Recently I was reading the section in chapter 22 of Matthew’s gospel where Jesus is asked a question by the Sadducees “who say there is no resurrection.” “Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married and died, and having no children left his wife...
I frequently enjoy and am often challenged by Rev Ian Paul’s award-winning blog Psephizo, which ranges over all matters theological and church-related. The other day his post was entitled, provocatively, “Did Jesus come to bring good news?” In it he quotes, apparently with approval, one John...
I’ve recently been reading the book of Job. Everyone loves this book in theory, because it reassures us that it’s Biblical a) to notice that life isn’t fair, and b) for suffering people to resent being told to cheer up or repent; and because some of...
As a dyed-in-the-wool Tolkien fan, I have read the Silmarillion, which covers arguably the whole history of Middle-Earth. It doesn’t just tell us the First Age legend of Beren and Luthien, and the Second Age drama of Numenor’s downfall. It also contains a delightful section...
What does the Kingdom of God mean? During His earthly ministry, Jesus sent out disciples two by two by preach and heal. They preached “the gospel” and “the kingdom of God”, and I’ve always wondered about the content of their sermons, considering that Christianity and its...
Happy Easter, everyone! When I was a conveyancing solicitor, Maundy Thursday was the most popular day to complete house purchases. It probably still is, and it’s not hard to see why. For most people in Britain, Easter is a fantastic holiday. It gives you a four or...
I know adding words to the Bible is not generally approved, but hey. Fairly recently, I was reading the Sermon on the Mount, and I noticed something that had never struck me before. (In what follows, all Bible quotations are from my trusty RSV. The words...
Today we welcome a guest. Judith Leader has been a Christian friend of mine for some years. She became a Christian many years ago while training as a nurse. Below, at my eager invitation, she shares a very personal account of the combination of Jewish...
Possibly the most famous lines of the Christian poet and hymnwriter William Cowper (1731-1800) are “God moves in a mysterious way/His wonders to perform.” Or you may prefer “Satan trembles when he sees/ The weakest saint upon his knees.” But he also wrote the following: “Sometimes a...
This post may offend. I think I've said this before, but this time it really may. My impression is that one of the reason why some Christians in America could not and would not consider voting for Hillary Clinton was that her feminism included a strong...