The Turning Point of the Gospel at Mark 8

The reading for Trinity 16 in this Year B (Trinity 15 in other years) is Mark 8.27–38, the encounter with forms the pivot in the second gospel: until now, there has been power, success, dynamism and crowds, but from now on, Jesus walks the lonely path to suffering and the cross. At the northernmost point …

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Why and how does Jesus ‘gather’ his people?

The New Testament’s language of ‘gathering’ is interesting and theologically rich. At one level, it simply designates the bringing together of things in a physically common space;  thus Herod ‘gathers‘ all the chief priests (note the plural!) and teachers of the law to learn from them where the Messiah was to be born in Matt …

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Is the Church in an episcopal stalemate?

Andrew Goddard writes: As the College of Bishops gathers in Oxford next week for its regular September residential, the Bishops of Penrith and Huntingdon remain Acting Bishops of Carlisle and Ely respectively and will probably be so into the second half of next year. It is also probable that there will be perhaps 5 or …

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