Some scholars argue that wisdom literature is a different kind of revelation from, say, that in the Psalms. Hence, they believe, the former has less absolute authority in religious matters than the latter book.  I was recently asked the question, “are these scholars right?” I think this question is impossible to answer without clarifying a couple of things. No book of the Bible has “absolute authority in religious matters”. When Christians talk about the authority of scripture they do so... Read more

I remember a conversation I had over a decade ago with a friend of mine about the book of proverbs compared to the book of Job. We were sitting at a Burger King and wrestling with how it could be that the book of Job could be included in the Bible along with the book of Proverbs. The two of them seem to be fighting with one another. Let me explain. In the book of Proverbs there is a series... Read more

How is resurrection different? This is an excerpt from a lesson I did yesterday for my Sunday School class. Reanimation vs Resuscitation vs Resurrection   Read more

The Book of Psalms is probably the most read book in the Bible. I know that I read it more then anything else. My prayer habits generally revolve around reading Psalms throughout the day as part of the “divine office” which makes up the backbone of my own prayer life, which I got from Catholic chruch. If a Catholic prays the offices every day they will read thrugh all the psalms at least once a month. The Lutheran Treasury of... Read more

If one were to pick up a Jewish Old Testament and compare it to a Protestant Old Testament one would find there were some interesting differences in the Table of Context. The first seven books are the same in both, but after that things start to look a little different. Protestant Bibles include “Ruth” but Jewish Bibles go onto I and II Samuel. The reason for this is because there are different redactional values that have come to be employed... Read more

The Bible is a conversation. Some books seem to be responses to other books. Even within some books it seems that one section was written in response to another, or is offered as a balance or corrective. You can’t take the Proverbs seriously unless you also read the book of JobJoshua needs Judges and both need RuthMatthew without Mark Luke and John leaves an incomplete picture One interesting example of this kind of inter-canonical dialog is found through the book... Read more

Oracle, the word of יהוה With these words the books of Zechariah and Malachi both introduce prophetic verses directed toward the people of Israel with words of hope and promises of future glory, but there is something different in these prophecies then those who had prophesied before. These were prophets who were living in a post-exile Israel. They had seen the promises of return fulfilled but life wasn’t quite up to the standards promised. People wondered what the God they... Read more

Last night I went to the Roman Catholic Easter Vigil. It was amazing, as usual. The first part of the service is called the Service of the Light. It’s pretty awesome, the whole church is dark and slowly a light is brought it. Catechumens lit our candles as the pascal light was processed in. As part of the service the following prayer is prayed. It blew me away. For the last few months I have been working on a book... Read more

Our culture suffers from a epidemic of benighted bumblings when it comes to poetry in general and this condition is critically deficient in the area of Biblical poetry.  I have often argued that poetry is one of the most important ways to understand God in the Bible but is the least implemented in the composition of systematic theology or in the development of Christian doctrine. It’s deplorable how few people have any idea HOW to read the genre that makes... Read more

When someone says “” more often then not most people’s minds conjure up images of the end of the world. We think of images of desolate wastelands, and ravished terrain. We picture cities falling apart and mushroom clouds exploding across the surface of the planet. Apocalypse, for most people, is associated with the end of the world. The word apocalypse itself comes from the Greek word Ἀποκάλυψις, which means “revelation” or “unveiling”. It is about disclosure not destruction. The term... Read more