King James Audio Bible | KJV | The King James Version

The world described in the earliest books of the Bible did not arise in isolation. Canaan (the southern Levant, broadly corresponding to present-day Israel, the Palestinian territories and adjoining parts of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan) had already been inhabited for millennia when Israel appears in the surviving historical record. Its towns and villages belonged to a region linked by trade, warfare, diplomacy and imperial government to Egypt (in northeastern Africa, centred on the Nile Valley), Anatolia (the peninsula comprising most of present-day Turkey), Syria (on the eastern Mediterranean coast and its inland hinterland, within and around modern Syria), Cyprus (the island in the eastern Mediterranean, south of present-day Turkey) and the Aegean (the sea and surrounding lands between present-day Greece and western Turkey). During the centuries around 1200 BC, much of that political world changed. Some kingdoms disappeared; others survived in reduced form; new settlements and communities became visible. The transition is conventionally called the Bronze Age Collapse [ … ]

Almost everything we know about David’s life and reign comes from the biblical narrative itself. No surviving inscription from David’s lifetime identifies him as king. No contemporary archive records his administration. No independent account describes his campaigns, his relationships or the circumstances of his death. The biblical texts provide an abundance of information, but the means of verifying much of it are limited. The question of David’s existence might be distinguished from the historical accuracy of his biography. A man named David may have ruled in the southern highlands of the Levant around the beginning of the tenth century BC without having accomplished everything attributed to him. The narratives may preserve authentic memories of his life alongside later interpretation, literary development and theological reflection. The historical question cannot be answered by accepting or rejecting the biblical account as a whole [ … ]

Man, then, was thus snared by the assault of the arch-fiend, and broke his Creator’s command, and was stripped of grace and put off his confidence with God, and covered himself with the asperities of a toilsome life (for this is the meaning of the fig-leaves); and was clothed about with death, that is, mortality and the grossness of flesh (for this is what the garment of skins signifies); and was banished from Paradise by God’s just judgment, and condemned to death, and made subject to corruption. (John Of Damascus, An Exact Exposition Of The Orthodox Faith, III.1)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has raised questions concerning the nature and value of the human person, and the future of humanity, to the forefront of public discussion. Possible consequences of the growth and development of AI include unemployment, the replacement of human labour by artificial systems, a concentration of wealth and economic power away from local communities and towards large technology corporations, civilizational collapse and, at the extreme, catastrophic extinction of humanity. Such possibilities have themselves produced an apocalyptic language around AI. In the light of the book The Revelation Of Saint John The Divine, or Apocalypse, we may interrogate modern technology and AI through the lens of Christian faith, and through an awakened sense of our humanity. In doing so, we follow here and draw upon the encyclical of Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas. We consider what the real capabilities and dangers of AI amount to, what Revelation actually says about power and deception, and how a Christian account of the end of history judges both technological fear and technological hope [ … ]

The Greek word apokalypsis means an unveiling or disclosure – apo = from, since; kalypsis = cover, veiled, being hidden. The English title Revelation and the traditional title Apocalypse express the same idea: something which cannot ordinarily be seen is being made known. Revelation does not principally attempt to conceal information within a collection of puzzles; it unveils the true character of the world by showing earthly history from the standpoint of the throne of God and the slain Lamb [ … ]

The story of Joseph begins within a family already marked by division. Genesis has traced generations shaped by rivalry, favouritism, deception and estrangement. The conflict between Cain and Abel established early the destructive force of jealousy between brothers. Later narratives repeat similar patterns in different forms: Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Leah and Rachel. By the time Joseph appears, the family of Jacob already carries deep instability within itself [ … ]