Perspectives on Paul: Paul’s Gospel or Another Gospel IV
Continuing … !
Continuing … !
Rev. Geoffrey Lentz is a local United Methodist pastor. Some years ago before he went to seminary and learned better he was a student of mine. He sent a letter to Lifeway Christian Stores regarding their placement of a magazine about women pastors behind the counter. He sent me a copy and graciously gave permission…
…or not. David Ker’s random chapter for the day was Ezra 1, and he has a great quote: Let me go out on a limb here and say that Christians spend too much time looking for the anti-Christ when they should be looking for the Messiah. We do well to remember that God is the…
From Bruce Alderman: To be honest, I think the ugliest thing about Christianity is the pervasiveness of preachers and apologists who try to scare people into the faith, and who seek to reduce their flocks’ exposure to other viewpoints. … The entire post is worth reading. There’s a great deal of good material in the…
The JPS Tanakh of Isaiah 49:7 reads, in part: Thus said the LORD, The Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, b-To the despised one, To the abhorred nations,-b . . . Note b reads: Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “Whose being is despised / Whose body is detested”; cf. 51.23. I noticed this first…
We didn’t plan it this way, but my friend and Energion author Dave Black now has a book with a subtitle that begins with “Confessions of …” So what do I mean “not planned” and why is this significant? Well, I wrote a book several years ago, and the subtitle began with “Confessions of …”…
I was thinking of titling this “In Which I Annoy My Evangelical United Methodist Friends,” since so many of them are talking about the Wesleyan Quadrilateral and trying to privilege scripture within it in some way. I am not entirely in sympathy with many of these approaches. You see, the moment I decided to take…
I am not an expert in Biblical criticism, but could it be that the writing in Ephesians is different from that of Galatians because Paul, not having to be in an apologetics mode, could allow his thoughts to flow through his pen onto the page without the feelings of defensiveness, without fear of counter attack? However, if Paul did not write Ephesians, it must certainly have been someone who had accepted his gospel, and been endowed with double portion of the Spirit that inspired him. In that connection I have often wondered, as I read Melancthon, what we might have learned from Martin Luther, as well as Paul, had not they been forced to always be on the front lines of battle. I think of Luther as a mighty rushing cataract, a warrior, sweeping away centuries of the false; while Melancthon, like a good shepherd, with stones forming gentle, still pools of water so that the lambs and sheep can drink safely. To me this represents the difference we see in the writings of Galatians and Ephesians.