One of the major thrusts of my two volume work entitled The Indelible Image was showing the inherent, and necessary, connection between theology and ethics, between belief and behavior, between being and doing, in the Bible and in particular in the NT. I went on to stress the importance of the concept of the image of God as a connecting point between being and doing, belief and behavior, theology and ethics. By this I meant that we are all created... Read more

“Robinson’s a Methodist,” “I’m a Methodist,” “God’s a Methodist, what could go wrong?” This is the famous retort of Branch Rickey (played rather well by Harrison Ford) to a query by one of Rickey’s underlings who suggested there would be big trouble if Rickey insisted on breaking the color barrier in 1947 in the Big Leagues. The movie ’42’ has been out for some while now, and is in its second run in the discount theaters, and no doubt will... Read more

Hands down, the best new series on American TV this past season was Elementary. Indeed, it was so good, the Brits picked it up immediately. Johnnie Lee Miller has become an instant star, and Lucy Lieu and Aidan Quinn already ones. Now that the some 24 episode season has come to a dramatic end, and the DVD will be out in a month, it’s time to take stock of what just happened and what makes such a show work. First... Read more

There is not a lot to do for eight hours on that sardine can known as an airplane, unless you choose to: 1) eat several bad meals; 2) bring your own entertainment; 3) bring a small child, in which case entertainment is the least of your worries, or 4) watch some of the small screen films on the small screen in the back of the head rest in front of you. I chose 4), and was actually pleasantly surprised, more... Read more

First of all let’s clear up the title….. the line from the song which is actually the source of this title is ‘standing in another man’s rain’, which is easy to do in Scotland, believe me. Just when you thought John Rebus was done and dusted, put out to pasture, or any other cliche you may have for retirement, Rebus is called out of retirement to deal with some cold cases. These are cold cases about what is called MisPers—... Read more

King’s Cross Station now has a space age roof on top of it, as you can see from the above picture, and for history buffs like myself it is good news that the British Museum is only one tube stop away from here, at Russell Square, and the new British Library, which houses most manuscripts, is only blocks from King’s Cross station— an easy walk. Here is the main entrance to the British Museum… I came to see the Pompeii... Read more

Before it was time to trundle off to the U.S. again, I took a final trip into London to see the new exhibits at the British Museum (an exhibit on Biblical Coins, and one on Pompeii), but on the way, I felt a need to stop off at Baker Street, 221b Baker Street to be precise. Turns out, Sherlock has some new neighbors on Baker St.— the Beatles, as you will now see. But the real buzz on Baker Street... Read more

Cue the Doors classic— ‘The End’. John Rebus has reached retirement. 30 years on the force. He’s long in the tooth, and slow on the draw….. albeit he never carried a weapon. He drinks too much, has become too cynical, and doesn’t go to church anymore. He’s overweight, underpaid, and out of time. But there is still life left in the old dog, even if you can’t even get him to learn old tricks, never mind new ones. It is... Read more

Ely Cathedral has a very nice stained glass museum which you access by climbing the stairway to the clerestory on the left side of the cathedral. It is an interesting collection of ancient and modern stained glass, much of it taken from now defunct churches and preserved here. For reasons I do not understand, this was the one part of the cathedral they would not allow pictures in, though they only told me this after I took the first picture…... Read more

Writing is sometimes like playing a sport. Even though you may always have the same skill level, you are not necessarily always on your game. You have days when you perform in inspired fashion, ideas come easily to you, but there are other days when this is definitely not the case. Whilst Fleshmarket Close was not Ian Rankin’s finest, The Naming of the Dead, the 15th full novel in the series, must be near or at the top of the... Read more