Scholarship • Serving • Ministry – Ian Paul
Steve Stewart has recently complete his PhD thesis. The following is a short summary of one chapter, “The Law of Moses in John’s Prologue: the Law As Central to a Jewish Fourth Gospel”, in which he argues for a new translation of John 1:17. John’s Gospel is now widely recognised as deeply Jewish. Yet this …
The lectionary reading for Easter 7, the last Sunday of the Easter Season before Pentecost, is the first part of the ‘great prayer’ of Jesus in John 17.1–11. The lectionary divides the chapter into three parts over Years A, B and C, which either assumes that preachers and people have a good memory from year …
The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for the Second Sunday in Easter is John 20.19–31, which includes Jesus’ encounter with so-called ‘doubting Thomas’. It is the set reading for this week in all three years of the lectionary, so we know it well—and need to reflect on it if we are going to preach effectively on …
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 in Year A (the alternative is Matt 28.1–10). And it is, in many ways, the most appealing choice, because of its polished literary form, …
The gospel lectionary reading for Lent 3 is John 4.5-42, probably the longest reading in the lectionary! The epistle is Romans 5.1–11, and you can find video discussion of that here (and linked below), and video discussion of John 4 here (and linked below as well). This gospel reading is strange contrast with readings a …
The Sunday lectionary gospel reading for Lent 2 in Year A is Nicodemus’ meeting with Jesus in John 3.1–17. The epistle is Romans 4.1-5 and 13-17. The video discussion of the epistle is here, and of the gospel reading from John 3 here. Both are also linked at the end. Although we are supposed to …
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 …
There has been a record-breaking rise in antisemitic incidents in the UK since the attack by Hamas on October 7th 2023. Antisemitic incidents reached the highest level recorded, the monitoring and community safety organisation the Community Security Trust (CST) said. In the 12 months after the 7 October attacks there were 5,583 incidents in the …
The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for the Second Sunday in Easter is John 20.19–31, which includes Jesus’ encounter with so-called ‘doubting Thomas’. It is the set reading for this week in all three years of the lectionary, so we know it well—and need to reflect on it if we are going to preach effectively on …
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 in both Year A and Year C (the alternative is Luke 24.1–12; in Year B we have the short ending of Mark 16). And …
