Recent and forthcoming publications

It’s been a bit of a busy time for publications for me, small and larger, so here’s a little update. The BRF Book of 365 Bible Reflections (Abingdon: BRF, 2021)The Bible Reading Fellowship have just published a lovely book of 365 daily Bible readings with notes for their centenary, with lots of different people writing the notes, including many famous people. I had the fun of writing one of the notes, on Luke 18:10-14 on How (not) to pray (it’s on page 105 if you’re Continue reading →

Romans 1:18–2:29: a two-part sermon

I was given the privilege of opening up this key passage in Romans for All Saints, Ealing this Sunday. This is the online version of the sermon—I actually delivered a shorter version in person for the first time in about nine months, which was quite exciting! The first part is slightly over 10 minutes, and focuses on 1:18–27, and the second part is a little over 14 minutes, and focuses on 1:28–2:29.

Introducing Romans: a two-part talk

We’re starting a sermon series on Romans at All Saints, Ealing, and I’ve done the introduction for our online service today. Here are the two videos (each a little over 13 minutes). The first gives an overview of why Paul is writing, drawing particularly on 1:8-15 and 15:14-29. The second looks at the shape of the whole letter, and then focuses on 1:1-15 (which I take as a ‘theme text’ for the letter) and 1:16-17 (which spells out key implications of the gospel message introduced Continue reading →

An update to our Gospels and Acts textbook

The introductory textbooks Exploring the New Testament are a one-stop guide to engaging with the Gospels and Acts (volume 1) and the Letters and Revelation (volume 2). Published by SPCK in the UK and IVP in the USA, volume 1 has just appeared in a third, substantially revised, edition. The third edition of volume 2, revised by Stephen Travis and Ian Paul, will appear in May. Here’s an interview which Ian Paul (IP) did with David Wenham and me (SW & DW) about the new edition of volume 1. Ian Continue reading →

Read Mark in Lent 2021

I am preaching on Mark 1:9–15 this Sunday for All Saints’, Ealing, and got to thinking about how the focus of this passage is on Jesus and what happens to him—as opposed to the easy danger of assuming that the Gospels are all about us, our experience is just like that of Jesus, and the story is really about us hearing God say, ‘You are my son/daughter’ to us. Like all the stories in Mark, an ancient biography, the focus is on Jesus, and that Continue reading →