How my generation was brought up: the facts

Growing up in a house crammed with books, there were a few perhaps unexpected ones I discovered for myself, and came to love. Among these were the works of John and Elizabeth Newson, an enterprising couple who set out to discover how ordinary mothers brought...

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The Sadducees and Julian Barnes

Recently I was reading the section in chapter 22 of Matthew’s gospel where Jesus is asked a question by the Sadducees “who say there is no resurrection.” “Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married and died, and having no children left his wife...

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The desire to sing comic songs on the ruins

The following telephone conversation (more or less) took place, yesterday, Thursday. Me: Hello. Caller: Good morning, can I speak to Mrs Wallace? Me: I am Mrs Wallace, who are you? Caller: I am from Telephone Preference Service, I am here to tell you that we are going to block...

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Gospel preaching, judgment and church history

I frequently enjoy and am often challenged by Rev Ian Paul’s award-winning blog Psephizo, which ranges over all matters theological and church-related. The other day his post was entitled, provocatively, “Did Jesus come to bring good news?” In it he quotes, apparently with approval, one John...

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Servants 2

I promised to come back to the theme of servants in literature. (The patchiness of my reading will doubtless be very obvious.) This is my investigation on whether a servant can be a hero. Let’s make a list of types. Traditional servants. These, going back (I believe)...

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Commentary on the book of Job

I’ve recently been reading the book of Job. Everyone loves this book in theory, because it reassures us that it’s Biblical a) to notice that life isn’t fair, and b) for suffering people to resent being told to cheer up or repent; and because some of...

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Politics and tennis

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed a lack of reference to current affairs lately. This is partly because the intricacies of Brexit negotiation and government meltdown are too confusing for a simple person to follow; and partly because current affairs are currently almost...

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