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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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The Importance of Experience
I was thinking of titling this “In Which I Annoy My Evangelical United Methodist Friends,” since so many of them are talking about the Wesleyan Quadrilateral and trying to privilege scripture within it in some way. I am not entirely in sympathy with many of these approaches. You see, the moment I decided to take…
What the Greek REALLY Says!
This was so good I had to embed it!
Forgiveness and Reconciliation
This past Tuesday night I had a conversation about forgiveness (with a long interlude on fiction writing!) with author Nick May. Nick was a last minute stand-in for two guests. My wife Jody was unable to participate because of a sore throat. Renee Crosby, author of the recent release The Fringe, had catastrophic technical difficulties,…
John Walton on Different Hermeneutical Presuppositions
In an interview published on The Jesus Creed, though released by IVP, John Walton comments on different hermeneutical presuppositions. He is referring to the endless debates about how and when creation took place, but the ideas might be useful regarding other topics. Walton: We too easily believe that the world of biblical interpretation is a…
On Violence and Suffering
My friend and Energion author Allan Bevere posted this morning on this topic, and I want to call attention to it for several reasons. First, this is a topic I find very interesting. Second, I think it’s appropriate to discuss the problems of violence and suffering together at some points. Third, I don’t think that…
What Is Really Essential in Christianity?
On February 24, 2015, I hosted a discussion between Energion authors Elgin Hushbeck, Jr. and Alden Thompson on the topic Biblical Essentials. Here’s the YouTube: Today another Energion author, Dr. Allan Bevere, posted an entry on his blog titled Doctrine: The House in which the Church Lives. (Allan Bevere and Alden Thompson will be participating…
Hangouts this Week
On the Tuesday night Energion hangout I will have as my guests Energion author Renee Crosby, whose recent novel The Fringe (eucatastrophe press, an Energion imprint) is generating some discussion, and Jody Neufeld, who, of course, has been with the company from the beginning! Our second release (the first after I purchased the company) was…
Review of Creation in Scripture by Herold Weiss
Hanz Gutierrez has reviewed Creation in Scripture by Herold Weiss on the Spectrum Magazine web site. Spectrum is published by the Association of Adventist Forums. Many may not realize that Dr. Weiss is Seventh-day Adventist, though he clearly differs with the officially proclaimed church view on creation. He describes his journey in another book, Finding…
YouTube Video Issue
I have posted a number of YouTube videos recently before I noticed they made a change in how they share. You can now share as a playlist starting with the current video or embed the particular video. Since I’m including my study on the gospel of John in a playlist as well as embedding individual…
According to John: Excursus #2 – Interview with Dr. Herold Weiss
You can get more details on the Google+ event, and you can watch either through that link, or using the viewer below. I apologize for posting this so late. I will post the YouTube and some comments tomorrow. Dr. Weiss is the author of the book I’m using for this study, Meditations on According to…
From My Editing Work: What is Stewardship?
I’m editing the manuscript for a new Topical Line Drives volume, Stewardship: God’s Way of Recreating the World, by Steve Kindle. It’s currently scheduled for the end of May, but I’m hoping we’ll get it out a bit earlier. Here’s a taste: The apostle Paul revealed to us the key to successful fundraising in his…
Thomas Hudgins Looks at Literal in Translation
The term “literal,” when used regarding translation, can drive translators quite mad, I think. But it is a commonly used word in the pews and the hallways of churches. “We don’t take things that literally around here,” is something I hear regularly in United Methodist churches. Which leaves the question of just how do we…
Christianity and Panentheism (YouTube Video)
My sister sent me a link to a video that I thought was helpful in some ways on this topic. Probably the most important thing here is that panentheism, process theology, and open theism are separate theological positions. Often two of these (panentheism + process & panentheism + open theism [less commonly]) may be held…
On John 3:14-21
In my According to John study I looked at this passage in some detail. Bob Cornwall is looking at it today in a rather good Lectionary meditation.
Fred Craddock Sermon in Memory
Well, I hadn’t heard him (as I posted a bit ago), but then Dave Black put this YouTube on his blog. I had to share it. My pastor does take a great deal from Fred Craddock, and acknowledges him just about every Sunday.
Remembering Fred Craddock
That’s the title of a post by Bob Cornwall, a friend and Energion author. He is actually remembering the man, whom he has heard preach. I never heard him preach, and I haven’t read any of his books, but I have gotten a strong dose of his stories through Dr. Wesley Wachob (First UMC, Pensacola)…
Dave Black on the American Dream
I just extracted a post from Dave Black’s blog and put it on The Jesus Paradigm. For those unacquainted with Dave’s blog, I do this so that I can get a permanent link, and I have his permission to do so. Dave asks some important questions. How do our values impact the way that we…
An Example of Doing Biblical Theology (Mark)
Drew Smith, author of Energion title Reframing a Relevant Faith, has posted an article, Mark’s Presentation of Jesus’ Vindication and Exaltation as an Act of God, which shows some of the nuts and bolts of biblical theology in process. Drew will be my guest on my study of According to John on April 16 to…
According to John and Psalm 82 Last Night
I’m embedding the viewer here. I spent a great deal of time on Psalm 82, and I think that trying to do that just straight talking until I was out of breath may not have been my best choice. I’ll consider posting further on Psalm 82 and John 10:34 here in writing and hopefully clarify…
Every Word from the Mouth of God
A commenter on my post Words from the Mouth of God asks: Would you please comment on Matthew 4:4 in this connection. Yes, and it’s a most helpful passage to bring up here, and it suggests quite a number of things to me. I’m going to look at the application in connection with what I…
Video Repost: Idolatry and Trust
My sister was going through my older YouTube videos and called my attention to the one titled Idolatry and Trust from six years ago. It relates to some of my more recent comments on God in my study on John. I’m amused to watch myself in this, as I clearly had a written transcript and…
According to John: Who Is This Son of Man?
I’m running a little behind today, so I’m just going to give you the link. You can check out the details via the event on Google+. The YouTube viewer is embedded below.
Words from the Mouth of God?
In comments to an earlier post one reader notes that there are those who call the Bible “words from the mouth of God.” I respond that I do not think the Bible is words from the mouth of God, but rather the testimony of people’s experience of God. There are those who think I diminish…
Energion Hangout this Evening
Using Google Hangouts on Air, I’ll be interviewing Energion author William Powell Tuck (The Last Words from the Cross, The Church Under the Cross, Journey to the Undiscovered Country, and many more) regarding the season of Lent, particularly as it relates to those who are undergoing trial and testing, those who suffer, and those who…