Delivered by Rev Dr John Evans
Sunday 21 August, 2011
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)
This is a significant text in the history of biblical interpretation; indeed in the history of the church itself; perhaps even in the history of the world. It is the foundational text or reference for the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, and for the pope, when read together with the next verse:
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven , and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Indeed the emblem, shield, logo if you like, for the Vatican, involves a crossed set of keys.
Now as a good Protestant, I respectfully say “but, it isn’t as simple as that.” And you of course would expect that. Indeed it is interesting reading the commentary on this text by Brendan Byrne, the Jesuit scholar who teaches at the United Faculty of Theology up the hill. He puts on a brave ecumenical face saying, of course, you …

Review of A.J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (William Heinemann, 2008)
delivered 24 July 2011



