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Essays

The Politics of Divine Presence—John 1:1-14 (Fritz Wendt)

God who became one of us so inconspicuously is still walking among us, very quietly, making our lives special.

The Politics of Hope and Justice—Isaiah 7:10-16; Matthew 1:18-25 (Jan Rippentrop)

Transformation begins by inspiring—by breathing in—hope. Only then can we exhale justice. In ‘Immanuel’, God’s sign of hope for a desperate world, we find the means by which we can pursue justice.

The Politics of Identifying Jesus and John the Baptist—Matthew 11:2-11 (Richard Davis)

The interconnected identities of Jesus and John the Baptist are a matter of speculation in the Gospel of Matthew. The truth is revealed through the fulfilment Old Testament prophecy and against the foil of the brutal rule of Herod.

The Politics of Descriptions—Matthew 3:1-12 (Amy Allen)

The words that we use to describe ourselves and others are significant. John the Baptist’s description of the Pharisees and the Sadducees as a ‘Brood of Vipers’ lies at the heart of a powerful prophetic critique.