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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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BioLogos and Reasons to Believe in Dialogue
While I am much more in support of the approach of BioLogos than Reasons to Believe, I’m glad to see that they are discussing. Perhaps laying out the details of each group’s approach may help Christians understand the issues more clearly. I see very little future, however, for the day-age theory, despite its strong acceptance…
Quote of the Day – on Genesis 15:6
… In the Tanakh, faith does not mean believing in spite of the evidence. It means trusting profoundly in a person, in this case the personal God who has reiterated His promise. (from The Jewish Study Bible: featuring The Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation, page 35.) I think that’s an excellent statement of what faith…
Josh Mann Series on Existentialism and Hermeneutics
I believe that as Christians, we need to think a great deal more about how we understand scripture. So I welcome this series by Josh Mann at for the Sake of Truth. I’m going to follow it, and possibly respond when it is complete. The first part deals with the definition of hermeneutics and the…
Christian Carnival CCCXVI Posted
… at Crossroads.
Answering a Question on Egalitarianism
I already responded to one post by Michael Patton on this topic (Am I a Complementarian?), but he followed this up with a question. I have been so busy with the release of my latest book (co-authored with Geoffrey Lentz) that I have fallen well behind the progress of this topic, but I still want…
Christian Carnival CCCXVI Posted
… at Crossroads.
Can the Bible Be Alone?
Clayboy asks whether “the Bible alone” is an oxymoron. Now I sympathize with the question, because I have been dealing in another forum (the issue arises in the last 100 messages or so) with someone who seems to think that a text can have meaning with no context at all, or more precisely that the…
Notes on Leviticus Commentaries
A few weeks ago I compared two commentaries on Leviticus. One of these was Samuel E. Balentine’s volume in the Interpretation commentary series. In that review I noted that I was only half-way through my read of Balentine, but thought I could still make some valid comments. I have now finished my read, and I…
Christian Carnival Call for Submissions
I’ve been a bit delinquent in that I occasionally host the Christian Carnival, but I haven’t regularly announced it. The carnival is posted each Wednesday, and submissions are due by midnight Tuesday, though they are welcomed earlier. The next carnival will be hosted by Crossroads, and the best way to submit your entry is by…
Great Dismissive Review Line
Steve Matheson regarding Chapter 6 of Steven Meyer’s Signature in the Cell: “It’s short, unimportant and uninteresting.” That will show him!
Am I a Complementarian?
Michael Patton has taken it upon himself to define both complementarianism and egalitarianism and I think he gets it almost completely wrong. Now I must note that I really like reading Michael Patton’s blog posts and I think he writes with an irenic tone that promotes Christian unity, and in the end he does that…
Christian Carnival CCCXV Posted
… at Ancient Hebrew Poetry. We could call this one the “he did it his way” edition. I’m personally quite favorable to the idea of a bit of variety in approaches to the carnival, including this one.
Congratulations to the British
According to Newsweek, Britain’s Court of Appeals has ordered the release of information on the torture of a British resident while in U. S. custody (HT: Dispatches). Both the Bush and then the Obama administrations have argued against releasing this information and threatened the British with refusing to share intelligence if it was released. I…
More on the Citizens United Case
I commented on this case earlier, and I still stand by what I said, but via Dispatches from the Culture Wars I found this article by Julian Sanchez, and he asks a very valid question. On the one hand, maybe for all our folly we’re basically engaged enough—or the people who decide to vote are…
Sacrificing for Joy
The Old Testament Lectionary passage for the first Sunday in Lent, cycle C is Deuteronomy 26:1-11. It’s kind of an odd text for this season. You might almost use it as a text for Fat Tuesday. I’m going to comment more on the lectionary texts this week, if for no other reason than because I’ve…
Affliction as Our Schoolmaster
St. John Chrysostom on affliction as our schoolmaster at Classical Arminianism. After reading it, ask yourself how much affliction deepens your Bible study.
Lent with Lectionary and the Mosaic Bible
It’s been some time since I posted on the Mosaic Bible in connection with lectionary reading, but we’re entering an excellent season for using these tools together. (For what it’s worth, I use The Text this Week for the lectionary passages.) While the passages don’t match for the first week of Lent, the Mosaic Bible…
Learning and Living Scripture
… is the title of my latest, and forthcoming, book, with co-author Geoffrey Lentz. Geoffrey is associate pastor of First United Methodist Church in Pensacola, FL and has become a regular collaborator on the Participatory Study Series, whence comes the name of this blog. He also has an Energion Publications author page. Learning and Living…
La Sierra Board Makes a Statement
I would say it’s a statement on creation and evolution, but I’m not quite sure what it is. Earlier (Seventh-day Adventist Education and Evolution) I wrote about the concerns about the teaching of evolution in biology classes at La Sierra University, a Seventh-Day Adventist school in California. (I was raised in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church…
Claims and Actions about the Bible
The surest sign that somebody doesn’t read the Bible that much is that they claim to do everything it says. Now there are lots of ways to nuance that statement, but I’ve found that in general those who make the claim are unaware of many commands of the Bible, and don’t have an explanation for…
On Mythicist Views of Jesus
For those who may not watch all these things the term “mythicists” refers to those who believe Jesus never existed, that the stories about him were made up at some point and were not even centered on a minimal historical figure. There is a near alternative which holds that there were so few valid words…
On Measuring Results – World Prayer Blog
I have a post today at the World Prayer Blog that discusses measuring the results of prayer.
On Etymological and Anti-Etymological Fallacies
Clayboy has an excellent post on preachers who say “What the Greek really means…” or words to that effect. I was drawn to this one because of my own experience. My wife tells me that when we first got married she quickly got used to watching me during sermons. I need to tell you that…
Justice Thomas on Citizens United
I don’t find myself agreeing wholeheartedly with Justice Thomas very often, but Allan Bevere calls attention to remarks he made in Florida (NY Times), and I think he makes some very good points. Allan says: Interesting, isn’t it? In the fear over the corrupting influence of lots of money, some folk haven’t even considered the…