Scholarship • Serving • Ministry – Ian Paul
Joshua Penduck writes: In a striking, and near seeming coincidence, at the same time the Bishop of Oxford’s Letter against the Alliance has been published, a new previously undiscovered letter of +Eustathius of Sebaste to Athanasius of Alexander has been brought to light. Eustathius of Sebaste was one of the leaders of the ‘homoiousios’ party, …
Last week, Martyn Snow, the bishop of Leicester and current lead for the Living in Love and Faith process debating sexuality in the Church of England, wrote an article in the Church of England Newspaper arguing that ‘Unity Matters—it really matters’. The article, and comments he makes in support of it, set out some …
I wrote this chapter titled ‘The Voice of Jesus through the Voice of Matthew and its Pastoral Implications’ for a Festschrift Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant in honour of Stephen Wright, long time tutor in Biblical Studies at Spurgeon’s College in London, and current chair of the Grove Biblical series editorial group. Stephen Wright has offered …
The Lord’s Prayer must surely be the central devotional text in the Christian faith. Tom Wright (in his short book The Lord and his Prayer) comments: When Jesus gave his disciples this prayer, he was giving them part of his own breath, his own life, his own prayer. The prayer is actually a distillation of …
Last week, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales issued a pastoral document on the question of gender identity in the light of biblical and theological understandings of what it means to be created male and female in the image of God. It is a fascinating, clear, refreshing and helpful statement, and like all Catholic …
The lectionary reading for Easter 6 in Year B is the second half of what appears to be a single section of Jesus’ teaching, in his ‘Farewell Discourse’, John 15.9–17. On the one hand, it seems strange to have divided this teaching into its two halves. On the other, whilst there is a continuing overarching …
The lectionary reading for Easter 6 in Year B is the second half of what appears to be a single section of Jesus’ teaching, in his ‘Farewell Discourse’, John 15.9–17. On the one hand, it seems strange to have divided this teaching into its two halves. On the other, whilst there is a continuing overarching …
The gospel lectionary reading for Epiphany 4 in Year B is Mark 1.21–28, Mark’s account of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. It is, like all the early parts of Mark, highly compressed, but it is packed full of fascinating detail which begins to set the agenda for Mark’s portrayal of Jesus. The episode is striking …
The gospel lectionary reading for Epiphany 4 in Year B is Mark 1.21–28, Mark’s account of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. It is, like all the early parts of Mark, highly compressed, but it is packed full of fascinating detail which begins to set the agenda for Mark’s portrayal of Jesus. The episode is striking …
The lectionary this week (Trinity 6 in Year A) repeats a grievous error in its choice of passage that it also made last week—cutting out the central section and thus seriously altering the meaning of the reading. Last week we had a reading that excised two sections from three in the chapter: Jesus rather taunting comparison …
The lectionary gospel reading for Trinity 6 is the Parable of the Sower and the Soils in Matt 13, along with Jesus’ explanation of it—though omitting the challenging explanation of why Jesus teaches in parables in the middle. Come and join James and Ian as they explore the passage, and its significance for discipleship, ministry, …
