Scholarship • Serving • Ministry – Ian Paul
When I first started studying theology, our set text for our New Testament Greek class was 1 Peter, the same text which is the focus of study of the Lambeth Conference meeting of Anglican bishops from around the world planned for this summer. It was a slightly odd text to choose for those starting out …
The lectionary readings for Trinity 1 in Year C are Galatians 3.23-29 and Luke 8.26-39. In Gal 3, Paul is dealing with the question of the relationship between faith and law, something he will revisit in next week’s reading from Gal 5. Both are from God, so cannot be fundamentally opposed. And yet Paul sees …
Stephen Webb writes: As a (near) lifelong bureaucrat, I always have an interest in, and a certain fellow feeling with, past colleagues facing challenges. And being a Roman military or civil leader confronted with Jesus or his disciples must have been an exasperating experience, given an added edge by the constant looming fear of public …
The lectionary reading for Easter 7 in Year C is Acts 16.16–34, and in this season the lectionary emphasises that this is the reading which should be focussed on. It is an unusually long reading—though does not quite finish the story. Luke has carefully structured this to pair with the story of Lydia, so we …
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 lectionary reading for this week, Easter 6 in Year C, is Acts 16.9–15. We are continuing in this season to focus on the reading from Acts, which (the lectionary tells us) must be the first or second reading. This is a pivotal moment in the gentile mission, since it is the time when, …
We continue focussing on the passages in Acts, and for Easter 6 in Year C the reading is Acts 16.9–15. This starts half-way through a paragraph, so we should really start reading at verse 6. We are now in the second half of Acts, focussing on what the Spirit is doing through the ministry of …
The lectionary readings for Easter 4 in Year C include three substantial readings: Acts 9.36-43, Revelation 7.9-17 and John 10.22-30. There is a note which says: ‘The reading from Acts must be used as either the first or second reading’, which suggests that this reading is thought to be particularly important—and this is characteristic of …
The lectionary reading for Easter 3 in Year C is Acts 9, the so-called conversion of Saul/Paul. These readings from Acts are prioritized, so that we are encouraged to preach from them in this season (despite it coming before Pentecost!). Is it right to talk about Paul being ‘converted’? What does this change involve—what is …
The NT epistle reading for Palm Sunday in this Year 3 is the so-called ‘Christ hymn’ in Phil 2.5–11. This is a fitting parallel to the account of Jesus’ non-triumphal entry into Jerusalem in Luke 19.28–40. The introduction to this ‘hymn’ is also very carefully poetically structured, which suggests that the whole passage is by …
The NT Epistle reading for Lent 5 (sometimes called Passion Sunday) is Paul’s account of his ‘great reversal’. (The gospel reading is the anointing at Bethany in John 12). Paul uses the language of ‘the flesh’ here as he has done in 2 Cor 5 to talk about mere human evaluation of things. On the …
