Rowan Williams
Meeting God in Paul - 4 Questions for reflection or group discussion and Lenten reading guide
Meeting God in Paul - 4 Questions for reflection or group discussion and Lenten reading guide
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
Questions for reflection or group discussion and Lenten reading guide 1 Outsiders and insiders: Paul’s social world 1 Who are our modern-day ‘citizens’ (those with full rights and status), ‘outsiders’ (those who ‘half-belong’ in our society) and ‘slaves’ (those with few rights)?…
Meeting God in Paul - 3c Living in the new creation
Meeting God in Paul - 3c Living in the new creation
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
Living in the new creation In 2 Corinthians 5.17, Paul says that to be baptized in commitment to Jesus is to become or to be involved in a ‘new creation’. Everything is beginning again because the real universe (as distinct from the fantasy world of our fear, selfishness, greed, …
Meeting God in Paul - 3b The image of God in us
Meeting God in Paul - 3b The image of God in us
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
The image of God in us But there’s more to it, because of course what St Paul is evoking is not a Jesus who simply sits on the throne of heaven and receives our prayers, but a Jesus who – because his own life in time and eternity consists entirely in pouring out praise and love t…
Meeting God in Paul - 3 The new creation: Paul’s Christian universe
Meeting God in Paul - 3 The new creation: Paul’s Christian universe
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
The new creation: Paul’s Christian universe Let’s begin with that deceptively simple phrase ‘the image of God’ – because in trying to understand how, for Paul, the whole universe is reorganized around the figure of Jesus, this idea is central…
Meeting God in Paul - 2d The healing sacrifice
Meeting God in Paul - 2d The healing sacrifice
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
The healing sacrifice I spoke in the previous chapter of how in his letter to the Romans Paul is, as it were, turning his head from side to side, saying, ‘You think you’ve got the point? Think again. And [turning rapidly] don’t you imagine that because they haven’t got it, you’re…
Meeting God in Paul - 2c A different kind of community
Meeting God in Paul - 2c A different kind of community
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
A different kind of community ‘Freedom’ and ‘slavery’ are words that Paul weaves into ever more complex patterns. But behind it all is this conviction that there is a space where we can ‘look each other in the eye’ with both boldness and reverence, knowing that what we see in the…
Meeting God in Paul - 2 The universal welcome: Paul’s disturbing idea
Meeting God in Paul - 2 The universal welcome: Paul’s disturbing idea
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
The universal welcome: Paul’s disturbing idea The words just quoted form one of the most familiar texts from St Paul’s letters – a text which, as you can immediately see, sets Paul in opposition to some of the most powerful and dominant trends of his day…
Meeting God in Paul - 1c Paul the man
Meeting God in Paul - 1c Paul the man
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
Paul the man But what of Paul himself? What kind of a person was he? So far we’ve been sketching out the whole environment, leaving in the middle of it all a human-sized shadow. What kind of man? What age? What do we know of his personal life?…
Meeting God in Paul - 1b Paul the Jew
Meeting God in Paul - 1b Paul the Jew
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
Paul the Jew Paul is a Roman citizen – but he also, of course, inherited another very stratified and very strict tradition. He is a Jew: a Jew whose name was originally Saul, and who, he tells us, came initially from the tribe of Benjamin (Philippians 3.5). He belongs to that hug…
Meeting God in Paul - 1 Outsiders and insiders: Paul’s social world
Meeting God in Paul - 1 Outsiders and insiders: Paul’s social world
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
Outsiders and insiders:Paul’s social world When daylight came, the magistrates sent their officers with the order ‘Release those men.’ The jailer reported these instructions to Paul: ‘The magistrates have sent an order for your release. Now you are free to go in peace.’ But Paul …
Meeting God in Paul - Introduction
Meeting God in Paul - Introduction
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
Introduction Trying to write a very short book about St Paul feels a bit risky: from the early centuries of the Christian Church until now, the great minds of Christianity have worked out their thoughts in lengthy and impassioned dialogue with Paul’s letters, and the quantity and…
Meeting God in MARK - A lifelong passion - 4
Meeting God in MARK - A lifelong passion - 4
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
A lifelong passion About one-third of St Mark’s Gospel is taken up with the events of the last week of Jesus’ life, the story of Jesus’ betrayal, suffering and death, his ‘Passion’. It’s a very striking proportion, which has led some scholars to describe St Mark as a Passion narr…
Meeting God in MARK - Telling Secrets -3
Meeting God in MARK - Telling Secrets -3
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
Telling secrets We have begun to think in general terms about what kind of book St Mark’s Gospel is, and we have tried to identify the double demand that it makes of its readers: the demand to entertain the relationship into which the writer seeks to draw us, and so to enter into…
Meeting God in MARK - The beginning of the Gospel -2