Posts that relate in some way to my books. Excludes administrative posts and most reviews of other people’s books.
At first glance, this is a good sign for a Christian. After all, Jesus replaces “an eye for an eye” with “Do not resist the one who is evil” (Matthew 5:38-39). But I think it illustrates the way we fail to understand certain phrases as they were intended. “An eye for an eye” or lex…
As I’ve noted before, I’m now reading Calvin J. Roetzel, 2 Corinthians, in the Abingdon New Testament Commantaries series. I want to emphasize here that I accept the use of historical-critical methodology in Bible study. That does not, however, force me to find all critical theories plausible. I’m arguing against this specific set of theories,…
From the Wesley Report: Mainline Protestant Christianity has become known for leaving people in slavery, because somewhere along the way, our strategy changed from leading people out of Egypt to planting churches along the Nile. And that’s why mainline denominations continue to lose members. People don’t need churches to help them stay in slavery– they…
I’ve just completed reading Frank J. Matera’s II Corinthians: A Commentary in the New Testament Library series. I’m going to post a few notes in review of that commentary, but this is just a brief note, a passing thought, and definitely not a completed theory. There are many cases in which critical theories about authorship…
Shane Raynor just posted on this again, reposting his response to Brian McLaren’s article from 2006. I went back and checked out the article I wrote back in 2006 on this and found out that it got mangled in one or another of the moves this blog has undergone. I agree with Shane on this….
I already responded to one post by Michael Patton on this topic (Am I a Complementarian?), but he followed this up with a question. I have been so busy with the release of my latest book (co-authored with Geoffrey Lentz) that I have fallen well behind the progress of this topic, but I still want…
Clayboy asks whether “the Bible alone” is an oxymoron. Now I sympathize with the question, because I have been dealing in another forum (the issue arises in the last 100 messages or so) with someone who seems to think that a text can have meaning with no context at all, or more precisely that the…
I think Mark at Pseudo-Polymath is absolutely correct in his excellent post Of Scripture and Tradition. When I first decided that inerrancy didn’t work, it was because I found errors as they would be defined by the people that first taught me to regard the Bible as inerrant. At the same time I remained convinced…
There’s one use of the phrase “just your interpretation” that implies that no interpretation is better than any other. This is often used by people who have no idea how a particular text should be interpreted, but nonetheless feel like rejecting your interpretation in particular. Either they think all interpretations are equal–a common idea these…
Eddie Arthur has a fascinating post on language development and mission, particularly relating this question to the language development work of Wycliffe Bible Translators. I was particularly struck by this paragraph: An alternative way to view mission is to start with the character and activity of God as revealed across the whole of the Scriptural…
