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Hope is central to Christian understanding, and not simply because of St Paul’s summary in 1 Cor 13 of ‘faith, hope and love’. Most would recognise the primacy of faith: we are invited to put out trust in God in light of his faithfulness to us. And of course love of God and of others … Continue Reading
Last week I spent a very enjoyable few days in snowy Harrogate at the New Wine National Leaders’ conference. The times of sung worship were engaging and refreshing; conversations with friends old and new invigorating; and the teaching was thought-provoking though rather variable. It was fascinating to hear David Stroud (leader of Christchurch London, originally … Continue Reading
Last July’s General Synod passed a motion brought by Chris Newlands on behalf of Blackburn Diocese, expressing the Church’s welcome of transgender people and asking the House of Bishops to consider whether they should offer some sort of liturgy to mark the transition of a person’s sex identity. In January, the House of Bishops responded … Continue Reading
Donald Trump made the headlines last week by announcing that he was ordering the US Embassy in Israel to relocate from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Anything involving an announcement by Trump is bound to be incoherent, and the situation in the near east is immensely complex, so you can guarantee that there was going to … Continue Reading
Last Sunday’s gospel reading in the Revised Common Lectionary was the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25.14-30. The most popular interpretation of this is that God’s gives us abilities and gifts (‘talents’) and leaves us to get on with using them in fruitful and enterprising ways as responsible stewards until he returns and asks … Continue Reading
Jesus’ ‘parable’ of the sheep and the goats in Matt 25.31–46 is very well known and widely misinterpreted. (It is not actually a parable, since it is not introduced with the typical ‘The kingdom is like…’ and it is not making use of a story from another context, such as farming and economics, to draw out a … Continue Reading
Matthew 24 is the reading set for the fourth Sunday before Advent (i.e. in the countdown to Advent at the ordinary season comes to a close) and its parallel Mark 13 is the reading for the first Sunday of Advent. There is much confusion about both these passages (and the parallel in Luke 21), and … Continue Reading
With the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, one of the issues for Christians that arises again and again is whether the existence of the modern State of Israel is the fulfilment of biblical prophecy. I am therefore reposting a pair of articles that I wrote in 2014, which explores carefully whether this is the … Continue Reading
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard … Continue Reading
From time to time, somewhere within the Good Old C of E, I come across a claim so baffling that it stays with me and I struggle to make sense of it. That last happened ten days ago, when I read the article by Dr Sam Wells in the Church Times, which called for a … Continue Reading
There always seems to be a rash of ‘end times speculation’ material coming to us from across the pond. The latest one is all about the mystery planet Nabiru, the alignment of planets and constellations, and a bad misreading of Revelation 12—but we don’t actually need to worry about that one. Three years ago we … 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
