The Bible and Culture

The phone rang, the email came, and a book landed on my doorstep last week.   Now this happens all the time at this household, but this book was different.  It was the proofs of the new book by Pope Benedict on the life of Jesus, entitled Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week:  From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection  (St. Ignatius Press, 2011, 362 pages, $14.67 in hardback).   What was extraordinary about the contact was that the publicist or press secretary contacting me said I … [Read more...]

Certainly one of the major trends in my life time, is the coarsening of the culture broadly speaking.  We have TV shows that could never have made it on the air, movies that could never have made it in the theaters,  and pornography all over the internet, which would long ago have been banned from the internet, had the internet begun in say,  1951 when I was born.   Not only so but civil discourse on politics has degenerated into shock jocks and blow hards, who often know little about what … [Read more...]

One of my former Asbury Seminary students, who is a violinist, came up to me in church this morning so excited.  She had met the master  (no not that Jewish Master, another Jewish master--- musician) and gotten his autograph. She was simply bubbling over with joy.   I must admit I was as well after seeing him perform from the third row last Saturday night in Singletary auditorium in Lexington. The story of Itzak Perlman is a moving one.  Born in 1945 in Tel Aviv in what was then called … [Read more...]

Moyer V. Hubbard,  Christianity in the Greco-Roman World. A Narrative Introduction, (Baker, 2010), 344 pages,  $24.99. There are books which are coal mines, all you get out of them is stuff that quickly burns up--- lots of heat, not much light, and too much blown smoke.   And you end up with soot on your hands.   Then there are books that are like tin mines--- yes, they are useful, but its not the most precious metal and frankly its too fragile and malleable.  And then there are books … [Read more...]

 Greg Bandy from Asbury University called me, and asked me to join a preview of this movie over a week ago.  Unfortunately I was on a plane to New Orleans when it was being shown.  There were no divine adjustments in my schedule permitting me to see it then.   And that brings us to our movie, which is well worth the time and money to see.   Is it about predestination?  Well,  not exactly, though it has been billed that way.   Matt Damon is once again the hero of the film and he is … [Read more...]

I have seen some strange movies in my time.  You have to understand I grew up watching the Twilight Zone, so I know strange when I see it----- and Rango is got to be the strangest animated film posing as a children's movie I have ever seen.  It is cast as a Western, albeit a Western set in modernity, so there is a tiny 19th century style town called Dirt, and the Mayor has a plot and a plan to buy up all the land and build Phoenix.  I told you it was strange, but then the mayor is turtle who … [Read more...]

I have seen some strange movies in my time.  You have to understand I grew up watching the Twilight Zone, so I know strange when I see it----- and Rango is got to be the strangest animated film posing as a children's movie I have ever seen.  It is cast as a Western, albeit a Western set in modernity, so there is a tiny 19th century style town called Dirt, and the Mayor has a plot and a plan to buy up all the land and build Phoenix.  I told you it was strange, but then the mayor is turtle who … [Read more...]

I will be doing a half day seminar on Romans to kick off the Lenten season for Truro Church from 8:30- 1 p.m. next Saturday, March 12th.   Also I will be preaching on Sunday there, March 13th.  This is  in Fairfax Virginia. Ya'll come.     BW3 … [Read more...]

There is an interesting article in the Huffington Post by Phil Zuckerman and others about a recent Pew  Survey of the social and political views of Evangelicals compared to the teachings of  Jesus (including the Sermon on the Mount).    Here is the intro paragraph..... "The results from a recent poll published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/Tea-Party-and-Religion.aspx) reveal what social scientists have known for a long time: … [Read more...]

Google Alert this morning----  See this link---http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.prlog.org/11351719-biblical-archaeology-review-announces-its-marchapril-2011-issue.html … [Read more...]