Quote: Prayers Make a Difference, But
“I think my prayers make a difference, but they’re not omnipotent.” Listen to the whole interview by Doug Pagitt with Dr. Bruce Epperly, author of the recently released book Finding God in Suffering.
According to John: Making Himself Equal with God
The reading is chapter 2 of Herold Weiss’s book Meditations on According to John, Making Himself Equal with God and the scriptures in it. My recommendation is to read the entire gospel of John through each week during this study. The topics are so carefully tied together through the entire book. Here’s the trailer: …
Follow-Up on According to John: Theological Development and Determining Date and Authorship
In my Google Hangout discussion I mentioned using the development of theological concepts in dating a particular writing. I don’t think I really covered the issue involved all that well, so I’m going to follow up briefly here. My purpose is not to argue any particular position, but to illustrate the issues. If I might start…
Quote: Philosophers Talk in Obscure Ways
I thought of this quote as I was preparing for my study on John tonight: Philosophers sometimes appear to talk in obscure ways. They do so because they take into consideration what people often overlook. If a poet (Longfellow) can say, ‘things are not what they seem’, the philosopher will give reasons why. The fact…
Link: Did Jesus Perform Miracles?
I’d like to call attention to a discussion on the blog Across the Atlantic regarding whether Jesus actually performed miracles. This blog features point/counterpoint between Antonio Piñero and Thomas Hudgins. We have thus far Part 1a, Part 1b, and Part 2a. I’ll leave it to you to follow if you wish.
Some of My Own Books on Sale (Gospel of John Study)
The advantages of being a publisher is that I can put books on sale to go with posts. Normally I only do that for things on my company page (Energion Publications), but since I’m starting a study of the Gospel of John on my Google+ Page/YouTube Channel, I’m doing it with a few of my…
When Should You Talk about Textual Criticism?
I’ve posted a question that originates with Thomas Hudgins over on the Energion Discussion blog. Here are my comments to go with that post. The question has quite a number of implications. For example, if your listeners do not normally look at the textual notes in their Bible translation, they might not be aware of…
Trailer and Theme for My Study of John
Above is the theme banner for my study of the gospel of John. The video below is a trailer for it. I am working on getting used to video. I’m more comfortable with text, I think.
Sunday School Today: Authority and Truth
I think I titled the next chapter in my book When People Speak for God rather pretentiously: Authority and Truth. That’s what we’ll be discussing today in my Sunday School class. As I was reading the chapter, I came across the following, which ties into several things I’m thinking about these days: There is, however,…
Studying Through John
With the new year I’m starting a new online study, working through the Gospel of John using Herold Weiss’s book Meditations on According to John. A previous effort by my wife and I to conduct a group discussion failed both due to our schedules and due to low participation. In this case, I will be…