In the current issue of Guidelines
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The Editor writes...
'The main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing' is a saying attributed to Stephen Covey, the author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It's one of those quotations that can just seem a clever play on words, but it sticks in my head as teasingly profound. There is something of this in our readings in this issue - a focus on 'the main thing'.
We begin and end this edition with Paul's letter to the Galatians. Dick France, a seasoned biblical interpreter, leads us through this 'angry' letter of Paul, in which the apostle passionately asserts what 'the main thing' is: anything that threatens the focus on faith in Jesus is to be rejected.
Many of our Psalms in this edition focus on recounting key moments in Israel's history, reminding Israel of 'the main thing'. Henry Wansbrough is our reliable guide. Then Andrew Angel gives us the next instalment of Mark's Gospel, this time chapters 3 to 6. Here we see the heart of Jesus' ministry - his battle with the powers of darkness, his teaching about the kingdom, his healing ministry and the gradual revelation of who he is.
Next, Tom Wilson helps us to think about the paradox of 'liberating servanthood', encouraging us to hold together our freedom as Christ's friends with our submission to Christ as Lord. Somewhere in this paradoxical tension lies 'the main thing' in the Christian life. Then Jeremy Duff leads us into 'encounters in John', looking first at 'food' and 'water' and how these elements point beyond themselves to what is real. Here, and in the final section on the encounters after the resurrection, we find that Jesus himself is 'the main thing'.
Margaret Guite returns to take us through the second part of the book of Numbers. Here we see the people of Israel wandering in the desert, learning through laws and experience what it means to be God's people. Finally, before we go back to Galatians and think about what truly gives us spiritual health, Trevor Dennis challenges how we imagine God. What images and pictures of God do we use? What do they communicate? What is the 'main thing' when speaking of God?
We hope that this edition will help you discern 'the main thing' in the complexity of life and that, as you hold on to it, God will draw you closer to him.
Jeremy Duff
In this issue:
Galatians 1 - 3
Dick France
30 April - 13 May
Psalms 77 - 88
Henry Wansbrough
14 - 27 May
Mark 3:7 - 6:6
Andrew Angel
28 May - 17 June
Liberating servanthood
Tom Wilson
18 - 24 June
Encounters in John
Jeremy Duff
25 June - 15 July
Numbers 18 - 36
Margaret Guite
16 July - 5 August
Imagining God
Trevor Dennis
6 - 19 August
Galatians 4 - 6
Dick France
20 August - 2 September
About the contributors in this issue:
Andrew Angel lectures at St John's College, Nottingham and is an Anglican priest. In addition to parish ministry, he has taught in secondary schools and higher education. He has published articles in theological journals and written Chaos and the Son of Man (LSTS 60; T&T Clark, 2006). Andrew is married to Carol Fabiola and they have two sons.
Trevor Dennis was Vice Dean of Chester Cathedral until his retirement in 2010. He has published a number of books, including a children's Bible, The Book of Books, The Christmas Stories and The Easter Stories. His first two books on Old Testament narratives, Lo and Behold! and Sarah Laughed, were both reissued by SPCK in 2010.
Jeremy Duff is a vicar in Widnes with a teaching and writing ministry, which has included posts at Liverpool Cathedral and within Oxford University. His writings include Meeting Jesus: Human Responses to a Yearning God (SPCK, 2006) and The Elements of New Testament Greek (CUP, 2005).
Dick France is a retired Anglican minister who taught New Testament for 26 years. After serving as principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, he spent several years as Rector of seven small parishes on the Welsh border. He has written substantial commentaries on Matthew and Mark, and has written The People's Bible Commentary: Mark for BRF.
Margaret Guite is an Anglican priest. During the 1980s she taught doctrine in two colleges of the Cambridge Theological Federation. Since then she has been serving in various parishes in the Diocese of Ely and is currently parish priest of St Mark's, Cambridge, and an honorary canon of Ely.
Henry Wansbrough OSB is a monk at Ampleforth Abbey in Yorkshire. He is Executive Secretary of the International Commission for Producing an English-Language Lectionary (ICPEL) for the Roman Catholic Church, and lectures frequently across the globe.
Tom Wilson is currently Curate to the Toxteth Team, a group of three churches in inner-city Liverpool. He also teaches Biblical Studies for the Regional Training Partnership and coordinates the Liverpool Cathedral School of Theology. He enjoys teaching, training and helping people to develop their gifts and deepen their relationship with Jesus.