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Ian Paul
Marginally later than in some previous years, the full details of the annual returns on attendance for the Church of England has been published (‘Statistics for Mission’). This is in two parts, both linked here: a report, giving the main statistics and trends, helpfully illustrated with graphs; and the detailed breakdown by diocese in a … Continue Reading
The lectionary reading for the Fourth Sunday before Advent in Year C is the story of Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus in Luke 19.1–10, a story found only in this gospel. Video discussion of the passage can be found here, and is posted at the end. The epistle for this week is the challenging passage of … Continue Reading
In the Fourth Sunday before Advent in Year C, we are starting a short series reading through 2 Thessalonians, and this week’s reading is the whole of Chapter 1. It is a challenging reading, talking of the suffering of the Thessalonians Christians, and their steadfastness as a sign of God’s favour. But it also speaks … Continue Reading
Joshua Penduck writes: On a cold and wet evening sometime in early 2021, my church’s ministry and management team met on Zoom to discuss the first chapter of the then new Living in Love and Faith material. I knew that that there were mixed opinions on the team. I didn’t realise just how mixed. The … Continue Reading
One of the perennial features of theological study and preparation for Christian ministry has been the yawning chasm between scholarship and church leadership over the last century or two. The evidence for this varies from the comment to young Christians: ‘Don’t study theology at university; you will lose your faith’, to a sense that theological … Continue Reading
The gospel lectionary reading for the so-called Last Sunday after Trinity in Year C is Luke 18.9–14, the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax-collector, and the epistle is 2 Tim 4.6–8 and 16–18. You can see the discussion of the gospel passage here, and of the epistle here, and both are linked below. We … Continue Reading
The lectionary reading for the so-called last Sunday after Trinity is 2 Tim 4.6–8 and 16–18. As sometimes happens, the lectionary omits important verses which you should read! This passage offers amazing insights into how Paul sees his own death in relation to Jesus’ return, how he locates the particulars of his life within a … Continue Reading
On Wednesday at about a quarter to five, the House of Bishops released a very significant statement, following their meeting the previous week in which they spent six and a half hours discussing the next (and final?) steps in the LLF process. The timing was odd; my understanding was that they were planning to release … Continue Reading
Martin Davie writes: The announcement of the choice of the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally, to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury has been accompanied by frequent references to the Archbishop of Canterbury as the ‘head of the Church of England’ or the ‘head of the Anglican Communion.’ In this post I shall explain … Continue Reading
The Sunday lectionary gospel reading for Trinity 18 in Year C is the Parable of the Unjust Judge and the Persistent Widow from Luke 18.1–8. A surface reading, confirmed by most online comments on it, is that basically we need to be nagging God before he will answer our prayer! But a more careful reading, … Continue Reading
The lectionary epistle for Trinity 18 is 2 Timothy 3.14—4.5, perhaps the most theological dense passage of all Paul’s writings. He makes one of his clearest theological claims about the nature of Scripture, characteristically coining his own word to express this, and connects the truth of Scripture with salvation in Christ and spiritual maturity. And, … Continue Reading
Ian Paul: theologian, author, speaker, academic consultant. Associate Senior Research Fellow, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology; Associate Minister, St Nic's, Nottingham; Managing Editor, Grove Books; member of General Synod and Archbishops' Council. Mac user; chocoholic. Tweets at @psephizo
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Gospel commentary index Lectionary Year A
Andrew Goddard Bible biblical interpretation Biblical literacy biblical theology Christmas Church of England culture discipleship discussion doctrine eschatology evangelism gay General Synod Grove guest Hermeneutics History hope interpretation James Blandford Baker Jesus John's gospel Justin Welby leadership lectionary Luke Luke's gospel Matthew ministry mission New Testament Paul politics preaching Revelation same sex marriage same sex unions sexuality theology video Year A Year B Year C
