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Sorrow Like My Sorrow – Lamentations 1:12
Can we really understand the suffering of another person or they ours?
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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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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…
Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Pastors
I don’t usually like to be the umpteenth person to post one of these, but this is too good. With many friends who are pastors, not to mention a son-in-law, I’m in tune with it! Update: Oops! Forgot the Hat Tip to One Thing I Know.
Not so Much with the Cabinet Surprises
I’ve been watching television with a certain amount of amusement as various reporters try to create news and then discuss the news they’ve created with reference to President-Elect Obama’s cabinet and other appointments. But what interests me is the great surprise that the president-elect may appoint former rival Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Besides…
NRSV Video Review
You can find editions of the NRSV listed on our MyBibleVersion.com page for the New Revised Standard Version. The following is a video review of the NRSV by Henry Neufeld, owner of Energion Publications.
A Tweetable Creed
I provided David Ker with a Hippopotamus, but what he really wanted was a creed that would fit in a Tweet. In particular, he provided the following particulars: If someone sincerely confessed this creed you would: Consider them to be a brother or sister in Christ. Believe that they are true believers and inheritors of…
A Hippopotamus for David Ker
Well, not really. It’s mine. Here it is: I’ve had it since last Christmas but didn’t think of it until today when I looked at it sitting on my desk. You see, last year I commented to my wife that I thought the song “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas” was “cute.” She never forgets…
Sheep, Shepherds, or Both
I have posted a devotional to my wife’s devotional list under this same title. It includes a partial translation of the Old Testment lectionary for this week (Christ the King Sunday) and some meditations on Judgment. Read it at Jody’s Devotionals.
Standard Reference Sources and Abbreviations
I will use a number of standard references, and will cite them in brackets [] by abbreviation. I list the references I expect to cite regularly in the list below. I will expand this list as I work. In cases of lexicons, dictionaries and commentaries, where the particular reference is quite obvious, I will just…
The Arrogance of Certainty
This week’s gospel reading is Matthew 25:31-46. There will be plenty of sermons preached on serving one’s neighbor and how this is serving Christ himself. There will also be quite a number preached on the judgment and how we will stand in it. I have already written a bit about how the texts today would…
Fulfilling Needs or Catering to Wants
The Internet Monk recommends a couple of books in a post titled Recommended: Wicker and Duin on The End of Evangelicalism, and I’m not going to gainsay his recommendation, considering I have read neither. But one comment he made caught my attention: Despite being an interesting read and passing along many good pieces of information…
Received: The Orthodox Study Bible
. . . and it’s even more interesting than I anticipated. This is obviously not the intended review, but I do find the idea of a Bible with a strong flavor of the Orthodox doctrine quite interesting, and the Bible looks fascinating. The New Testament is NKJV, but the Old Testament uses the St. Athanasius…
Book: The Orthodox Study Bible
I just received a copy of this Bible from Thomas Nelson for review on my Participatory Bible Study Blog, but I can’t resist some preliminary notes after only a short time with it. I do expect to be using it in study over the next few months and reading it through, but since that will…
Book: The Miracle at Speedy Motors
I’m prepared to read just about anything Alexander McCall Smith writes. This whole series is charming–enchanting, even. The story this time centers a great deal around the office, with her secretary, or “Associate Detective” as she has become getting involved a great deal along with her fiance. I’m not one to tell much of the…