Paul

The Wounds of a Leader

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I have been at New Wine B this week, and at the early morning meetings Simon Ponsonby (from St Aldate’s, Oxford) has been reflected on verses from 2 Corinthians. This morning we reflected on perhaps some of the most challenging: I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and … Continue Reading

Power and the pulpit

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Back in June, I wrote about two apparently unconnected topics. The first was around the question of whether preaching should be monologue or dialogue, and how we might make the monologue we were forced into more dialogical. Within that, one of the questions I touched on but did not expand on further was the relation … Continue Reading

Inclusivity and discipleship

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During Easter Week I enjoyed saying the Easter Anthems in Morning Prayer. This is a set of eight versicles drawn from three passages in Paul; they used to be a weekly option in ASB, but in Common Worship they have been relegated to p 634 and used only seasonally, which is a loss (but that is … Continue Reading

Introduction to the Study of Paul

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Review of David G. Horrell, An Introduction to the Study of Paul, 3rd edn (T & T Clark Approaches to Biblical Studies; London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2015), ISBN 978-0-567-65625-4, p/b, 230 pp. The third edition of David Horrell’s introduction to the study of Paul has the great strengths of its predecessors – above … Continue Reading

Reconciliation in Paul’s theology

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I have just edited my chapter for a forthcoming volume from Lion Hudson on reconciliation, due out in the Autumn. The first part explores the language of reconciliation in Paul, and its importance in his theology. The middle section looks at reconciliation in Jesus and the gospels. The final section draws out the relevance for contemporary … Continue Reading

Sex and the Church

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Last Friday I very reluctantly tuned in to watch Oxford church historian Diarmaid MacCulloch talk about Sex and the Church. I was reluctant for several reasons. First, don’t we talk about this enough already—aren’t there more important things to focus on at the moment? (Tonight’s ‘Kill the Christians’, for example, highlighting how the US/UK invasion of … Continue Reading