Featured Posts
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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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Whither the Budget Deficit
Up, folks, always up. Those who know me as a moderate (which I prefer) or as a liberal (which I am often called) may be surprised to know that I started my political activism by working in the campaign of Ronald Reagan in 1976 when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was the first presidential…
Mixed Health Care Feelings
That’s mixed feelings about health care and feelings about a mixed system of health care, in case you were wondering. I’ve expressed my ambivalence about health care previously. While I hope for an ideal situation in which a certain level of health care is available to everyone regardless of ability to pay, I also want…
Health Insurance Plans
I hope that this topic gets more attention before the election. Christine has some thoughts here and I share many of her concerns and those expressed in the referenced article.
Book Notes: Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006. 538 pp. ISBN: 0-8028-3162-1. I would remind my readers again that I am writing some notes on my experience of reading this book and not a formal review. I requested this book via interlibrary loan because it was recommended by a…
Idiocy and Firing Michael Reiss
I realize that journalists write confused stories and that headline writers produce stupid headlines to go with them, but I would think that academic or scientific organizations, irrespective of subject, should be able to be more sensible. It may not be so. “Firing” is, of course, my own overblown headline, provided you regard essentially forcing…
Will We Let the Text of Scripture Change Us?
On The Rev’s Rumbles (HT: Shuck and Jive) there is a discussion of Biblical authority. The writer quotes the following assertion favorably (from Kenneth Cauthen): NO CHRISTIAN ALLOWS THE BIBLE TO TEACH AS THE AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD WHAT IS KNOWN OR BELIEVED (FOR WHATEVER REASONS) TO BE EITHER UNTRUE OR IMMORAL. EVERY CHRISTIAN FINDS…
1 Corinthians 13 for Academics
From James McGrath. Excellent! (Note to self: Laminate it and hang it on the wall in plain view.)
Checking on ex-Hurricane Ike
First I want to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the folks who experienced Hurricane Ike. Having lived through a couple of interesting storms, such as Ivan and Dennis, I empathize with their position. I’m not very good at writing condolence blog posts, largely because I think they are empty gestures for the…
But the Whole Election is Out of Context!
So much of the way in which we understand language, not to mention pretty much everything else, is simply context. Thanks to the folks at Language Log we have a discussion of how Sarah Palin was taken out of context when some claimed that she thought we were on a God ordained mission in Iraq….
Using the NLTSB, NISB and NOAB: Exodus 15:1-21
I’m continuing looking at the NLT Study Bible (NLTSB) in comparison with the New Interpreter’s Study Bible (NISB), which I have also acquired recently. Today I’m going to add a comparison to the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NOAB). Note that I am still working from the second edition. I think many Methodist ministers or ministerial…
Textual Criticism Summary from Parchment and Pen
C. Michael Patton presents Textual Criticism in a Nutshell, though what he means more precisely is New Testament textual criticism in a nutshell. It’s quite a good introduction giving a feel for the types of variants and why they might occur, and also why we might prefer not to call them “errors” considering that some…
Who Are We After 9-11?
Any number of speakers and writers, myself certainly included, have talked about the various things we need to do to make our country safer from terrorist attacks. We’ve also sung the praises of rescue and relief workers and of various leaders during the time of crisis. Other countries of suffered greater losses proportionally than we…
Good Decisions on Education in California
Christianity Today reports on two decisions regarding education in California. In one case, the courts upheld the University of California’s decision to reject certain courses when considering eligibility for admission. In the other, the right of parents without a teaching degree to homeschool. Some may see these decisions as contradictory, but that would only be…
Book Notes: Live to Tell
Kallenberg, Brad J. Live to Tell: Evangelism for a Postmodern Age. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2002. ISBN 1-58743-050-9. 138 pages. One of our pastors handed this book to my wife because of her interest particularly in discipleship. You may ask why one should give a book on evangelism to someone primarily concerned with discipleship, but…
Critical Methods and Modern Tests
Over the last few days there have been a flurry of posts at Language Log that could be related to Biblical criticism, though that is not the intent of their authors. What they are actually discussing is authorship identification and then spin spotting, with an interesting twist at the end. Here are some key posts…
Using the NLTSB and NISB: Exodus 14:19-31
Yesterday I looked at Romans 14:1-12 in these two versions. Today I’m looking at another of this week’s lectionary passages, Exodus 14:19-31. Those who aren’t seriously interested in these two study Bibles should probably skip this whole series. Watch for the first part of the title (Using the NLTSB [NLT] and NISB [NRSV]) and flee…
Boon or Doom: Is That Really the Question?
An article today on MSNBC.com asks the question: Will the Large Hadron Collider save the world, or destroy it? That, I think, is a major problem with the view of science held by way too many people. There are too reactions. First, we ask what it will do for us and how soon. Second, we…
Using the NLTSB and NISB: Romans 14:1-12
I thought it might be useful to look at the information available in each of these study guides for a few passages. Since I regularly read the lectionary passages during my personal devotions, I will compare the information available in each Bible for some selected passages from the current lectionary. I’m choosing to compare only…
NCV Duct Tape Bible from Thomas Nelson
There is some discussion of this edition of the NCV at Bryon’s Weblog (HT: Better Bibles.)
Added Bible Behemoth
I’m not really too sure how this is going to work, but at a minimum, it will allow me to show links to a few Bible blogs that I haven’t even read. Thus, I have added a widget to my rightmost sidebar showing the last five posts featured on The Bible Behemoth (blog), the brainchild…
When Prayer is Depressing
One of the depressing things about prayer is just what will catch media attention. In this MSNBC.com article, we’re told about Stuart Shepard of Focus on the Family praying that it would rain on Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. I had seen this at the time, but it came back to my…
Comparing Study Bible Introductions to Luke
A few weeks ago I began looking at the new NLT Study Bible, and indicated that I would use it and then comment as I went along rather than writing a review as such. Introductory Comments Since I’m looking at the manuscript for a new study guide to Luke that that I intend to publish,…
The Bible Does Not Contain Science
Jason Rosenhouse has a post at EvolutionBlog responding to an essay by Owen Gingerich in Frye’s Is God a Creationist?. In that essay, Gingerich makes some interesting claims, suggesting some special advance information provided by God in the words of Genesis 1. Rosenhouse quite correctly comments and then asks: It’s people like Gingerich I don’t…
I Like Sarah Palin
. . . well, pretty much, to a certain extent, as politicians go. But I’m not going to vote for her. Come to think of it, I like John McCain pretty well also, but again, I’m not going to vote for him. I think it is unfortunate that so many Americans seem to feel the…