StephenBarkley.com

This quote is an adaptation of John Welsh (John Knox’s son-in-law) by Thomas Torrance (in Preaching Christ Today: The Gospel and Scientific Thinking): Our grasping of Christ by faith is itself enclosed within the mighty grasp of Christ, and it is in Christ’s grasp of us rather than in our grasp of him that our [...]

Our church just finished a 15 message series on the book of Ecclesiastes. I regularly post the messages I’ve preached on the audio page of this site. However, I thought it would be good to collect all the messages in one place. Without further ado: How to Hide an Elephant (1:1-2) [Audio clip: view full [...]

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . .: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes © 2007 Penguin Books 215 pages This book succeeds in making philosophy interesting. It takes the basic categories of philosophy—existence, knowledge, government, ethics, etc.—and illuminates them by telling jokes. I bought this book as a light read during summer holidays [...]

I just finished reading Kreeft’s Snakebite Letters—a follow up to C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. While reading this book you must remember it’s written from the perspective of a demon. That means “the Enemy” is God. We’re the ones who have forgotten. We’ve also made them forget the old story that music was the language [...]

Man Who Was Thursday (Wordsworth Collection) © 1908 Wordsworth (1995) 145 pages You’ve got to be curious about any book described as a “surreal anarchist fantasy” (Wordsworth edition introduction). I was pleased to find the classic wit of Chesterton on every page. This book’s paradoxical. Chesterton’s writing is expansive and leisurely, yet the pace of [...]

I found this excerpt from Howe’s poem, “On the Ground” strangely beautiful (in On the Ground: Poems). I think proximity is the abyss between God and us because every fabric of my body is trying to know why saying I love you in a time of extremity is a necessity

Chocky (Puffin Books) © 1968 Penguin (1970) 154 pages Chocky’s a fine science fiction tale. In it, a boy named Matthew begins to have conversations with an imaginary friend—who turns out to be more than imaginary. The back cover states that the friend, “was far too intelligent and frightening” to spring from the mind of [...]

Reading von Balthasar is a workout, but the sort that leaves you feeling refreshed. In the preface to his book, Love Alone Is Credible, he offers this statement of pure humility (coming from a theologian-philosopher): Lovers are the ones who know most about God; the theologian must listen to them.

Of Mice and Men © 1937 Bantam Books (1984) 118 pages I’m going to go ahead and assume you’ve already read this book. If you haven’t, go and read it then come back. It’s a classic for a reason! I spent the day after I finished to book wondering how I became so emotionally involved [...]

I’ve been slowly devouring Dawn’s first book on Isaiah 40: To Walk and Not Faint. In her chapter on verse 4, she reflects on YHWH’s highway through the desert. What does it mean that the valleys will be lifted up and the mountains will be made low? The gulf between rich and poor in the [...]