I first met Brian in 1957, almost 50 years ago, and we have been friends ever since.

The secular mind doesn’t understand the personality of God, argues PAUL BARNETT. His new book, John: The Shepherd King, sheds fresh light on the fourth gospel

There has been much opposition to the sedition clause in the Howard Government’s new counter-terror legislation. But sedition was also in the air in Jesus’ day. Indeed, he was charged with being guilty of that crime, that is, of “agitation against the authority of a state”.

For some time now it has been claimed - rightly I think - that a "new quest" for the historical Jesus is under way. Overwhelmingly, the historical Jesus now sought is Jesus the Jew, Jesus who can be demonstrated to fit into the increasingly well-known environment of first century Judaism.

I was not raised as a Christian; so I am a convert. An adult convert. This was many years ago. At that time I had one nagging question: was it all true? That is, historically? The truth question was not my new friends were asking. They just said it was. Anyway I finished up leaving my job in the building industry and studying for the ministry and then becoming a seminary teacher and a preacher. But I still asked myself, ‘Is it true?’ It was not a question that kept me awake at night. But it was still there.

I can’t account for my interest in writing. In fact, I did not publish my first book until I was over 50 (Is the New Testament History?). This event revealed a latent passion that has indeed become a passion. Not always a healthy passion.

Our Prayer Book calls it The Lord’s Supper because that is Paul’s way of referring to it (1 Corinthians 11:20). Our only window into the activity and meaning of the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament is First Corinthians chapters 10 and 11.

This is a brief reflection about three words found in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. The first two words appear in Paul’s ‘thanksgiving’ near the beginning. He thanks God for (1) their ‘speech’, and (2) their ‘knowledge.’ Of course the two are connected. First they ‘know’ and then they ‘speak.’