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The Church of England communications team has released a prayer for the nation at the time of the General Election, and it has not been well received. I offer here a prayer I wrote for Christian broadcaster Trans World Radio, which they recorded and broadcast earlier in the week. There were three main things on … Continue Reading
My social media feeds are full of contradictory views on the election, with different friends and acquaintances spelling out with vigour and passion why it is simply impossible to vote for Labour, the Conservatives and the LibDems in turn. I cannot vote for the SNP or DUP, and a vote for one of the smaller … Continue Reading
The question of abortion has been raised once more in the election campaign, because of statements in both Labour and Liberal Democrat manifestos. Labour includes their briefer comments in their section on Justice, in which they comment: We will introduce protections for victims of so-called revenge porn. Labour will introduce a no-fault divorce procedure. We … Continue Reading
Dr Susan Hylen is Associate Professor of New Testament at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She has recently published Women in the New Testament World with Oxford University Press, and I asked her about the book. IP: How long have you been interested in the first-century context of women in the New … Continue Reading
Dr Patrick Mitchel is Director of Learning at the Irish Bible Institute in Dublin, and blogs at Faith in Ireland. He is the author of a new volume in the Bible Speaks Today: Bible Themes series on The Message of Love. I asked him about the book, the theme, and its importance. Tell us about the book that … Continue Reading
The idea of ‘repenting of sin’ causes us a bit of a problem nowadays. It causes us a problem in relation to those outside the church as well as those inside the church and faith. For those outside, there is a sense that Christians are ‘holier than thou’, and are telling them that they are … Continue Reading
The question of Britain’s relationship with the EU is rapidly becoming the most pressing question of our time—and perhaps the most pressing question for our national life for several generations, certainly since the end of the Second World War. Yet Christian leaders seem to fall into one of two traps—either saying something partisan which alienates … Continue Reading
‘Gosh, I never realised….X’. ‘Really? I knew that ages ago—it’s pretty common knowledge you know!’ I wonder if you’ve ever had that kind of conversation—at work, or church, or amongst friends or family. You have assumed that things are as they were claimed to be, or presented, but all the time ‘everybody’ ‘knew’ that that … Continue Reading
To a little fanfare, and quite wide coverage in the media, the Church of England has launched guidelines on the use of social media, and a social media charter, to which I have signed up. The guidelines offer nine directions for how to enable the world of social media to be a better place (though … Continue Reading
As part of building a community of reflection related to the blog, I have previously hosted one-day Festivals of Theology, the first in January last year, and the second last October. On each occasion we had a great time of listening, learning, reflection and discussion, with around 100 people attending on each occasion. As a result … Continue Reading
Last month, behavioural scientist Paul Dolan from the London School of Economics claimed that unmarried women were notably happier than married women, suggesting that, if women wanted to live the most fulfilled life, they should stay both single and childless. We may have suspected it already, but now the science backs it up: unmarried and … 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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