I only realtively recently fell over some research that the whole 8-hours-sleep-in-a-row pattern is relatively recent (see here, here, and here). The research of Roger Ekirch, professor of History at Virginia Tech, (presented in his book At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past) indicates we used to sleep in two shorter periods with wakefulness of
Sleeping like a monk Read More »
According to me, General Synod Te Hinota Whanui (GSTHW) has messed up in its regulations about weddings. I would, once again, love to be demonstrated to be incorrect. GSTHW has quietly swept previous liturgical irregularities it had produced under the ever-lumpier carpet. With so much debate around marriage it is a little surprising that it
NZ Anglican Marriage Requirements Read More »
A conservative evangelical facebook friend shared an image with a “LOL!” about three wise women arriving at the Bethlehem scene – asking directions, arriving on time, helping deliver the baby, bringing sensible gifts, cleaning the stable, making a casserole,… and there would be peace on earth! I began to wonder how my friend would react
What if Jesus were a girl? Read More »
“I like Jesus – but I don’t go to church.” OK. Anyone who has been paying attention would be concerned. I’ve seen Christian communities I care about, approximately halve in numbers of people participating in the last fifteen years or so (a period in which the country’s population grew by 20%). The NZ Census figures
The Bible is the Church’s Photo Album. A family’s photo album collects precious memories of the family. The photos have been arranged in a particular way. The family gathers around the album to re-tell its stories. The album maintains the family’s sense of identity. They cannot go back to the time of those stories and
The Bible our Photo Album Read More »
I have a mathematics degree, and I’m not afraid to use it. Full disclosure: past performance is no guarantee of future results. The 2013 Census data on religious affiliation released by Statistics New Zealand on December 10 graphically looks like this: Professor Peter Lineham says: Anglican affiliation has declined 17 percent – from 554,925 to
