Advent
Robin Griffith-Jones, Master of the Temple Church, re-examines the Nativity stories told to us in Matthew and Luke’s Gospels and asks what they say about the meaning of Christmas.
The Reverend Robin Griffith-Jones, Valiant Master of the Temple in London, explores the nativity narratives recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
The familiar tales of virgin birth, shepherds and Magi are intriguing and laden with symbolism and meaning. "There is far more to them, as they were written then and as they have been read over the centuries, than meets the eye," he says.
Robin explores Matthew's desire to show that all the events in his telling are there to fulfil prophecies in the Hebrew scriptures. "In Jesus, Judaism’s most venerable prophecies and vastest hopes were coming to fruition. The prophet Isaiah had written of gentiles and kings coming to Jerusalem’s God-given light, bringing gold and incense and singing the praise of the Lord.”
Luke meanwhile with his shepherds and the link to John the Baptist’s birth, has another agenda. “Luke sees two stages in God’s dispensation for the world - the old order, centred in Jerusalem and its Temple, and the new order, realised in Jesus. In Luke’s grand narrative, the new grows out of the old, confirms it and transcends it.”
To illustrate his thesis, Robin introduces music from Handel and Bach and the poetry of TS Eliot and John Donne.
Presenter: Robin Griffith-Jones
Producer: Michael Wakelin
A TBI production for ±«Óătv Radio 4
Last on
Music Played
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Benjamin Britten
A Ceremony Of Carols, Op. 28 - Procession
Performer: The Temple Church Boys’ Choir.- Treblesome.
- Orchid Classics.
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Benjamin Britten
A Ceremony Of Carols, Op. 28 - There Is No Rose
Performer: The Temple Church Boys’ Choir.- Treblesome.
- Orchid Classics.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Lob sei dem allmachtigen Gott
Performer: Temple Church Choir.- The Temple Church Tradition.
- Priory Records.
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Ivor Atkins
The Three Kings
Performer: Choir of King’s College Cambridge & Sir David Willcocks.- Essential Carols - The Very Best of King’s College, Cambridge.
- Decca Music Group Limited.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottes-Sohn
Performer: Temple Church Choir.- The Temple Church Tradition.
- Priory Records.
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George Frideric Handel
Messiah:Part 1, No 10. For, Behold, Darkness Shall Cover The Earth
Performer: Alastair Miles.- Handel: Messiah.
- London Symphony Orchestra Limited.
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George Frideric Handel
Messiah:Part 1, No 17. Glory to God
Performer: Tenebrae Choir.- Handel: Messiah.
- London Symphony Orchestra Limited.
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Boris Ord
Adam Lay Ybounden
Performer: St Paul's Cathedral Choir.- Carols With St Paul’s Cathedral Choir.
- Decca Music Group Limited.
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Patrick Hadlet
I sing of a Maiden
Performer: Westminster Cathedral Choir & James O’Donnell.- Adeste Fideles.
- Hyperion.
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Thomas Tallis
O Nata Lux e Lumine
Performer: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge.- England my England.
- EMI Records Limited.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
A Ceremony Of Carols, Op. 28 - Recession
Performer: Temple Church Choir.- The Temple Church Tradition.
- Priory Records.
Readings
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Title: Matthew 1:23, The Bible, (RSV)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
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Title: Lancelot Andrewes Christmas Sermon 1622
Author: Lancelot Andrewes Works, Sermons, Volume One
Publisher: Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology
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Title: Numbers 24.7 The Bible, (RSV)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
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Title: The Journey of the Magi, Ariel Poems
Author: T. S. Eliot
Publisher: Faber & Faber
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Title: On the Day of Christ’s Nativity
Author: John Milton
Publisher: Poetry Foundation
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Title: Immensity, cloister’d in thy dear womb, The Poems of John Donne
Author: John Donne
Publisher: Lawrence & Bullen
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Title: On Christmas-Day
Author: Thomas Traherne
Publisher: Oxford Scholarly Editions
Today’s programme was presented by Robin Griffith-Jones.
The producer was Michael Wakelin.
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Broadcasts
- Sun 23 Dec 2018 06:05±«Óătv Radio 4
- Sun 23 Dec 2018 23:30±«Óătv Radio 4