The story of the rich man and Lazarus appears on first reading to depict a detailed ‘map’ of ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’,but is this the right way to read it? First,it is worth noting that the words ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ themselves do not occur in the parable. The NT talks about post-mortem life in [...] This is the second half of an article;part (i) can be found here. 3. A Spirituality of Conflict and Decision Whilst seeming to be the most ‘reflective’ of the gospels,John is also the one which contains the sharpest conflicts. Jesus is in constant debate with ‘the Jews’—not usually,in fact,the Jewish people [...] It feels like a natural thing to be reflecting on the spirituality of St John’s gospel;after all,it has been referred to as ‘the spiritual gospel’ since the early church. Mark’s driving narrative presents us with Jesus as a man of action,making clear who he is through what he does. Matthew’s organised presentation [...] Last week I had the interesting experience of preaching on Mark 14–15.15,which covers the anointing at Bethany,Judas agreeing to betray Jesus,the last supper,Gethsemane,Peter’s denial,Jesus’trial before the Sanhedrin,and Jesus before Pilate. Whew! But I learnt a lot from the experience. 1. This is not the usual way we [...] I am working with Celia Kellett at BBC Radio Nottingham on an idea to present most of the books of the Bible,one a week,during 2011 as part of the celebrations of the King James Bible.The plan is to read some verses from the book,to give a one-and-a-half minute summary,to hear a human interest story [...] There continues to be discussion in the blogosphere about the lead codices which ‘could be Jesus’diaries’—but informed comment is all heading in one direction. Peter Thonemann has confirmed the account of his discussions with the Elkingtons. Thonemann sums up his judgement neatly: [...] Last night we were greeted with the tragic news that the person killed in Jerusalem by a terrorist bomb was not only a British citizen,but a Wycliffe Bible translator. Mary Gardner was there to learn Hebrew in order to improve her skills in translation work. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and [...] Matt 24.36–41 is one of the two key passages used to teach the doctrine of the ‘rapture’,the idea that believers will secretly be taken up to be with Jesus at some point before his ‘return.’(The other passage is 1 Thess 4.13–18.) But close reading shows that Jesus teaches no such thing. The passage [...] I am working with Celia Kellett at BBC Radio Nottingham on an idea to present most of the books of the Bible,one a week,during 2011 as part of the celebrations of the King James Bible. The plan is to read some verses from the book,to give a one-and-a-half minute summary,to hear a human interest [...] It was the end of a really good week. The snow had been great,the sun had been out,and we had had a lot of fun as a family. The bags were packed,the skis returned,and all we needed to do now was find the car. Alas,it was parked at the bottom [...] | ||
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