Joseph Hartropp

• Pro-ISIS group vows 'Christmas blood' inciting Vatican terror attack

  Online propaganda from a pro-ISIS channel has threatened a Christmas terrorist attack against the Vatican, with a poster inciting 'Christmas blood'.

• Leonardo da Vinci's controversial painting of Christ sold for record figure of $450m

  A painting of Christ by Leonardo da Vinci has sold for a record-breaking figure of $450 million (£341 million) in New York.

• 'Pearl of Scotland': The nation-shaping Christian leadership of Saint Margaret

  Today is the feast day of a Hungarian princess-turned Queen of Scotland – Saint Margaret – who became not only a national treasure to Scots but a spiritual inspiration to Christians across the world.

• Twitter's World Cup of Cathedrals: Titanic church clash sees dramatic finale

  Last month marked a momentous anniversary – 500 years since the beginning (ish) of the Protestant Reformation, the decisive split that forever changed the Church. But this week, another climactic Christian clash awaits, albeit a little more light-hearted but no less energetic: the final of Twitter's World Cup of Cathedrals.

• John Lewis' #MozTheMonster: Why is it so meaningless?

  The Christmas ads are back – with John Lewis unveiling their latest stab at vacuous sentimentalism today. It's 'the most wonderful time of the year' if you love generic, cynical corporate marketing – but for others it might be the nail in the coffin of 2017.

• God in monochrome: Is Christianity a black and white faith?

  A brand-new exhibition at London's National Gallery titled Monochrome: Painting in Black and White showcases 700 years of human art completed in the monochrome – using black and white, or a gradient of just one colour. The already-acclaimed exhibit includes deeply religious works and prompts a question for contemporary believers: is Christianity a black-and-white faith?

• Supernatural wonder in a secular age: What Christians can learn from 'Stranger Things'

  The spooky, nostalgic and thoroughly charming 'Stranger Things' returned to audiences last week, with season two of Netflix's surprise hit airing in time for the Hallowe'en season. Some Christians might be suspicious of horror and drama that delves too far into darkness, but they should be rest assured that this show is nothing to fear. 'Stranger Things' isn't just quality entertainment, but a provocative and spiritually wise fable for a secular age.

• The name-game dividing the Church: What makes a Christian 'evangelical'?

  'Evangelical' is a divisive label in the Church today. Others are desperate to claim it, others to reject it. But can there be any consensus on hat it really means?

• 'Terrible revolution': Police remove protesting Catholics from Brussels Reformation service

  A group of dissenting Catholics were removed by police from Brussels cathedral on Saturday after invading an ecumenical Protestant-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation. The group condemned the Reformation as heretical, a 'terrible revolution' and a 'tragedy for Christian society'.

• Evangelical Steve Chalke calls for 'new Reformation' with 95 theses 'for the 21st century'

  Influential UK evangelical Steve Chalke is calling for a 'new Reformation' 500 years after Martin Luther's 95 theses ushered in the first. He told Christian Today that his proposed reform is not about division, but about debate.

• In defence of Thought for the Day: why Britain needs the BBC's religious slot more than ever

  Shots have been fired at the religious slot 'Thought for the Day', featured on Radio 4's Today programme. The 'sermon' segment has been called 'inappropriate' and 'deeply boring'. But society needs its unique platform now more than ever.

• Rowan Williams: Repentance is appropriate after sins of the Protestant Reformation

  The former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has said that 'repentance' is an 'appropriate' way of looking back on the Protestant Reformation, the 500th anniversary of which is celebrated today.