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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Devotionals on 2 Corinthians
My wife Jody notes that in my talk at a local church last Sunday night I commented that people read 1 Corinthians more than 2 Corinthians. I must add that I also said they read more Romans and Galatians than any Corinthians, but that’s beside the point. In any case she’s meditating her way through…
What I Get for not Blogging
… #50 in the Biblioblog Top 50. I’ll have to try to be more diligent!
Quote of the Day – June 23
From Dave Black Online, Rhino Evangelism: What a tragedy that some Christians, while having a commendable zeal for evangelism, also display the sweet approachability of a rhinoceros!
HCSB Interview
Some notes and a link on my book’s (What’s in a Version?) page.
Bruce Epperly on Prayer Changing Things
I wrote recently that I prefer “prayer changes you” to “prayer changes things” but I don’t deny that prayer changes things. But how? Bruce Epperly contributes a post to Ponderings on a Faith Journey that looks at this along with the idea of human freedom. I know that any form of open theism tends to…
On Publishing, Page Layout, and Busy-ness
I’m finally getting back to blogging, and even a little of my own writing on other subjects. I thought I’d comment on what has been going on here that kept me away from my blogs for so long. I note that my post Why I Am Blogging Less was published on May 6, so that’s…
Lectionary and Mosaic Bible – Pentecost + 3
I’m ending a hiatus in blogging of just over a month. I see my last post was dated May 8, 2010, but I was pretty sparse for a month before that. I’ll get a post up about what I was doing during that time. No, nothing adventurous; just trying to do necessary work to grow…
Alden Thompson – Jesus Solves All the Problems in Your Bible
I located this video today, and while I’m not blogging much these days, I wanted to share it. Alden was one of my teachers at Walla Walla College when I was in the Biblical Languages program there. I now publish his book Who’s Afraid of the Old Testament God?, now in it’s fourth edition. There…
Why I Am Blogging Less
I haven’t been very active on this blog or anywhere else over the last few weeks. That’s because work for my business has gotten pretty heavy. I even had to work with a cover designer via phone and e-mail while I entered his designs into the computer. Not being a very graphically oriented person made…
Somebody Needed a Dictionary
… to look up “suffrage.”
Where the Jobs Are Now
This book is outside of my area of expertise, but is expertly reviewed at Christian Personal Finance. I know many people are looking for this type of information.
Biblioblog Top 50 Posted
… and I got bumped to #16, which is not surprising given how little blogging I’ve been doing lately. Come to think of it, the really surprising thing was how long I stayed in the top 10! Thanks to Jeremy for his hard work and for “more cowbells.”
Immigration and a Police State
Does that sound too alarmist? I confess I’m always trying to find ways to write headlines that attract attention and I’m not very good at it. But I’m not sure that’s too alarmist for what’s going on in Arizona right now. I spent some time in Texas when I was in the Air Force, and…
Fouling the Water and Trampling the Food
That’s my post today on the Worldprayr blog. It’s based on parts of Ezekiel 34.
Review: Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Hebrews
My primary training in biblical studies placed an overwhelming emphasis on historical study. The idea was to get at the original meaning of the text as it would have been understood by those who first heard or read it. I should note that amongst my professors there was some desire to look at reception, and…
Christian Carnival CCCXXIV Posted
… at Other Food. I like the brief comment from the editor on each post.
How Bible Translation Should be Done
J. K. Gayle has a couple of posts on translating the Psalms that are really quite helpful. The first one I read, which is actually the second, is The Difficulty of Psalm 90, in which he discusses some thinking and feeling that may be generated by hearing the Psalm and the first one, which I…
On Character, Discontent, and the Old Testament
I have somewhat of a tradition of reflecting somewhere on my blogs about books I am about to publish. So today I want to look at Allan R. Bevere’s new book The Character of Our Discontent. Allan is a primarily New Testament trained preacher who has decided to take on some major passages in the…
Do You Deserve a Light or a Heavy Beating?
I’ve probably mentioned a few times that I studied under Dr. Alden Thompson at Walla Walla University (then WWC). He’s the one who taught me Hebrew, though actually I joined his class in the second year, and also introduced me to Aramaic. But more importantly, he introduced me to what I believe is a very…
Fantasy in Death – and Reality
I recently read J. D. Robb’s Fantasy in Death and enjoyed the advanced technology. I told my wife when we had both read it that I felt that some of the technology described was at least possible and might well happen sooner than later. Well, it’s not nearly that type of capability–we’re still a long…
What Allegiance Comes First
Dr. Bob Cornwall posts his sermon today, on Acts 5:27-32, dealing with an issue that is quite controversial in the American church, though I think it should not be: Where is my first allegiance as a Christian? He tells stories of early Christian martyrs and refers to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He concludes: Peter is asking us…
Gov. Crist Vetoes Merit Pay and Tenure Bill
You can find the full story in the Florida Times-Union. I am a supporter of merit pay, but in this case merit pay was tied to test results, which makes me much less happy. Even though I think pay should be based on merit everywhere, one must measure the merit in some realistic manner. I…
Adrian Warnock on the Doctrine of Scripture
And as you might expect, I’m disagreeing with him. In introducing a post urging people to read Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology (not a bad idea), he says: There is no more foundational subject than the doctrine of Scripture. All the current theological arguments that are causing such disruption in the Church today stem from a…
More on Florida HB31 and Inspirational Messages
I wrote about this before, and commented that it seemed to accomplish nothing–nothing, that is, except to possibly encourage some school boards to tangle with the federal courts. That version, however, has been replaced in committee. I’m going to do something I don’t usually do, and put in a “tear line” so this won’t get…