Do anthropological differences between our individualistic/wealth driven culture and the honor/shame culture of the Middle East (throughout the ages) matter when reading text? Take for example the story of Noah and the flood. This question was asked when last I discussed the flood in . . . . Continue Reading »
This started as a reply about hermeneutic in the context of the flood on my personal blog. Do we take the flood literally or not. My interlocutor was exasperated exclaiming that to not take the text literally implies words have no meaning. This is exactly backwords. Here is my response to him.Yes, . . . . Continue Reading »
Russell Moore preaches one that everyone should hear, from 04 March 2010 at SBTS: Archived at Archive.Org if you want to podcast it and save it for later; you could also subscribe to the SBTS podcast and really give yourself a . . . . Continue Reading »
Just about every evangelical church has lay people positioned as elders and teachers, rarely with formal theological training. Obviously, formal training doesn’t necessarily make one a good teacher, but it gives warrant to the belief that the person has a certain degree of knowledge of what . . . . Continue Reading »
David T. Koyzis offers some remarks (with helpful links) on the lectionaries used in various churches. One thing I’ve observed regarding common homiletics and the effect short readings have on our Scriptural interpretation. We are all quite familiar with exegetical methods and pastoral lessons . . . . Continue Reading »
Sometimes we give ascent to anyone who accepts the label “evangelical” without appraising their actual belief system. For instance, Beth Moore treats the Word as an allegory to apply it to life. As the following analysis provides, she takes the content and does not give it any direct . . . . Continue Reading »
Frank Turk offers an example of why hermeneutics (what/how we extract meaning from text) is important. I’ll offer a quote to spur discussion:It is curious, to say the least, that many Americans read the Bible and claim to understand what its authors mean. For early Christian authors and their . . . . Continue Reading »
Just to keep things interesting, I’m posting my response to JMR on the front page here. I thank him for his engagement on this issue, even if he is actually wrong about a lot of things.I think the heart of our disagreement is the Bible and how to read it.I think that’s unquestionably . . . . Continue Reading »
I have been sojourning with the Israelites in the Book of Numbers. The twentieth chapter contains an enigmatic story. At Kadesh, on the borders of Edom, Moses displeased the Lord and was not permitted to enter the promised land. What is the nature of the sin and does it warrant the extreme . . . . Continue Reading »
Have you ever conceived of God as mother? Moses did.Tonight my paternalistic view of God was challenged in the Book of Numbers. Just as a hungry baby turns to his mother, so did the sojourning Israelite.Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann has a special gift for opening eyes to biblical texts . . . . Continue Reading »
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