5 Minute Jesus: Jesus and The Exodus
The Exodus is such a big deal in the Old Testament that many aspects of the New Testament and the life of Jesus can only really be understood in the light of the story of Israel rescued from Egyptian slavery…
5 Minute Jesus: How are we to view Jesus’ miracles?
By John Dickson The philosophical, scientific and historical rationale for an openness to miracles - and the miracles of Jesus in particular - are pretty strong. If you don't believe in God, of course, no amount of evidence is going…
5 Minute Jesus: Faith that is not blind
By John Dickson Jesus often called on people to believe in him, to exercise faith in him. His opening words in Mark's gospel, for example, are "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe. Have faith in the…
5 Minute Jesus: Hell, according to Jesus
By John Dickson One of Jesus' hardest teachings was delivered in metaphor: Hell. I'm sometimes asked if I believe in hell. I think I must give off the vibe sometimes that I'm a soft theologian who doesn't go with all those…
5 Minute Jesus: Women to the front
By John Dickson I owe my own Christian faith to the persuasive power of women. Firstly, my babysitter when I was nine did something I never realised until years later. It always used to puzzle me that I could say…
5 Minute Jesus: The Bible’s sophisticated form
By John Dickson One. Five. 10 Bibles just sold. And by the end of the five minutes it'll take you to read this, another 285 Bibles will have sold. By the end of the day, 82,000. Part of the reason…
5 Minute Jesus: God is present in the world’s ugliness
Ben Shaw, my friend fighting a battle with cancer, his wife Karen and Oxford professor of clinical oncology, Tim Maughan in episode 13 of the Undeceptions Podcast all speak of God being present in the ugliness of the world. I think…
5 Minute Jesus: At Christmas, joy pierces the sadness
By John Dickson It's perhaps odd to begin a Christmas reflection with an insight from the Buddha. But Siddhārtha Gautama said something I find really compelling and apt for this time of year. “It's sometimes in the happiest moments,” he…
5 Minute Jesus: The three things every Christian believes
By John Dickson What is the Christian view of the world? I know some people at this point might say, 'Hang on, you Christians can't even work out what you believe. You've got so many different denominations! Get back to…
5 Minute Jesus: Christians freeing slaves
By John Dickson What has freeing slaves got to do with the original Christian story? Probably quite a lot, and not much of it is known. Way back in the first century, when Jesus preached his first sermon, according to…