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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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Christmas Is 12 Days
I should have posted something earlier, but stuff happens. Let me recommend some books for continued meditations, these from Energion Publications (and several other publishers!) Bruce Epperly. Links are to Amazon.com. I recommend Bruce as an author and teacher because he challenges me with unexpected views on so many subjects, always presented in a positive…
YouVersion Verse of the Year
I received an email from YouVersion (I use their app occasionally) with their 2023 “verse of the year.” This is the verse that has been shared, bookmarked, and highlighted most often through their community. It is Isaiah 41:10 (note that my links go to BibleGateway): [D]o not fear, for I am with you; do not be…
Limited by Expectations
Yesterday I was looking for some material a friend had asked me to print on 11×17 paper. How boring, eh? Well, I couldn’t find it. I searched through my email and various folders, and the material to be printed was nowhere to be found. Finally, I called my friend to ask him about it. He…
Agendas, Conversation, and Bible Reading
It’s not really a new thing, but in a number of conversations recently, both in person and online, I’ve been noticing agendas. Someone will make a comment or say something in a conversation that really doesn’t seem to make sense in context, but then if you consider a different context, you’ll suddenly see that the…
Signs That You Won’t Know!
It is critical to note that the signs Jesus’ gives his disciples are general and vague and always contemporary. War and suffering, famine and earthquakes, persecutions and false Messiahs have not only been prevalent throughout history; they are the also to be witnessed and experienced in the present, and they will be encountered in the…
What Is the Bible For?
No, this is not a long dissertation on scripture and its various uses, though I love to talk about that. For many, the purpose of scripture is to keep us on a doctrinally correct path. It tells us the things we are supposed to believe. Simply believing correctly is what’s important. For me, however, a…
Theodicy Interview with Rev. Steve Kindle
I posted the video from my interview with Steve Kindle in my theodicy video interview series. The video is embedded below, and you can find out information on this series at Theodicy Interview Series. The next interview to be posted is by Steve with me, asking me to answer the questions I’ve set up for…
On Teaching from Ezekiel 24
I’ve been working my way through Ezekiel with my Sunday School class, at their request, since I have frequently said that Leviticus, Ezekiel, and Hebrews are the books most formative of my own theology. When this is done, I will have been through all three books with this group. One major difficulty in teaching through…
Theodicy: Interview with Dr. Ron Higdon
This is the sixth interview in my series on theodicy (check the link for a full list). Ron Higdon has experienced and dealt with the issues of theodicy practically as a Christian believer, as a pastor, and as a father. His interview is distinguished by his immediate reference to where the Bible starts on this…
The Danger of Excessive Optimism
I have been called a pessimist. I prefer to think of myself as a realist. When I consider it seriously, however, I often find that I’m more optimistic about results than realism allows. From time to time, I’m told that if I was just more positive about everything, that “everything” would tend to go much…
After Teaching on the Sermon on the Mount
My Sunday School class just finished a several-week study on the Sermon on the Mount. We did not use any study guides as a class, though I consulted three books I publish, One World: The Lord’s Prayer from a Process Perspective, The Jesus Manifesto: A Participatory Study Guide to the Sermon on the Mount, and…
Thinking – The Only Solution
When I talk to computer customers about security I tell them that I can protect them from many things, but in the end, I can’t fully protect them from the user who won’t follow good security practices. I can try to force the user to follow certain procedures, but as the old saying goes, “The…
Stephen S.J. Hill on Our Much Loved Identity
It is very difficult to get me to watch any video. Yes, that’s true, even though I create videos and do online interviews on multiple subjects. It’s not my medium of choice. Getting me to watch an hour extends into the impossible. But I watched this one … I recommend that everyone, but especially those…
Link: Revelation, We Have a Problem
Scot McKnight discusses the problem with the popular understanding of Revelation. I recall guest teaching a Sunday School class on Revelation from the study guide I wrote (currently not available as I revise it). The major question from the class was when I was going to talk about the seven-year tribulation and whether I was…
By the Wife of Uriah
Today as I walked I was listening to the Bible and starting the book of Matthew. Now Matthew, to the annoyance of many, starts with a genealogy. Are you one of those people who skip genealogies? Here’s what hit me today. In Matthew 1:6b I heard this “And David was the father of Solomon by…
The Wrath of the Lamb
Sometimes the process of preparing to teach Sunday School takes interesting turns, at least for me. I’m currently teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, and I was thinking about the transition from the beatitudes to the discussion of fulfilling the law. Sometimes we get so used to the way Scripture passages read that we…
So Why Not Change?
Sojourners has an article titled SEVEN LIES ABOUT CHRISTIANITY — WHICH CHRISTIANS BELIEVE. There’s a great deal here that I resonate with, especially in the seventh point: The problem with romanticizing Christianity is that we turn our faith into a product, using various selling points to make it look more attractive. Sojo.net But what I’m…
Jumping the Christmas Gap
Most of the time I’m suggesting that people lighten up when they get too deep into theology, so today, when people are lightening up, I want to talk a bit of theology. This day represents the core of my Christian faith in so many ways. When I get into discussions about what is essential in…
Habitually Going to Church?
You will find more infographics at Statista Interesting! It used to be said that if the habit is established while they’re young, they won’t lose it later. I don’t know how true that might have been, but it doesn’t appear to work in this chart.
Advent Series at Energion
I’m sure all my readers know I own Energion Publications, and function as the CEO, now that we have a separate editor. This Advent I’m putting a quote from a different book each day of Advent. Here is a list with a couple of notes. There are many more to come, but this will give…
Allan Bevere on the Problem of Evil
My latest interview on theodicy, or the problem of evil, is with Dr. Allan R. Bevere. Allan is a retired United Methodist pastor and has a PhD in New Testament from the University of Durham (UK). You can find detailed information on this interview series, along with links to previous interviews here.
Questioning Omnipotence
Thus far I have interviewed three people regarding theodicy, or looked at from another direction, the problem of evil. You can follow the link for current interviews. Tomorrow, I will be interviewing Dr. Allan R. Bevere, retired United Methodist pastor for the fourth interview in the series. I have commitments for several more interviews. One…
Theodicy Interview with Bruce Epperly
The second in my series of interviews on theodicy is now available. Dr. Bruce Epperly discussed this with me for around an hour. You can see the video below. (The first interview can be found here.) The purpose of this series is to showcase a variety of views on theodicy and even ways of expressing…
A Robust Theodicy?
As I conduct interviews on theodicy with various authors, I’d like to suggest this: We need a theodicy (and in fact a full theology) that is as comfortable in Job as in Deuteronomy. This would be the expression of a faith that isn’t forgotten in good times or repudiated in bad. Here again is the…