a biblical perspective on love
by Steve Tilley
You Complete Me - love in the movies
by Caroline Puntis
Desperately Seeking Something - Desperate Housewives
by Annie Porthouse
Love Actually – study guide
by Steve Couch
Closer – study guide
by Louise Crook
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – study guide
by Caroline Puntis
The History of Love (Nicole Krauss) – study guide
by Tony Watkins
Out of Control – the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer
by Peter S. Williams
Background to the quotes
For further reading
Talking About series
As well as writing or co-writing
Dark Matter: A Thinking Fan's Guide to Philip Pullman and
Back in Time: A Thinking Fan's Guide to Doctor Who, I have been editing a series of books which goes under the name of the Talking About series.
Each of the books takes the basic ingredients of what Nick Pollard has written in one of his articles for
Idea magazine, and develops them into something more substantial, but still light and easily digested. Nick significantly develops his 800-word article into the opening chapter of each book. Then come some extra ingredients: a biblical perspective on the issue; articles on key aspects of the central theme; study guides on relevant films, books or television programmes; and an introduction to one or more key thinkers whose work still influences our culture. Some of these chapters have been developed from material published on Damaris’ CultureWatch website (
www.culturewatch.org), others have been commissioned especially for the books. Finally, sprinkled throughout the mix are some relevant quotes (many of these quotes have come from another Damaris resource,
www.ToolsForTalks.com – a collection of tools for Christian speakers.
I'll introduce the books so far in separate posts.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Doctor Who
I co-wrote
Back in Time: A Thinking Fan's Guide to Doctor Who with Steve Couch and Peter Williams, which was published in November 2005. It mainly relates to the 2005 series, but with lots about earlier material too. With the 2006 series in full flow, now would be a good time to start thinking about the ideas, values and worldviews in this fantastic programme. Buy it from
Amazon.co.uk
(By the way, any books you buy from Amazon.co.uk by clicking links on this site help to support my work!)
Dark Matter
Dark Matter: A Thinking Fan's Guide to Philip Pullman was published on 22 September 2004. Response has been very positive from readers and the few reviewers who ever saw a copy. Unfortunately, it fell foul of major changes in the way Damaris books were published and distributed so it had virtually no marketing. You can buy it from
Amazon.co.uk for £8.99 or get it from me for just £6.00 through
Amazon marketplace!
It's having a new lease of life with an American edition being published at the end of this month.
Amazon.co.uk is selling it cheaper than the UK edition, but it doesn't have an index. It has a nice cover though.
Catching up
Well, it's highly embarrassing to realise that I've not posted anything here for over a year. I intend to be a little more regular about blogging in future. Though I've a feeling I may have said that before! I'm going to post a few posts just to bring the blog up to date on my books.
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