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Ian Paul
Mark Broadway writes: Does suffering matter? This is a question that many will have tried to answer, scouring philosophy textbooks from the safety of the library. Perhaps more importantly, in times of distress and pain, a more poignant question arises from the depths of a heart: does my suffering matter? As a society, we can … Continue Reading
This Sunday’s gospel lectionary reading for Advent 2 in Year C is Luke 3.1–6, the location and opening of John the Baptist’s ministry. We will hear more about the content of John’s ministry next week; for now, we are just given the setting. During the last year, we have got used to reading Mark by … Continue Reading
This Sunday’s gospel lectionary reading for Advent 2 in Year C is Luke 3.1–6, the location and opening of John the Baptist’s ministry. We will hear more about the content of John’s ministry next week; for now, we are just given the setting. But this setting tells us a huge amount about the gospel. The … Continue Reading
Gary Jenkins has previously written on this website about the Church of England and its struggle to engage with the working class. In 2020, following a debate in General Synod, he concluded with this comment: The really strange thing about the problem of the church’s relationship with the working class is that it is simply … Continue Reading
What do you find most irritating about this time of year? The drawing in of dark and cold nights? The hideous adoption of that consumerist import ‘Black Friday’? People putting up Christmas trees when we have only just started Advent? Being urged to spend more money by means of schmaltzy human interest mini-dramas? For me, … Continue Reading
Advent is once more upon us (pun intended!), and with it comes two sets of confusion: the idea that Advent is the anticipation of Christmas (when it is really about looking forward to Jesus’ return and The End); and the notion that the set passages in the lectionary are all about Jesus’ return. As we … Continue Reading
The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for Advent 1 in Year C is Luke 21.25–36, from this gospel’s version of what is often called the ‘Little Apocalypse’. As usual, we need to read on to put this text in its context to understand both the text itself and how it compares with its parallels in Mark … Continue Reading
In all three Synoptic gospels, Jesus concludes a conversation about the contrast between his teaching and practice and that of the Pharisees (and John the Baptist) by means of a parable about wine and wineskins. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the … Continue Reading
I write a quarterly column for Preach magazine, in which I explore a significant word or phrase in the Bible, or a theme or section of Scripture, and the ideas that it expresses. At the end of this piece I list the previous articles I have written for them. Here I explore what we can … 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
It is often thought that in John 18 Jesus says ‘My kingdom is not of this world’. But this mistranslation is misleading: his kingdom makes itself felt in this world, but the origin of its power and the nature of its exercise is quite different from ‘worldy’ power. As we celebrate Christ the King on … 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 power preaching Revelation same sex unions sexuality theology video Year A Year B Year C
