William Blake liberates the Bible for the people

This week marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Blake, who wrote in his Preface to Milton: “And did those feet in ancient time.” These words open stanzas which are among the best-known of English poetry. They have become a very necessary...

Struggle, surprise and sainthood

Time rushes by so fast at this time of year, what with Christmas looming on the horizon, that it would be easy to overlook two strange yet significant days earlier this month (November 2007). For Christians in the Catholic tradition, especially (but not only, I shall...

Pastor shows bottle in spreading his message litter-ally

A church minister in Norfolk is facing a possible fine for dropping litter after he put Scriptural messages into bottles and threw them into the sea in an unusual attempt to spread the gospel to the far corners of the earth – or at least, other bits of Europe....

Making Manga out of the Bible

As a New Testament scholar with diverse cultural interests, I try to follow the marketing of the Bible – and here’s an interesting example. Published by Tyndale in the UK in 2006, and in the US in September 2007, Manga Messiah heralds the Manga Bible,...