Rev elations

  1.    The Bible       The Reformation was about the re-discovery of the Bible as a text that individuals could read and interpret themselves. As Luther wrote in Article 62 of his 95 theses: ‘ The true treasure of the church is the most Holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God’. John Tyndale (1494-1536) translated the Old and New Testaments into English for the first time. A job he had to complete in hiding in Germany. Nonetheless he was found, persecuted and sentenced to death, being killed in 1536. He is a founding father of the Reformation and his English text was the main source document for the King James Bible. The Bible emerges in the Reformation as a radical and contested text; one that is not just the property of an elite religious class. As it was translated into vernacular languages it could be read and understood by ordinary Christians – or at least ones that could read! This development coincided of course with the advent of th...

The 18th October is the Feast Day of St Luke. And what a lot we should be thankful for! It might seem blindingly obvious to say, but, we know about Jesus because people who met him, encountered him and believed in him, wrote about him . Without their testimony and witness, we today, would know nothing about Jesus. It makes me feel a sense of awe and wonder – we stand in a great line of witnesses. By Anonymous Russian icon painter (before 1917) Public domain image (according to PD-RusEmpire) - http://www.museum.ru/alb/image.asp?12822, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3597619 It is often said that St Paul created Christianity as we practice it, but St Luke is also without comparison. St Luke wrote the Gospel that bears his name and the Acts of the Apostles, which means he wrote 25% of the New Testament. Now, consider this, without St Luke we wouldn’t have Mary’s narrative and story. It is St Luke who tells us about Mary’s feelings and her co...

St Francis was born in 1182 in Assisi to a wealthy textile merchant – he was a well-loved and well-provided for child and young adult. As a young adult he was the leader of a band of unvirtuous drunkards, wealthy and gluttonous! He hated the sight of lepers, who in that time had to live on the margins of the city. English:  St. Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata, detail from a four-foiled plaque from a reliquary. Engraved, chased, enameled and gilt champlevé copper, Limoges or Italy, 1128–1230 (?). The times that Francis grew up in were unsettled, with growing wealth through trade but also with many armed conflicts. His ambition was to be a knight. Assisi was at war with Perugia- and so he went to war and was imprisoned for a time. After he came home he also experienced a period of ill-health. This was to be a turning point in his life. In1208 his life was changed by hearing a sermon- in which he heard the commission to preach. At another time he was praying in the...