John Goldingay

Real Life Is More Complicated JUDGES 1:1- 36 This week Barack Obama made what might be the most fateful decision of his young presidency in sending thirty thousand more soldiers into Afghanistan. By the time you read this commentary, we may know whether this produces the desired …

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - "You Can't Serve Yahweh." "Yes We Can!"

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Looking at the contrast of God in the Old and New Testaments.

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Peril of Other People's Faiths

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Peril of Other People’s Faiths JOSHUA 23:1- 16 In the aftermath of 9/11, the U.S. State Department financed visits to universities and seminaries in the United States by Muslim scholars from abroad as part of efforts to foster mutual understanding between “the Muslim World” a…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Universal and the Local

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Universal and the Local JOSHUA 22:1- 34 Like a number of denominations, the Anglican/Episcopal church to which I belong is in a mess because different parts of the world and different groups in the same parts of the world hold conflicting views about the real nature of Christ…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Everything Came True

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Everything Came True JOSHUA 20:1- 21:43 Less than three weeks ago I received one of those standard e-mails from a student: she did not think she would be able to finish her coursework by the deadline. Except that it was not the standard e-mail. She had been told that she had a br…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Roots; or, Home Is Where Your Share Is

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Roots; or, Home Is Where Your Share Is JOSHUA 17:12- 19:21 Waiting for the jazz to start last night, I was reading a book about the opening chapters of Matthew’s Gospel (other people who are on their own stare at their iPhones). It noted how the list of names occupying the bulk o…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Living as Women in a Man's World

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Living as Women in a Man’s World JOSHUA 15:1- 17:11 I was talking to a student who was disillusioned with her denomination because of its attitude toward women’s ministry. Women had played a key ministerial role in the movement that issued in the denomination, but the denominatio…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The Country That Remains to Be Possessed is Very Great

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Country That Remains to Be Possessed Is Very Great JOSHUA 13:1- 14:15 At my wife’s memorial service in England this past summer, I saw one of my cousins whom I had not seen for over a decade, and this week I had a Christmas card from her. She wrote, “Various members of the fa…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Why Were They So Stupid?

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Why Were They So Stupid? JOSHUA 11:16- 12:24 The night before last I ate dinner early, drank a glass or two of wine, didn’t eat dessert, and then had a cup of coffee later. This pattern works if I want to sleep well, so I try to stick to it. Last night I ate late, and the server …

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild North

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Welcome to the Wild Wild North JOSHUA 11: 1- 15 As you drive north from Lake Galilee on the road that leads from Jerusalem or from the Mediterranean, you can fork right and cross the Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob toward Damascus along the route that Abraham would have taken wh…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Welcome to the Wild Wild West

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Welcome to the Wild Wild West Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone JOSHUA 10: 28- 43 28That day Joshua took Makkedah and struck it down, it and its king, with the edge of the sword. He devoted them, along with every person there. He did not let any survivor remain. So he dealt wi…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - No Compromise

by SPCK - John Goldingay

No Compromise JOSHUA 10: 12- 27 Six months ago, a doctor who performed late-term abortions was shot dead in church in Kansas, and at his funeral people from another Kansas church carried posters declaring, “God Sent the Killer.” Their declarations affirmed that the doctor’s own w…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How to Swallow Your Pride

by SPCK - John Goldingay

How to Swallow Your Pride JOSHUA 9: 22- 10: 11 In the church where I was a young assistant pastor, I shared a house with an older man called Charles who in U.S.-speak would be called the janitor but in Brit-speak was called the caretaker. I don’t remember how he had been appointe…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How to Get Taken In

by SPCK - John Goldingay

How to Get Taken In JOSHUA 9: 1-21 I have known people who seem to consult God about every detail of their lives, from what to have for dinner to what courses to take next quarter, what college to attend, where to buy a house, or whom to marry. To be honest, I consulted God about…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How Not to Get Overextended in Real Estate

by SPCK - John Goldingay

How Not to Get Overextended in Real Estate RUTH 4:1-10 The end of the first decade of the twenty-first century saw a collapse in housing prices in the United States, Britain, and elsewhere, and an increase in the number of people “walking away” from property they “owned” but coul…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How Not to Leave the Initiative to the Man

by SPCK - John Goldingay

How Not to Leave the Initiative to the Man RUTH 3:1-18 I was talking to a young man who had been dating someone for a long time, but she had then ditched him and broken his heart. For a while he had stayed out of relationships. He had gone out with a number of women friends, some…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - The God of Coincidences

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The God of Coincidences RUTH 2:10-23 When I was thirteen, I was walking home from school one day and met a teacher from the Sunday school I used to attend but had left two years previously to go to another church. She told me that my old church was about to start a new youth fell…

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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - She's a Moabite, for Goodness' Sake!

by SPCK - John Goldingay

She’s a Moabite, for Goodness’ Sake RUTH 1:19b-2: 9 I was just reading the story of a man called Maxo who died in the earthquake in Haiti a couple of weeks ago when his house collapsed on top of him. His cousin in New York called Maxo a hustler, but his story showed how he was al…

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