The Bible and Culture

( I don't normally do more than offer links and small quotes as requested from the NY Times, but this article strikes a major nerve and is so important that I am making a one time exception....)The Flight From ConversationBy SHERRY TURKLE Published: NY Times April 21, 2012WE live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection.At home, families sit together, texting and reading e-mail. … [Read more...]

(Here is a fine homiletical research piece by one of my students in Asbury's ACE program. See what you think). Whether a cram sermon writing session on Saturday night or a well thought out sermon series prepared over weeks’ time, pastors, at least the good ones, hope their Sunday morning messages do not fall on deaf ears. A greater hope may be that those who have come did not just “hear the Good News,” but are so inspired to go out and apply the content of the morning message and S … [Read more...]

James Howell is the senior ministry at my home church-- Myers Park UMC in Charlotte. See what you think of the following post. http://revjameshowell.blogspot.com/ … [Read more...]

NT Studies and the Septuagint by larryhurtadoIt has often struck me as curious that the "Septuagint" (LXX) as been so widely neglected among NT scholars, and so often overlooked by PhD students in the field. So, e.g., when PhD students tackle the meaning of some OT passage cited or alluded to in the NT, or the meaning of some word/expression that seems to be derived from the OT, they often (typically?) conduct an admirably detailed analysis of the Hebrew OT passage, but do little (often … [Read more...]

The much anticipated, and now World Number One movie (grossing already a staggering one billion dollars), the Avengers has hit the movie screens in at three formats (2D, 3D, real 3D) and I will tell you now, you will do just as well to see it in 2D instead of 3D, unless you have real 3D. So much of Jos Whedon's first Marvel movie is shot in the dark that the dark 3D glasses make it frankly too dark to enjoy some of the crucial dark scenes. This is not a problem with the real 3D where the … [Read more...]

Here is a useful reminder of online resources on text criticism.by larry hurtadoOne of the growth areas in biblical studies of the last several decades has been textual criticism. This is certainly true for NT studies, and seems to me to be the case also in Hebrew OT and LXX studies. It is particularly encouraging that this growth in interest is represented among students and younger scholars in the field. As well, a wider public seem always interested in any developments.So, I … [Read more...]

Dr. James Charlesworth is a distinguished member of the faculty at Princeton, and a fellow United Methodist in connection with the Western N.C. Conference. Jim is a friend and I have known him for years, and asked him to do a little Q and A to help clear up some of the misconceptions about the 'Patio' or Talpiot B tomb. I think you will find it enlightening. It reminds us that archaeological evidence is often quite ambiguous and equally good scholars can come to different, even diametrically … [Read more...]

Top 10 Reasons Why Men Shouldn’t Be Ordained(Kudos to Jason Jackson for this).10. A man’s place is in the army. 9. For men who have children, their duties might distract them from the responsibilities of being a parent. 8. Their physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do other forms of work. 7. Man was created before woman. It is therefore obvious that man was a prototy … [Read more...]

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