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A Scream from the Hill: Glastonbury & Gaza
From Glastonbury a scream broke through— 'death, death to the IDF'— words, not nice, should have been silenced, but words. Should the...
Jon Swales
Jul 21 min read
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A Lament
How long, O Lord? How long will the blood of children cry from the dust? How long will hostages be held and celebrations be made of...
Jon Swales
Mar 211 min read
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Enacting the Kingdom in World of Collapse
The incarnation—the advent and arrival of the God-Man, Jesus—unfolded in a time of escalating turmoil, as the Jewish nation hurtled...
Jon Swales
Jan 53 min read
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Highway to Hell
A few decades after the crucifixion of Jesus, a profound transformation occurred. The Jewish world descended into chaos, society...
Jon Swales
Nov 10, 20243 min read
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Jesus the Heretic
Jesus was a heretic. I now have your attention, for how can a Christian theological educator and church leader have the audacity to claim...
Jon Swales
Sep 8, 20241 min read
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Strange Jesus/Wild Messiah
Jesus is unusual, strange, and unsettling—a stranger, an enigma, and a mystery to both contemporary secular and religious sensibilities....
Jon Swales
Jul 18, 20242 min read
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Lay Down the Sword: A Prayer
Father of Creation, God of Peace, We praise you for your son Jesus, The Lamb upon the Throne. We praise you that your son Jesus said,...
Jon Swales
Jun 2, 20242 min read
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Jesus & Violence
Through the grit and grind of daily life in Judea and Galilee, there persisted a defiant hope: that one day, a Messiah would emerge to...
Jon Swales
May 24, 20243 min read
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Two Religions (Opium for the Masses)
There is a certain kind of religion, An opium for the masses. It Numbs, Distracts, And anaesthetizes us from the pain of the world, Into...
Jon Swales
Apr 28, 20241 min read
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The Eagle and the Lamb
The dual myths of unrestrained capitalism and consumerism articulate an ideological empire that tells us that this is the way things...
Jon Swales
Mar 15, 20247 min read
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Jon Swales
Oct 29, 20230 min read
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Jesus and Justified Warfare
‘Today the world is on the brink of ruin because the church refuses to be the church, because we Christians have been deceiving ourselves...
Jon Swales
Oct 29, 202310 min read
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Violence and Myths
I was laid awake last night thinking about the horror unfolding in Gaza and Israel. I got up this morning and wrote down a few thoughts....
Jon Swales
Oct 10, 20234 min read
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Jesus & the Myth of Redemptive Violence
A few thoughts. Jesus, in contrast to much implicit within contemporary Christianity, opposed what we may call the myth of redemptive...
Jon Swales
Sep 8, 20232 min read
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Prayers for Ukraine
#prayersforukraine
Jon Swales
Aug 28, 20231 min read
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Jesus & Creative Non-Violence
Jesus commanded the love of enemies. Does this mean that Christians are to be embrace passivity when faced with injustice and oppression?...
Jon Swales
Aug 28, 20235 min read
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Jesus and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Jesus proclaimed and embodied the Kingdom of God. In contrast to the violence and force employed by the Roman Empire, Jesus advocated for...
Jon Swales
Aug 28, 20233 min read
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