You Tube Theology

Mark 13 is paradoxically a passage many find difficult and challenging—but one of our favourites to talk about! Popular reading takes it to be about the end of the world and Jesus' return—but there are clear indications in the text that this is not the case.

When it is read in the context of the whole passage, and the shape of Mark's gospel—and, critically, in the light of the OT—it becomes clear that this is an example of Jesus' pastoral genius. He is reassuring his disciples that, despite the catastrophic events around them, his disciples are not to lose heart, since the end is not yet. It is a message for then and for now.

Come and join Ian and James as they explore these questions! Revd James Blandford-Baker is vicar of Histon and Impington, two villages just north of Cambridge. Revd Dr Ian Paul is Associate Minister of St Nic's, Nottingham, and writes the widely-read blog www.psephizo.com.

Full written commentary behind the discussion can be found on the blog.

Information about the trip to Turkey and Greece next year can be found here: https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/travel-in-the-footsteps-of-st-paul-and-john-the-divine/

You can buy Ian's Grove booklet on the end of the world language here: https://grovebooks.co.uk/product/b-82-kingdom-hope-and-the-end-of-the-world-the-now-and-not-yet-of-eschatology-2016/