Scholarship • Serving • Ministry – Ian Paul
Tim Hogg writes: Economists have never played a larger role in society than they do today. Economics is, ultimately, a tool to shape society. The dialogue between the church and economists has enormous potential to bear fruit; if the gospel can change my life, it can change economics. Frustration and impatience can sometimes be the result …
The Sunday lectionary reading for the Ninth Sunday of Trinity in Year A is Matt 14.22–33, Matthew’s instinctive account of Jesus’ walking across the water and Peter’s response to it. I am finding this recent, sustained immersion in Matthew’s narrative very interesting. We have often noted how Matthew’s accounts are more compressed than the other …
Come with me, if you will, on an adventure of biblical imagination in Revelation 21 and 22. The New Jerusalem that is described there by John is mostly taken to be a place in which the people of God dwell with the presence of God—but what would happen if we interpreted everything in the vision as a …
As my first foray into the world of online teaching for a virtual church, I have turned yesterday’s post on John 20 into a video Bible study. Let me know what you think in (mostly nice) comments below! If you enjoyed this, do share it on social media, possibly using the buttons on the left. …
The discovery by two disciples of the empty tomb, and Mary Magdelene’s encounter with Jesus, in John 20.1–18, is one of the main options for the gospel reading for Easter Sunday. And it is, in many ways, the most appealing choice, because of its polished literary form, its focus on individuals, and its description of …
In the US, according to a recent survey, 38% of citizens would not buy a Corona beer because of concern about the Coronavirus. (It is probably not true, but it is still not good news for the Mexican brand.) More seriously, fears about the virus have led to ‘ political and economic instability… xenophobia and racism …
Phill Sacre offers this review of Sharon Dirckx’s recent book Am I Just my Brain? published by The Good Book Company, 2019. 1. The issue A wise and learned philosopher once said, “We are living in a material world, and I am a material girl”. OK, those were the lyrics to Material Girl by Madonna …
There was a time when cars were build with rigid chassis which ran from one end to the other, with the bumper fitted on either end. The logic of this was that, if the car crashed into anything, surely it would make sense to build the car as strong as possible, so that it would …
Is Christian faith about an affective encounter with God, or about becoming convinced about the case for Christianity? You will immediately be crying ‘False dichotomy!’—but it is worth reflecting on the balance between these two ideas in contemporary expressions of faith. There was a time when the tradition of rational enquiry was most influential, but …
In reflecting on the seasons and the spiritual significance of what I find myself doing in my garden, I have previously talked about the importance of pruning, which Jesus teaches on in John 15. This year I have been much more organised in my gardening, and as a result have invested much more time early …
Nell Goddard writes: When I asked a group of people (on Twitter, because I am a millennial) ‘Why should young people (18-30s) engage with theology?’ I got a variety of answers. From ‘It helps us understand more of who God is, who he says we are, and how we relate to the world’ to ‘Engaging …
