What is cross-current?

IFES Graduate Impact

Being Human

Being Human

Reflecting about identity and the meaning of human life. What does it mean to be human? How does a life well-lived looks like in a broken world? Thinking about how we lost our way and how we’re being restored to become fully human again.

Sharpening the Saw: consider Sabbath

An essay questioning the fruits of optimisation. Part 3: Consider Sabbath.

Dec 27, 2021

5

min read

Sharpening the Saw: Optimisation and Fragility

An essay questioning the fruits of optimisation. Part 2: Optimisation and Fragility. What is the “cult of efficiency” doing to our humanity?

Dec 13, 2021

5

min read

Sharpening the Saw: The Best Path to Freedom?

An essay questioning the fruits of optimisation. Part 1: What are we aiming for when we optimise? Do we even count the costs? What does it mean to live a good life?

Nov 29, 2021

7

min read

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton (1908)

Chesterton's ‘Orthodoxy’ is a treatise on the origins of pleasure. Where does joy stem from? What is the heartbeat of pleasure? What are its origins in our world?

Jul 15, 2021

9

min read

It Is Not Good for Man To Be Alone

May there be ever so much of God’s goodness in our being together...

Jul 5, 2021

6

min read

The Burnout Society: Survival of the fittest

Burnout represents the pathological consequence of voluntary self-exploitation.

Sep 2, 2022

11

min read

The Burnout Society: Why so tired?

Being tired is not the problem; the problem is that the kind of tiredness that our society brews is one of exhaustion.

Jul 22, 2022

4

min read

The Burnout Society: scattered and bored

Han writes: "Multitasking is commonplace among wild animals. It is an attentive technique indispensable for survival in the wilderness. That is why animals are incapable of contemplative immersion.”

Jan 12, 2022

4

min read

Theological Neuroethics

The brain is an interesting organ. Weighing only 1360 grams (2% of our body weight) it consumes 20-50% of the blood oxygen supply, and is the center of thought, consciousness, emotions and desires.

Apr 28, 2021

15

min read

On Almond Flowers and Disappointments

What happens to our deferred dreams? Do we have a say in what we do with them? Abundance is not the absence of disappointments, rather the presence of Jesus Himself among them...

Mar 12, 2021

4

min read

A Move From Subject to Project

As the digital is a medium of projection, “people no longer consider themselves subjects that are cast under a general law but as self-designing—self-casting and, indeed, self-optimizing—projects”.

Feb 5, 2021

8

min read

From the Hand to the Finger

'Homo digitalis' uses his finger (his digit) to interact with the world. Above all, the finger counts. Either he is always counting and calculating, or else he is always being counted and calculated.

Feb 3, 2021

4

min read

Homo Digitalis, and the Flight Into the Image

Social media is a medium of immediate presence. As representation is giving way to online presence, the swarm enters, dissolving old limitations at its own peril.

Jan 29, 2021

6

min read

In the Swarm. Outrage Society.

Byung-Chul Han, the Korean-German thinker, offers us a stark contrast: pursue the fleeting outrage that is amplified online, at the peril of our democracy or re-integrate discourse, urgently.

Jan 26, 2021

6

min read

Saving Beauty

Should we save beauty or could we be saved by it?

Jan 20, 2021

14

min read

The Apple Watch, Time, and Sabbath

Lloyd Lee argues that the Apple Watch exemplifies a modern view of time that dissipates the fullness of the Christian view of time.

Dec 9, 2020

16

min read

The Universality of Story and the Hero’s Journey

We Christians celebrate story as central and significant in our faith. Not only are we swept along by the great salvation story of history, but also, we are invited to participate in God’s story.

Nov 29, 2020

6

min read

How to have hope in the face of Coronavirus

The coronavirus pandemic has led to an exponential rise in mental health conditions triggered by all-pervading death anxiety. Prof John Wyatt says Christians must daily rekindle biblical hope as an an

11

min read

Anxiety: when the pillars shake...

Dr. Pablo Martinez reminds us that trust and hope are the best resources against anxiety. Prayer allows us to cultivate and renew our relationship with God, which is the foundation of our existence.

Oct 31, 2020

10

min read

Dealing with Anxiety. Recommended Resources.

In these times of extreme uncertainty, we’re all dealing with anxiety, one way or another. We identified a few useful resources which address the topic from a biblical perspective.

Oct 22, 2020

min read

Thoughts on Small Things. A Reflection from Madrid.

I am not comfortable with broken things, but I am confronted by them every day. 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

Aug 4, 2020

4

min read

Relationships During the Pandemic

The pandemic has revealed our status quo in relationships. Our high tempo lives were abruptly paused, the regular noise went on mute. We stayed face to face with whatever treasures we really possessed

Olena Tyshchenko

Jun 15, 2020

6

min read

How is the COVID-19 Pandemic Changing the Way People Relate?

Reflections on how a pandemic affects how we live and how we relate to others. By Shuk Ling Chan from the Cultural Influencers Group.

May 29, 2020

4

min read

Interview Julia Doxat-Purser

Julia Doxat-Purser on Cross-Current Politics. Interviewed during the annual Cross-Current Professional Groups Conference in Berlin, Nov 2019. Julia is a Socio-political Representative for the EEA.

Julia Doxat-Purser

Jun 3, 2020

12

min read

Interview with John Wyatt

Interview with Professor John Wyatt at the November 2019 Cross-Current Conference. John is a leading medical ethicist who wants to help us think biblically through current matters of life and death.

Jun 8, 2020

17

min read

'See That You Also Excel in This Grace of Giving'

There is no way to become spiritually mature unless we commit our finances to the Lord. We need to be intentional and diligent about it.

May 19, 2020

3

min read

Living with Hope

Hope is not abstract. It is the vision of the future that motivates us in the present.

Jul 27, 2020

9

min read

Signposts to Jesus

Your workplace is a unique place where Jesus has placed you. A place where you sit and stand day-by-day side-by-side with people who know nothing about Jesus. A place to shine!

Jul 24, 2020

8

min read

Finding Cross-Current and My Calling

Dima joined Cross-Current Politics in spring 2018. Here he shares his testimony. It’s always great to read about Cross-Current being an answer to someone’s prayers!

Mar 14, 2019

4

min read

The Lord is Near

Crises force us to reconsider our ways. When we’re reminded of how little control we have over our circumstances we realise the most significant decision is choosing between anxiety and dependence.

Apr 17, 2020

3

min read

Make Money Serve Grace.

Let’s be honest! Money is powerful. It is insidious: it grabs our attention, it seduces us, it claims our love and allegiance. Money needs to be tamed: we need to make money serve people.

Mar 17, 2020

3

min read

Above All Else, Guard Your Heart!

We deal with money every day, one way or another. How we relate to money and possessions is a spiritual matter. It truly is a heart issue.

Feb 17, 2020

3

min read

Trust(lessness) Begins with Me

Trustlessness singularly marks the beginnings of the great biblical story, and there are lessons to be learned from it in relation to humankind.

Christel Ngnambi

Dec 20, 2019

3

min read

Following Jesus

Bayer suggests that discipleship is fundamentally a matter of Christ’s exposure - and transformation - of our self-perception and God- perception.

Nov 27, 2019

13

min read

The Life God Blesses

How do we learn to weather the storms of life that threaten the soul? How can we build beneath the waterline, to strengthen and shore up?

Nov 18, 2019

4

min read

The Master & His Emissary

McGilchrist charts the human brain, along with a sweep of the making of the Western World, in a staggering 500-page treatise, which reads much like a thriller.

May 10, 2019

15

min read

Living Life Backward

Ecclesiastes–often dry and acerbic in wit-introduces us to the heart of faith. As Gibson writes, 'We need someone to tell us to listen because we want to look and speak more than we want to listen'.

Jan 10, 2019

7

min read

The Second Mountain

“On the first mountain you tend to be ambitious, strategic, and independent. On the second mountain you tend to be relational, intimate, and relentless.” David Brooks

Jul 17, 2019

26

min read

Church Poker: How to Choose a Church – or at Least Spot a Bad One!

Three "tells” of a potentially bad church.

Feb 26, 2019

5

min read

Christmas: The Celebration of Sacrificial Generosity

What’s the true meaning of generosity? Ultimate generosity involves giving oneself, not merely giving something or sharing resources. The greatest gift of all is Immanuel.

Dec 20, 2018

2

min read

On Being & Knowing - A Response

The current zeitgeist says loud and clear; "the journey is the destination". Why are we even travelling? How are we trying to find who we are? Maybe the story is more important than the journey.

Dec 5, 2018

3

min read