Spurgeons College

In the high-stakes environment of emergency medical care, language used by the prehospital provider can play a pivotal role in influencing patient outcomes. The article "Inappropriate use of nocebic language in prehospital care: a cautionary tale" examines the detrimental effects of nocebic language—verbal expressions that inadvertently heighten patient anxiety and perception of pain. Through an analysis of televised prehospital care encounters, the study identifies a prevalent use of nocebic language by emergency responders, which can exacerbate patient discomfort and hinder recovery. The research underscores the necessity for healthcare providers to adopt positive communication strategies, such as replacing terms like "pain" with "discomfort," to mitigate negative reactions and enhance patient resilience. Training programs focused on positive and patient-centered communication techniques from the field of hypnosis are advocated to equip emergency responders with skills to effectively manage interactions, thereby improving patient healing.

While the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament includes a number of fantastical stories, none is as formative for the Jewish people as that described in Exodus 19–24, where YHWH, under cover of cloud and heralded by thunder, lightning, and a startling, deafening fanfare, marked out the Israelites as ‘a priestly kingdom and a holy nation’ (Exod. 19:6 NRSV), and spoke the Ten Commandments to Moses. The narrative of Exodus 19–24 is complex and presents conundrums not easily resolved using a purely historical-critical methodology. This had led some scholars, Jewish and Christian alike, to query the historicity of the Sinai event, or at least to remain cautious about how much can really be known about it. And yet the Sinai event remains foundational for both Judaism and Christianity: when taken at face value, Exodus 19–24 witnesses to a definitive instance of divine self-revelation and self-communication. In short, at Sinai, YHWH acted, says the...

Picking up a 2020 publication reflecting on a research project which concluded in 2011 might lead some to question its contemporary relevance. Jumping to such a premature conclusion would mean miss...

Abstract The response of the Church to the Revolution of Dignity (Революція гідності) in Ukraine in 2013–14 signalled a seismic shift in Christian public engagement with post-Soviet society. The implications and significance of the Revolution extended beyond the national boundaries of Ukraine. The revolutionary events became a symbol of hope for the church and society. Theologians and Christian leaders throughout the nations of the former Soviet Union began to reconsider the public witness of the church. This article uses the notion of public theology to explore how Ukrainian evangelical Christians can engage with matters of public significance in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity. I conclude with a proposal for the application of three principles (freedom, compassion and creativity) as appropriate points of departure for evangelical theological reflection on public issues in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union today.

"Heart religion: evangelical piety in England and Ireland, 1690–1850." Baptist Quarterly, 49(3), p. 136

The reasons for the historian Samuel Rawson Gardiner's departure from the Catholic Apostolic Church in the mid-1860s are speculated upon but not generally known. This essay makes use of letters, hitherto in family hands and unknown to researchers, from Gardiner and his wife Isabella to her brother Martin Irving in order to trace the growth of Gardiner's doubts and his alienation from the Catholic Apostolic Church. In particular, the letters show how Gardiner felt the Church was mishandling the intellectual challenges exercising contemporary churchmen. The aim is to shed light on an aspect of Gardiner's biography which has not previously been explained adequately, and so to illuminate the response of one conservative religious movement – the Catholic Apostolic Church – towards the challenges presented by developments in the disciplines of geology and Biblical studies. It is argued that for Gardiner doubt was a necessary function of the quest for truth.

This book is not a survey of evangelical worship itself but an analysis of 30 books about worship recommended in 20 American evangelical seminaries. Many are familiar and much relates to the UK, al...

The ostensible arguments advanced by Oliver O’Donovan for a confessionally Christian constitutional order are not persuasive, even in the terms of his own scheme, because they presuppose that such a confession may be required as a representative act. Within his theory lies, however, the assumption that confessing Christ is fundamental to all right decision-making, including the political. This renders the confession of Christ not merely a possibility for legitimate governments but rather essential to just political judgments. If O’Donovan’s ostensible arguments prove too little, the underlying logic of his position claims too much. O’Donovan is mistaken in his assumption that political judgments must be placed within the same comprehensive moral vision as personal decisions. Because political judgments bear only an indirect relationship to absolute right they may be rightly made without the express confession of Christ in the constitutional order.