The Bible and Culture

One of the things that constantly strikes me about the U.S. when I come back from overseas  doing preaching or teaching or writing, or mission work of some kind, is just how spoiled so many Americans are, perhaps even the majority of Americans.  Indeed, ‘spoiling yourself’ or ‘spoiling your own children’ is seen as a good thing here.  As Americans, we think we are entitled to live the lifestyles of the rich and famous, even if it gets us into enormous debt.  We are entitled to a … [Read more...]

This review appears in this months  Baptist Today News Journal and was written by Tony Cartledge.  ---------------- Readers who would enjoy mystery thrillers while picking up biblical and cultural information from the Middle East will find an emerging series of novels by Ben and Ann Witherington to be just their cup of Turkish coffee.  Ben Witherington III is an accomplished New Testament professor and author who teaches at Asbury Theological Seminary and St. Andrews University. … [Read more...]

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  Roman swords and sandals epics have become more frequently seen attractions on the silver screen ever since the major success of Gladiator. 'The Eagle' is another such tale, based on the true story of the disappearance of the Ninth Legion (Hispania) in what we today call Scotland.  The time is 140 A.D., Hadrian's wall divides England from Scotland,  and for one hour and 54 minutes we are presented with the tale of  Marcus  Flavius Aquila  (the last name in fact means eagle) who has … [Read more...]

It's  St. Valentine's day,  a day which once was a holy day, and now has become a holiday.  While I could spend some time as I have before on this blog on the subject of who St. Valentine really was,  in the wake of the recent provocations by Jennifer Wright Knust and Michael Coogan trying to reinvent the wheel in regard the Bible's supposedly mixed message on sexual ethics, in particular on the ethics of same sex  sexual intercourse,  it's time to say--- enough, is enough. Neither the … [Read more...]

Papias and the Mysterious Menorah: A Review Posted on February 9, 2011 by Mark Stevens It is unknown to many people, as well as being a well-known New Testament Scholar, movie critic and poet Ben Witherington is an accomplished writer of historical/mystery novels. A few years ago, after completing numerous works (including a commentary on every NT book), Ben and his wife Ann turned to writing historical/mystery novels. As a result the Art West adventure series was born. Papias and the … [Read more...]

Lent will be upon us soon, and time to repent of our bad hobbits, err  habits.   One hobbit I will not be repenting of however is the Peter Jackson produced films of the same name.   Jackson recently had emergency surgery, so the production schedule is a bit behind, but will begin on March 21 as Lent is underway.  All the sites in New Zealand have already been scouted, and it looks like we will see more rather than less familiar faces from the LOTR series in this film as well.   I was … [Read more...]

  I have spent a good deal of time in Egypt, that most ancient of all countries, and I like the Egyptian people a lot.  And if you have been paying attention, we have just had an important moment in history this week,  as through moral force, not violence, the Egyptian people have overthrown a much loathed dictator with cries of freedom and democracy.  As Martin Luther King Jr. once said,  there is something in the soul of a human being that cries out for freedom.  And we have heard that … [Read more...]

As some of you already know,  last May I took the whole month to do hi def filming in the lands of the Bible.   The goal was to produce introductory level books with a DVD to help lay people and entry level college and seminary students get a sense of the context of the ministry of Jesus, Paul, and other early Christians.    I am pleased to announce that probably about time for Easter, the first On the Road with Jesus book and DVD will be out and will be just as reasonably priced as the … [Read more...]

Kudos to Katya for finding this.   Bw3 … [Read more...]