What are we reading when we open, say, Luke’s Gospel in the Christian Bible? Building on what we learned in the previous study, four literary features deserve mention. The Gospel of Luke is: historical literature. There is evidence of a history of composition. Luke drew on oral tradition and sources available to him as he compiled …
What is a Gospel?
The Bible contains four “Gospels,” located at the start of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, named after their authors. These four long narratives serve as the primary source documents for what we know about the life and teaching of Jesus. The English word gospel comes from the Old English godspell, a translation of the Greek noun euangelion, meaning …
“The vital breath of the church”: Prayer, personalism and spiritual power in the thought of G. H. Morling
Prayer, worship and intimacy with God feature strongly in George Henry Morling’s evangelical approach to spirituality. In a diary entry dated 19 August 1928, Morling famously states, “There must be a very strong stand taken for doctrinal-experimental truth.”[1] His commitment to this principle prompted him to seek a balance between what he viewed as rival extremes …
The winds of ultimate change
Today is the second Monday of Lent and, among other things, it is a time of waiting, reflecting, and expectancy. What is it that you are waiting for today? In popular cartoons, God is often depicted as a stern old man with flowing white beard, sometimes sitting on a cloud, sometimes surrounded by strange little …
The winds of change and renewal
The winds of unwelcome change blow harsh through all our lives. Last week we looked at the challenge of negotiating the changes that come our way. Today I want to continue that theme, and reflect on the relationship between change and personal renewal. Long ago the psalmist wrote these words: As a deer longs for …
All Told 