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…
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Dividing the Essentials
C. Michael Patton has a seven level division that has “essential for salvation” at the core, and “pure speculation” as the outer layer. Now what I’m wondering is whether getting the division of your essentials right is an essential or not. It makes one wonder!
Inspiration from the Bible with One Click
I have an e-mail (spam, really) in my inbox that tells me I can get inspiration from the Bible with one click. The e-mail even has a large blue button with the words “Click Here” on it, just in case I need more guidance. This is one of my pet peeves. There is no shortcut…
An Interpreter for Greek
Dave Black comments on one of my pet peeves, the use of Greek, generally incorrectly used, in sermons. I have gone so far as to tell people that when you hear a preacher say, “what the Greek really says is …” or something similar you are about to be misinformed. Dave thinks this might be…
About the Rand Paul Filibuster
Roll Call lists 10 Best Moments from the Rand Paul Filibuster. I’m not a fan of Rand Paul, but I respect him more after this filibuster than before. It was for a good cause, and one which should have gotten much more attention. Indeed, there are a number of other areas where we have handed…
Women in First Century Judaism
Scot McKnight links to a 2009 post on the Yinon blog that’s worth a read.
For All Our Northern Friends
Here’s what’s outside!
State of Income Inequality in the United States
I’m posting this for discussion. I plan to use as the question in our Energion political debate in April. Right now the participants are discussing the budget. From the middle of March (March 21) into April they’ll be discussing the role of government and why they take the position they do. Then starting April 18…
The Most Annoying Ad on Television
There are so many annoying ads on television it’s hard to nominate the most annoying one, but I think the ads for ChristianMingle.com have the inside track on such an award. It’s not that I object to online dating services as such, though I have numerous reservations. (Fortunately I’m married and my children are married….
Stuff Christians Say
Well, sort of … If you talk like this, consider a change! HT: The Internet Monk
The March of the What?
In French, the title of The March of the Penguins was La Marche de l’Empereur (The March of the Emperor). Knowing that, behold, an ad for the film shown on French television. HT: Why Evolution is True.
The Bible Video Series: Not Too Bad
As I watched The Bible last night I had in mind titling my note this morning, “not as bad as I expected.” Unfortunately for my title, Peter Enns managed a better one: “The Bible” on the History Channel: Not the Absolute Train Wreck I Thought it Would Be. I also generally agree with his comments,…
How Could the Holocaust Get More Shocking?
It seems it can do so by fully documenting the extent of the camps and other facilities involved. Just using the term “facilities” there makes my skin crawl, but I can’t think of another word at the moment. HT: The Jesus Blog
Daniel Wallace on Manuscripts of Q
There’s a great moment in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (the book, not sure about the movie) when the truly incredible synthesizer on the ship is trying to produce tea. The results? Something almost, but not quite totally unlike tea. Daniel Wallace asks whether manuscripts of Q still exist, and prefaces his answer with:…
February 2013 Biblical Studies Carnival Posted
… at Delving into the Scriptures.
Two Things that Lead Toward Christian Unity
There are two things I’ve noticed in my own life and in the lives of people I know that tend to lead toward less divisiveness and greater Christian unity. These are: 1) A focus on doing mission 2) A focus on the study of scripture What’s interesting is that people can differ on how to…
The Premier 2013 Biblical Studies Carnival Posted
… at Zwinglius Redivivus, complete with lofty claims. Go forth and check those claims thoroughly!
Too Sensitive?
Probably.
Greg Boyd and Spiritual Warfare
Scot McKnight has a post titled Greg Boyd and Hostile Forces, referencing Boyd’s contribution to the book Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Four Views. This is a book I’m adding to my reading list. The thing that interests me most about this is the idea that scripture doesn’t (broadly) support the idea that everything that happens is…
Quote of the Day
From David Alan Black: … hermeneutics is simply the prelude to obedience. It should cause one to think.
In Memoriam: John William McKenzie Brady
In Memoriam: John William McKenzie Brady
The UMC and Innovation
Or you might say, denominations (or even just “organizations”) and innovation. We don’t have to work within the system if we don’t want to. We can work without it. We can go outside of it. We can leave it if it continues to stifle us. I might have preferred “if God calls us to,” but…
Fiscal Cliff Deal Results in Abuse of Language
From CNN: “Two hours after their midnight deadline, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a last-minute deal Tuesday to avert the feared fiscal cliff on a 89-8 vote.” To put a charitable construction on it, they mean the deal was made at the last-minute and passed two hours after the deadline, but if you pass it after…
Is the Virgin Birth a Mistranslation?
Mark Goodacre has an excellent podcast on this question. What I’d want to get across in a brief answer to this question is: 1) Greek parthenos is not necessarily a bad translation of Hebrew almah. The semantic ranges do overlap substantially, though (as Mark points out) parthenos tends more toward “virginity.” 2) For reasons that…