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One of the (many) great paradoxes of the Book of Revelation is that, at one and the same time, it is experienced as both very difficult to interpret, yet also very easy. This explains the very different reactions to it as a biblical text; those who instinctively sense that it is difficult to interpret find … Continue Reading
Martyn Whittock is a historian and a Licensed Lay Minister in the Church of England. He has just published a fascinating history of the interpretation of ‘end times’ ideas, The End Times, Again? 2000 Years of the Use and Misuse of Biblical Prophecy, and I was able to ask him about his book. IP: You are … Continue Reading
This Sunday, the last of the liturgical year, is Christ the king, and comes immediately before Advent. It is a slightly odd festival, since one of the key themes of Advent is not the anticipation of Christmas, but the anticipation of Jesus’ return as king; the Latin adventus is a translation of the Greek parousia … Continue Reading
Any discussion of ‘the cross’ in the Book of Revelation immediately faces a substantial challenge: in contrast with almost every other book in the New Testament, it is barely mentioned at all overtly. Its solitary explicit appearance comes in an extended prophetic narrative in chapter 11: the bodies of the ‘two witnesses’ will ‘lie in … Continue Reading
Yesterday I was the guest on the hour-long ‘Bible surgery’ on Premier Christian Radio, hosted by Maria Rodrigues and recorded over Zoom. It was the first time that I had worked with Maria, and she is a lovely person! Although the programme was an hour long, with songs and breaks my contribution was about 35 … Continue Reading
A few years ago, Martin Saunders (of Youthscape) wrote an excellent article highlighting four issues which often prevent evangelicals from understanding what has been happening in the Israel/Gaza conflict—and these problems come up each time the conflict hits the news. First, he comments ‘It’s not as simple as good guys vs bad guys’, something which … Continue Reading
Last week, in our mid-week church group, we were reflecting on what God has been teaching us during 2020. Various people shared experiences, and particular biblical passages or verses—but one person shared a word, not from Scripture, but from reflection on the year and a sense of what God was forming in this person, and … Continue Reading
You wake up one night in a cold sweat. You have had the most horrible nightmare! You dreamt that the new preaching rota at church had you down to preach a series on the Book of Revelation! You get up, drink some water, and go back to sleep. Then the next morning you check the … Continue Reading
Nick Moore writes: You may have heard the phrase ‘so heavenly minded as to be of little earthly use’. It assumes earth and heaven are separate and sealed spheres. Yet in fact heaven ultimately not only influences but in some sense determines what takes place on earth, so the more truly heavenly minded we are, … Continue Reading
We appear to have entered a rather different phase of engagement with the question of Covid-19 and our response to this legally and socially. At the beginning of the ‘first wave’ in March, there was a widespread sense that we needed to respond quickly and drastically, and most of the criticism was that Government had … Continue Reading
Dr Clint Burnett is Lecturer of New Testament at Johnson University in Knoxville, Tennessee USA, and has just published Studying the NT Through Inscriptions: An Introduction (Hendrickson, 2020), and I had previously heard him present some of his research at the annual Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) conference. I asked him about his research, and why inscriptions … Continue Reading
Ian Paul: theologian, author, speaker, academic consultant. Adjunct Professor, Fuller Theological Seminary; Associate Minister, St Nic's, Nottingham; Managing Editor, Grove Books; member of General Synod. Mac user; chocoholic. Tweets at @psephizo
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