The World According to Theologygrams.

Rich Wyld returns with more pie-charts, diagrams and cartoons that present the story of Jesus and its meaning for our lives today. Here are a few choice cuts from the long-awaited sequel to Theologygrams …

[click on the images to enlarge]

Jesus' Apostles: Matthew's Starting Line-Up: For some reason, thinking about this makes me feel guilty for not knowing more about Thaddeus.

These Things Endure - 1 Corinthians 13.13: This might be one place from which Thomas (Aquinas) got the idea for three theological virtues. St Paul describes these things as enduring to the very end and beyond.

Jesus Calms The Storm: Having power over the elements is a particularly significant divine attribute. In the Bible that is. It calls to mind God creating harmony in the Genesis story of creation. Jonah on the other hand really just gets chucked overboard and ends up inside a fish. That calmed the storm, but it was  pretty tough call for Jonah.

The Golden Mean of Virtue: Virtue ethics is a way of doing ethics that focuses on what kind of characteristics (virtues) make for a good person. This goes back to giants of Greek philosophy like Aristotle, and was picked up by Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274), a boss of the Medieval theological tradition known as scholasticism. Classically, virtues look for the 'golden mean' between two vices, one where the virtue is lacking, and one where it's gone  a bit over the top.

The Church's Year: For a long time now the Church has, in various ways, remembered the life of Jesus by structuring its worship through the year to tell Christ's story. In some traditions different colours mark out the different seasons. In the commercial world, the year is structured through sugary treats and they tend to appear a little ahead of the Church calendar.

The World According to Theologygrams: Making sense of Christianity through badly-drawn diagrams by Rich Wyld is out on Thursday, June 29 - available in paperback, priced £9.99.