‘Bowdlerise’ is a word that’s fallen out of usage and fashion because the practice of it has (until recently) been laughed off the stage of culture. It means to snip out offensive language, characters or episodes from it. It was named after a 19th century doctor who we’ll talk about in the episode, and it seems like it’s making a comeback. 

In these strange, upside times, it’s not Victorian moralists who are demanding that books be sanitised, but secular-progressive moralists. Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Ian Fleming’s James Bond—they have all recently felt the pain of the bowdleriser’s scalpel. 

What are we to make of this? More importantly, what does the return of bowdlerising tell us about the nature of modern morality, and how to preach the gospel to a culture that seems deeply sensitive to offence?

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We’ve spoken quite often here at Two Ways News (and before that in ‘The Payneful Truth’ years) about how the gospel is a particular thing. You can express it using different words and in your own style, but it’s not infinitely malleable. It has a definite content that we can know from the New Testament, and which we can explain to other people. The same is true with the Bible generally.

These days, both of these claims are controversial, and the common form of the pushback goes something like this: “How can you be so sure? We all bring our own preconceived ideas and contexts to our reading, after all. And nobody seems to be able to agree about what the Bible says. So when you so confidently declare that an outline like Two Ways to Live is a true and good summary of the one true biblical gospel … well, isn’t that just your interpretation?” 

I put this objection to Phillip to kick off a lively conversation about interpretation, the gospel and how to read the Bible. 

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This week’s edition features a piece from Tony about the strange and elusive phenomenon of the ‘public square’. What is it exactly? Should Christians be concerned that we are excluded from it? And what should we do if we are?

In this podcast version, Tony and Phillip chat through a first draft of the piece, and try to improve it.

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Gambling has always been a social problem in our culture. In our part of the world, there is intense debate at present about how to reduce people’s access to poker machines (or gaming or slot machines as they are called elsewhere).

How should we think about all this as gospel people? Do Christians have something unique and important to say about gambling?

(We’ll also answer one of your questions about the place and importance of historic Creeds and Confessions at the beginning of the conversation.)

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With Phillip away this week, I’ve gone to the substitute’s bench and hauled in Mark Thompson for a chat. Good to be able to get the Principal of Moore College as a fill in!

Mark also lectures and writes in theology, and just last year, he published a more general book for Christians called The Doctrine of Scripture: An Introduction (through Crossway) which is not the most funtastic title in the world but does tell you exactly what the book is about. In this conversation, we'll be hearing from Mark how this book can help Christians build their understanding of what the Bible really is, and their confidence in its truth and clarity and power. 

The details of Mark’s book: 

The Doctrine of Scripture: An Introduction, by Mark D. Thompson, (Short studies in systematic theology series), Crossway, 2022.

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As we send our kids back to school (as parents in Australia are doing this week), a question many of us might face is 'What are we actually doing?' With the government running schools for the most part, it isn't strange when parents wonder whose role it is to teach our children.

As we discuss this topic, we hope to shed some light on some of the challenges that we face as Christian parents, and equip you with some encouragements as you seek to educate your children in the ways of the Lord in such a complex world.

* If you’d like to catch up with Phillip and Tony in person, they’ll both be at the Nexus Conference in Sydney on Monday, March 13. (Tony will be interviewing Phillip as part of the program.) Nexus is aimed mainly at pastors, gospel workers, ministry trainees, and so on, but it’s open to all. The venue is Village Church, Annandale. Find all the details here. 

* Matthias Media (Aus) is having a big January sale that ends TODAY (if you’re reading this on Tues, Jan 31). Get in quick!

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Everyone has an opinion, it seems, about the significance of the late Cardinal George Pell—about his culpability (or otherwise) in the Roman Catholic response to child sexual abuse, about his own guilt or innocence on sexual abuse charges, and about his role within Roman Catholicism itself (in the struggle between conservative and liberal factions).

But what should we say when the topic comes up in conversation? As evangelical Protestants, what contribution can we make to the assessment of a Catholic cardinal's legacy? And what opportunities does the conversation present for speaking about the gospel of Jesus?

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In our first episode for 2023, Tony takes a typically roundabout trip through New Year's resolutions, repentance, self-denial and John Calvin, and ends up blaspheming a modern god.

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In our end of year episode, we talk about the positives and negatives of Christmas and ministry.

Plus some book recommendations for summer reading:

The Case Against the Sexual Revolution, by Louise Perry.

The Gospel of the Kingdom, by David Seccombe.

The Coming of the Holy Spirit, by Philip Jensen.

Busy: Tackling the Problem of an Overloaded Christian Life, by Ian Carmichael.

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What are the fundamentals that we share as evangelical Christians—the beliefs that bind us together as partners in the gospel, and which enable us to work together? And correspondingly, how much difference and disagreement is too much? When and how can we still work together despite our differences?

And what has all this got to do with the Federalist Society?

Listen to the full conversation, or read Tony's summarising article at twoways.news.

Resources referred to:

Student Witness and Christian Truth, by Robert M. Horn

The Limits of Fellowship, by Phillip Jensen (article with link to audio).

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