On 31st October 1517, Martin Luther, a German monk, nailed 95 questions to the door of his local church. His questions became a catalyst for what is remembered as the reformation. In the decades that followed, the Church transformed: scripture was translated and made available in languages other than Latin, which paved the way for a new era in theology; misguided traditions such as the practice of indulgences were abolished; and the birth of the Protestant Church allowed for new expressions of Christian faith.
But the job of the reformers is not yet done. It was not a onetime event, now assigned to annuals of Church History. The task of reforming the Church is a responsibility that every generation must carry, as they seek to better understand scripture, and more reliably make known the love of Christ to an ever-changing world.
Here, Steve Chalke offers 95 questions for today’s Church.
This week Steve wraps up, his 95 questions pertinent to the church today, Chalke Talk. Started as a response to the 500-year anniversary of the Martin Luther’s 95 questions to the church of his day, which set off the reformation, Steve has journeyed through tough questions that boggle the minds of Christians today, and are often responsible for behaviour which is contradictory to the message of the gospel.
Call it God. Cosmic Justice. Karma. Or, what goes around comes around. Since the beginning of time, people have believed that this world is heading somewhere. And the Ancient Jews, Steve comments, were no different.
As the song goes “Ooo, Heaven is a place on earth!” But aside from 80’s classic, is this actually a fundamental theological point?
Love never fails. It’s become a platitude familiar to so many of us, as Christians. But do we actually believe that to be true? Or, is it true for everyone? Or just a select number of really good Christians.
Hell is perhaps one of the most polarising topics within the church, and the way it’s been represented often damages our witness as Christ-followers. It’s for that reason that Steve has been dedicating weeks of Chalke Talk to explore it.
This week Steve continues on from last week with how we've misunderstood the doctrine of hell, particularly what Paul thinks about it.
The judgement of God, and often his followers, is frequently cited as the main reason that turns people away from Christianity. A religion that is meant to be about love, it seems, cannot be about judgement as well.
It’s a common misconception, and common because we often don’t realize we’re making it. Steve asks, this week, Why do we think Paul thought like us? Paul wasn’t westerner, a modernist, liberal nor a conservative. He was deeply a product of his culture and his encounter with the gospel.
Following on from last week’s Chalke Talk, questioning why an often misinterpreted idea of the afterlife still makes its home in mainstream Christianity, Steve asks is every exclusion a failure of love?
Would God, who is described as the definition of pure love, punish people with infinite and eternal torment based on decisions and actions taken in their few short years of life on earth?
Steve argues, this week, that the notion of eternal torment has left our culture deaf to the real message of the gospel, one which is so desperately needed: love.
And with this episode of Chalke Talk, he explores, as he has in previous episodes and throughout his most recent best-selling book, The Lost Message of Paul, how we’ve got it wrong and what we need to do to get it right.
Back from a summer break, this week Steve continues to explore what the bible actually teaches – or doesn’t teach – about Hell and the idea, as the medieval church put it, of ‘perpetual punishment with the devil’ for those were ‘unworthy of Christ’.
In previous episodes, Steve has questioned the centrality of the cross to Christianity. The cross is nothing without redemption, Steve suggests.
It means someone who had an obsessive desire for power, many times, at all costs. And unfortunately, that's often how God has been understood. Love is an afterthought to a legalistic God who's otherwise concerned with his people subjecting to and honouring him.
‘For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness’ says the apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Rome – chapter one verse 18.
In previous episodes of Chalke Talk, in line with the release of his latest book, the Lost Message of Paul, Steve has argued the greek word ‘pistes’ means faithfulness, which is not necessarily the same as faith in an immovable doctrinal position.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
This week is the release of Steve’s latest book the Lost Message of Paul! As such, he asks the question in this week’s episode of Chalke Talk that the book is centered around: has the church misunderstood Paul, badly?
Last week, Steve argued that “saved by faith alone” is possibly a “doctrine of straw.” This week, he continues to argue, in line with the message of his upcoming book “The Lost Message of Paul,” that this doctrine of straw is responsible for so much of Protestant Theology. And thus, how we’ve misunderstood Paul.
“Most informed Christians know that Luther had a problem with the New Testament book written by James. He called it an ‘epistle of straw’ and campaigned to have it removed from the Bible.” And it’s exactly why, a glossed over but important fact, that brings Steve to this week’s episode of Chalke Talk.
Does part of our misunderstanding around Paul comes from the fact that his letters are so often used to bolster preachers’ pulpits?
“Jesus is Lord” is often viewed as a resounding imperial call, when actually it’s root is about living life radically. This week Steve takes looks back at the Roman Empire; an empire under which Jews, like Paul, were subjugated.
“The culture we inhabit is just like the air that we breathe." And this week, Steve argues that trying to understand the Apostle Paul without understanding his culture will fail to give us the full picture.
What do these two seemingly unrelated famous men share in common? As Steve puts it, “To attempt to understand the development of the Church worldwide without any reference to the work of the Apostle Paul is a bit like trying to trace the development of pop music without mentioning Elvis, or the Beatles, the Stones, Dylan, Michael Jackson, and U2 all put together.”
Following on from last week’s episode, Steve continues to look at the many ways Paul’s writing has been used to justify some of the church’s worst mistakes. From racism to homophobia, it’s hard to believe there is anything redeemable about Paul’s texts. As Steve puts is, “…it is no surprise that for too many he is the author of structural social exclusion.”
This week, Steve begins a new conversation – a serious conversation that he invites us all to participate in; a conversation about the apostle Paul.
Paul is often referred to as “the great excluder” and is used by many to defend a legalistic view of Christianity. But what happens, Steve asks this week, if it’s not that the rules don’t matter, but the principle behind them matters more?
During Paul’s time, people were consumed with false idols and an unimaginable amount of Gods. It’s easy to write these individuals off as prehistoric, but Steve argues the same issue plagues humanity today. “The only difference is that we’re far more direct now; power, money, sex, leisure, self-interest, health and beauty – but the values and characters of our gods have remained stubbornly the same.”
Understanding right from wrong is not about following rules; it’s about understanding how your personal story fits in with a bigger one.
In this week’s Chalke Talk, Steve describes how the Ten Commandments have been misunderstood throughout history. Rather than a set of instructions sent by God to spoil our fun, they are instead a fantastic way of understanding God’s love for his creation. Steve challenges us to understand how we interpret our ethics as a series of principles to live by rather than seeing any commandment or part of scripture as a narrow set of rules to follow.
This week Steve reflects on his experience working with vulnerable people with Oasis and how important hope, the truth we believe about our selves, is to bright future.
Steve suggests, “To really pray is to allow the contents of your prayer to possess you; to allow it to become YOUR vision, your passion, your longing, your commitment.”
Following last week’s Chalke Talk, Steve asks what does a person who places their ‘faith’ rather than their ‘belief’ in Christ actually look like?
This week Steve picks apart a modern misconception about the church. And it’s one that both church-goers and those who don’t fall for time after time: that faith is something exclusive to the faithful.
This week Steve picks up on an old parable, which begs the question that underlies our behaviour as Christians.
This week Steve continues to look at the ways in which we’ve misunderstood the meaning of the cross. Whether it’s underestimating or overstating its importance, something so central to the Christian faith has also become a central debate.
Since Steve first commented that “God is a God of love, and ultimately loves everyone” he’s received numerous questions online and in-person about how this reconciles with different parts of the bible.
Since last week when Steve concluded that "the good news is for all," many people have got in touch to ask, "if that is the case, then what is the point in being a Christian? In this week's Chalke Talk Steve responds to that important question.
This week Steve puts forward the question that has troubled Christians throughout the ages and into today: “If God's grace is real grace – amazing, undeserved, non-discriminatory, in-containable, extraordinary grace – then why wouldn’t it apply to everyone regardless of their geography, their religious beliefs or their capacity to believe in God or not?”
This week Steve begins thinking about salvation and God's grace. Encouraging all of us to think about whether we can reconcile a God of love with the idea that salvation is not for everybody.
“The message of Jesus was never an evacuation plan designed to offer us an escape from reality. Rather, it’s a transformation plan for our broken and conflicted world.”
A provocative question no doubt, and one that has been, and continues to be, seen as an affront to God’s authority. But, as Steve explores this week, contending that God has ultimate control over what happens reflects poorly on God’s character considering how many horrible things happen in this world.
God seems to have a change of heart between the Old Testament and the New Testament. At least that’s what most of us tend to think.
In the past weeks, Steve has been looking at what it means to "Love others" and "Love ourselves," but this week unpacks why it is so difficult for us "to love God."
Following on from last week’s episode, Steve continues to challenge us with what does “Love your neighbour as yourself” actually mean?
‘‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of THE LEAST of these, you did not do for me.” This is the infamous and crushing blow that Jesus delivers to those who refuse to serve and advocate for society’s most marginalised.
The story of the ‘Good Samaritan’ would have an identical message but a different name if Jesus were telling it today.
Paul and Jesus fundamentally disagreed on the law. Or at least, that’s the only interpretation that a literal reading of the New Testament allows you to reach.
So, what is a Christian? This question sparks this week's episode of Chalke Talk where Steve looks at the biblical and historical context of Christian identity and how we've gotten it wrong.
What happens when we try to stop ourselves from creating God in our own image? This is Steve’s question, leading on from the previous week where we began thinking about what the ‘image of God’ actually means.
Steve continues to think about the question of loving ourselves, loving others and loving God in a commonly quoted phrase ‘Imago Dei’ or ‘in the image of God.’
What if the Genesis story isn’t about sin, wrath, guilt, and shame, but actually a testament to God's unwillingness to abandon his creation?
This week, Steve continues looking at the idea of ‘loving ourselves, loving God and loving others’ in light of the doctrine of original sin. Concerned with the cycle of shame and guilt people are so often unable to break themselves from, Steve questions some of the thinking behind ‘original sin.’
Carrying on from the previous week, Steve builds on his assertion that Jesus excludes certain parts of the Old Testament in his preaching, such as Joshua or Judges, because they condone violence in the name of God.
Steve reflects on an important question that sustains our purpose and vision, as human beings, but is unfortunately rarely asked: “What kind of human being do you want to become?”
Wrapping up the past few episodes, which focus on the cross, Steve points to some of the criticism and inability to listen that he’s encountered throughout the past few weeks.
When we remember Jesus’ words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” we usually immediately think of the fact the Jesus was punished on the cross for our sins. Images of the "father turning his face away" or God’s wrath being satisfied in one of the most painful forms of execution are all too common. But, in this week’s episode of Chalke Talk, Steve encourages everyone to avoid these kinds of conclusions.
Have you ever wondered how Christians can claim to follow Jesus, who brought with him an ardent message of anti-violence, and still believe that the God who sent him is wrathful and vengeful?
In response to the UK’s governments announcement concerning the banning of gay “conversion therapy,” Steve takes some time to reflect on this barbaric and troubling practice.
The doctrine of Penal Substitution, which influences many popular worship songs and evangelistic ‘packages’ risks reducing the life, ministry and teachings of Jesus to a ‘long weekend.’
“What we believe about the Cross really matters,” says Steve in this week’s Chalke Talk. “If the church believes that God’s first response to humanity is one of anger at sin, and then views itself as God’s mouthpiece; our underlying lack of respect and love for those who don’t share our faith will leak out – however much we try to disguise it.”
This week Steve deals with one of the biggest contradictions in modern day theology: “If, as the songs and sermons teach us, God demanded a blood sacrifice and that he was unwilling or unable to extend forgiveness to us without it, then God himself is unwilling to follow the teachings of Jesus – which all becomes a case of ‘do as I say, not as God does.’”
Last week Steve argued that the God's holiness means he's different, but not necessarily separated from us. This week Steve continues thinking along these lines as to whether God suffers or not. As Steve asks, "could it be that God who loves more than any other being in the universe also suffers the most?"
Last week Steve looked at the story of the Israelites exodus from captivity in Egypt, and the series of mysteries and confusing messages Moses was subjected to – from a burning bush, to striking a rock for water. Wrapped up in that is a huge implication for how we understand our relationship with God; it’s not about waiting for some divine revelation but instead choosing to actively follow. That’s where God meets us – in our willingness to engage.
Last week, Steve explored the yearning inside of everyone to worship. Whether that becomes God or something more material we choose to worship; worship is, in and of itself, a choice. Continuing with the theme of “choosing God” Steve looks at probably one of the most well-known stories from the Bible: Moses and the Burning Bush.
After spending a few weeks on thinking about who God is, Steve begins to dig into what this means for us. In the Old Testament “LORD” is often capitalized to signal the translation from Yahweh. But there’s more.
This week Steve looks at how people’s perceptions of God have been responsible for tremendous positivity but also tremendous damage throughout history, and today.
After explaining why God is not angry last week, Steve dives even deeper into what it means for us that God doesn’t just love, but that God is love.
This week, Steve looks at why so many have come to believe God is a vengeful wrath-filled judge, and where we, as Christians, got off on the wrong foot thinking this way.
Steve begins this week’s Chalke Talk by reflecting on some of the questions he has been asked, following the previous video in which he suggested that Heaven is likely to be filled with far more than just Christians.
Life in our globalised, multi-faith, multi-cultural, world highlights some big questions, ones which have always been there for the Church, but which have often been ignored, says Steve in this week’s Chalke Talk.
“The first readers of the Gospels would have thought its content scandalous,” argues Steve in this week’s Chalke Talk. While some of the significance can be lost to us, the pages of the four books that recount the life of Jesus are full of him pushing the boundaries of social acceptability by reaching out to people that the ‘Holy’ considered outcast.
The Ethiopian Eunuch of Acts, chapter 8, verse 26-38 is someone who should never have been welcomed into the fold. He was Ethiopian, while God’s love was for Jews. And Scripture had totally forbidden the participation of a Eunuch – or someone with ‘crushed sexual organs’ – in worship.
In this week’s Chalke Talk, Steve explores how inclusion is a fundamental theme in the Old Testament.
Examining the story of Abraham and Sarah, Steve illustrates that from the earliest pages of the Bible, we have examples of people stepping out of their comfort zone and attempting to share the news of God’s love with those that might previously have been considered unworthy of it.
In this week’s Chalke Talk Steve responds to criticism that in his previous video, he oversimplified the message of Jesus. While Steve had claimed that the message of the Gospel is simply one of love, others have pointed out that Jesus was – on occasions – a man of anger.
Jesus knew the law as well as any boy who grew up in Jewish society – and by all accounts, far better than most. But what really made Jesus different was his ability to internalize the spirit of the law – and liberate himself from the letter of it.
“Following Jesus isn’t about religion and all its paraphernalia; signing up to a system of doctrinal statements in the hope of escaping judgement after death – instead it’s about how to do life right now!”
The Apostle Paul is often written off as an anti-sex, anti-marriage, anti-women misery. But, when we take every word of Paul as universally applicable, we make a horrendous pastoral mistake. We end up imposing theological constructs on him which just aren’t there.
The Church has a responsibility to engage with and tackle the moral and spiritual issues of contemporary society. However, we can only do this when we tap into the timeless wisdom of scripture – and that requires understanding that the Bible does not have the final word on every moral issue.
100 years on from the Representation of the People Act, which heralded the first concrete steps in the long process towards women’s suffrage in the UK, the Church has failed to learn the lessons of its historic, and doctrinally driven, social conservatism.
When we walk into a library – even a specialist library on a particular subject – we expect the books present to have much in common with each other; but we would be highly surprised if they uniformly agreed on everything. The Bible, Steve argues in this week’s Chalke Talk, is a library and we should expect some disagreement between the books that constitute it.
Irresponsible church leaders, who encourage a literal and juvenile interpretation of the Bible, are partly to blame for heightened mental illness and physical harm among LGBT people, argues Steve in this week's Chalke Talk.
What do we mean when we call the Bible 'God-breathed'? To what extent can we ever call the Bible infallible?
2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching. But it never uses the word ‘infallible’. In the latest instalment of Chalke Talk, Steve argues that by labelling the Bible as infallible we have discouraged people from asking big questions about its content, from grappling with it in its entirety and understanding its true meaning.
How do we deal with contradictions in the Bible – occasions where one verse describes an event in a certain way and another verse talks about the same event completely differently?
An obsession with creation vs evolution has caused large parts of the Church to miss the true message of the creation story, says a prominent Christian leader. “In fact”, he explains, “here we are in the 21st century and most of the world has still not come to terms with Genesis’ radical message of inclusion and equality.”
The way we interpret the Bible is driving down church attendance, says Steve in this week’s ‘Chalke Talk.’
Off the back of new figures which show that the Church of England has lost two-thirds of its members in the last three decades, we need to ask questions about what it is that pushes people away.
“Moses, a late bronze-age thinker, puts late bronze-age words into God’s mouth,” says Steve Chalke in the latest edition of Chalke Talk. “And the problem is that some of them stuck.”
Some Christians, often with passion and pride, argue that the Bible does not need to be interpreted. Every word – every syllable – can be applied without thought and interpretation. This, Steve argues in the latest addition of Chalke Talk, is nonsense.
Many Christians, Steve argues, are in the habit of picking and choosing which bits of the Bible to believe. If a part of it is uncomfortable, we tend to gloss over it.
Luther was extraordinarily brave. Despite risking death, he had the courage of his convictions to speak out about the things that really mattered to him. Throughout history, many Christians have found the strength to do the same.
The church needs heretics and Jesus himself was seen as one, argues Steve in the 4th instalment of the Chalke Talk video series.
“Bad theology costs lives” argues Steve in the third instalment of ‘Chalke Talk.’ From Luther and his persecution of the Jews, to the Church’s relatively recent poor treatment of unmarried mothers and divorced people, misunderstanding Scripture can lead to mental and physical wellbeing being seriously undermined.
Luther asked the questions that the 16th century Church really needed to grapple with – and because of his courage the world changed forever. But none of this means that he didn’t make mistakes. Did his ‘two Kingdoms theology’ – which called for separation between Church and state lead to a world where Christians started to turn a blind eye to secular evil? Could this even have shaped a German Church which ailed to speak out against Nazism in the 1930s?
On the 500th anniversary since Martin Luther supposedly posted his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg - effectively ushering in what would become known as the protestant reformation – Rev Canon Steve Chalke is launching the new ‘Chalke Talk’ video web series. Through a weekly succession of videos, Steve will focus minds on ninety five burning questions that he believes the Church needs to face up to as part of a radical rethink of its theology, engagement and role in society.
This week Steve ventures on to a new topic with Chalke Talk: the afterlife. More specifically, what was the context for Paul's understanding of it and how have we come to understand it. Or rather, misunderstand it.