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+

Should bishops come from a ‘talent pool’?

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The Church of England appears to have a double-minded approach to secular, business expertise. On the one hand, it often wilfully ignores it, to its detriment. At other times, it appears to embrace it uncritically, disconnecting it from theological insight. There is certainly no doubt that, in a number of places, the Church needs to … Continue Reading

Did Luke get the date of Jesus’ birth wrong?

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This time last year I watched the film Gravity. The effects were spectacular, the photography breathtaking, the characterisations engaging, and the story held one’s attention throughout. It even raised some profound (religious?) questions about life, death and purpose. And yet, when I left the cinema, I could not decide whether I had enjoyed the film or not. … Continue Reading

The Toxic Language in Education

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A few weeks ago I was in a meeting at the school where I am a governor to review last year’s performance against targets. As we were looking at each subject area, and the ‘added value’ the school had brought to the results, mapped against ‘expected achievement’, we (quite naturally) fell into a kind of … Continue Reading

From text to (all-age) talk

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Last Sunday I was speaking at St Ann’s with Emmanuel, an inner-urban church in Nottingham, using the lectionary gospel reading of Mark 1.1–8. I trace here the move from the text itself to the all-age talk and activity, and include details of the PowerPoint presentation I used. Features of the text The most striking thing … Continue Reading

The theology of the Autumn Statement

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The Coalition Government’s so-called Autumn Statement (since when was December in Autumn, I wonder?) was, according to Danny Alexander, the last big financial statement before next year’s election. So it seemed appropriate to try and offer some theological reflection on it, as it sets out the stall of both parties (to some extent) in the run-up … Continue Reading

Bible, Gender, Sexuality

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This guest post by Andrew Goddard assesses an important contribution to the debate about same-sex unions. James V. Brownson, Bible, Gender, Sexuality: Reframing the Church’s Debate on Same-Sex Relationships (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013). ISBN 978-0-8028-6863-3. The General Synod’s decision to approve women bishops was immediately followed by questions as to whether the church would now change its … Continue Reading

What to preach at a funeral?

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The previous post, including a competition to identify a quotation, was prompted by my reading the next Grove Worship booklet, How to Prepare and Conduct a Funeral by Charles Chadwick and Phillip Tovey from Oxford Diocese. Aimed primarily at Readers as well as other licensed lay ministers, it is an excellent guide to the whole process of … Continue Reading

What to preach at funerals? Competition!

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I came across this interesting quotation in the next Grove Worship booklet, which is about preaching at funerals. There is a prize of a free copy of the booklet for the first person in comments who can identify the somewhat surprising source! (I have doctored one or two words to prevent the source being too … Continue Reading

Preaching on Advent 1

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Here are some thoughts on making sense of the lectionary readings for Advent 1: Is 64.1–9; Mark 13.24–37 ‘Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!’ Isaiah’s cry of desperation resonates with the cry of many today. If only God would make everything clear! If only he would remove uncertainty, and bring clarity! … Continue Reading

More Perfect Union? another view (ii)

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Here is the second part of Martin Davie’s review of Alan Wilson’s More Perfect Union? Martin was for several years Theological Secretary of the Council for Christian Unity of the Church of England and Theological Consultant to the House of Bishops. Part one can be found here. Strand 4 – interpreting the key biblical texts. Moving on to what … Continue Reading