Articles

I have always liked teaching and writing. These are a selection of things I and others have written. They are arranged chronologically rather than thematically, not least because not everything below represents my current thinking on a subject. From 1983 to 2007 I was very involved with the International Churches of Christ. From wholeheartedly espousing their thinking, with time I have acquired more objectivity and I hope, am more centred on what Jesus has done and less on advocating a system and what we must do. Rather than editing out all my views which have changed, I have let them stand as a historic record. "By the grace of God I am what I am" 1 Cor 15:10

James Greig - October 2023

John Wycliffe at 700 - Reflections from Oxford

Where better to reflect on the life and impact of John Wycliffe, born 700 years ago next year, than from Oxford, his home for many key

moments in his life?

James Greig - July 2022

"His name is John"

Five Oxford Johns and their place in Oxford’s Christian Heritage: John Wycliffe (1331-1384), John Owen (1616-1683), John Wesley (1703-1791), John Henry Newman (1801-1890), Tolkien (1892-1973).

James Greig - May 2022

John Owen - a short life and legacy

John Owen lived from 1616 to 1683, through the Stuart era and the English Civil War. If the 16th century had been the century of the Reformation, the 17th century was to show how it would work out in England...

Emily Greig - September 2021

Religious Rivalry in a Victorian Oxford Suburb and its Legacy

Although Christianity was easily the dominant faith of Victorian Britain, it was also ‘much more disunited and quarrelsome than it is now’, according to Geoffrey Best in 1988. This dissertation examines the religious life of a suburban Oxford parish in the second half of the 1800s.

James Greig - March 2019

Lawyers, Liars and Rhinos - Christian life in the law

A talk given recently to Christian Business Leaders in Abingdon, Oxfordshire

James Greig - October 2006

Baptism: cross the bridge or fade away

Is baptism necessary for salvation? This question has defined the Churches of Christ since their birth. I wrote this article as an apologetic for my decision to start worshipping with a mainstream evangelical church in 2007.

James Greig - October 2005

What is "the Kingdom of God" biblically?

A study on the concept of the Kingdom of God for members of the churches of Christ who were taught for many years that their family of churches was God’s Kingdom on earth.

James Greig - February 2003

What is biblical?

In challenging the International Churches of Christ’s unquestioned use of the adjective ‘biblical’ to refer to its practices, this article highlights issues of interpretation for all Bible-based churches which they ignore at their peril.

James Greig - March 2002

“A greater power”: The workings of providence in the book of Esther

The only book of the Bible not to mention God, and of which no trace was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. I argue that God’s presence in providence permeates the book of Esther.

James Greig - December 2000

Jesus Papyrus Review

Magdalen College Oxford holds the oldest fragment of Matthew’s gospel in the world, from 170 AD. This article draws particularly from a book about the manuscript by a former member of Magdalen, the journalist Matthew d’Ancona

James Greig - April 2000, updated for Compass magazine August 2011

The long-lost town of Bethsaida

My thoughts on the ruins of this long-lost Galilean site in Jesus’ ministry which was the home town of a number of his disciples.