I’m not a big fan of disaster movies, with rare exceptions (e.g. Titanic, Poseidon Adventure). This movie is another one of those rare exceptions. It is excellent from stem to stern, or port to bow, or front to back. The acting is excellent, the story is believable, the disaster was real, and the consequences catastrophic. If you ever had a doubt about what a disaster fossil fuel (aka oil) drilling can be, watch this movie, or just ask a lot… Read more

Ben Witherington: Do We Think Theologically and Ethically about Our Work? Read more

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Ah, real libraries. They appear to be endangered species the way people are reading less and less real books, as in the kinds that sit on shelves in libraries. The kind where you have actual knowledgeable librarians, and don’t assume you know everything because you can browse it on the internet. Well the picture above is the Louis Round Wilson library on the campus of UNC, and I am proud to say, he was a relative of mine— we called… Read more

[The following is an excellent post by my friend James Howell, senior minster at Myers Park UMC in Charlotte. I think it’s a needed word in this contentious season. See what you think.] Thursday, September 15 ‘Tis the Season #15: separation of church and state With much wisdom and foresight, the founders of America built a “wall of separation” between Church and state. Thomas Jefferson was adamant that the state has no business forcing religion on anybody, and that state-sponsored… Read more

The death of Jesus was no accident, it was the working out of, the complete and adequate fulfillment of God’s purpose. To finish the quotation of Paul I had just begun—‘Christ died for our sins, according to the Scripture.’ This does not mean that Jesus went about working out odd coincidences to fulfill strange words of prophets who lived hundreds of years before. That would be to turn the Bible into a railway time table—a process not calculated to bring… Read more

Wesleyan Studies Summer Seminar June, 2017 Asbury Theological Seminary and Asbury University are pleased to announce their fifth Wesleyan Studies Summer Seminar (WSSS) in June 2017. This seminar has been established to develop and support research, writing and publication in the broad field of Wesleyan studies. Benefits include free lodging and daily breakfast as well as an evening meal on the days (Monday and Thursday) that the seminar meets. In addition, scholarships are available to help cover the cost of… Read more

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BEN: Another good text, which as you say is a crux, is worth some discussion— Gal. 3.19. You suggest that Gal. 3.19, suggests that the intermediary is God in human form. This explanation doesn’t work. An intermediary, whoever he is, is a go between between two parties, in this case between God and his people. The very contrast in the sentence ‘now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one’ makes clear Paul is ruling out God as… Read more