anglican focus

The news site of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland: nourishing and connecting our faith community

Theology

Books & Guides Greg Jenks Books & Guides

Matthew’s Parable of the Royal Wedding Feast: A sociorhetorical Interpretation

“It is the intertextual dynamic with the findings of the Royal Commission that sets this huge piece of critical biblical scholarship apart. This is not just an arcane treatise for members of the guild of biblical scholars…This is a serious piece of critical biblical interpretation that also deals with the prophetic message of the text for our Church in wider Australian society today,” says The Rev’d Dr Greg Jenks

Formation student Tim Newton swinging a thurible in the St Stephen’s House chapel at Oxford University in June 2023
Reflections

Why did the chicken run across the Oxfordshire road?

“Excellent thurifers spin the thurible in such a way that a thick cloud emerges during the Eucharistic Prayer. I try and get a good smoke happening. Although there is a fine line between smothering the incense hot coals and not putting enough incense in the thurible,” says formation student Tim Newton, who is currently studying theology at Oxford University

People & History

A coin is worth a thousand words

In the ancient coins, lamps, manuscripts, marble statues, and mosaics that remain, the imagery and imagination of a distant time and place can be found again, allowing us to find new ways to tell the stories of the past for the present,” says Dr Sheilagh Ilona O’Brien, with The Rev’d Dr Gregory Jenks

Resources & Research

Can Scripture be a performance?

“Biblical Performance Criticism focuses not just on what is being said but how it is being said. It reminds us of the centrality of the audience. In our modern text-based culture with readily available multiple-translation access to the Bible, we sometimes forget that Scripture has closer affinity with ancient epic poems than modern history and literature,” says The Rev’d Dr Jeanette Mathews