Faith Interface

David Bentley Hart Interview on CPX

David Bentley Hart is regarded as one of America’s brightest theologians, who combines highly skilled and entertaining writing with expertise in literature, history, philosophy, art and culture.

In 2009 Bentley Hart weighed in to the debates around the place of Christianity in Western Culture, with his book Atheist Delusions – the Christian Revolution and its Fashionable Enemies.

In this six-part interview Bentley Hart talks about the impact of Christianity on the West, some questionable interpretations of history, suffering and the problem of evil and why he remains a believer.

Grace not Law - Andrew Farley

Andrew Farley is the Head Pastor of Ecclesia Church in Lubbock, Texas and the author of The Naked Gospel. He has some fantastic things to say about the true message of the Gospel - Jesus Plus Nothing.

Farley reminds us of the truth that, this side of the cross, we no longer have to try to prove ourselves to God by trying, always in vain, to live up to the Law of Moses - the Law of the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. Jesus released us from the curse of the Law by his perfect life, vicarious death on the cross and his glorious, vindicating resurrection. He reminds us that if we want, as Christians, to live under Mosaic Law, we must live under the WHOLE Law. That is not just the Ten Commandments, that is ALL of the Mosaic Law - strict Sabbath observance (on Saturday by the way, not Sunday), dietary restrictions (say bye bye to sweet & sour pork, garlic prawns, fresh crab), ritual cleanliness/uncleanliness, temple sacrifices. We can’t just pick and choose the bits of Old Testment Law we like, or think are most important. It’s all or nothing. Getting the Law 99% right is not enough either - 100% or you fail.

Farley reminds us of the who the Law is meant for - non-Christians - and that once we have faith in Christ, we are no longer under Law, but under Grace. Many of the things we are told to do as Christians - ask repeatedly for forgiveness, 10% tithing, using the Mosaic Law as a “moral compass” - are simply misled and have nothing to do with the true Gospel - JESUS PLUS NOTHING. In fact Farley controversially states that, because when we become Christians we are delivered from the Law and “wed” to Christ, if we then try to go back to the Old Covenant, we are actually “cheating on Jesus”. Strong words - but just think about it a while.

This is a message that EVERY Christian needs to hear. The true Gospel without the unnecessary (or even contrived) extras. The Naked Gospel! JESUS PLUS NOTHING!

Read The Naked Gospel

Watch some previews of The Naked Gospel.

Listen to Andrew Farley’s sermons at Ecclesia Church here.

Søren Kierkegaard - Knowledge & Spiritual Transformation

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (b. 1813, d. 1855) was a profound and prolific writer in the Danish “golden age” of intellectual and artistic activity. His work crosses the boundaries of philosophy, theology, psychology, literary criticism, devotional literature and fiction. Kierkegaard brought this potent mixture of discourses to bear as social critique and for the purpose of renewing Christian faith within Christendom. At the same time he made many original conceptual contributions to each of the disciplines he employed. He is known as the “father of existentialism”, but at least as important are his critiques of Hegel and of the German romantics, his contributions to the development of modernism, his literary experimentation, his vivid re-presentation of biblical figures to bring out their modern relevance, his invention of key concepts which have been explored and redeployed by thinkers ever since, his interventions in contemporary Danish church politics, and his fervent attempts to analyse and revitalise Christian faith.

The following is an excerpt from a well-known journal entry, when Kierkegaard was facing a crisis of decision. It is dated August 1, 1835, and was written when he was at Gilleleje, a coastal resort, where he had spent the summers of 1834 and 1835. One may wish to keep in mind the young Descartes’ attempts at setting a new course toward objective truth, and compare the discovery of Kierkegaard’s ‘I’ with Descartes’ proof of his ‘I’.

What I really need is to be clear about what I am to do, not what I must know, except in the way knowledge must precede all action. It is a question of understanding my destiny, of seeing what the Deity really wants me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I am willing to live and die. And what use here would it be if I were to discover a so-called objective truth, or if I worked my way through the philosophers’ systems and were able to call them all to account on request, point out inconsistencies in every single circle? And what use here would it be to be able to work out a theory of the state, and put all the pieces from so many places into one whole, construct a world which, again, I myself did not inhabit but merely held up for others to see? What use would it be to be able to propound the meaning of Christianity, to explain many separate facts, if it had no deeper meaning for myself and for my life ?

What use would it be if the truth were to stand before me, cold and naked, not caring whether I acknowledge it or not, and inducing an anxious shudder rather than trusting devotion? Certainly I won’t deny that I still accept an imperative of knowledge, and that one can also be influenced by it, but then it must be taken up alive in me, and this is what I now see as the main point.

Vainly I have sought an anchorage, not just in the depths of knowledge, but in the bottomless sea of pleasure. I have felt the well-nigh irresistible power with which one pleasure holds out its hand to another; I have felt that inauthentic kind of enthusiasm which it is capable of producing. I have also felt the tedium, the laceration, which ensues. I have tasted the fruits of the tree of knowledge and relished them time and again. But this joy was only in the moment of cognition and left no deeper mark upon me. It seems to me that I have not drunk from the cup of wisdom but have fallen into it.

A fantastic resource on Kierkegaard and his works is Dr Anthony Storm’s Commentary on Kierkegaard Website

The Aqedah Story - Bruno Tomadon

The Aqedah Story - Bruno Tomadon

God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham obeys. Surely this is an example of the archaic morality of the Old Testament. Does this not show that God is capricious and malicious?  Is Abraham’s obedience not comparable to the behaviour of those who have committed atrocities and claimed they were only “following orders”?

Putting the case like this exerts some persuasiveness, except that this is not what happened. Yes, God did command Abraham to sacrifice his son and Abraham did comply. However, if this is all the evidence that is used to summarily convict God and Abraham, then at best we have a misreading of the text and at worst a prejudicial reading.

The author of this story, and it is a story, tells us so much more about the relationship between God and Abraham. As an inerrantist I believe that this story is true historical narrative, but even without this belief the story of God and Abraham is accessible.

We need to go right back to the beginning … to the call of Abram.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. (Genesis 12:1-2)

God began his relationship with Abram with a purpose. God intended to bless Abram and moreover to make Abram a blessing to others. Abram’s blessing was to father a nation and as we find out later this nation was meant to be blessing to the other nations. Each promise was later ratified with a covenant. Abram begins his journey with God’s promise that he is going to do good to him. This opening to the story of God and Abraham is the key that explicates all that follows.

Abram just like the rest of us does not find faith and trust easy when faced with the difficult realities of life. We see that God patiently teaches him in spite of his failures. Abram gets Sarai, his wife, who also happens to be his half-sister to lie in order to protect him. He is afraid of being killed because his wife is beautiful. God uses the pagans to rebuke Abraham and demonstrates that he is able to save both him and his wife. Twice this happens and God is gracious with him.

Even though God had promised that Abram’s offspring will inherit the land, Sarai is unable to conceive. So together they decide to help God along and Ishmael is born of Sarai’s maid-servant. God, however, intends to show him that he does not need help and promises him that Sarai, herself, will have a child. He confirms his promise with a covenant and changes their names to reflect his promise to them. Abram is 99 and Sarai is 90 at the time of this covenant, but in spite of the formidable evidence against them having a child Abraham places his trust in God.  Their son Isaac brings them joyful laughter well after the time they should have been able to have children together.

We catch a glimpse of the friendship between God and Abraham when God gives Abraham the opportunity to intercede for Sodom and Gomorrah. God begins by revealing his plans to Abraham to destroy the cities of Sodom. We see a similar attitude in Jesus, much later in history, when he says to his disciples, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. “(John 15:15)  Abraham cognisant that he speaking to God and that he is “but dust and ashes” tests the limits of that friendship and finds that God is merciful. God agrees to save the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if only five righteous people are found there.

Only after all these things and for the sake of brevity I have not considered every recorded event, can we consider the unfinished sacrifice of Isaac. The narrator shows no subtlety at this point as he opens this part of the story with “After these things God tested Abraham … “(Genesis 22:1)

Abraham on the other hand does not know that this is a test. However, there is nothing in Abraham’s experience, nor in the reader’s that shows God to be capricious or malicious. God had made promises and faithfully kept them despite the failings of Abraham’s faith.  God had covenanted with him that through Isaac the nations of the earth will be blessed. He had known the goodness of God and the joy of hope fulfilled in the birth of Isaac. So even though he did not understand this strange and painful command, he had trusted God to do the impossible before - surely he could do so again.

The New Testament writer to the Hebrews understands this and explains that:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. (Hebrews 11:17-19)

God stopped Abraham from plunging the sacrificial knife into Isaac and provided a ram for the burnt offering instead.

As a result of the “Aqedah”, the binding of Isaac, God ratifies his covenant with Abraham and confirms it with an oath that through him the nations will be blessed. Abraham displays his loyalty and trust in God by not withholding his own son. The Aqedah foreshadows another scene at the pivot point of history when God the Father gives His only Son as a sacrifice to ratify a new covenant to bless all the nations on the earth once and for all.

The reason why so many people do not have a problem with God’s test of Abraham is that they read it within the unfolding story of God and Abraham. To be sure, those of us who also believe in the inerrancy of Scripture read it as a true story. As a true story it speaks poignantly to our own journey of faith amidst the sometimes inexorable situations of life. Nevertheless, it is not necessary to adhere to the inerrancy of Scripture, in order to appreciate, the point of the story.

Bibliography
Lionel, W. (2010). The two covenants with Abraham – part 2 (Genesis 15, 17 and 22). Retrieved 2 7, 2010, from Forget the Channel: http://bit.ly/92akDV

Windsor, L. (2010). The two covenants with Abraham - Part 1 (Genesis 12). Retrieved 2 7, 2010, from Forget the Channel: http://bit.ly/92akDV

Wright, C. (2007). Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament. Oxford: Lion Hudson.

First Sunday in Lent

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be
tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted
by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of
each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer)

Lectionary (Year C) 

Deuteronomy 26.1-11

Psalm 91.1-2,9-16

Romans 10.8b-13

Luke 4.1-13

What Is Lent?

Great Lenten Resources 

Great Lent Devotional Resources

Here’s a couple of my favourite Lent Devotional Resources:

Journey To The Cross

Dr Larry Crabb

Lenten Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries

Ash Wednesday and Lent - A Time To Repent

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer)

WHAT IS LENT?

Lent is a forty-day liturgical season that initiates the most sacred part of the Christian year.  Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on the Great Vigil of Easter.  Sundays are not included in the forty-day count because every Sunday is a joyful celebration of our Lord’s resurrection.  During Lent, Christians meditate on the great paschal mystery — the salvation God won for us sinners by the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 
WHAT DOES THE WORD “LENT” MEAN?

The word Lent is apparently derived from the Old English lencten, which means “lengthen.”  It refers to the lengthening of the daylight hours that occurs in the northern hemisphere as spring approaches.  It is in this period of transition from late winter to early spring that the season of Lent falls.

WHY DOES LENT LAST FORTY DAYS?

The duration of the season of Lent is based on the ancient church custom of requiring catechumens to undergo a forty-day period of doctrinal instruction and fasting before being baptized on the evening before Easter.  This probationary period was called the quarantine (from the Latin word for forty).  The number forty occurs frequently in both testaments of the Bible.  It signifies the time that is required for discipline, testing, and separation prior to achieving a goal or new beginning.  For example, we read in the Old Testament that it rained forty days and nights during the Great Flood (Genesis 7:12), Moses communed with God on Mount Sinai for forty days before receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus 24:18), the people of Israel were forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years (Numbers 14:33-34), Elijah journeyed for forty days before he reached Mount Horeb and had a vision of God (1 Kings 19:8-9), and the inhabitants of Nineveh fasted and repented for forty days in response to the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:4-5).  The outstanding instances of the number forty in the New Testament are the account of Christ’s ordeal in the desert fasting, praying, and being tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; and Luke 4:1-13) and His various appearances to the apostles and others between His resurrection and ascension during which He strengthened their faith and prepared them for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:3).

 
HOW DOES WORSHIP CHANGE DURING LENT?

Since Lent is a season of penitence, reflection, and prayer, worship during this time is solemn and restrained.  The somber colors of purple and black replace the brighter white and green of the Epiphany season.  Flowers are generally removed from the sanctuary.  Songs of praise like the Gloria in Excelsis (”Glory in the highest”) and expressions of joy like Alleluia (”Praise the Lord”) are removed from the liturgy until Easter.  Many churches hold special mid-week worship services and offer devotional activities that help their members concentrate on the traditional Lenten disciplines of fasting, almsgiving (gifts of mercy, or “charity” as it is usually called), and prayer.  The practice of these disciplines goes back to the early days of the church and are meant to help Christians recall and be thankful for our Lord’s atoning death on the cross.

WHAT IS ASH WEDNESDAY?

Ash Wednesday (from the Latin Dies Cinerum, meaning “Day of Ashes”) is the first day of Lent.  On this day, Christians focus intensely on their utter and complete sinfulness and the necessity of Christ’s suffering and death to earn their salvation.  Ashes are referred to many times in the Old Testament as a sign of sorrow, mourning, repentance, and mortality (2 Samuel 13:19; Esther 4:1-3; Job 42:6; and Jeremiah 6:26).  Many churches use ashes during Ash Wednesday worship as part of a rite called the Imposition of Ashes.  According to this custom, ashes (traditionally made by burning palm fronds used on Palm Sunday of the previous year) are mixed with a small amount of olive oil and applied to the forehead of each worshipper.  The smudge mark made by the dirty ashes is a powerful reminder that we are going to die because death is the penalty for our depraved natures and sins of thought, word, and deed.  The fact that the ashes are placed on our foreheads in the sign of the cross directs us to Jesus Christ as the only way to forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life in heaven.

 
WHAT IS HOLY WEEK?

The last week of Lent is known as Holy Week.  During this holiest time of the liturgical year, the church relives the final week of our Lord’s life. The high points of this week are Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil.

 
WHAT IS THE LITURGICAL COLOR FOR LENT?

Purple, the color of royalty, repentance, and self-discipline, is the traditional color for the season of Lent.  Black, the somber color of mourning and sorrow for sin, is reserved for Good Friday and Ash Wednesday.  For the period from Palm Sunday through Maundy Thursday, some churches use scarlet, an intense variant of purple and red that symbolizes the life-giving blood of Christ.

 
WHAT IS THE SEASON OF LENT REALLY ABOUT?

For many Christians, the season of Lent typically includes some kind of fasting.  These fasts usually take the form of abstaining from all food throughout a given 24-hour period or certain kinds of food for the duration of the forty-day season.  In place of a food fast, some Christians commit to give up a pleasurable activity or dedicate themselves to charitable giving.  Focus on prayer and devotions are also especially emphasized during Lent.  But even though our Lord recommends and comments on the Lenten disciplines of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:1-18), these practices can easily become legalistic rituals that are centered inwardly on the self rather than outwardly on Christ.  If during Lent Christians choose to give up something or rededicate themselves to helping those in need as a way to proclaim the salvation Christ has won for all by His suffering and death, then such activities are sacrifices that glorify God.  However, it is essential to remember that nothing we do through self-denial or good works can ever earn the Lord’s forgiveness or repay Him for what He accomplished for us.  Lent is not about our giving up something to please God.  Lent is about what Jesus Christ gave up to pay the penalty for the sins of the world — His holy and innocent life.  As many churches sing during this Lenten season:

The sinless Son of God must die in sadness;
The sinful child of man may live in gladness;
Man forfeited his life and is acquitted;
God is committed!

We have seen how Lent is the time to die to sin and to the power it holds in our lives. Beginning with Ash Wednesday the call that prevails throughout the Lenten journey is to “create and make in us new and contrite hearts.” While it is God who creates the new heart in us through grace, we are called on to receive God’s grace in repentance, a turning from our sin, and in faith, a turning toward God. We are assisted in this journey of turning through fasting, prayer, and almsgiving - external disciplines that order and organise the internal experience of our continuing conversion.

Lectionary Readings for Ash Wednesday (Year C)

Isaiah 58.1-12

Psalm 51.1-18

2 Corinthians 5.20b - 6.10

John 8.1-11

Although we praise our common Lord for all kinds of reasons, we praise and glorify him above all for the cross. Paul passes over everything else that Christ did for our advantage and consolation and dwells incessantly on the cross.

The proof of God’s love for us, he says, is that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. Then in the following sentence he gives us the highest ground for hope: If, when we were alienated from God, we were reconciled to him by the death of his Son, how much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life!

John Chrysostom (AD 347-407)

Source: http://www.stpaulskingsville.org/

Priest doesn’t believe in God

Adrian Taylor | 13th February 2010 (The Rockhampton Morning Bulletin)

 
Peter Kennedy, in Rockhampton to preach and promote his book, says he doesn’t pray any more and doubts that Jesus ever existed.

And it soon becomes clear why the man, who was a serving priest for 45 years before the Catholic Church evicted him from his parish in Brisbane, no longer wants the title.

He doesn’t believe in the priesthood anymore, nor the virgin birth, nor the infallibility of the Pope. In fact, he doubts that Jesus ever existed and although he is the spiritual leader of a 500-strong Christian community, he says he no longer prays because there’s “no one to pray to.”

“We have made God in our own image. I can’t believe in a God that grants some people miracles but punishes others, but I do think there is something more, but what it is, I have no idea.”

The controversial and charismatic ex-priest, who made headlines last year when he refused to leave St Mary’s as instructed by his Bishop, will preach tomorrow at All Saints’ Anglican Church in Simpson Street, North Rockhampton.

Last night he launched his book – Peter Kennedy: The Man Who Threatened Rome – at the same venue, as part of a nationwide promotional tour which will include Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne later this month.

Although he has not been excommunicated, he finds himself at odds with virtually every attitude and teaching of the Catholic hierarchy.

He was ousted, he said, not so much for his progressive and increasingly challenging beliefs, but for straying from the straitjacket of conformity in the Catholic Mass.

His services at St Mary’s attracted huge congregations by today’s standards and he celebrated Mass with women preachers and former priests who had left to get married.

“We welcomed the homeless and alcoholics and I preached about social justice. I welcomed non-Catholics and gay and lesbian worshipers who were shunned by other churches. It was just too unorthodox for the hierarchy,” he said

And while his congregation flourished, others dwindled, leading him to conclude that the Catholic Church was finished in Australia.

“Today only 13% of people who call themselves Catholics go to Mass on Sunday. Church is becoming more and more irrelevant to modern society because it is still medieval in its doctrines while the real world had changed so much.”

He said he could not believe in the divinity of Christ and it was no longer tenable to believe in the virgin birth.

“Modern science has changed all that. We know that man evolved and was not created separately.”

But questioning the pillars of organised religion does not make him any less spiritual, he argues.

“I don’t think what you believe is important. It’s what you do that matters.”

He says he stopped wearing a priest’s vestments when he realised that members of his congregation had been sexually abused as children by priests and they were traumatised by the robes.

“There are still elements in the church who think what happened to those children was a sin – and can be absolved in confession – but not a crime,” he says.

“Celibacy is madness for priests. Of course they should be allowed to marry and have children and normal relationships. Celibacy is not normal, although there are, of course, many who choose to be chaste.”

Perhaps most controversially of all for a man who served Christ for more than four decades, he says he doubts Jesus ever existed.

“There is not much corroborative evidence,” he says. “I don’t wear a crucifix because it’s just a symbol of Roman oppression. There were many men crucified for their beliefs and daring to challenge the authority of Rome.”

Roger’s comments:

Peter Kennedy is not “controversial”, “charismatic” and “progressive”. He is confused, misinformed, deceived and apostate. How a man who presumably went to theological seminary and studied the Bible, church history and Christian thought can be so ignorant and gullible defies explanation. He seems completely unaware of the reams of historical evidence that supports the existence of Jesus of Nazareth - evidence clearly ackowledged by secular and religious historians alike. As a protestant, I agree with Kennedy’s disbelief in the infallibility of the Pope and his rejection of compulsory celibacy for priests, but his comments in this article reveal a breath-taking ignorance of Christian theology and doctrine. And this man has been leading and teaching a congregation reputedly 500-strong. Is it any suprise that he led his congregation at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Brisbane down the merry path of total theological confusion and syncretism? Not in the least in my opinion. His apparent popularity can easily be explained by Timothy 3:4.

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4 

Kennedy seems to have been reading too much Spong, Borg, Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris. Or not reading anything at all. He has unfortunately slid down the slippery slide of theological liberalism and ignorant syncretism, right out the back door and into the steaming dung heap of apostacy and unbelief. There is a tragedy and sadness too in this story. A man who had been given such an opportunity to come to know God through study, teaching and pastoral service seems to lost his faith due to his uncritical acceptance of fairly weak arguments from Christian liberals, religious pluralists and secular skeptics. This provides a timely reminder of the dangers of a childish, ill-informed, unconsidered and non-transforming Christian faith. Exactly what I am trying to battle here on Faith Interface. More tragic still is Kennedy’s misconception of the cross as a symbol of “Roman oppression” rather than its truly wonderful and comforting symbolism of reconciliation with the Father and  total freedom through faith in Christ.

“And he [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you:
Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness
we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your
grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please
you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer)

Lectionary (Year C)

Jeremiah 17.5-10

Psalm 1

1 Corinthians 15.12-20

Luke 6.17-26

What Is Epiphany?

Spirituality, Religion and Health

Dr Harold Koenig: Spirituality, Religion and Health

Dr Koenig is founder and former director of Duke University’s Center for the Study of Religion, Spirituality and Health, and is founding Co-Director of the current Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center. The Center was founded in 2007 to promote scholarship and research on the influence that spirituality, beliefs and practices of caring have on individual and community health. Dr Koenig has published extensively in the fields of mental health, geriatrics, and religion, with close to 350 scientific peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and nearly 40 books in print or in preparation. His research on religion, health and ethical issues in medicine has been featured on over 50 national and international TV news programs, over 100 national or international radio programs, and hundreds of national and international newspapers or magazines.

Greg Clarke from the Centre For Public Christianity recently interviewed Dr Koenig about the effects of religious belief on physical and mental health.

Roger’s comments:

Dr Koenig has some interesting and evidence-based comments about the beneficial effects of religious faith and involvement in religious/believing communities on the health, well-being and longevity of the individual. He has a sensible and rational approach to these questions.

He rightly critiques the mislead and, quite frankly, silly attempts to quantify the effect of intercessory prayer on illness. I agree with Dr Koenig that the whole premise of attempting to scientifically quantify the healing effects of intercessory prayer is misguided and guilty of category error. Scientific experimentation is designed to measure predictable natural phenomena that obey the laws of nature and the laws of the cosmos. God is spirit and He is supernatural. He is also a person who is free to choose whether he acts or does not act in any given situation. God is no more bound to answer prayer in a double-blinded, randomised, controlled trial than I am to answer my telephone every time is rings. Attempting to quantify the healing affects of intercessory prayer in this way is silly and completely misrepresents and misunderstands the sovereign free will of God.

Dr Koenig does, however, have some interesting points to make about the effects of religion and faith in God on individual health, well-being and longevity. Of course, skeptics and naturalists will debate the mechanism of action of religious belief in these situations, but the beneficial effects demonstrated in this research is certainly food for thought.