Theologian Janet Soskice has written a fascinating book about the discovery of one of the most ancient Gospel manuscripts. It reminds us that to understand the search for meaning in the present we have to value the past properly, says Simon Barrow.

The Green Bible, reviewed here by researcher Simon Beard, illustrates that the message of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures is concerned not just with human beings but with the whole earth.

The biblical story of creation, echoed in the prologue to John's Gospel, famously contains the divine injunction, "Let there be light." But the Church of England says that in an age of eco-cre, a little less light might be needed.

The Gospel has been much talked about but practically sidelined under Christendom, says Jonathan Bartley. Rediscovering the radicalism of Jesus' message is vital to the recovery of a proper public role for Christian faith.

In Christian and biblical terms, good citizenship is not about flag-waving, says Simon Barrow. It is about the good practices and ways of organising our public lives which enable people to belong to one another across nation state boundaries.

From its earliest times, Christianity has been associated with Greek thought, says Giles Fraser. But the legacy of Plato is one that needs a good deal of questioning.

Celebrations are planned in China to mark the production of more than 50 million Bibles in the People's Republic by Amity Printing Company, a joint venture between the United Bible Societies and Amity Foundation, a Chinese Christian agency.

William break was an imaginative and liberating exegete of the text of Scripture, says Chris Rowland. He did not make a god out of Bible and he defied those who misused it for oppression, heralding instead a Sprit-driven people's theology.

Anglicans in Canada and the United States are pushing ahead with local procedures for blessing lesbian and gay people in the church. The US Episcopal Diocese of California has authorised the use of three trial rites for same-sex unions.