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There is a new, free online Bible encyclopaedia produced by the Society of Biblical Literature, which is the largest global academic society for the study of the Bible. Bible Odyssey has been six years in the making, and has a really wide range of very good resources. It includes pictures, short articles, and video clips, … Continue Reading
My Grove booklet on the key biblical texts on same-sex unions is now out. You can order it from the Grove website, either as a printed booklet or as PDF. I cover the debates around Gen 1 and 2, Gen 19, Judges 19, Leviticus 18 and 20 , Jesus and the gospels, Acts 15, Romans 1, 1 … Continue Reading
A recent Grove Ethics booklet, Women, Justice, and the Church: An Apology for Feminism, is a really compelling study by Kate Kirkpatrick from St Clare’s in Oxford. She wants us to move beyond current debates about women in ministry to ask much more fundamental questions about the place of women in society—and in particular to be alert to … Continue Reading
I have written a Grove booklet on Same-sex Unions: the key biblical texts which is available from the Grove website. It explores, briefly, all the main biblical texts in the Old and New Testaments which come up in the debate on the issue. Here is the chapter on the gospels and Acts. The material in the gospels … Continue Reading
The slightly odd title to this post arises from a conversation I had with a friend last week. We were (in passing) noting the tone of the public discussion since the House of Bishops’ statement on same-sex marriage, and the response to the Pilling report, and she commented: Of course, I cannot say anything—because I … Continue Reading
There has been increasing recognition recently, from all sorts of angles, that we are failing effectively to engage with the Bible as a living, formative encounter with God. This is especially so with children and young people, and one of the most challenging contexts to do this is in all-age services. A few years ago … Continue Reading
I continue to believe that understanding the shape of the story of Scripture is a key part of biblical literacy. Knowing how it fits with the wider story of the Bible and interacts with it affects the way we read every single passage. I have previous offered some resources for gaining an overview, and also … Continue Reading
The next Grove Biblical booklet is an excellent study by Jonathan Rowe, arising from his academic research, of the relationship between Jonathan and David in 1 Sam 14.1–2 Sam 1.27. It is a very engaging study, well written, that offers a careful and insightful reading. The first point Rowe makes is that, as with all OT … Continue Reading
When I first came across Bruce Longenecker’s 2010 volume Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty and the Greco-Roman World I thought it would be mildly interesting and, knowing the author a little, imagined it would be well researched and engagingly written. I did not imagine that it would tackle an issue which leads to the heart of the … Continue Reading