I was looking forward to the carol service and nativity play.  I knew it would be a real feel-good event, with proud parents (and grandparents) watching their children dressed up as shepherds, some slightly wobbly angels with tinsel wings and...

In the run up to Christmas (formerly known as Advent) each year there is a survey conducted to find the most popular Christmas Carol. For many years the same carol has occupied the number one, or occasionally the number two,...

In the next week there is going to be an unusual phenomenon in the night sky when the planet Mars goes behind the Moon. This was observed many centuries ago and was one piece of evidence that early astrologers used...

At the end of November 2018, I was standing with a colleague on the South Bank looking across at the Houses of Parliament. We were about to present a paper at sports conference in Lambeth Palace. The lights were on...

Islam did not only recognize religious diversity, but it also encouraged associating with this diversity. In this context, Islam’s theology of al-Taʿāruf (coming into contact with one another) takes a central position, as maybe understood from Q. 49:13, which highlights one...

I recently heard a Gospel passage read in church which is an old favourite.  It struck me that there some really important lessons about our relationship with God in this passage, so I would like to reflect on these in...

There is an apocryphal story told about a very old man who is lying on his deathbed. As he quietly slips away, he reflects … “I have had a lot of things to worry about in my life … most...

This weekend I was telling my 22 year old nephew that I remembered the way that his dad agonised and deliberated about choosing the best pushchair for him before he was born. It was so funny to me then to...

I am preparing to take the funeral of a person who died age 71. She had been disabled from birth, could not communicate, and had severe learning difficulties. She required 24-hour care and has been very much loved by her...

The beginning of the academic year coincides with one of the most intense times of celebration in the Jewish calendar.  I often worry that Jewish students around the country, especially Freshers, must find it challenging to combine all the intensity...