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Dr TK Dunn on the Importance of the Old Testament
This is an extract from a longer interview, which I will also embed. I think Dr. Dunn has some valuable comments on the relationship of scripture and what it means for our study. And here’s the full interview from which that was extracted.
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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Not About Joe the Plumber
The furor over this poor guy has illustrated to me one of the problems of presidential campaigning in America. It’s not about analyzing policies to determine who they impact, to what extent, and for what purpose, nor indeed it is about whether the policies will accomplish that purpose. It’s rather all about engaging people’s emotions….
Letter to Lifeway Christian Stores
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…
The McCain Campaign and Comebacks
In an article on MSNBC discussing how Obama is moving into some traditionally Republican territory, I found this quote: McCain, for his part, was returning to the argument that Obama’s credentials are too thin for the White House, his campaign and the Republican National Committee releasing ads focusing on experience and judgment. Here’s my problem…
Trying WP-Spamfree
I’m trying the WP-Spamfree plugin for a few days here. Please let me know if you have any problems posting comments. I’ll be watching the spam closely.
Quote of the Day – Elitism
… A political strategy that depreciates the value of ideas in favor of some vague notion of the superiority of common sense and homespun, simple virtue undermines the foundations of democracy, the standing of the nation in the world, and the economic and technological prospects of a country. From: Madison Powers at CQ Politics. But…
Believing in Private Charity
Today is Blog Action Day, and though I didn’t get around to formally participating, I’m going to write a short post on dealing with poverty from a Christian perspective. I’m feeling idealistic, so beware! Since I first started thinking about issues of poverty, way back when I was a teenager (and fish were just working…
Yeah, Do This!
John Bicknell of Congressional Quarterly says Drop the Debates, Try Conflict Instead. Good idea. All of it.
Albert Mohler Steps in It on Evolution
There are some basics about what evolution is and is not, and what the various positions of both creationists and evolutionists are, that everyone who steps into the debate should know. Some examples include the difference between a young earth and an old earth creationist. I’ve seen a few discussions in internet fora in which…
But Can a CONSERVATIVE Vote for Obama?
I find it rather easy to answer the question of whether a Christian can vote for Obama. To summarize, a Christian can be politically liberal or even socialist, for that matter, and would presumably vote his or her beliefs. There is no requirement that a Christian be an American style conservative. Thus it should be…
More Study Bible Comparisons – Introduction to Romans
I haven’t written on this for a bit, and I wanted to note some differences between three of the major study Bibles I use in terms of introductions to books. I’m studying Romans right now, so I thought I’d compare there. In comparing words, I get myself a quick approximation of the average line length…
How Much Pandering and to What End?
I’ve been very disappointed in the way this campaign has gone. Not that it’s that much more nasty than any other campaign. As I recall from previous elections, things get pretty emotional and nasty. My disappointment has been in the candidates who could have done much better for the country. Obama made a mistake, in…
Practical Problems with Word for Word Translation
A nice, short note at mmm-BELLY-may Day (HT: Kouya Chronicles).
How a Christian can Vote for Obama
Laura at Pursuing Holiness has a post titled How can Christians support Obama?. She begins: I am frustrated almost beyond belief that any Christian can support Obama. . . . She then outlines the reasons she has for believing that we cannot support Obama and provides links, describing these points as “well-substantiated.” Laura’s post falls…
Explaining Suffering – or Not
As a follow-up to my notes on God’s Problem, I would like to comment briefly on how a diversity of explanations do coexist, and how they might justifiably do so. First, despite our best efforts to find logical explanations, in general people use case by case explanations pretty readily. They may believe that one person…
Not Watching the Presidential Debate
. . . was very relaxing. I actually never watch these debates because they are more a tribute to those who plan the event than to anything that either candidate is capable of saying. I would like to see a debate which allows the two candidates to confront and challenge one another. The real story…
Preserving Literary Quality?
Bryon’s Weblog has a quote from Leland Ryken and some commentary, followed by some rather silly comments by an obvious troll. What I found interesting here, however, was the idea of preserving the literary qualities of the Bible. Let me reproduce the quote Bryon used: “If your essentially literal translation is the RSV, the ESV,…
Book Notes: God’s Problem (Ehrman)
Ehrman, Bart D. God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question-Why We Suffer. New York: HarperCollins, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-06-117397-4. 294 pp. I have previously noted that Bart Ehrman’s books are much more controversial on their jackets than on their pages (see notes on The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot and Response…
Source and Redaction Criticism: Ehrman on Job
In chapter six of his book God’s Problem, Ehrman tackles the book of Job. (My notes on the book as a whole are here.) He describes the book as coming from two sources, one containing the narrative portions, and one containing the poetic dialogues. This view is not that exceptional, though one should also consider…
Etymology but no Fallacy
I’m glad to see Bill Mounce discuss valid use of etymology. I’ve long thought that we have fallen into an “every etymology is a fallacy” trap, but it’s good to see an acknowledged expert say that. Note that the vast majority of etymologies I hear are indeed false etymologies, but there are valid uses.
Pro-Life Obama
These folks sound more like me than the pro-lifers I know, but they are pro-life and supporting Barack Obama. The key issues are pre-natal care, health care, and support for adoption. I would cite all of those elements plus better sex education, and pre-natal support for the mother-to-be.
Book Notes: An Old Testament Theology (Waltke)
Waltke, Bruce K. with Charles Yu. An Old Testament Theology: an exegetical, canonical, and thematic approach. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007. ISBN: 0-310-21897-7. 1040 pp (940 excluding front and back matter). I’m going to complain a bit about this book, so first let me tell you the good things about it. It provides a solid introduction…
Thoughts on Michael Reiss
. . . from Thoughts from the Heart on the Left. Tony has some good words on the topic.
New Creationist Prize
. . . and it’s sillier than the old ones. Adnan Oktar, who writes as Harun Yahya, is offering the prize, according to the Telegraph.co.uk (HT: Breaking Christian News, surely an interesting place to find this): Mr Oktar, 52, who successfully campaigned for Mr Dawkins’ official website to be banned in Turkey, has said he…
Book Notes: An Introduction to the New Testament (DeSilva)
DeSilva, David A. An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods, and Ministry Formation. Downers Grove, IL, 2004. ISBN 0-8308-2746-3. 974 pp. (904 without front matter and indexes). This is a bit out of place for review here and by me, but I wanted to write a few notes about it anyhow. If I were…