There was once a tragic little field mouse who was out of work and down on his luck. After almost a year on welfare he decided to look further afield for work and discovered that there was a factory located in an enchanted forest just a few miles from his nest. It was expanding its [...]

Posted in Blog, Parables |

  A friend recently shared the following story with me (via her as yet unpublished novel),  — One evening, just before bed, a little boy was saying his prayers with his Mother on one side and his Grandmother on the other, “Please bless my Mommy, Daddy and Grandma,” he said, “and help us all get [...]

Posted in Blog, Parables, Philosophy/Theology | Tags: communication, Prayer, unconscious

There is an old story in which a man, who has spent his whole life pulling the legs off bugs, dies and goes straight to hell. After the paperwork has been filled out he is sent to the relevant part of Hades to receive his punishment. As he is walking the demon who leads the way tells him [...]

Posted in Blog, Parables, Philosophy/Theology | Tags: Occupy Wall Street

Last year I developed an iphone app called “Insurrection” that contains much of the content of my 2010 Pub Tour. The app includes fourteen videos, nine parables (including one that is illustrated) and the tour EP. Originally it was $4.99 as I tried to cover some of the costs of developing it. But I thought [...]

Posted in Books, Music, Parables, Philosophy/Theology, Reflection | Tags: Insurrection app

  Updated: As the end of the world is happening this evening I thought it might be appropriate to offer a parable I wrote about the coming apocalypse. This parable was made into a chick style tract last year by Laryn Kragbakker and can be viewed on my Insurrection iPhone app. Other than that I [...]

Posted in Parables | Tags: 21st May, Chick, God, Harold Camping, left behind, Rapture, Rapture tract

Aesop was such a powerful and insightful storteller. I was recently reminded of this fable he wrote that beautifully sums up the nature of grace and its transformative effect, — A dispute once arose between the Wind and the Sun, which was the stronger of the two, and they agreed to settle the point upon [...]

Posted in Blog, Parables | Tags: Aesop, Grace, Sun, Wind

There is an old story about a little rabbit who had been born and brought up in a laboratory. One night his cage is accidently left open and he escapes from the complex. As he runs away he is amazed to feel the grass beneath his feet and see a sunset for the first time [...]

Posted in Parables | Tags: anxiety, freedom, Institution

The blog Impractical Theology just posted up this parable from my book The Orthodox Heretic and I thought I might pass it along to you. If you find it helpful there are thirty-two more parables like it in the book. So please do consider spending your hard earned cash on a copy, otherwise I will [...]

Posted in Blog, Parables | Tags: devil, Heaven, hell, Orthodox heretic, Parable

I thought I would share a story about love that I adapted from an ancient Islamic parable. This story touches me very deeply as it seems to capture what might be described as the greatest mode of sacrifice, the sacrifice of meaning itself. In my next post I may expand on what I mean. But [...]

Posted in Parables | Tags: Islam, love, Parable, sacrifice

Earlier in the year I took to the road with artist/musician Jonny McEwen and singer/poet Pádraig ô Tuama for a five week pub crawl (sorry, I mean tour). The whole venture was a risky one: we had no budget, no experience of setting up a tour and no idea if anyone would want to join [...]

Posted in Parables, Philosophy/Theology, Reflection | Tags: Insurrection, iphone app, Jonny McEwen, Pádraig ô Tuama, Peter Rollins