James's Weblog

As we sit between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, here's a quotation from CS Lewis classic novel: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

I wish to commend to you a new website, Anglican Reality Check. In the past 22 years, a lot has changed in the Anglican landscape at home and around the world. The changes have happened gradually, so that it can be hard to keep track of the key developments that make up the still-unfolding story.

Here's Darrell Bock, commenting on the birth of Jesus in Luke 2:6.

There's a little gem of a commentary on Luke's gospel, by G B Caird, long out-of-print, but can easily be picked up second-hand.

I think he gets to the heart of Luke 2:1-7 succinctly in a way that many more detailed commentaries don't.

On Saturday, I posted notes from Darrell Bock's commentary on Luke, addressing the questions that are often asked of the historicity of the census mentioned in Luke 2:1-2.

His arguments are excellent and detailed, so I wanted to reproduce them in fairly full form, as that will help some people.

I often hear it said that Luke got his history wrong in Luke 2:1-6. He refers to "the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria". It is said that there was no such census; it never took place.

This is a serious charge to levy against a gospel writer who is historically impeccable when he records any fact for which we have independent records, and who says (Luke 1:1-4) that he worked hard to check everything out with primary eye witnesses.

Much ink has been spilled on this. However, the commentary on Luke by Darrell Bock is thorough and contains a helpful excursus examining this question at length. For my own future reference, and for the benefit of others, here's a summary of his argument.

I sometimes note illustrations here that may be useful for me to find later, and that may be useful for others as well.

Here's the teaching of Christ:

Give up everything to follow Christ

This is a familiar part of what Jesus taught: It costs to follow him.

A fourth post in the 300th anniversary year of Daniel Defoe's novel, Robinson Crusoe, following on from one on the subject of contentment, a second on bondage of the will, and a third on providence.

Last Sunday, at our all-age service, we looked at the visit of the Magi, as recorded in Matthew 2:1-11.

(I know, 6 weeks early. There's a reason, but never mind).

Yesterday evening, I attended a General Election hustings organised by Churches Together in Sevenoaks and District. All 6 candidates for the Sevenoaks Constituency attended, and did a good job at tackling a range of questions fairly efficiently. The event was full, with most seats in the large nave of St Nicholas Sevenoaks taken. The tone was positive and engaging.

Coming away, I had a few thoughts, that I share here in no particular order.

Start with a couple concerning how Christians engage with politics.