Christianity
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The bishop and the calypso king
If you are as old as I am, you will remember the BBC satirical programme That Was The Week That Was, broadcast on Saturday evenings in 1962 and 1963. It was presented by David Frost and starred Millicent Martin,...
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Newman: One step enough for me
Last month I wrote about John Henry Newman’s love of the colours and scents of Devon. In December 1832, with his Devon friends Robert and Hurrell Froude, Newman set off from Falmouth on board the packet ship Hermes bound...
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The saint who loved the colours and scents of Devon
In the early church a common word applied to all believers in Christ was ‘saint’. So when Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, he addressed it to ‘all those in Rome who are loved by God and called...
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Life as the sum of relationships
Has the lockdown made you reflect on the importance of friendship, our relationships to one another? One man who thought deeply about this was Mandell Creighton who succeeded Frederick Temple as Bishop of London in 1897. Temple said of...
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Should sermons be scripted?
Last month I wrote about G T Manley who, as a devout Christian, came top of the list of mathematics graduates at Cambridge in 1893, beating the atheist Bertrand Russell. Another very clever Christian was (my hero) Frederick Temple...
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Do very clever people believe in God?
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was a philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, essayist and Nobel laureate. There is no doubt that he was very clever. So much so that he achieved the distinction, when the results of the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos were...
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St Helena’s search for the cross
Preparing to visit Jerusalem this Easter I have been fascinated to look into the life of St Helena. Born around the year 255, she became the wife of Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus, by whom she gave birth to Constantine...
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The little town where the hopes and fears of all the years are met
Bethlehem, like Jerusalem, can be snowy in winter so maybe those wintry scenes on our traditional Christmas cards are not too far off the mark. A main feature of any visit to the town is the Church of the...
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The Christian’s hope
When I was in my teens, my father took me took me along to the University of Exeter to hear a series of lectures on the resurrection delivered by the newly elected Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey. Richard Eyre, about...
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Prayer as hearing the voice of Christ in the silence
When C.S. Lewis’s wife, Joy Davidman, died, in 1960, the priest who took the funeral service was hardly able to get the words out through his own tears. His name was Austin Farrer and I am currently a fan of his writings. Farrer’s...
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