Bonhoeffer has some hugely stimulating ideas in his discussion of the “fall” story in Genesis 3. Probably none are more stimulating, or easy to fail to grasp as his thought about “conscience” – at least difficult for people for whom the idea that conscience is the “voice of God within” is deeply embedded, since Bonhoeffer [&hellip...
Here’s what I would have said if they had asked me about the Bible! (Not 5 minutes but 6, but it is a big topic 😉 and here are the usual downloadable links 🙂 ...
This is not a 5 minute Bible but part of an interview for a Shine TV series. I wish I’d had more chance to speak about the Bible, and more oportunity to focus on the positive. Maybe I do need to do a podcast&#...
This post is a follow-up to the previous one, addressing submission in 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3:1 calls wives to -submit- to their husbands. What does it call husbands to do? Do our common English translations mislead us? Was Peter more revolutionary than we thought? In addressing this question, as well as a look [&hellip...
In this post we’ll discover some humour from below. The humour of the oppressed often pokes fun at the oppressor. Those who subjugate others fear them, and this fear generates feelings of inferiority that in Exodus some oppressed women manipulate delightfully. Please open your Bibles at Exodus 1-2. So, here’s the link to [&hellip...
In this podcast I’ll briefly argue that since the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) regularly pictures Yahweh as intimately associated with both forming in the womb and birthing, and particularly since “his” role is often as midwife “he” cannot be thought of as a male god. Rather “he” is God and as later (though very early [&hellip...
Video version here. I know I promised two sequels to yesterday’s podcast. But I think I need first to explore the theme of the gender of God (Yahweh) in the Old Testament, and the evidence for Yahweh’s wife, a bit more first. Bear with me and we will get to “Why do you read? Part [&hellip...
Paul’s summarises the Old Testament story from a Jewish-Christian perspective as a world looking for a saviour. Then John showed that still “today” not just in ancient times people are looking for a saviour. Jesus not only died, but rose, and this is the keeping of God’s ancient promises. In Jesus God fills out, fully, [&hellip...
OK this story must be one of the best-known that Jesus ever told, everyone has heard it! And if not (at least if they speak English or French or just about any other European language) they know the main character’s name – The Good Samaritan. Except that, what we know if we know this, is [&hellip...
This chapter is a big sack of parables, and we’ve already seen that a parable is in essence a comparison, where light is thrown on something by talking about something else, better known or more clear or vivid. The parable of the the sower is particularly complicated and developed, with lots of details but still [&hellip...
