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What Is Biblical Literacy?
We complain about it, write about it, claim it’s important or even critical, design programs to create it, but what is it? I don’t mean that none of us know what we mean when we say “biblically literate” or “biblically illiterate,” but do we all mean the same thing? I don’t think we do, and…
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Fences: Mending or Rending
The following is a sermon I presented at the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Pensacola on September 11,2005 and originally posted here on September 13, 2005. I’m reposting it because when I went to look for it, I found that the original post had somehow been truncated, and also because there is a one word at a…
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Experiencing the (Baptism of the) Holy Spirit
This is a topic where I tend to make just about everyone uncomfortable. Long time readers may recall a previous discussion of speaking in tongues, and my own experience of it. Those who expect me to be intellectually oriented and rational are uncomfortable with mystical experiences, and many who are comfortable with the mystical experiences…
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Cars for the Public Interest
Ignoring the day’s flavor of scandal, I want to comment on something I heard yesterday about the auto industry bail-out. Of course, just in case you were thinking the government would be free of corruption, you’ve just had a reminder. Chris Matthews last night commented that we needed to get the auto industry to “produce…
Mark – The Mission of John the Baptist
The following audio comes from a radio program I recorded in 2003. The scripture is Mark 1:1-8, especially Mark 1:4. {audio}mark_1.mp3{/audio}
Mark Introduction
The attached audio is from an introduction to Mark I presented for a radio program in 2003. {audio}mark_intro.mp3{/audio}
The Worst Argument for Bailing Out the Auto Industry
I was thinking of this as I watched a few interviews today. I’m still less than at full speed after being sick in bed early in the week, and I’m spending more time on the couch working on my laptop and less at the desk in my office. My first inclination was to cite the…
Stories in a Chronological Context
Several things over the last couple of weeks have called my attention to time. My pastor preached about it last week, speaking of times of God’s extended silence. I lost some of it while being sick this week which always makes me a bit tense. Then I received a copy of 24/7: A One Year…
Book: By Schism Rent Asunder
This is the second book in this series by David Weber. I reviewed the previous volume, Off Armageddon Reef, here. Weber continues the series with more excellent writing. I think there is nobody in science fiction who can combine exciting characters, excellent military writing, interesting politics, and a plot that keeps you reading like David…
Wondering About Executive Pay
I’ve been fighting a nasty cold this week, and thus blogging and reading less on the internet and watching much more TV than usual. The experience has reinforced my low opinion of the value of television news as information. But this really, truly is going to be a short post. I mean it. There are…
The Jonah Problem Redux
Bruce Alderman wrote an interesting post today on what has to be somewhere close to my favorite book of the Bible–Jonah. He referenced an earlier post of mine from my Threads blog, but I’m not really commenting on that part. I should also note that while I call Jonah somewhere close to my favorite book,…
On Bundling Tourist Attractions
The Christian Post reports that the Cincinnati Zoo was forced to quit bundling its tickets with those to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY. This has been blogged to death all around the internet, and I’m going to join in ganging up on the story. According to the Creation Museums founder, Ken Ham, however, the…
Christian Carnival CCLIII Has Been Posted
. . . at parables of a prodigal world. Go and enjoy!
Signs and Wondering
Over the last few weeks I have heard many stories of people who see certain events in their lives as signs of one thing or another. In fact, I could probably say the same thing about just about any period of time during my life. People are constantly seeing signs. Of course there is always…
This is Disgusting
Here’s another incident of mandatory religion in the Air Force (HT: Metacatholic). Besides the fact that it is quite improper for the Air Force to provide mandatory religious indoctrination, this program clearly denigrates the faith of many who would disagree with a number of elements of the presentation.
Biblical Studies Carnival XXXVI
I violate my vow against reading or linking to Jim West to link to the latest Biblical Studies Carnival XXXVI, which is quite good in spite of because of its snarkiness. There’s a lot of good stuff there, much of which is about SBL.
With No One As Witness
I first encountered Elizabeth George’s work through the videos of the Lynley series. My experience is that the movie version is never up to the quality of the book, so in this case I was quite hopeful as I turned to the books for the first time. I was not disappointed. Elizabeth George presents character…
CEV Review Video
The following is a video review of the CEV: For more details, see the MyBibleVersion.com detail page for the CEV.
Um, No Thanks, Not like You
Al Qaeda’s #2 has called on Americans to embrace Islam, presumably his version. Um, no thanks. Even melting down, we’re better off. Oh, and by the way, Muslim calls to embrace Islam bring memories of Muslim conquest, not to mention recent terror attacks, just as Christian calls to convert the whole Muslim world bring back…
Thinking about Business Regulation
The current financial crisis has been cast as a failure of the left by the right, and failure of the right by the left. Did laissez faire capitalism fail or was it excessive taxation or regulation? Perhaps it was a combination. I use “left” and “right” here strictly in the context of capitalism, with “right”…
Problems with WP-Supercache
I discovered on one of my occasional rounds of checking sites with other browsers (I normally use the most current version of Firefox under Ubuntu Linux) that IE7 was not showing the current front page. That resulted in a check of WP-Supercache, which was no longer serving cached pages. Firefox had gone back to serving…
A Double Holiday
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, but it is also just a day before my anniversary. Nine years ago, my wife Jody and I joined our lives together. That year it was a Sunday. We chose to have a Sunday wedding, after the church service, and slipped off to our honeymoon. Each Thanksgiving is thus a double…
Isaiah 64 in the Orthodox Study Bible
I’ve begun using the Orthodox Study Bible in my lectionary reading, which brought me to Isaiah 64 a couple of days ago. It’s been that kind of a week, so I haven’t had time to comment on it until now. First, let me note that having a study Bible with an overtly Christological interpretation of…
New Blog – Caraleisa
A long time friend of mine has just started a blog, Caraleisa, with her first post, Giving Thanks, this year . . .. I have hopes she’ll get more controversial, as I know very well she can. Welcome to the blogosphere!
Christianity Today Blog for Women in Leadership
I’m a consistent advocate for women in church leadership, i.e. unrestricted in following God’s call and using their gifts. Thus, when reading my Church Laughs today (this one didn’t tickle me that much-some of them are hilarious), I was happy to find an add for a “new” blog, Gifted for Leadership, for women in ministry….
Connection and Expectation: In Tension or Complementary?
It’s not surprising that, as I read the passages for Advent 1B, [corrected from 1A-What can I have been thinking?] I got the sense of expectation, and even just a bit (or more) of impatience. We have the prayer for God’s intervention and protection in Psalm 80, the cry for God to rend the heavens…
Introduction to 1 Corinthians (Audio)
The following audio introduction comes from a previously podcast series on 1 Corinthians. It will serve as introductory notes for the various comments I will make on passages from 1 Corinthians. I think it is very important to consider the structure of the letter in understanding these passages. The first epistle to the Corinthians is…