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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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What Have They Seen in Your House?
Yesterday the Scripture for my Sunday School class was Isaiah 40:21-31. The daily readings in the student guide included the first 20 verses of the chapter as well. Those acquainted with critical scholarship on the book of Isaiah recognize this as the opening of 2nd Isaiah, chapters 40-55. At first I was going to avoid…
Introduction to Perspectives on Paul
Tonight I begin my new series of Thursday night studies on the apostle Paul. My approach will be a bit different than usual. I’m more interested in developing the background, particularly in Israelite religion and Judaism and looking at the way Paul draws from his theological sources. I’ll also introduce my approach to the subject….
The Separation and Grief of God
Last night my wife Jody and I recorded a conversation about grief for the Energion Publications Tuesday Night Hangout. Those who are calendar-aware, so to speak, might notice that it was on a Wednesday night. We had a technical issue, so the conversation was delayed. It was an interesting conversation, and, if I do say…
Hangout Postponed
The Tuesday Night Hangout will become a Wednesday Night Hangout because of a technical glitch. We’ll do this tomorrow night at 7:00 PM central time.
Energion Tuesday Night Hangout
Tonight I’ll be talking with my wife Jody, author of Grief: Finding the Candle of Light, in a hangout titled “Grief 12 Years Later.” We will talk about our experience 12 years after our son James went on to be with Jesus. Many Christians struggle over the experience of grief. We hope we can help…
Why I Believe in Dialogue, Respect, and the Gospel Commission
I’ve recently said and written a few things about the gospel commission, including my claim in my concluding presentation for my video series on eschatology that eschatology is all about the gospel commission. You’ll hear more about this in my foreword to Dave Black’s new book Running My Race. It’s in the final stages of…
On Using Titles in Church
Titles for people, that is. Thomas Hudgins makes some important points on this issue in a post on the Energion Discussion Network. I tend not to be radical (well at least I think so), but on this it seems like Jesus was pushing us pretty strongly away from hierarchies and spiritual authority. There’s a great—and quite…
Nobody Ever Thinks They Are Creating a New Denomination
Christopher Ritter is complaining, though only in the nicest, most creative way, about critics of the new Wesleyan Covenant Association. It’s interesting how efforts to reform often end up creating new denominations, even when the leaders don’t intend to do so. Just look at the example provided by Ritter in his post. I commend Ritter…
Eschatology: Finally and Final Tonight
No, it’s not the end of the world. It’s the end of my series. I went into my hiatus in presenting these studies one episode short of completing the series, so tonight I’ll be wrapping up the eschatology series and preparing for my next series which will be looking at Paul’s letters and their background,…
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible
A little over a week ago I reviewed the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible using the Olive Tree electronic edition. On Tuesday I received my hardcover copy from the publisher. (Note: I received this copy free of charge in exchange for an honest review. No other strings were attached!) This is not an extraordinarily new…
What It Takes to Get Bi-Partisan Action from Congress
Ticket scalping. Civilization will surely fall if they don’t get together on this one!
An Election for the 90s
Our crop of candidates, all parties and all levels are admirably intellectually equipped to guide our nation through the 1990s. As an example, one need only look at the incidents of hacking and the response to them. This is only going to get worse. It may not be the next war, but at some point…
Good Poll-Reading Advice from FiveThirtyEight.com
Here. There’s nothing quite so annoying as hearing people spin the polls.
Thoughts on Releasing a New Book about Jonah
I believe that it’s easy to let our theology keep us from reading the Bible, especially the narrative parts. The Bible is filled with stories. One example is the story of the flood. When Genesis 6 says (using the KJV), “It repenteth me that I have made man,” the first reaction is to try to…
Penal Substitution is ONE of the Ways to Talk about the Atonement
I think The Truth Is … Out There on the Wesley Bros. Blog did a good job of expressing this. To my liberal brothers and sisters: Yes, I do believe in penal substitution. To my conservative brothers and sisters: No, I don’t believe in it as the one and only way to believe in or…
Voting in the Primary
Well, I am a non-partisan voter, i.e. I am not registered with either of the major parties, and today was primary day here in Florida. I had a grand total of two items to vote on: A county commission race that would be decided by the primary, and an issue to vote on. Whenever there…
Review: NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible – Hebrews
Introduction #contextchangeseverything – yes, it does. But how? With the vast array of Bible study materials that are available in the English language comes a problem. How does one choose what materials are worth my time, shelf space (or HD space!), or money? If you search my blog for posts about study Bibles, you’ll find…
Courtesy Is not just for the Other Person
Probably as the result of the political correctness debate—well, perhaps not debate; more brouhaha—I hear or read frequent complaints about an expectation of courteous speech as though it’s an imposition. In order to cater to someone’s excessively fragile sensibilities, the argument goes, one is expected to deny the truth in favor of “political correctness.” In…
A UMC House Church
One of the points I have tried to make in my series regarding the books Seven Marks of a New Testament Church, Thrive: Spiritual Habits of Transforming Congregations, and Transforming Acts: Acts of the Apostles as a 21st Century Gospel is that one can follow these “Jesus principles” of church leadership under many different formal…
The Problem with Bible Outlines
Outlining is a valuable practice in Bible study. It can Help you understand the relationship between sections of a passage Direct you to the key point Clarify ambiguities Give you a feel for the structure of an author’s argument Clearly some of these overlap. One of the common practices in teaching the Bible, however, is…
Church (From My Twitter Fee
"Church" has become an organization that devours time and resources rather than a way of living that structures and empowers everything. — Henry Neufeld (@hneufeld) July 25, 2016
Thinking, Praying, and/or Acting
Frequently when there is a crisis or any form of trouble, Christians call for prayer. These calls can take many forms. In addition, a common comment from Christians is that we will pray about a situation. Now it’s quite possible that someone who says they will pray will limit their activities to just praying. It’s…
One can only hope …
One of my favorite TV episodes of all time is the West Wing episode In Excelsis Deo. In it, Toby Ziegler arranges a funeral for a homeless veteran of the Korean War who died of exposure. Toward the end, President Bartlet is asking Toby about his use of the president’s name to arrange it. ”…
Detecting Plagiarism in a Fantasy Universe
In the good old days when I had time to do fantasy role-playing games, stodgy traditionalists would object that it wasn’t real. Why spend your time on something that isn’t real? This was often said by people who would spend hours watching and discussing football games with approximately the same effect on reality. But I…