Four Gospels, One Jesus - Righteousness, morality and judgement
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Righteousness, morality and judgement
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
Righteousness, morality and judgement Matthew’s Teacher is concerned about moral teaching; one of his key words (occurring seven times in Matthew, once in Luke, and never in Mark) is dikaiosune, justice or righteousness, with its adjective dikaios (fifteen times in Matthew; once …
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The beast of conflict
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The beast of conflict
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
The beast of conflict Opposition and ministry, Mark 1—8 One thing is clear about lions in every age and culture: they are powerful fighters with a keen sense of territory. After the opening flurry of chapter 1, Jesus starts to roam far and wide around the northern territories by …
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Talons bared for conflict
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Talons bared for conflict
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
Talons bared for conflict The Book of Signs and “the Jews”, John 2—12 In Tolkien’s stories, Numenor is an Atlantis-like land blessed by Iluvatar (God) which overreaches itself and turns to evil. Its doom is presaged first by eagle-shaped clouds and then by eagles themselves; few …
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Strength to bear the burdens
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Strength to bear the burdens
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
Strength to bear the burdens Luke’s spirituality As well as a patient steady plodder, carrying heavy loads, the ox was a very religious symbol for Jews, being used for sacrifice, and its horns representing the power of God. If Luke is the evangelist who depicts Jesus as the beare…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - From Worldview to Theology
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - From Worldview to Theology
by SPCK - N T Wright
Part 1: PAUL AND HIS WORLD Chapter One RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY? 2 Philemon and the Study of Paul (iii) From Worldview to Theology The particular claim of the present book, then, embodied in the transition between Part II and Part III, is that when we understand the worldview of Pau…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Epicureans and Stoics
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Epicureans and Stoics
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter Three ATHENE AND HER OWL: THE WISDOM OF THE GREEKS 2. The Shape and Content of First-Century Philosophy (iii) Epicureans and Stoics By then, however, two major new schools, and two related minor but still significant ones, had come in to join the Academy and the Peripatet…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Cynics and Sceptics
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Cynics and Sceptics
by SPCK - N T Wright
3. Athene and Her Owl: the Wisdom of the Greeks (v) Cynics and Sceptics From Stoicism proper it is a short step to that disparate phenomenon – more of a mood than a movement – that was called Cynicism. The Cynics (again, our English meanings let us down here, though there is some…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - From Tiberius to Vespasian
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - From Tiberius to Vespasian
by SPCK - N T Wright
2. The Reality of Empire (IV) From Tiberius to Vespasian: AD 14–70 The fifty years after Augustus’s death saw the empire, in terms of the personal rule of the emperor, both consolidated and threatened. Consolidated, in that after a few years of Tiberius’s rule the old republican …
Mark for Everyone - Warnings about Sin
Mark for Everyone - Warnings about Sin
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 9.38–50 Warnings about Sin... ...During the Second World War, while London was being heavily bombed, one of the canons of Westminster Abbey watched as his house, and everything in it, went up in flames after a direct hit. The clothes he stood up in were all…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - A World Transformed, Not Abolished
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - A World Transformed, Not Abolished
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter TWO LIKE BIRDS HOVERING OVERHEAD: THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL (iv) A World Transformed, Not Abolished What then was the hope of a first-century Pharisee? One obvious answer might be, ‘salvation’. But what might ‘salvation’ actually mean? A good deal of the secon…
LWPT Meditations - Second Sunday of Christmas - Year B
LWPT Meditations - Second Sunday of Christmas - Year B
by Susan Thorne
Meditation – 2nd Sunday of Christmas Year B John 1: 1-18 Ephesians 1: 3-14 New Year’s Day is a time of looking back at what we have achieved and endured in the past year, and of looking forward, with some trepidation, to the year ahead. In 2012 we shall certainly be facing some c…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - The Climax of the Narrative
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - The Climax of the Narrative
by SPCK - N T Wright
2. The Rhetoric of Empire (III) The Climax of the Narrative Even if the Augustan age had built no temples, conquered no foreign nations, erected no statues and established no new dynasty, it would still rightly be world-famous for its astonishing output of literature. There were,…
Paul and the Faithfulness of God - The Story Retold : After AD 70
Paul and the Faithfulness of God - The Story Retold : After AD 70
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter TWO LIKE BIRDS HOVERING OVERHEAD: THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL (ii) The Continuous Story (d) The Story Retold: After AD 70 It might have appeared that with the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 the great narrative had come to an end. Some of the most important r…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - The Central Argument
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - The Central Argument
by SPCK - N T Wright
Part 1: PAUL AND HIS WORLD Chapter One RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY? 1. A World of Difference (iv) The Central Argument These discussions about the actual situation and the request Paul made have tended, as I said, to make exegetes overlook the point which is just as important in its wa…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - The Request
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - The Request
by SPCK - N T Wright
Part 1: PAUL AND HIS WORLD Chapter One RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY? 1. A World of Difference (iii) The Request So what is Paul asking for? Onesimus has come to him, has been converted, and is now being sent back to his master. What is Paul’s request? Despite those who have suggested th…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Story and Scripture
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Story and Scripture
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter TWO LIKE BIRDS HOVERING OVERHEAD: THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL (v) Story and Scripture All that we have said so far leads back to a point of enormous importance for our reading of Paul the apostle. The primary way in which scripture itself was seen was not simply…
Meditation - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
Meditation - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
by David Middleton
Meditation – 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr B Sin Mark 9: 38-50 Lord, sin is one of those words I don't like to mention, not really, it worries me, the very word puts me on edge, It makes me feel uncomfortable. I know I am guilty of … sin... Created by David Middleton on behalf …
Paul and the Faithfulness of God - The Theology of a Pharisee