μονογενηες – (Monogenes) The Greek word μονογενηες has long been part of what is often called the “Golden Text” of scripture among evangelicals – John 3:16. If your familiarity with the verse is limited to its frequency in crowd shots at sports games allow me to inform you of its content. The verse in the King James Version reads “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish,... Read more

Last week at North Park I learned the Greek Alphabet as part of my greek course. I thought it might be a good thing for you all to learn. I learned it using a song located at www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=41885 I just put the thing on loop for a few hours while I was doing other stuff and it worked like magic. However their pronunciation is a little off. If you want a video check out the one below. This guy is... Read more

“Peachtree Presbyterian Church will care for any newborn baby you bring to this church.” Vic Pentz, pastor of PPC in Atlanta, said this summer durring a sermon. He’s serious. Acording to an article by a local NBC station the congregation is partering with Bethany Christian Services to figure out how it will all work out. I really support the move. Abortion is somthing none of us want to see happen to any child. I hope the congragation can navigate the... Read more

This week there was a “face Off” on CNN between the president of Family Research Counsel , Tony Perkins and President of Sojourners Rev. Jim Wallis. The subject: Barak Obama’s call to religious leaders this past week reguarding health care reform… Here is a recap: Jim Wallis: God’s will is for health and not sickness when we are instruments of bringing good health we are doing the work of God… our system is broken. Tony Perkins: [Obama] is not being... Read more

The Lord be with you! At seminary I feel the question “What is the Role of the Mystic in Study?” in almost every class in some way.I will try to comment on this more over the weekend but here are two quotes to stimulate some dicussion: I NEED YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS! “A theologian is one who prays, and one who prays is a theologian.” – Evagrius of Pontus “[God is] the inscrutable One out of reach of every rational... Read more

This week Jay Bakker brought it to my attention that the “Association for Christian Retail” has not adopted standards to help ensure that none of their products are made by slaves or exploited and abused workers. I’d really like to see this change. There have been abuses in the past that are pretty horrific for example: “In 2007, a case of crucifixes purchased by St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York were traced back to a factory in China where girls... Read more

I’ve been staying with the Jesus People (JPUSA) this week and the other night we got into a really great conversation about the Tao Te Ching which has some amazing passages in it. A guy there told me the Tao Te Ching one of the primary things that led him to Christ. I’ve also read parts of a book called the Christ the Eternal Tao which is a really interesting take on Jesus from an Eastern Orthodox perspective. Last week... Read more

Everywhere I turn I run into him. His books are always front and center in my local book store’s religion section. Bart Ehrman has popped up on the History Channel, NPR, The BBC, The Teaching Company, and even Comedy Central. Bart came up today in my New Testament Class at North Park seminary. And I must say it created a good discussion. The class mostly discussed the poor journalism involved in the BBC article discussing the Codex Sinaiticus (Click here... Read more

If you haven’t heard of it yet it’s time you did. 350.org has been showing up all over these days. What is it? Well in their own words it’s an “International effort to raise awareness of the need to decrease carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million.” Yes, this is an environmentalist movement. I know for some of my readers this is something they really dislike. I’m not one hundred percent sure why, but I think it often comes from... Read more

I have now moved to Chicago…. sort of. This semester I will be studding at North Park Theological Seminary. For a long time I have wanted to work toward becoming a pastor, and that journey has led me to a little denomination called the Evangelical Covenant Church. I will tell you all about them later, but today I wanted to share about my hosts in Chicago while I wait for student housing to open up. They are called the Jesus... Read more