Humpty Dumpty

‘Rift’ and ‘rebels’ are ideas if not words that Paul chooses for his readers to consider as he argues for the truth of the Christian...

‘He hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly.’ This is Iago’s back-handed tribute paid to Cassio in Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’. We...

Browning was reticent about his faith but he had a penetrating moment when he said: ‘Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, /Or...

Nothing shows more clearly the nature of the Gospels as human documents than the stylistic habits of the writers. If we consider Luke’s...

It is a rare Roman emperor whose book is read today for its spiritual impact. But such a one was Marcus Aurelius. His ‘Meditations’ found...

We owe a lot to those who find themselves at odds with the inherited structures of the nation they belong to. Milton, that master of epic...

Whoever he was, Jesus’ brother or Mr Nobody, he knew his onions. In his letter he draws the reader’s attention to minuscule items that...

Flowers at the scene of a road accident, flowers at a church wedding, flowers at a graduation ceremony: we live by flowers. Shakespeare...

I spent a year or two – maybe more – conducting services with Francis Bacon at my shoulder. I say Francis Bacon but it was, of course, a...

John Wesley preached the Gospel. Of course, he did, I hear you say. After all, he was a Church of England clergyman. But not all rectors...

JUST LIKE HE ‘I know…’ In Philippians 4.12 we hear the voice of experience. We often read Paul for his breadth of understanding of man’s...

Barnabas spoke up bravely on behalf of Paul but it wasn’t enough. Some of the disciples in Jerusalem were dubious about Paul. Was he...

To pinpoint a spot on the earth’s surface two numbers are needed. One belongs to numbers running north to south. The other belongs to...

'Erasmus! What has he got to do with anything today?' I should have known better than mention his name. Humpty thinks anything that...

As well as being a candidate for having the longest beard in the kingdom, Holman Hunt found himself a celebrity for quite another reason....

The 271 words of the Gettysburg address were never intended to be the sublime expression of the day. That was reserved for the evening...

The pandemic has left us with a heightened awareness of the activities of the hospitality industry. The word ‘hospitality’ has gone up in...

I had a tin drum as a toddler It gave me real delight. It gave my parents …exasperation. It disappeared. In better hands a tin drum...