Sticks and stones will break my bones...

Inspired by Rhett…

I am a British New Zealander, a Kiwi, with English, Scottish, Irish and French Mauritian roots, and I am Taranaki hardcore. I am an Anglican Christian, and would be considered by many as an evangelical Anglican, although I prefer the terms orthodox or Nicene. I was raised a Presbyterian, and have also been part of New Life, AOG, Charismatic restorationist, Apostolic, Third Wave Pentecostal, Open Brethren and Vineyard churches, and I have a Catholic heritage on my mother’s side.

I grew up on Jesus Music, influenced by the Charismatic Movement and the Jesus Movement. I am Reformed in theology, a five-point Calvinist and monergist. Some would dispute this on the basis of my epistemological and anthropological convictions, which are more existentialist than is typical of a Calvinist but nonetheless strongly rationalist, innatist, nativist, essentialist, idealist and realist. I am pragmatically episcopalian with a small e and catholic with a small c, but ideally primitivist, restorationist and emergent in my ecclesiology, while also having a strong covenanter Presbyterian heritage.

As a Christian I am a monotheist. Some would consider my views on the Godhead to be modalist, however they are Branhamist. In matters of origins I tend towards young-earth creationism, and I am theocentric, then anthropocentric, in my approach to metaphysics and ethics. In my approach to interpreting the Bible I am covenantal and dispensationalist, in matters concerning church membership I am a paedobaptist, and concerning the end times I am premillenial and pre-trib.

I am evangelical in expressing the faith to others, but not to the extent evangelism dominates my life. I am a Charismatic Third Wave Pentecostal and something of a mystic in my approach to spirituality, and also identify strongly with the Puritan and “holiness” traditions. I am also strongly agrarian, natalist and providentialist, considering farming and family of equal importance to evangelism, and identifying with the “Quiverfull” movement. Some would consider me a patriarchal male chauvinist for my masculist ideals, but the more appropriate label would be complementarian. Some might also consider me racist when in fact I am racialist, or homophobic when in fact I am heterosexist. I am fecundist, but more on religious terms than racial terms, and I am monoculturalist and nationalist, while also having colonialist sympathies.

I am liberal in that I identify with liberation theology, and see political concern for the public good, particularly the poor and oppressed, as essential to Christian life. As a result I am something of an activist. However I actually identify politically as a paleoconservative, but I am considered a liberal by neo-conservatives for my views on pornography, prostitution and globalism, and especially my environmentalist views for which many might call me a greenie or a tree-hugger. I am right-wing, and I am fundamentalist and dominionist inasmuch as I am innatist and believe in one philosophical, religious, moral and political truth that applies to all.

I am bicameralist in my ideas of government. I am a localist and a communitarian, but also a monarchist and a Tory like most of my ancestors. My family in Belfast has included Orangemen and unionists, however I am more of a Jacobite than an Orangeman.

I am a professional environmental planner, and an amateur philosopher, theologian, sociologist, anthropologist, theorist of religion, historian, genealogist and geographer. I am also a wikipedian and, of course, a blogger. And I am a born and bred farmer.

I am postmodern insofar as I reject the dominance of positivism, empiricism, pragmatism, globalism and industrialism inherent to modernism, and put an emphasis on relationships and subjective experience. I am also a conspiracy theorist and a revisionist in my approach to history. I am an aspiring evangelist and prophet, and somewhat apostolic, and in various ways I am a minister of God’s grace as an ambassador of Christ, a teacher of philosophy, theology and history, and, of course, a writer. I am also infrequently a poet, or am at least poetic. My tastes in art are realist and impressionist. In matters regarding facial hair I have beardist sympathies.

I am a narcissistic, sanguine, extroverted, process-oriented ENTJ. I am sensitive, but also thick-skinned. I am casual and relaxed, but also serious and intense. I am a paradox, a hypocrite and a sinner. I am also dogmatic, bigoted, narrow-minded, small-minded, sheltered, intolerant, judgmental, arrogant, moralistic, hateful, backwards, a prude and a redneck. But, most importantly, I am loved, and I am a lover; I am born again.

NOTE: I also identify with the tradition of Christian humanism, particularly in the vein of the Fathers of the Reformation: Erasmus, Luther and Calvin, and of modern author C.S. Lewis.