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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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War Failings: Clear and Attainable Objective
There’s a good article on MSNBC.com titled: Fundamental failures led to current Iraq crisis. My arguments against the war have been primarily based no the first point: Lesson 1: Select an attainable objective While the Administration tried to build a case against Saddam on the basis of weapons of mass destruction, a principal motivation, ironically,…
Public Policy and Prophecy
John has an interesting post over at Locusts and Honey titled The Bible, Politics, and Pseudoprophecy. Though there have clearly been some extended exchanges, I haven’t followed them closely, so I’m not 100% certain what John means by Pseudoprophecy, but I think he makes a number of good points. I’d like to comment a bit…
Response to Misquoting Jesus – Summary and Conclusion
This is the conclusion of my multi-part series responding to Bart Ehrman’s book, Misquoting Jesus. Here are links to the earlier portions of this series: Part I Part Ia Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI Part VII In chapter 7, The Social Worlds of the Text, Ehrman discusses how the social…
Response to Misquoting Jesus VII
. . . in which, of course, I respond to chapter 6. I will post a directory to the whole series of responses, with the final entry, but in the meantime you will get the series by choosing category “Textual Criticism” in the right sidebar. There are other entries in that category, but all the…
Embarrassed Again
I knew when the news of the tragedy at Virginia Tech came out that there would be religious responses that would be obnoxious, and even some that would be downright despicable. It seems that with every tragedy there are uninvolved people available to place blame and to pontificate. I personally have no words that are…
Response to Misquoting Jesus VI
. . . in which, quite logically, I discuss chapter 5. 🙂 In Chapter 5, originals that matter, Ehrman first introduces the basics of textual criticism and tells us how textual decisions are made. This good overview, as he notes, will not prepare you to make textual decisions for yourself, but it will let you…
Christian Carnival CLXVIII
. . . has been posted at Random Acts of Verbiage. A group of Christian bloggers have been pulling this all back together. Dory has been out of touch and she is in all our prayers. We are hoping she is just excessively busy. HT: Lingamish.
Response to Misquoting Jesus V
In chapter 4 of Misquoting Jesus, The Quest for Origins: Methods and Discoveries (pp. 101-125), Ehrman moves to important but slightly less engaging material. This chapter is important in laying out the basic history of textual criticism, and how Biblical scholars began the move from the corrupt Textus Receptus to a better critical text. Many…
Podcasts on Inspiration
On the Running Toward the Goal podcast, I am presenting a two part series on inspiration/revelation based on Psalm 19. Today’s post is the first one, and the second will be posted on Monday. Tomorrow’s Running Toward the Goal is by Elgin Hushbeck, Jr. and will focus on apologetics. Running Toward the Goal is posted…
Galatians 3:15-18 – Preliminary Thoughts on Seed and Seeds
I want to make a few quick notes on this passage right after studying through Martyn’s Galatians commentary notes on it. This is a passage that has troubled many because in verse 16 Paul makes a major issue of the singular “seed,” thus pointing the passage directly at Christ. Now if one reads the passage…
Response to Misquoting Jesus IV
. . . in which I respond to chapter 3. This response will be brief. This chapter is excellent. If you’re a Bible student of any variety, buy Misquoting Jesus and make sure to read chapter 3. While I have read many of the things presented here before in more technical works, this chapter is…
Is there such a thing as a theistic evolutionist?
Panda’s Thumb writer Pim van Meurs gave an irony award to Salvador Cordova whom he quotes as saying: Darwinian TE (Theistic Evolution) just doesnt cut it scientifically. That is ironic, considering that young earth creationism makes many assertions that contradict archeology, not to mention geology. Young earth doesn’t even match the written record. But this…
No greater love . . .
Professor Liviu Librescu gave his life for his students (Jerusalem Post). It’s worth remembering. I’m sure there were many others. In the midst of this terrible act, there are also people who showed true heroism. HT: Breaking Christian News.
You are a Bible Translator
Some readers here may be interested in a devotional I wrote for my wife Jody’s devotional list, titled You are a Bible Translator. Not the normal exegesis, but a thought! 🙂 Enjoy!
Responding to Tragedy
Many of us right now are thinking about and praying for the folks at Virginia Tech. Others closer to the scene are responding as their duty calls them. But it’s an ill wind that blows no one good, and there are two groups of people who thrive on this sort of thing: The news media,…
More on the Atonement
Peter Kirk has collected a series of his comments into a single post along with links to various blogs that can bring you up to date on the atonement wars. I weighed in with a post over on my Participatory Bible Study blog. I see that Coops hasn’t posted in his atonement series since March…
What Embarrasses me About Christianity
A discussion has been raging over on the Religion Forum, and Tom Sims has taken it up on his blog regarding Bishop Spong and a quote (Rochester, MN Post-Bulletin) in which he says: “Religion in America today embarrasses me,” said Spong, 75, who will speak in Rochester next week. “If that’s what Christianity is all…
Galatians 3:2: AKOE PISTEOS
Or should I make that AKOH PISTEWS? Note that a similar question can be asked in Galatians 3:5, but I will assume due to theme that one will give the same answer in both places. Writing an exegetical article on this verse could be quite lengthy, but I agree with J. Louis Martyn in his…
Response to Misquoting Jesus – III
I’m continuing my chapter by chapter response to Misquoting Jesus with a discussion of chapter 2, “The Copyists of the Early Christian Writers.” I continue to see this book as a basic introduction to New Testament Criticism (in agreement with Elgin Husbheck, Jr.), though the hype connected with it tries to make it sound more…
Galatians and Penal Substitutionary Atonement
It will generally surprise nobody that I am not a fan of penal substitutionary atonement, as I’ve written about it before. I do believe that PSA is one valid metaphor that helps us understand the greater truth that is the atonement. What I object to is making this particular metaphor the central fact of the…
Methodist Blog Weekly Roundup 4/13/07
. . . has been posted by Allan Bevere.
Response to Misquoting Jesus – II
I found the second chapter of Misquoting Jesus generally very helpful. I can summarize my response to the chapter by saying that there is nothing very radical about its contents, and that it contains material everyone should consider. Ehrman has to go light on some things simply because of the size of the topic as…
Response to Misquoting Jesus – Ia
I wanted to follow up briefly on my first post on Misquoting Jesus to provide a quotation and make a couple more comments on inspiration. The quotation comes from page 13: It is a radical shift from reading the Bible as an inerrant blueprint for our faith, life, and future to seeing it as a…
Sudan Missionary from Pensacola
There was an encouraging story in the Pensacola News Journal titled Big difference in Sudan about Jim Esson who is returning to the Sudan and working on building a medical clinic. This is a very positive form of mission activity. In the comments someone complains that the mission is out of town while there are…