Venturesome love often begins with pondering 'Could I? Should I? Could We? Should We?' Such pondering and commitment is at the heart of discipleship. Venturesome Christians risk powerlessness and being overwhelmed – like Jesus, who also opted to be without power and faced up to being overwhelmed. What does venturesome discipleship look like? Where do…
Professor John Barclay Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at the University of Durham on Saturday 21st January. His title is Paul, grace and gift: does the best gift have no strings attached? Thinking with Paul about giving and receiving gifts. For a number of reasons (Western) Christians have become champions of the notion that the ‘pure’…
Julie Clague is Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at Glasgow University and an academic associate of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing. She carries out research in Catholic moral theology and ecclesiology, Catholic social thought, and Christian approaches to public issues. Julie’s lecture will explore the impact and significance of the Papacy of Francis…
Dr Strine will explore what both the Old Testament and New Testament say about migration, developing the insight that a massive number of biblical texts are written by migrants to other migrants about migration. By recognising this feature, analysing what these texts say about migration, and thinking carefully about how this compares to contemporary experiences,…
First of two in-depth sessions on the so-called wisdom literature of the Hebrew Scriptures (our Old Testament) which lays foundations for much of Judeo-Christian reflection through the ages and is still influential today, although often unacknowledged by secular thinkers. This is an important part of the Bible Jesus and Paul used and without which we…
We are in unfamiliar country. A faith urgently needs to seek new ways of being present to a culture adrift from any spiritual roots and unable to recognise its loss. We will be exploring, experimenting and in conflict for the foreseeable future. ‘We do not see what we shall become’ (1 John 3.2). This is…
Second of two in-depth sessions on the so-called wisdom literature of the Hebrew Scriptures (our Old Testament) which lays foundations for much of Judeo-Christian reflection through the ages and is still influential today, although often unacknowledged by secular thinkers. This is an important part of the Bible Jesus and Paul used and without which we…
Bishop John will be exploring what holds together the ‘big five’ of the Christian faith: incarnation, the cross, resurrection, ascension and Pentecost. What are they all really about and how can we grasp their significance intellectually and spiritually? Big issues made accessible.
First of two in-depth sessions on the the gospel narratives which lay at the heart of the New Testament and are our window onto the life and work of Jesus. How can we understand both the unity and diversity of these four portraits of Christ and interpret them in ways that are relevant for today’s…
It might seem quite straightforward – Jesus said what he is reported as saying in the Gospels. At one level this is true. At another, however, things may be rather more complicated. A significant complicating factor is that, for more than a century, most scholars have suspected the existence of an entity known as Q.…