Category Archives: Research

The Big Biblical Covenants and their Relationship to Hittite Suzerainty Treaties

Summary The four “major covenants”, with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David are reviewed with a particular eye to their possible relationship with the Hittite suzerainty form of treaty, in the ancient Near East. The formal features of the four covenants are compared to the Hittite treaty form, and also considered without that constraint for their […]

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Evangelism: What is it? Do you have to do it?

What is Evangelism? Do you have to do it? Read on… perhaps you already do! Summary: Jesus’ “Great Commission” of Matthew 28:18-20 is, without doubt, the assignment of a primary role to the church: “to evangelise the world”. The degree to which this is “the” primary role, however, is not universally agreed. There may be […]

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Bonhoeffer – A scholar, a gentleman, a rebel, a martyr.

What did Dietrich Bonhoeffer think he was doing? Bonhoeffer had much to say about discipleship, and was also a vocal critic of the Lutheran Church’s inaction against the Nazis. Was he just a busybody with opinions about everything? No, he had a view of discipleship that applies as much to the church as a whole, […]

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Ecumenism in Roman Catholic theology: Lumen Gentium analysed for Ecumenism.

Summary – Lumen Gentium as an Ecumenical document Lumen Gentium, (“Light of Nations”, Vatican II, 1964) changed nothing in the ecclesiology of the Roman Catholic Church, and it was designed that way. But the whole process of Vatican II, including this document, did prove to be a catalyst for ecumenical dialogue in many ways. Again, this […]

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Gospel of John

The Gospel of John: Many people’s favourite book, but scholars neglected it for centuries!

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Holy Martyrs

The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas The Passion of the Holy Martyrs (“the Passion”) offers insights into the beliefs of the church at a very early time because it was recorded in 202-3AD.[1] A vital piece of historical church literature, this document provides key insight into a range of contemporaneous issues, from theology proper, […]

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The Crusades – What motivated people to “Take the Cross”?

This is a research essay. It may be a bit boring to read through, so I’ll blog about it separately, later. Abstract The study of motivations of the crusaders represents not only an interesting subject, but one which has arguably affected the modern world’s tensions between Islam and the West, Islam and Christianity, and Judaism […]

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