Tonight in my study on John via Google Hangouts on Air I’m going to talk about the law and Jesus, Jews and Christians, and Judaism and Christianity. I’m embedding the player below. In the meantime, read 3 ways to Confront the New Antisemitism by Rabbi Evan Moffic.
For tonight:
As I continue my posts on the Daily Bible Study readings for this week’s Sunday School lesson, I come to what may be, for many, a somewhat more troubling passage. It’s not that the passage mandates no work on the seventh day of the week, though that bothers some, but more that the penalty for…
Over on Locusts and Honey, John has a post On the Dangers of Being a Professional Wiseman, that I think should be read by everyone involved in pastoring, spiritual formation, professional counselling, or even just prayer ministry. The temptation to believe that because one has certain professional training, experience, ordination, licensure, or any one of…
He has been appointed to the newly revived Clarence Goodwin chair of New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University. My only question is how a university allows a chair like that to remain unfilled for 60 years. Thanks is very much due to the person who discovered the omission.
I reported some time ago that the United Methodist General Conference had passed some resolutions in support of evolution and opposing teaching faith based ideas in the public school science classroom. There’s a story in the Fort Wayne, Indiana Journal-Gazette about how this happened and the role of a local church member. I have observed…
I get disturbed when I see people around me disturbed by the latest Bible mystery, or obscure interpretation of prophecy. These things sell books, and bring in offerings, but I don’t think they produce better followers of Jesus. I don’t have a problem with discussing difficult or controversial passages, but the church has been living…
The word “tithing” has undergone quite a substantial change in meaning over the course of my life. Growing up as a Seventh-day Adventist, it meant giving precisely 10% of one’s income to the church. This money had a special use in the SDA church, supporting pastors. For my parents, the tithe was just the starting…
A very nuanced discussion tonight. It’s very easy to be a supersessionist, but you took much of that ease away.
I know it’s outside the fourth gospel, but my mind went to Romans 10:18 to 11:24, in which there’s to my mind a fairly incontrovertible statement of supersession.
Of course, the problem always arises when a new religion branches from an existing one; it exists between Christianity and Islam, between Islam and Baha’i, between Christianity and LDS even. The new religion thinks they have a better mousetrap and, if they want to preach it, are inevitably supersessionist, the old thinks they’re dangerous heretics.
Have you any suggestion as to how I can read Romans without supersessionism? I would prefer not to discount Pauline theologising as “just plain wrong”, but at the moment that is my only route.