The similar phrase 'Worldly Christianity' is one used by Bonhoeffer. It's J Gresham Machen that I want to line up most closely with. See his Christianity and culture here. Having done commentaries on Proverbs (Heavenly Wisdom) and Song of Songs (Heavenly Love), a matching title for Ecclesiastes would be Heavenly Worldliness. For my stance on worldliness, see 3 posts here.

Aber 2010 02

The first evening session was on Monday night. The preacher was Gareth Williams from Bala and he took us to Colossians for a message that was chiefly evangelistic. Gareth is a similar age to myself. He was in Cardiff when I was in Aber. The second evening it was our friend Martin Downes on Acts 24, more consistently evangelistic but with a similar clear, calm and deliberate style. I am missing Bill James tonight as it's my turn to babysit. I'll also be missing Steve Brady and Stuart Olyott on subsequent nights as we have to leave early for a wedding.
I also missed Hywel Jones on the Christian mind yesterday afternoon but was able to hear Dale Ralph Davis the main speaker at a seminar this afternoon. I'll say something about his main addresses and this one in another post. I also managed a nice coffee with my friend Robert Strivens.
I missed Dr Jones as we were all on the beach in Borth (the whole wider family and friends, including one cousin of Eleri's over from the States) chatting and playing cricket. It's been remarkably good weather since we got here more or less. On the Monday afternoon I made my annual visit to the Christian Bookshop here in Aber and made a number of purchases. I sat down on the seafront to peruse them and got chatting with a young Estonian student. I don't think she had met a Christian really before so she was keen to talk. She proved sceptical and was sure that simply doing good deeds to please herself was enough. I told her she was blind and needed a "Copernican revolution" in her whole way of thinking - from a me-centred outlook to a God-centred one. I hope she meets other Christians this week. There are plenty about.

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