Moloney, Francis J Jesus' teaching on divorce is a question of central importance to the Christian churches. The ministry of Pope Francis, and the agenda of the Synod of Bishops on the Family, has again drawn attention to the issue. Given the paucity of material on marriage and divorce in the entire Bible, it is not surprising that very little material in the New Testament is dedicated to Jesus' attitude to the issue. But what is found in Paul, Mark, Matthew (...) and Luke is confronting to contemporary sensitivities, and calls for clear analysis. An uncritical affirmation that Jesus prohibited divorce does not do justice to what is recalled in our inspired Scriptures. The fact that he did so must be given its due importance, but Jesus' prohibition of divorce and remarriage is not the only word on marriage and divorce in the pages of the New Testament. A neglect of the subtleties expressed across the pastoral and theological reinterpretations of Paul, Mark, and Matthew, accepted by the church as the inspired Word of God, call for close attention. (shrink)

In 1970, exactly fifty years ago, I took entrance examinations in Hebrew and Greek to begin studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome. I have shared in various ministries since then, sometimes in positions that distracted from my academic interests. Nevertheless, I have been a privileged 'insider' to the development of critical studies of the New Testament over the past fifty years. Given my history, the title of this essay shamelessly plagiarises Geoffrey Blainey's delightful recollections of his early years, 'Before (...) I Forget'. (shrink)

Addressing the National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies on 1 June 2018, Pope Francis advised: 'Your regular book for prayer and meditation should be the Acts of the Apostles. Go there to find your inspiration. And the protagonist of that book is the Holy Spirit'.1 It is widely accepted that the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles form a single work, highlighted by three distinct 'eras'.2 Each of them depends upon the creative presence of the Spirit.

The explicit citations of the sacred Scriptures of Israel in the Gospel of John are plotted to culminate in Jesus' final word from the Cross. The words of Jesus are regularly presented as the fulfillment of Scripture, and his words are even read as Scripture. The Gospel of John is a presentation of Jesus as the continuation and perfection of Israel's sacred Scriptures.

Moloney, Francis J In 1996 the American sociologist, Rodney Stark, published a provocative sociological study called The Rise of Christianity. He wrote this book because his reading of the work of the historians of early Christianity showed that their history was good, but their sociology was nonexistent. He minimalised many theories about the rise of Christianity. Theologians and church historians regularly point to the transforming effect of the purity of the doctrine, the teaching of the resurrection, the blood of the (...) martyrs, a sacramental life, and other such central Christian beliefs and phenomena as the reasons for its rapid spread in the Roman Empire. Stark questions this, insisting that the fundamental motivation for the phenomenon was that the Christians cared for one another, especially their women. (shrink)