Ian Paul

Ian Paul is a theologian, writer and speaker. Associate Minister at St Nic's, Nottingham and Honorary Lecturer at the University of Nottingham. Mac user and chocoholic. Ian Paul on Google+

What is the mark of the beast?

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The ‘mark of the beast’ in Rev 13.18 is the most notorious and talked-about aspect of the book. [The beast from the land] also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or … Continue Reading

Genuine humility

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I am continuing to work through Thom Shultz’ Why Nobody Wants to go to Church Anymore, and we have been discussing it in our ‘missional community’ in St Nic’s church. Having explored the question of whether church can become ‘irresistible’, we looked at the first two of the four Acts of Love: Radical Welcome and Fearless Conversation. … Continue Reading

Spirituality as a bridge into culture

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Last weekend we had Brian Draper join us for the morning services and a lunchtime meeting on ‘everyday spirituality’. Brian used to work for the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity, but is now a freelance writer and speaker, and has for some years been a contributor to Radio 4’s Thought for the Day. I found Brian’s approach … Continue Reading

Reading Revelation 4–9

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If you make use of Scripture Union’s Encounter with God Bible reading notes, then you will be reading through Revelation 4–9 this week. (If you don’t, why not subscribe?) Here are the comments I wrote on these chapters; for more detailed comment, see my Grove booklet How to Read the Book of Revelation. For my notes on chapters 1 to 3, see my previous post.

The End of Democracy?

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What is the end, the goal of democracy? It is to allow the people to hold to account those who exercise power over them. In our sort of representative democracy it does not mean that politicians simply do what the people vote for. Most of us have neither the time nor the expertise to make … Continue Reading

Reading Revelation 1–3

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If you make use of Scripture Union’s Encounter with God Bible reading notes, then you will have been reading through Revelation 1–3 this week. (If you don’t, why not subscribe?) Here are the comments I wrote on these chapters; for more detailed comment, see my Grove booklet How to Read the Book of Revelation. Revelation 1:1-20: A kaleidoscopic … Continue Reading

Who should I vote for?

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A rather strange polarisation seems to have gripped discussion about tomorrow’s election. In his interview with Ed Miliband on the BBC news yesterday, James Landale led with the question: ‘Have you ever run a business? Have you ever made a profit?’ Of course, the answer was ‘No’, and would have been easy for Miliband to … Continue Reading

Reconciliation

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When Justin Welby took office in March 2013, he announced his three priorities for his ministry as Archbishop. Alongside the renewal of prayer and a commitment to evangelism and witness, reconciliation took centre stage. Inasmuch as prayer is about relationship ‘upward’ to God, and evangelism and witness are about relationship ‘outward’ to other people, reconciliation … Continue Reading