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Jeremiah for everyone - Wounds Too Severe for Treatment
Jeremiah for everyone - Wounds Too Severe for Treatment
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Wounds Too Severe for Treatment Days after the publication of his memoir, the writer Christopher Hitchens was struck down by cancer. He died eighteen months later, but through his illness he kept writing because that’s what writers do…
Jeremiah for everyone - Another Wicked Play on Words
Jeremiah for everyone - Another Wicked Play on Words
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Another Wicked Play on Words For a while I was the faculty representative on the president’s cabinet in our seminary, which means I had to get up early once a month for a meeting of people in the administration to discuss big policy questions (but not so much their ongoing implem…
Isaiah for everyone - Choose Your Ending
Isaiah for everyone - Choose Your Ending
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Choose Your Ending There’s a classic movie called The French Lieutenant’s Woman, set in nineteenth-century England, that tells of a tortuous relationship in which a man is powerfully drawn to a woman who hardly belongs to his class and when he is already committed to marrying som…
Jeremiah for everyone - If Someone Disciplines You, It Implies Loving You
Jeremiah for everyone - If Someone Disciplines You, It Implies Loving You
by SPCK - John Goldingay
If Someone Disciplines You, It Implies Loving You In a television interview, the great tennis player Serena Williams was talking about an outburst she’d had at a lineswoman who claimed Serena had foot-faulted; Serena had been convinced she was wrong…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - If Two People Lie Together, They Can Be Warm
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - If Two People Lie Together, They Can Be Warm
by SPCK - John Goldingay
If Two People Lie Together, They Can Be Warm A friend of mine lost his wife some years ago and got married again to a family friend within three months. I was both worried and sympathetic (he had been looked after too well by his first wife and had no idea how to cook), but it ha…
Isaiah for Everyone - Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem
Isaiah for Everyone - Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Meanwhile, Back in Jerusalem I have just come off the phone from a conversation with a former student in England who was in tears about failing a degree program. She doesn’t claim that her exam performance was brilliant; she sees herself as a poor examinee. But she doesn’t think …
Jeremiah for everyone - Lucky Figs and Unlucky Figs
Jeremiah for everyone - Lucky Figs and Unlucky Figs
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Lucky Figs and Unlucky Figs We walked past a supermarket last night and marveled at the size of the truck delivering produce, and we wondered how quickly the supermarket would empty if there were a big earthquake (answer: about two hours)…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Nightmares and Dreams (1)
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Nightmares and Dreams (1)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Nightmares and Dreams (1) A student of mine from southern Africa once gave me an account of aspects of her life at home. In homestead life in her grandparents’ day, her grandfather had eleven wives; each had six to ten children. His wives’ huts stood in a half-moon, his in the ce…
John THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - BREAKFAST with JESUS
John THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - BREAKFAST with JESUS
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
BREAKFAST with JESUS Fishing was Peter’s idea but he has abandoned ship, leaving the others lurched over the side dragging the net in (21:8). When they come ashore, they find ‘a charcoal fire’. The use of anthrakia for the fire immediately recalls the high priest’s courtyard, whe…
Jeremiah for everyone - Who Am I?
Jeremiah for everyone - Who Am I?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Who Am I? In a poem he wrote in prison, on his way to being executed by the Nazis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer asked the question, “Who am I?” Am I one person today, and tomorrow, another? Do I look brave to other people, though before myself I’m “a contemptibly woebegone weakling”?…
Mark The People's Commentary - How do you explain Jesus?
Mark The People's Commentary - How do you explain Jesus?
by BRF - Dick France
How do you explain Jesus? Mark sometimes likes to enfold one story within another (or to ‘sandwich’ it) so as to help his readers to listen to the one in the light of the other. He has done that in the latter part of chapter 3. Within the story of how Jesus’ own family responded …
Mark The People's Commentary - More Healings
Mark The People's Commentary - More Healings
by BRF - Dick France
More Healings Once again Mark allows us a brief respite from the breathless series of amazing events. This more general summary of what Jesus was doing in Galilee at this period, like that in 3:7–12, shows us that the relatively few specific miracles which he has included in his …
John The People's Commentary - More Questions and Answers
John The People's Commentary - More Questions and Answers
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
More Questions and Answers We have seen how John likes to move from signs into a dialogue between Jesus and others which ends with a discourse. So here, we start with three questions from the crowd, each answered by Jesus, which pick up the signs and begin to explore the themes t…
Mark The People's Commentary - The Dance of Death
Mark The People's Commentary - The Dance of Death
by BRF - Dick France
The Dance of Death Mark 6: 17-29 Mark The People’s Bible Commentary In the previous study we thought about why this story is here, and why Mark may have felt it appropriate to insert it into the story of Jesus. But now we shall look at the story of the death of John in its own ri…
Mark The People's Commentary - Jesus and John the Baptist
Mark The People's Commentary - Jesus and John the Baptist
by BRF - Dick France
Jesus and John the Baptist A change of scene The disciples, sent out on their mission in verses 7–13, will return and report back in verse 30. The intervening space is filled with an unexpected return to the person with whom Mark’s story began….
Mark The People's Commentary - Mark 4