Featured Posts
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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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Free Book from My Company
Giving away one free copy of God’s Desire for the Nations: The Missionary Theology of John Piper (Energion Publications).
Witnessing and Friendship (Again)
Some time back I wrote a post titled Witness without Being a Pest. There are a number of things that make Christians pests when they witness, but I think the most important is when we think witnessing is a separate activity that we “do” as opposed to something that happens when we live. If you…
Not Following the Herd
Really? It’s hard not to resemble this cartoon from The Naked Pastor: (HT: Exploring Our Matrix)
Have You Ever Crossed the Street?
No, I don’t mean this in the very literal sense, but either in the spiritual sense or in terms of affiliation. One of the defining experiences of my life involves crossing the street in this sense. I grew up as a Seventh-day Adventist. That involves quite a number of things, including keeping the Sabbath (Saturday)…
Free Copies of The Jesus Paradigm
My company Energion Publications is offering five free copies of The Jesus Paradigm by David Alan Black. All you have to do is comment on the post and you’re on the list from which five recipients will be selected.
What Makes a Doctrine (of Creation) Christian?
I put “of creation” in parentheses, because the question might be answered in similar ways for other doctrines. What follows is a short quote from a book, Creation: The Christian Doctrine by Edward W. H. Vick, my company is about to release. I’m doing a number of “final” things on it right now. This caught…
About Not Blogging
I’ve been even more irregular than usual in my blogging over the last couple of months. My excuse is that my company, Energion Publications, has been going through a transition which has kept me incredibly busy. The transition is a good one. We were in a position to improve some of our equipment and tools…
Book Review: She’s Got Issues by Nicole Unice
Note: You may be asking why a guy is reviewing this book. The reason is that I’m not. This post is a guest post from my wife Jody, who decided to review this book after seeing on the list from Tyndale Blog Network. I am crossposting it her from her Jody Along the Path blog…
In Which I Discover that I Am Not a Thinking Person
I just made this discovery this morning. I mentioned Jerry Coyne’s site in an earlier post Five Sites I read Because I Disagree, and I still read it. I get some good information about evolutionary science and great cat pictures and videos. But Jerry Coyne is not particularly friendly to believers. Now I want to…
Asked to Move in Church?
I’m one of those people who tend to sit in or near the same place every week. In fact, in one church I attended, when I consciously decided to move, someone jokingly told me that I shouldn’t have moved, because they used to find their pew by seeing where I sat, and then sitting a…
March Biblical Studies Carnival Posted
… at Zwinglius Redivivus.
A New Testament Political Theology
Dave Black has some very useful comments on political activism, responding to a video by N. T. Wright, which I’ll embed here: I appreciate this video for several items, but I even more appreciated Dave Black’s comments. I personally am politically active. I always vote. I often advocate for various causes or candidates, and…
Joel Watts Quoting Edward Vick
Joel Watts is quoting from a book I publish, From Inspiration to Understanding. I’d like to get more involved, but for now, check out his quote. My company (Energion Publications) will be releasing a new book by Dr. Vick, Creation: The Christian Doctrine, taking the approach of systematic theology. This will be released some time…
1st Century Church?
My wife Jody is again writing about the first century church. She wonders if we want to just visit it for one hour per week. We have both previously written on this topic. To be honest, I don’t think that many people are really interested in a church like the first century church. I suspect…
Michael Bird on Studying the Gospels
Michael Bird has a really excellent post on critical and faithful study of the gospels. I’m not going to extract from it, though my hat tip goes to Darrell Pursiful who extracted an excellent quote. I was reminded of a book my company published recently, From Inspiration to Understanding: Reading the Bible Seriously and Faithfully….
March Abnormally Interesting Biblical Studies Carnival Posted
… at — you guessed it — Abnormal Interests!
Seasons of the Church Year
I grew up in a Christian group that did not follow the Christian liturgical calendar. There were many arguments presented for this, including the pagan backgrounds of some holidays. I’m not going to discuss that issue except to say that I care very little about the background of the day. What I care about is…
The Earliest Gospel of Mark Has NOT Been Found
I’m trying to correct some headlines. OK, my headline is wrong also, intentionally so. Here’s what happened: Dan Wallace said in a debate that a fragment of Mark has been found which one paleographer dated to the 1st century. There has been a good deal of discussion of this on the biblioblogs, for example, John…
What Disastrous Situation
… could possibly make Donald Trump a “great” candidate for president? It’s one of the worst comments on our political system that anyone even pretends to take him seriously.
Marks of a Unified Church
Walter Brueggemann suggests how we might avoid getting tangled up on secondary issues: (HT: Allan R. Bevere)
This Does NOT Represent Family Values
In a blog on the American Family Association web site, Bryan Fischer has named Jessica Ahlquist, the High School student in Rhode Island who was plaintiff in a case against a prayer banner in her school, to his “American Association of Religious Bigots.” In doing so he calls her a “little atheist bully” and a…
Repelling Young People
“So, in a spirit of Christian solidarity, I decided to help these churches expel young people once and for all.” This is too good! Read the rest.
Dutch Sheets and Dominionism
I have previously written about the term “dominionism,” one which I don’t find very helpful as a label for a political position. So I was very interested to hear Dutch Sheets, one of those called (by some) a dominionist, make reference to the term. I was invited as a Christian leader to hear Dutch Sheets…
Cooperative Missions
Dave Black wants us to do church planting cooperatively. We should!