Featured Posts
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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…
Social Notes (see all)
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Trailer and Theme for My Study of John
Above is the theme banner for my study of the gospel of John. The video below is a trailer for it. I am working on getting used to video. I’m more comfortable with text, I think.
Received Next Round of ALGNT
And what is ALGNT? I’m glad you asked! That’s Aprenda a Leer el Griego del Nuevo Testamento. Thomas Hudgins has just forwarded the latest round of corrections. You haven’t lived until you’ve laid out a Greek grammar written in Spanish, always assuming Spanish is, for you as for me, a second language.
Sunday School Today: Authority and Truth
I think I titled the next chapter in my book When People Speak for God rather pretentiously: Authority and Truth. That’s what we’ll be discussing today in my Sunday School class. As I was reading the chapter, I came across the following, which ties into several things I’m thinking about these days: There is, however,…
Studying Through John
With the new year I’m starting a new online study, working through the Gospel of John using Herold Weiss’s book Meditations on According to John. A previous effort by my wife and I to conduct a group discussion failed both due to our schedules and due to low participation. In this case, I will be…
Interview with Dr. Bruce Epperly
On Tuesday, January 6, 2015, I will be interviewing Dr. Bruce Epperly on his newly released book Finding God in Suffering: A Journey with Job. I’ve just completed a trailer for this event: You can watch the actual event here:
Of Scholarship and Tribalism
When I was working on my MA, one of my professors recommended a paper I had written for publication. He suggested submitting it to the university’s journal, Andrews University Seminary Studies. I was of course greatly pleased to have one of my papers recognized in this way, especially considering the respect I had for that…
So Why Don’t We Do Something about It?
I’ve been exchanging thoughts with Dave Black about the pastoral role and biblical languages, including textual criticism. One of my difficulties here is that I am more likely dealing with people on a day to day basis who are not well acquainted with their English Bibles, and thus it’s a bit harder to talk about…
Merry Christmas
My favorite from my own Christmas essays is God Does Things Backwards. I commend it to you today.
Embrace Interpretation
When I tell someone that they need to consider how they interpret a particular verse, I often get that glazed-over or eye-roll expression that says, “There you go again. Why can’t it just be simple?” The fact, however, is that we have to interpret everything. As I look out my window at the branches of…
Should Pastors Learn Textual Criticism?
I’ve been watching one discussion and participating in another that converge in this post. The first discussion is via blogs, David Alan Black (extracted to The Jesus Paradigm for a permanent link) and Thomas Hudgins both posting significant numbers of entries recently regarding textual criticism. The second is one I’ve had personally, and it regards…
Links: Some C. S. Lewis on Christmas
Thomas Hudgins provides samples: here, here, and here. For those who may not know, Thomas Hudgins is the lead translator for the Spanish edition of David Alan Black’s intorductory Greek grammar, Aprenda a Leer el Griego del Nuevo Testamento, which we expect to start shipping around mid-January 2015. If I can find the time, I’m…
Something Positive To Watch This Morning!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=p2zUf06iy1A
Google Hangout Tonight: Is Your Faith Relevant?
Tonight I’ll be interviewing two Enerigon authors, Drew Smith (Reframing a Relevant Faith) and Lee Harmon (The River of Life: Where Conservative and Liberal Christianity Meet) about what their faith means to them, especially in the context of the holidays. You can watch the event right here, using the viewer below, or you will be…
Against Torture
I think it’s as simple as that. I’m against it. Energion author Bob Cornwall writes about it, and I agree. I saw one question that disturbed me, not in that I don’t know how to respond, but in what else it may suggest. The question is whether I’d support torture if an individual knew where…
Helping One Another Change
I just extracted a note from Dave Black’s blog to The Jesus Paradigm. (That site supports his book by the same name as well as a few others that don’t have their own domain name.) In it Dave talks about admonishing, encouraging, and upholding. You’ll have to go read the post to find out what…
The Very Model of a Biblical Philologist
Too funny! (Hat tip: Jim West)
Recommending a New Blog: Across the Atlantic
My friend Thomas Hudgins is starting a new blog, which will have material from two radically different points of view. I’d love to see more of this sort of thing—people of substantially different views actually communicating! Check out Across the Atlantic.
Being Subject to the Authorities
While I haven’t written anything on it myself, I’ve published quite a number of books regarding how Christians should relate to authority. These include Christian Archy and The Jesus Paradigm (David Alan Black), Ultimate Allegiance and Faith in the Public Square (Bob Cornwall), Rendering unto Caesar (Chris Surber), and Preserving Democracy (Elgin L. Hushbeck, Jr.)….
Three Little Pigs
With a hat tip to Jacob Cerone. I nearly died laughing.
Advent-Christmas Sale from Energion Publications
I want to let all my readers know that my company, Energion Publications, including all our imprints (Enzar Empire Press, EnerPower Press, eucatastrophe press, as well as our main Energion Publications) have all books on sale for 25% off with the coupon code Advent2014 at Energion Direct. Just enter the code at checkout and get…
Hangout Tonight: Truly Serving the Homeless
I’ll be hosting a Google Hangout on Air tonight discussing how we can truly serve and relate to the homeless in and around our communities. Authors Renee Crosby (Soup Kitchen for the Soul, The Fringe [forthcoming]) and Shauna Hyde (Victim No More, Fifty Shades of Grace, The Vicar of Tent Town [forthcoming]) will be giving…
Some Comments on Writing Introductions with Special Attention to John
I’m planning to start doing some discussion of Bible passages using Google Hangouts on Air during the coming year. Basically, I’m going to work through material I intend to use in Sunday School. One may ask why I’m doing this, considering that the last time I tried, I had little success. Well, the difference is…
Where I Work
I don’t do that much blogging that’s personal. I mostly do opinion stuff. So heres a picture of my work area a couple of days ago and I’m going to say a bit about it. I work in a 12×24 portable building that I had finished inside. It’s well insulated and it’s air conditioned. The…
Rambling Through Ephesians
This past Sunday I was reading the Lectionary passages for Christ the King Sunday in which the epistle is Ephesians 1:15-23, in which Paul gives thanks for the Ephesian believers. I find the style of Ephesians quite fascinating, and especially these long prayer passages. In fact, I used two of them in a pamphlet I…