I was made for Afternoons

Perth has been suffering an extended period of rain, wind and genuine winter weather. (I should say enjoying because we live on the end of a desert and really really need the rain) It doesn't seem to have kept people out of the cafe's though! I dropped into another new haunt today Sayers Food - around the corner from my favourite brew Cranked Coffee (a great mixture of coffee and bikes) Sayers has great coffee and a very sophisticated vibe. Good for a special treat.

After a steady day in a very wintry Perth ,I zipped out to grab a coffee at the "West End Deli" - just up the road from my school. Grendal recommends it via his great coffee map of Perth, and I thought I should check it out. Boho arty sort of vibe and an open view kitchen for an excellent view of the preparation of their wonderful menu. The coffee was Fiori , which is a lovely bean. My Latte was a good strength, but a little cooler than I usually prefer. I am reading my way through Sallust's " Catiline's War, The Jugurthine War, Histories" . A great translation I was quite moved by the opening chapter of the text and Sallust's thoughts on human nature, ambition and desire. I need to read this slowly as each sentence seems heavy with meaning and content.

Ancient Rome, like most periods of history, had to deal with warfare, battles, death and the inevitable searching meaning of life which comes from such events. I have never been much of a fan of battle, but I realize that Military history is important as it helps plot the development of nations, as well as the inevitable religious, culinary and knowledge transfer of culture and language. Wikipedia What would you do? Punic Wars Punic Wars 2 Also was very happy to see Jonny Bakers blog about the new Fresh Expressions book focused on what Catholic Anglicans are doing on the Fringes of the church.

I have developed more of an interest in my home, and decorating it, as I have got older. Initially I thought it would be vain and opulent to have nice things at home (this seemed to come from a sort of misguided humility , socialist, back beating protestant mentality) but as I age I see the goodness of having quality, which last and doesn't need replacing in 5 minutes (which is essential with young kids!), and making home a beautiful refugee for my family, and my friends. I especially like the New Victorian Style, sometimes called Steampunk - the link is to a Steampunk interior design page. Topic Two in my Classics Course is "The Roman Household", which seems appropriate as I look at my own home in the light of the Ancient Romans. A few links: Roman Household Powerpoint The Roman House Plan The Roman House in Detail

Grab bag of things today. In the post lunch afternoon lull, my fellow campus ministry team member and I spent some time watching a few of the Nooma videos we hadn't seen before. Very poignant and powerful discussions of loss, grief and the inevitable difficulty of moving on. This led me to look look a little deeper into Rob Bell, who I have always enjoyed as communicator - especially his ability to draw out concepts in a contemporary manner. His primary theological paradigm is that of Narrative theology. You can read about what Mars Hill Church (which Rob Bell pastors) says about Narrative Theology and how it fits with their conception of church . They also offer a quite neat reading list (which will no doubt lead me to purchase even more books to add to the over crowded shelves in my bottom room . . .) In the afternoon I was racing to the local Bunnings to grab a lightglobe and heard a very cool radio story about Shakespeare and Company - a very cool bookshop in Paris whic

I had a late meeting tonight at Trinity College (a gathering of Campus Ministers and like minded folk from around Perth) and was heading home through the early dark winter night listening to Classic fm when on came an interview with British, now naturalised Australian, probably-the-best-pianist-in-the-world Stephen Hough . Whilst I am not a huge fan of Classical Piano (I do however really like impressionist and medieval/renaissance music) Stephen Hough is a little different to the run of the mill artist. Apart from possessing a formidable technique (some might say staggering or startling!) he is also a blogger, a poet, and has published a theological text on Lectio Divina . This mix of music, poetry and theology is close to my own heart, and discovering someone who wrestles with this very same combination is heartening and enlightening. I very humbly offer you a few links about this very Renaissance man: The official Stephen Hough Website Stephen's Blog at the Daily Telegraph

Essay writing. My first time around at University it was merely a task to complete to a pass level and as quickly as possible. By the time I was doing theology much of the work was not essay based - it was reading logs or personal experience based work. Great for theological reflection, but not so much as academic discipline. (With the exception of a 5000 Christology piece which just about killed me . . .) In some ways I am looking forward to the two pieces of work for this unit - an essay of 1200 words and another of 1500. Long enough to explore a topic at some preliminary detail but not so much as to be burdensome or require a herculoric effort , which I just couldn't manage at the moment! So here are two links, one from my home campus UNE and another from Monash University in Melbourne. I was pleasantly surprised to find that most Universities offered help for students in this area, but not so impressed by a few online sites which will produced papers for a fee - wheres t

Nothing is as important to study as reading widely. And not just books. Journals, webpages, interviews, podcasts, films, powerpoints - all broaden and deepen the area which we are trying to understand. My unit this semester is Roman History. Here's some helpful links I have found so far: The Roman Empire Perseus Digital Library - Ancient Texts in Latin and English BBC History - Romans Rome Project Classics Studies Web A good start when added to my pile of Uni suggested Texts.!

The funny thing about rapidly approaching 40 is that things appear to be becoming more urgent, more important, less important etc. Anyway, I find my self enrolled to study classics here . Not only do they have an excellent traditional classics program (Ancient Greek and Roman History along with Latin and Greek language and textual studies) but they can deliver the whole course in external mode with excellent on-line support. Which of course, suits someone on the other side of the country who has a busy job and a young family.  This has been something that has been in the back of my mind since I was about 16. Many of the people I respect and value for their intellectual and spiritual contribution to life in general - C S Lewis, J R R Tolkein , Thomas Merton, the Oxford Movement Fathers  - had this training in their background. Not only did it create a context for their faith , it also taught them how to think, reason, and debate. Part of the discipline, in fact most of it, is reading an