Recovering the lost virtue of naiveté

  ‘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 … Continue Reading

How does the Bible depict the relationship between men and women?

Andrew Bartlett has written the outstanding study Men and Women in Christ: fresh light from the biblical texts which I think should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in this question. Here, he reviews another book on this subject, Men and Women in the Church: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction (Crossway, 2021) by Kevin DeYoung. Looking at … Continue Reading

What did Jesus do with bread?

What is Advent and the End of the World all about? Come and join my Zoom teaching morning on 28th October! In the various accounts in the New Testament, both in the gospels and in Paul, what did Jesus do with bread? How is his action described? At the feeding of the 5,000, did he … Continue Reading

Taking up our cross in Matthew 16

The lectionary gospel reading for Trinity 13 in Year A is Matthew 16.21–28, in which Jesus declares he is heading for Jerusalem to die, Peter rebukes him, and Jesus counter-rebukes Peter. It follows on from the strong commendation of Peter by Jesus after his confession at Caesarea Philippi, and offers a contrast with it at … Continue Reading

The disciples as the presence of Jesus in Matt 10 video discussion

The gospel reading for Trinity 4 in Year A of Matt 10.40–42 is perhaps the strangest choice in the whole lectionary—at only three verses! And yet this short passage has some really significant features that offer enormous potential for reflection: it is tightly structured and highly memorable; it is almost without parallel in the other … Continue Reading

How to create your own personal Jesus

I first wrote this three years ago—but it seems as important as ever in the light of current debates. A while ago, someone posted this graphic on my timeline, and my impression is that, far from being something merely humorous, this list is taken by many as a serious description of Jesus’ ministry and a … Continue Reading