Carols by Candlelight is a much-loved part of Christmas, and is a great opportunity to help people reflect on how the story of God fits into the story of their lives. This year I tried to do this by reflecting on what sort of year had people had, and on what sort of year the…
How does Ancient Egyptian literature help us understand the bible? The Egyptian story The Tale of Sinuhe helps us understand better the narrative of Joseph in the book of Genesis.
How the story of Cain and Abel ends is well-known, but what about how it starts? And, even more importantly, why? Cain murders Abel because he is jealous that God has accepted Abel’s sacrifice and reject his. But, why did God reject Cain’s sacrifice?
What does it mean to have a soul? What does the word ‘soul’ mean anyway? Possibly not what we think it means…
40,000 years ago, were people thinking, believing and feeling like us? The answer that the British Museum’s exhibition on Ice Age Art gives is a resounding ‘yes’.
Creation and evolution. Why do we have to choose? I think that, with integrity, we don’t have to; it’s perfectly possible to accept both. This is my sermon on Faith and Evolution as part of our sermon series on Questions of Faith.
The doctrine of the Trinity is a vital part of the Christian faith. It is at the heart of our understanding of God and so of us, not least as we are “made in the image of God”. So, it has something important to say about how we relate to each other as well.
Being ‘made in the image of God‘ is a fundamental theological concept, which can help us think about the theory of evolution in a more constructive way than is always the case. This sermon was preached in 2009 as part of a baptism service for both a baby (Ella) and two adults (Emily and Sophie;…
This sermon was part of a series on James and was linked with Genesis 22, the near-sacrifice of Isaac. These are two difficult readings, both of which have had a lot written about them. Genesis 22 is known in Judaism as the Akedah (binding), which is a much better description. The picture of the akedah…
A basic Christian belief is that humanity is made in the image and likeness of God. This understanding, derived from Genesis 1:27 and often referred to by the Latin phrase imago Dei, has had a profound effect on Christian thought.
I spoke at Greenbelt 2011 on the subject of wonder: Wonder is more than an emotion, more than a thought. It is experienced by scientists, artists, theologians. It drives people to create new things, to make new discoveries. What does the experience of wonder tell us about what it means to be human? What role…
As part of our recent sermon series on people of faith, I preached on Noah’s faith and faithfulness. I think that Noah is one of those Biblical characters who gets rather overlooked; partly because we think we know him through children’s versions, and perhaps partly because we’re too busy arguing about the historicity of the…
olem - From the past to eternity 