Our conversation yesterday about vocation enlightened me and made me thankful for this blog. For me especially was the realization that I could insert into conversations with students the reality that many will change their minds over their lifetime about what one does. But someone wrote in and I’d like to hear your response to this one: |inline Read more
Paul’s missionary strategy amazes us at this juncture: his mission to the Gentiles is designed to provoke jealousy among Israel so that it, too, will turn to faith in the Messiah. And his theology shapes it all: his Gentile readers cannot become proud of their status but must see themselves as part of a redemptive process (Rom. 11:13-16). |inline Read more
I routinely have students in my office who are puzzled — or lots more than that — about “what they should do” when they graduate. They wonder about vocation, about God’s will, about “the plan,” and about what they are good at. However you want to describe it, at some point students cross the threshold from school into the work world, and that threshold causes plenty of Angst. |inline Read more
I’m doing some reading for a short piece on the doctrine of Scripture. One of the issues pressing many revolves around the unity of the Bible — is it Scripture or is it scriptures? — which provokes the question also about the nature of Scripture: What is it? Well, we’ve got a good book to help us along in such an inquiry: Justin S. Holcomb’s Christian Theologies of Scripture. Holcomb is the editor for a multi-authored volume of essays. |inline Read more
Paul interprets Israel’s “stumbling” as not completely permanent. Israel’s present stumbling over the stumbling-stone (Christ) benefits the Gentiles. Thus: “through their stumbling salvation has now come to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:11). |inline Read more
For a long time I’ve wanted to do a series on women in ministry, but not only is a blog not the ideal place for such a series, many of us get so riled up that conversation slips all too quickly into accusation. Our last post about Women in Ministry, however, proved to me that bloggers can engage in a conversation without losing their sanctification. So, I’ve got an invitation: |inline Read more
“In”-God and “Un”-God is my expression for the transcendence of God, the God who is so unlike the absorption of so many with an “immanent” God-who-is-alot-like-us- but just-a-little-bit-more-than-us but before whom very few sense awe. To help us forward with our thoughts, I’ll be looking at F. LeRon Shults, Reforming the Doctrine of God. |inline Read more
Wright explains what Paul means by “hardening” in Romans 11:7: “What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened…” citing then Deut 29:4; Isa 29:10 and then Psalm 69:22-23. What does “hardening” mean? |inline Read more
Camps and camping have been special to many of us for a long, long time. My theory about what makes camps tick — and I’d like to know your thoughts — is that they “encapsulate” people. That is, people get away from social and financial and home-y and all other distractions and have time to think about God, about their life, and about their church. |inline Read more
Kris and I had a wondrous time at Mission Meadows camp in Dewittville NY (on Chautauqua Lake). Family and Fellowship. |inline Read more
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