Scholarship • Serving • Ministry – Ian Paul
Mark Broadway writes: Very few people in pastoral ministry will not find themselves being involved in funeral ministry, but I have learned that a number of clergy either do not preach at funerals at all, or offer a very short and generic message with the same content in every funeral. In his book, There is Hope: …
Marc Lloyd writes: If the chief end of human beings is to ‘glorify God and enjoy him for ever’ (from the Westminster Shorter Catechism), it should come as no surprise if modern science finds us to be hard-wired for awe. This is indeed the claim in Awe: The Transformative Power of Everyday Wonder by Dacher Keltner (Allen Lane/Penguin, …
There is much talk at the moment about the Church of England and inclusion. Yet the largest social and ethnic group that are under-represented in the Church are white working class, and the failure to engage with working class culture has long been the bane of the C of E. Natalie Williams and Paul Brown …
I have just published my second Grove booklet of the summer: What is the New Testament’s Vision of Mission? Here I offer the introduction and conclusion; the intermediate chapters explore some key passages in the NT which give insight into mission theology and practice. Does the New Testament have a vision of mission? At one level, …
Tim Murray is one of the pastors at Amblecote Christian Centre in Dudley, West Midlands, and he has written a great book Life Examined: why I am a Christian exploring in an accessible way the reasons for faith. I asked him about why he wrote the book, his approach, and how it can be used well. IP: You have …
Evangelical identity is often thought to be best defined by the four aspects defined by David Bebbington in his Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989; London: Routledge, 2003): There are four qualities that have been the special marks of Evangelical religion: conversionism, the belief that lives …
Peter Wyatt writes: According to Philip Larkin, ‘sexual intercourse began in nineteen sixty-three’. Until today, this sexual revolution, brought about by more effective forms of contraception, has been hailed as an emancipation of human beings. No longer were we subject to the restraints of traditional morality as policed by religious faith, and family mores. Instead, …
Andrew Atherstone’s latest book, Repackaging Christianity: Alpha and the Building of a Global Brand (Hodder & Stoughton), is newly published. I had the chance to ask him how, as a historian, he approached the project. IP: Why do you think we need a history of the Alpha course? AA: Alpha is a phenomenon! In the thirty …
Mark Ireland has just written a fascinating Grove booklet on Surveillance Capitalism and the Loving Gaze of God. He begins by noting both the positive and the negative aspects of the internet, both for living and for Christian discipleship and ministry. I love technology—the connectedness, the ready flow of information and ideas. When I was growing up, …
Jonathan Chaplin has just published Beyond Establishment: Resetting Church State Relations in England (SCM 2022)—which is available at 20% discount until the end of this month from the SCM website. I was able to interview Jonathan about this fascinating book. IP: I really enjoyed this book—your crisp and clear style, extremely well researched and informed, …
Tim Murray writes: It is an exciting time in New Testament studies! Change is in the air, and the scent of it can be caught in Jonathan Bernier’s Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament. For those of you who doubt that biblical scholarship can ever be particularly exciting, let me try to explain what …
