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Last month, Justin Welby was interviewed at the Cambridge Union, and some of his comments once more hit the headlines. When I heard about this, I could not help rolling my eyes. Despite having initially welcomed his appointment, and having then tried hard to work with him well as a member of the Archbishops’ Council, … Continue Reading
The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for Trinity Sunday in this Year C is John 16.12–15. It is another very short reading (four verses) from the ‘farewell discourse’ of Jesus, and I think is actually quite a difficult reading to preach from. Like much of this part of the Fourth Gospel, it is reflective, repeats things … Continue Reading
Christopher Landau was a liberal on sexuality—until he visited a gay bar in Chicago and talked to the people there about what their life was actually like. This made him go back to Scripture and theology, and understand why the historic Christian understanding of marriage was actually the only path to flourishing. He believes that, … Continue Reading
Andy Griffiths has recently written a fascinating Grove booklet on The Hope of Seeing God: The Beatific Vision and Formation. Rather than look at the past of our creation, or the present of the work of the Spirit in effective transformation as disciples of Jesus, is raises the question of whether we should think more … Continue Reading
A little while ago I had a curious discussion with someone online. Commenting on one of the events for Remembrance, I noted that the prayer said by the Christian leader took the form of a general invocation of a deity, but wasn’t actually a Christian prayer. ‘What do you mean by a Christian prayer?’ … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: The full interview of Archbishop Justin by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart for their The Rest is Politics: Leading podcast was released on Monday including the Archbishop’s answer on “gay sex” which was released (in a very slightly different edit) on TikTok over a week in advance and which I have argued … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: What follows demonstrates a recent statement about PLF by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is significantly misleading in relation to what the bishops have decided, what the church teaches on sexual ethics, who PLF is for, and what PLF offers. This development, contradicting and undermining past theological and legal advice as … Continue Reading
The gospel lectionary reading for Trinity 15 in this Year B (the reading for Trinity 14 three years ago) is Mark 7.24-37, which includes the episode of Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman that often brings readers up short, containing as it does what appears to be a rather shocking insult. Jesus is seeking to … Continue Reading
The gospel lectionary reading for Trinity 15 in this Year B is Mark 7.24-37, which includes the episode of Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman that often brings readers up short, containing as it does what appears to be a rather shocking insult. It has become very popular to read this as a story about … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: I was rather shocked a couple of years ago when I spotted in my Twitter feed the following tweet from the Archbishop of Canterbury: Today we mark the Feast of the #Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Like Mary, let each of us say our yes to God’s call and trust the boundless … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: Reflecting on the recent July Session of the Church of England’s General Synod and considering where we now find ourselves on the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) questions of sexuality, marriage and identity I was struck by the fact that we seem to be engaged in a game of episcopal Jenga. … 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 preaching Revelation same sex marriage same sex unions sexuality theology video Year A Year B Year C
