Another small (this time an extremely small!) preview of part of the ongoing work in our Luther Exhibition. With just over one month to go until 'Opening Night,' one special door was 'hung' this week. ... Now where did that huge list of 95 Theses go? ... ... Time for some further debate ... .

Please free up some space at the mural: there’s yet another ecumenical figure standing impatiently in the queue who wishes to add his layer of wash to the “whited wall” that is now the public memorial to Martin McGuinness. Patrons of the same cheap paint shop from which so many other apologists have emerged in recent days, these clergymen and religious commentators have struggled through last week with huge compressors and fake pigments in order to airbrush history and create

Appearances can be deceptive. ... Extremely deceptive. It may appear from the photos on this page that Jim, Ian and Peter have been sitting too long on the job – but this is them taking a brief time out after a morning and afternoon of work at various parts of the Reformation Room. Between staining wood panels, constructing a door, wallpapering, sawing reels, there isn't much that this trio will not tackle. If you were looking for a selection of odd jobs to be done, they woul

During the era of the Protestant Reformation, certain Roman Catholic clerics employed the practice of “auricular confession” (confessing sins into the ear of a priest) to enhance their own financial welfare and that of the Church. It was commonly taught (and still is) that through the “confessional,” relief from guilt, and release from eternal punishment, may be obtained. At the same time, it was believed that the sinner still will be required to bear the penalty of temporal

On 26th/27th March 1555, nineteen-year-old William Hunter, a silk-weaver's apprentice, was burned at the stake in Brentwood, Essex, for heresy. His story is told in John Foxe's Book of Martyrs and you can read the chapter on Hunter online at http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe275.htm, but here is brief overview: William Hunter was an apprentice to silk-weaver Thomas Taylor in London when Mary I came to the throne. After refusing to attend mass and receive communion at Easter

Some more 28mm figures have made it through the palettes this week: 1. a hunting party (for use outside the Wartburg Castle – linking into a famous story about Luther and his attempts to preserve the life of a rabbit), 2. some of Frederick the Wise's soldiers (these protected Luther during his time in the Wartburg Castle), 3. and a few guys at the forge.

Another couple of components vital to our Reformation Room project have arrived. These drum reels will reappear in an unfamiliar form. But not for at least a few weeks yet. Until then, they will be given some good 'drying time' in the Martyrs' garage.

‘The Doctrine of Justification’ by James Buchanan At the end of last year I was asked to read and review this book for a Christian paper. There can be no doubting the importance of the subject – and its significance for 2017 –but just who was James Buchanan? Born in Paisley in the West of Scotland in 1804, Buchanan studied at the University of Glasgow before going on to hold parish ministries in Leith and Edinburgh. At the Disruption of 1843, he aligned himself with the Free

It's not every day that eight monks arrive at my house. ... But yesterday was an exception. I stayed at home all morning – and part of the afternoon – in order to receive them. And when they appeared, a full half hour earlier than scheduled (that's how to keep appointments!), I was delighted to welcome them. One, two, three, four ... eight: yes, all present. Since my wife wasn't at home I was extremely happy that none of these monks required food. Not because they wouldn't ea