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Review of Frances Young, God’s Presence: A Contemporary Recapitulation of Early Christianity (Cambridge University Press, 2012). The final book on the Michael Ramsey Prize shortlist for 2016 is a work of systematic theology.   Frances Young is a very distinguished theologian.   Her writing on the New Testament and early Christian theology is well known and is part of a corpus of writing that dates back to the 1970s.   This book is an integration of all the different concerns of her theological life, as an academic, a theologian of both the New Testament and the early church, a Methodist, a preacher and the mother of a profoundly disabled child, Arthur.   All of these different aspects to Young’s work and writing inform and shape this book. That theme of integration is also the way in which Young approaches the topics of her theology in this book.   In each chapter she offers a prelude of snapshots, showing the way the subjec...

--> Review of Francis Spufford, Unapologetic: Why, despite everything, Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense (Faber and Faber, 2012). This is the only book on the Michael Ramsey Prize shortlist that I had already read.   In the spirit of the enterprise, I re-read it so that I could review it alongside its fellow nominees.   I enjoyed it as much on the second read as I had on the first. This is, quite simply, an excellent book.   It is very well written, by turns profound, insightful, irreverent and funny.   Spufford’s conceit is to write a book to explain why he is weird enough to go to church.   In order to do that, he offers an account of faith that draws on and speaks to contemporary culture.   There are lots of references to popular culture in here.   Don’t skip the footnotes, they are where some of his best, funniest and most barbed comments are to be found.   Take this one as an example: ‘Everyone...

--> A sermon for the Eve of the Annunciation Genesis 3.8-15 ; Galatians 4.1-5 “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman”. In the depths of Channel Four’s schedules, there is a programme called Tattoo Fixers .   In this programme people arrive with an array of badly crafted tattoos, and those which are less funny once the owner has sobered up. The programme’s team of tattoo artists then transform the tattoos into more tasteful and more beautiful tattoo by integrating the original design into their new art.   The original tattoo is not erased, but cannot be seen any longer. This evening we celebrate God’s plan for the redemption of the world.   “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman” as St Paul puts it.   This plan is announced to Mary by the Angel Gabriel.   It is a plan that is not just for us, but which will have an effect on the whole of creation.   We have sung the M...

Acts 10.34-43 ; John 20.1-18 “We do not know there they have laid him”.   If the stories of Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection have anything in common, then one of the major common factors has to be that they are all surprises.   Mary is surprised by the gardener.   The eleven disciples are surprised to find Jesus inside a locked room.   The two walking to Emmaus are surprised by a biblical interpreted walking with them.   The eleven are again surprised as they go fishing in Galilee.   And St Paul is surprised (to say the least) by Jesus appearing on the road to Damascus.   Jesus turns up where he is not expected, and that seems to be common to all of the stories of his appearances. When Jesus turns up all kinds of things happen.   There is healing of people and relationships; forgiveness and the rebuilding of community; there are lives transformed by love; and hope and confidence is rekindled.   In the Go...

A sermon for Maundy Thursday. Exodus 12.1-14 ; John 13.1-17,31b-35 “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another”. Tonight we gather to remember the Passover – the time when God freed his people from slavery in Egypt and led them to freedom in the Promised Land. Tonight we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, given to his disciples at the last supper he shared with them before his death. Tonight we gather to begin our journey through the three days of the Passion of our Lord, his death and resurrection. Tonight we gather to do all these things. But above all these things, tonight we gather to take our shoes off and then to put them on again. So let me ask you now to take off your shoes. Shoes off and shoes on – that is what tonight is all about. Shoes off – shoes on. We find it in the Gospel reading. It is an insight into the very being and nature of God. It is our calling as disciples of Jesus. Shoes off. Shoes on. So let me expla...

Review of Rupert Shortt, Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack (Rider Books, 2012).  As I write, the persecution of Christians around the world is a cause for real concern. In Iraq and Syria, followers of the so-called Islamic State (IS) have daubed the Arabic letter 'n' (for 'Nazarene', the Muslim name for Christians) on the houses and churches of Christians. This marks them out for fines, harassment and murder. In Nigeria, Boka Haram (which means something like 'western education is sinful') target girls for abduction and are engaged in other campaigns of violence against the Christian community. Rupert Shortt's work predates these headlines, while demonstrating that these recent news stories are not new, even if the media attention they receive is a new departure.  In Christianophobia , Shortt gives an account of the persecution of Christians around the world. This is not a book for the fainthearted. There are descriptions of ...