By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
What do the phrases ‘salt of the earth’, ‘light of the world’, ‘God and mammon’, ‘blessed are the meek’, ‘turn the other cheek’, and ‘pearls before swine’ all have in common? Along with another now ubiquitous expressions, they all originate in the same place: the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ teachings to his followers which is recounted in the Gospel of Matthew.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Although many people can list some if not all of the rules commonly known as the ‘Ten Commandments’, it may come as a surprise to many non-Christians – and perhaps even to a fair few Christians – that nowhere in the Bible does a definitive list of ‘the Ten Commandments’ actually appear. Actually, that’s not true: there is a list named the ‘ten commandments’ found in the Old Testament, but it’s completely different from the list of rules we known by that name.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Who deserves a place in heaven? And what is heaven like? Contemplating the former question and imagining an answer to the latter has occupied many a poet’s mind down the ages. Here are ten of the very best poems about heaven…