Tony Watkins on the Old Testament Prophets and Human Flourishing

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter (or thereabouts) and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Tony Watkins, ‘The Old Testament Prophets and Human Flourishing’, Cambridge Papers (July 2025).

Here is the summary:

‘The Old Testament prophets spoke to a world craving meaning, much like ours today. They called out Israel’s wrongs – broken relationships with God, people, nature and themselves – while presenting a vision of ‘shalom’: true flourishing. They showed how sin disrupts life and how God longs to restore it. Their words resonate with questions of flourishing in the contemporary world, especially Charles Taylor’s understanding of ‘fullness’. In a Christian reading of the prophets, they point to Jesus as the answer to our deepest desires for connection and wholeness in a fragmented world. This paper invites the Church to draw more deeply on the prophets and their message to commend the gospel in an age when many look for ‘fullness’ but cannot find it.’

Homegroups

Homegroups is a large source of free, high quality, curated small group material.

There are over 60 home group series, including:

• ‘Hope’, from the Bible Society (four sessions including videos)

• ‘We Need to Talk About Race’, with Ben Lindsay (four sessions including videos)

• ‘What On Earth is Heaven?’, with James Paul (twelve sessions including videos)

• Over 20 series of Bible studies from the team at St Ebbe’s Church, Oxford

Gary Millar on Living and Leading Like Jesus

Every month, The Good Book Company make available digital versions of one of their books at no charge. This month (July 2025) it’s Both/And Ministry: Living and Leading Like Jesus, by Gary Millar, which is available in exchange for an email address here.

Mission Frontiers 47, 4 (July–August 2025)

The July–August 2025 issue of Mission Frontiers, published by Frontier Ventures, contains a number of articles devoted to the topic of ‘The Impact of AI on Missions’.

Here’s the issue blurb, which sets the scene:

‘In this issue, you will hear from university professors, mission organization leaders, practitioners, scientists, engineers, and missionaries. They cover different aspects of AI – the highs and lows – and touch on the deeper philosophical issues. As you read, don’t be surprised to find yourself asking what happens to our humanity as we head down this road. It is a good question, but one we don’t know how to answer yet.’

The issue is available here, from where individual articles can be downloaded, and the entire issue can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Her Audio Bible

Her Audio Bible UK is the first NIV audio Bible voiced fully by women from across the UK.

Check it out here.

Trillia Newbell et al. on Being Beautifully Distinct

Every month, The Good Book Company make available digital versions of one of their books at no charge. This month (June 2025) it’s Beautifully Distinct: Conversations with Friends on Faith, Life, and Culture, edited by Trillia Newbell, which is available in exchange for an email address here.

Centre for Public Christianity (May 2025)

The Centre for Public Christianity has posted a ‘Life and Faith’ interview (here) with Oliver Burkeman on ‘time management for mortals’.

The blurb:

‘Everyone is pressed for time, and in a never-ending quest to conquer their schedules. It’s why productivity tips and hacks are big business these days.

‘But underneath our productivity problem is a reality no one wants to face: the fact that we’re all going to die, argues self-described “recovering” productivity expert Oliver Burkeman, and the author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. The average human life is about 80 years, or some 4000 weeks, and the sooner we come to grips with the ultimate deadline, the better off we’ll be, argues Burkeman.

In this interview with Life & Faith, Oliver explains how “mortality” emerged as a theme for his 2021 book, how the solace of “deep time” – as experienced during times of flow, prayer, meditation, and hiking – connects us with our humanity, how AI might change the game for human creativity, and how he, as someone more drawn to Eastern religion, makes sense of our yearning for more time, for more than one life.  

‘The shadow of Christianity – with its promise of transcendence, eternity, and being situated in an unfolding story that stretches before and after our earthly lives – looms over the conversation.’