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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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Totally Restored (I Presume!)
Everything should be back in place now. I found some additional glitches, including several posts with zeroed out dates (that puts them in 1969, which is miraculous!), but I think things are working again.
Hermeneutics Quiz
I scored a 74, progressive, but I object to almost all the questions and answers. The quiz is here. HT: 42
Site Restored (Mostly)
All the posts have been restored, but I tried to get creative, and to put it generously, the results were not quite what I planned. I have some comments to restore yet. If you commented between February 15 and February 26, it’s possible your comment isn’t there. I do have your comment, however, and will…
Christian Carnival #213 Posted
. . . at my Jevlir Caravansary blog. I note that I failed to include a post of my own or one from my wife, so I shall have to go over there and add them!
Site Restored
Well, it was a long couple of days, but the site is back up and working. I believe there should be nothing missing at this point. If there is, please let me know. There were a few things to restore manually, item by item, but not that many. I appreciate your patience–assuming you had some!–and…
A Conservative Christian Republican for Obama
I found this post via if i were a bell, i’d ring, and find the arguments used interesting. Not being as conservative as the the post author, I have less policy concerns with Obama than he does, but I find his arguments very interesting.
The Historical Virgin Mary – II
In chapter 6 of his book What Have They Done with Jesus? Dr. Ben Witherington continues his discussion of the historical Mary, mother of Jesus. In general this is a harmonizing account based on all sources combined, though primarily it works from John and Mark. I have already discussed the issues I have with this…
Christian Carnival #213 Coming
. . . and will be posted here tomorrow. You have until midnight tonight eastern time to get your posts in. Come one, come all (qualified folks!) and submit your posts!
Anointing in the Passages for Lent 4A
For finding lectionary passages online, I recommend Textweek.com, which provides some quite valuable services for lectionary passages. This is just a brief note on this theme which has been very striking to me as I repeatedly read these passages. Anointing has a variety of implications in the Bible, and these passages would allow one to…
Reading from the NIrV
The New International Reader’s Version never got much traction, especially here in the United States, but I do have a copy, and I chose to do my lectionary reading from it this morning. That kind of reading is helpful in getting a quick feel for a version. I can ask myself how I would teach…
Would Jesus Do This?
Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland seems to believe that Jesus would respond to courtesy with violence: On a Sunday when Tarico was present, Hutcherson was preaching on gender roles. During his sermon, Hutcherson stated, “God hates soft men” and “God hates effeminate men.” Hutcherson went on to say, “If I was…
The Historical Virgin Mary – I
After discussing Simon Peter, Ben Witherington, in his book What Have They Done with Jesus? proceeds to deal with the information we have available on the Mary, the mother of Jesus. This continues with chapter 5. (Previous entry in this series is Search for the Historical Simon Peter – II.) I should make it clear…
Stump Speeches and Empty Rhetoric
I’ve watched with some interest the debates over Barack Obama’s rhetoric. He has been charged with using empty rhetoric instead of presenting actual solutions. I have a bit of a problem with this. Stump speeches generally are mostly fluff. They’re designed to encourage and excite the faithful. They’re supposed to be emotional. I haven’t seen…
Narrative from the Pentateuch
I frequently recommend reading the story of the exodus through conquest as a kind of connected narrative, trying to learn from the stories. The problem I’ve discovered is that many people skip over the ceremonial and legal parts of the Bible and thus often miss important narrative points that are interleaved with those elements. Ultimately,…
Healing and Restoration from Jeremiah 32
Thomas Durst has a nice, short, devotional post drawn from Jeremiah 32:36-44, which he quotes from The Message. It’s titled Healing and Restoration.
Church Politics Good and Bad
Not too long ago I posted about the necessity for church politics. Today I was reading Frederick W. Danker’s commentary on 2 Corinthians, and I ran across a similar argument, based on 2 Corinthians. Let me quote it: Much of Paul’s success lay in his political acumen, with a flair for recognition of the potential…
Ralph Nader Running for President
. . . according to this MSNBC.com story. He had an exploratory campaign for about a month. Normally an exploratory campaign is designed to see if you ought to run. Now here’s what I want to know. What would he have had to discover to persuade him not to run?
From YEC to Theistic Evolutionist
Since I’ve made this journey myself, I’m always on the alert for other stories of similar journeys. It’s interesting that I’ve found many more such stories amongst those studying science. On the religion side, it’s generally those who studies nuts and bolts material (textual criticism, history, archeology, and so forth) who start to see holes…
Augsburg NT Commentary on 2 Corinthians
I took a detour from working through 2 Corinthians with the Anchor Bible commentary and read Frederick W. Danker’s volume II Corinthians in the Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament series. This is a 214 page commentary, but has more content than you might expect because it doesn’t include the Biblical text along with the…
Regeneration and Baptism of the Holy Spirit
OK, readers, this is a strictly Christian type of argument. Is regeneration and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit the same thing? Since I haven’t link to him in so long, some may think I no longer read Adrian Warnock’s blog, but that is quite incorrect. I still subscribe to his RSS feed, but he’s…
Fordham Institute Criticizes Science Standards Compromise
According to the Bradenton Herald, Paul Gross used the word “dishonest” in reference to the compromise language. Personally I prefer “silly” or “inane.” The changes didn’t change the meaning.
Life of a Rumor
One of the nastiest sins you can have break out in your church is gossip. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most common–more common than the common cold. I have seen church congregations broken apart by gossip, and nobody involved thought they were doing anyone any harm. Excuses for spreading rumor and innuendo vary. Sometimes…
Search for the Historical Simon Peter II
This post continues from this one and is part of my series blogging through Ben Witherington’s book What Have They Done with Jesus? This chapter continues the theme of the previous chapter. Witherington is creating profiles of the various claimed eyewitnesses in the New Testament and then using them to tell us about Jesus. With…
KJV Only and Pisseth Against the Wall
I found these two videos after reading this post. I post these because they are so humorous in the way they proudly and piously display extreme ignorance. First, 7 common sense reasons why we should never leave the KJV BIBLE. What is even more humorous about this is that it is listed under the category…