Ian Paul

How is the Holy Spirit described in Scripture? | Psephizo It is quite common for people to make observations about the role or meaning of the Holy Spirit based on aspects of the language Scripture uses—including comments about the ‘gender’ role of the Spirit...

What language does Scripture use about the Holy Spirit? What does that tell us about the work of the Spirit and what we might experience? Does the Spirit do something distinct from the Father and the Son?
www.psephizo.com/biblical-stu...

How does the New Testament portray Romans officials, including centurions, and interactions with them? Is it historically accurate? And what does this tell us about the pressure on the early Jesus movement?
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Check this out!
#cofe #church #faith #satisfaction #connection #celebration #participation #exploration #reflection #Jesus #elim

Canterbury tales: what happens next? | Psephizo Andrew Goddard writes: This week the number of confirmed members of the Canterbury Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) rose from 3 to 14 with only 3 names left to be determined and announced (those fro...

Where have we got to in the tortuous journey to a new Archbishop of Canterbury? What potholes lie ahead?
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Gen Z looking for authenticity not ‘yada-yada’ talk of faith and spirituality, says Archbishop He was addressing the Church of Ireland’s General Synod, meeting in Naas, Co. Kildare

Gen Z looking for authenticity not ‘yada-yada’ talk of faith and spirituality, says Archbishop

The surviving head of a bull from the mosaic in the frigidarium in the Roman Great Baths (2c AD) in Dion. From Hellenistic times onwards, Dion was the most important religious centre in Macedonia #mosaicmonday

YouTube video by Psephizo 145 Peter's and Cornelius in Acts 11

Why is Peter's retelling of the story about Cornelius in Acts 11 so pivotal in the narrative of Acts? What is the role of the Holy Spirit—and the importance of human response? Come and join the discussion!
youtu.be/t2_ER7H7qMY

Why is friendship so important and transformative? | Psephizo Earlier in the year, I was at a conference listening to John Wyatt, the well-known Christian medical ethicist. He spoke about the importance of friendship, and I bought and read his fascinating book T...

Why is friendship so important and transformative of our lives? How did we lose it in our culture? And what can we do to restore healthy friendships?

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is that a bad thing...?

Where is the cross and atonement found in the Book of Revelation? | Psephizo Any discussion of ‘the cross’ in the Book of Revelation immediately faces a substantial challenge: in contrast with almost every other book in the New Testament, it is barely mentioned at all overtly....

In this Easter season, where do we find the cross of Jesus and the atonement in the Book of Revelation? How does it fit with the theology of the rest of the New Testament?
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Why I’m joining the Church of England I blame The Spectator. The chain of events that has led me to be christened and confirmed in the Anglican Church began with an article I wrote for Spectator Life in January. I had spent New Year’s Eve...

Interesting sign of the Quiet Revival?
#CofE

What do we learn from so-called ‘doubting’ Thomas in John 20 | Psephizo The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for the Second Sunday in Easter is John 20.19–31, which includes Jesus' encounter with so-called 'doubting Thomas'. It is the set reading for this week in all thre...

Was Thomas 'doubting' or just normal? Wasn't he just asking for what the others had experience? What does that tell us about our own situation?
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YouTube video by Psephizo The Quiet Revival interview with Dr Rhiannon McAleer

Is there a 'Quiet Revival' happening in England and Wales? Is the Bible Society's research robust—and what encouragements and challenges does it present for churches and church leaders?
youtu.be/dty_l73deSY

Do the gospel accounts of Holy Week make sense? | Psephizo Have you ever sat and read through the gospel accounts of Passion Week, and tried to work out chronologically what is happening? And have you done that with the four gospels? (It is easiest to do that...

Are the gospel accounts of Holy Week contradictory or do they cohere? Does it matter? And what difference does it make when we read them together?

www.psephizo.com/biblical-stu...

Should the Church Commissioners pay slavery reparations? Further questions | Psephizo Project Spire is the name that has been given to the Church Commissioner's decision to put aside £100m of their investments to be directed to working with and for communities affected by historic tran...

What are some of the serious problems and errors made in the case for reparations by the Church Commissioners? Is there a better way to approach these issues? @thesaxbys.org
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Original 1925 jacket cover of The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby Here is a novel, glamorous, ironical, compassionate a marvellous fusion into unity of the curious incongruities of the life of the period which reveals a hero like no other one who could live at no other time and in no other place. But he will live as a character, we surmise, as long as the memory of any reader lasts. "There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life. .. It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again?" It is the story of this Jay Gatsby who came so mysteriously to West Egg, of his sumptuous er-tertainments, and of his love for Daisy Buchanan a story that ranges from pure lyrical beauty to sheer brutal realism, and is infused with a sense of the strangeness of human circumstance in a heedless universe. It is a magical, living book, blended of irony, romance, and mysticism. CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS The GREAT GATSBY FITZGERALD

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

-FS Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, published 4/10/1925.

Should the Church Commissioners pay slavery reparations? Further questions | Psephizo Project Spire is the name that has been given to the Church Commissioner's decision to put aside £100m of their investments to be directed to working with and for communities affected by historic tran...

What are some of the serious problems and errors made in the case for reparations by the Church Commissioners? Is there a better way to approach these issues?
www.psephizo.com/life-ministr...

Deeply concerning issues with the process for appointing the new #Archbishop of #Canterbury
#CofE

YouTube video by Psephizo Compassionate orthodoxy

Christopher Landau was liberal on sexuality—until he visited a gay bar and talked to people about their lives. Does his proposal of 'compassionate orthodoxy' offer a way forward for the Church of England?
youtu.be/6b3EFdzBH4g

What is going wrong with the Canterbury appointment process? | Psephizo Andrew Goddard writes: Given the events in Canterbury diocese set out in my previous articles (here and here) I was expecting the result of the election of the Canterbury Vacancy in See Committee (ViS...

Something appears to be going seriously wrong with a key part of the process to appoint the next Archbishop of Canterbury. What has gone wrong, and why, and what will be the impact? @thesaxbys.org
www.psephizo.com/life-ministr...

#cofe

Did Jesus teach in Greek? | Psephizo The question of whether Jesus spoke and taught in Greek has, at times in the past, been a subject of serious debate. But for some reason this issue has disappeared from serious consideration, at just ...

Did Jesus actually teach in Greek rather than Aramaic? What are the arguments, and what difference does it make to how we read the gospels? @joelbgreen.bsky.social
www.psephizo.com/biblical-stu...

Did Jesus teach in Greek? | Psephizo The question of whether Jesus spoke and taught in Greek has, at times in the past, been a subject of serious debate. But for some reason this issue has disappeared from serious consideration, at just ...

Did Jesus actually teach in Greek rather than Aramaic? What are the arguments, and what difference does it make to how we read the gospels? @thesaxbys.org
www.psephizo.com/biblical-stu...

Is "diversity" valued in Scripture? Here's some reflections from Ian Paul @psephizo.bsky.social -- helpful compass points. (Spoiler alert: Yes!) #Diversity

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The Hidden Limits of Class in the Church | Psephizo John Smith writes: My wife sent me a text message a few months ago: ‘Could this be a possibility?’ Attached was an advertisement for a teaching post at a theological college. She thought that here was...

The Church of England has talked about addressing issues around class. But what more needs to be done in terms of structures to change that? Could we see a working class Archbishop of Canterbury?
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Is Church of England ministry sustainable? | Psephizo Bishops and dioceses are finally rebelling against the central control of decision making imposed by the Church Commissioners (and the Archbishops' Council) upon them. At least that is the impression ...

What are the current disputes around the national finance in the C of E really about? Is our current pattern of ministry actually sustainable? And what do we need to see churches grow?
www.psephizo.com/life-ministr...

Why do bad things happen to good people in Luke 13? | Psephizo The Sunday lectionary reading for the Third Sunday in Lent in Year C is Luke 13.1–9, where Jesus is questioned by his disciples about disaster bought on people by the wickedness of another, and Jesus ...

Why do bad things happen to good people? What answer does Jesus give in Luke 13, and how does that fit with other parts of Scripture? What response does Jesus invite—and why does it matter?
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How is diversity woven into the story of Scripture? | Psephizo I write a quarterly column for Preach magazine, in which I explore a significant word, phrase, or idea in the Bible, or a theme or section of Scripture, and the ideas that it expresses. At the end of ...

How do we see the theme of diversity woven through the story of Scripture? What is its relation to the theme of unity? And what does it teach us about being disciples today?
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The testing of Jesus according to Luke 4 | Psephizo The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for Lent 1 in Year C is Luke 4.1–13, Luke's account of the temptation of Jesus in the desert. (The link to the video discussion of this passage can be found at the...

Why does Luke list the temptations of Jesus in a different order from Matthew? How does his focus on the temple, power, and the Spirit teach us about the victory of Jesus?
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