Ray Barraclough

Scripture

A menu of items shaping not only the contents of scripture, but the varied interpretations of them

To give a statistical reading of that context of persons actually named in the Bible, around 90% are men and 10% women. “The Hebrew Bible  mentions a total  of 1,426 names of which 1,315 are those of men. Thus only 111 women’s names appear, about 9% of the total. [1] Another study meticulously counted the number of words of actual speech in the bible. The result: Women-speak accounts for around 1.1% of the total spoken words in the Christian Bible. Other statistics:

* In John’s Gospel out of 27 people named, only 4 women are named.
* In Luke’s Gospel,no women are named in the genealogy of Jesus. Not even his mother!

By Ray Barraclough / 4 August 2024
Reflections

Grief as a Response to History

Many of us have been taught that grief and sadness are something to repress, deny or avoid…the experience of grief is different than the fixing, explaining, or controlling mode. It is the experience of feeling the tragedy of things, the sadness of things.

By Ray Barraclough / 13 July 2024
Reflections

There are no exits from history: the trauma of Gaza and dispossession

“While working in the Holy Land, I distinctly remember reading a six-word sentence written by a historian. The words are these: There are no exits from history. I believe these words are pertinent to us here in Australia, where our history is haunted by the historical killings carried out against its Indigenous people. A history of which so many Australians are ignorant, or we continue to avert our gaze from its reality.”

By Ray Barraclough / 1 March 2024