The issue of head-coverings in 1 Cor. 11.2-16 strikes readers as rather foreign and it is a difficult passage for interpreters to engage with. This passage is a good example of the cultural distance between our world and the world that Paul inhabited in places like Roman Corinth. We do not know what Paul originally taught the Corinthians on the matter and we are left guessing from fragmentary sources about the significance of veils, women, and head-dress in ancient Corinth.... Read more

Over at Red Church, Mark Sayers has a fascinating little piece about You Will Never Guess Who is Really Responsible For the Softening of Males in the Church. It talks about how historic evangelicalism operated as a major social and moral force that worked to reduce male aggression in Western society (HT Douglas Groothuis). Do read it! I particularly like this line: In our current crisis of masculinity it is tempting to ignore the past and instead look towards models... Read more

Today the church celebrates the confession of the Apostle Peter recorded in the synoptic gospels in Matt 16:16 (par. Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20). When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You... Read more

Interesting article at the National Catholic Reporter by John L. Allen about misrepresentations in media and politics about the persecution of Christians: Myth No. 1: Christians are vulnerable only where they’re a minority. Myth No. 2: It’s all about Islam Myth No. 3: No one saw it coming Myth No. 4: It’s only persecution if the motives are religious Myth No. 5: Anti-Christian persecution is a right-wing issue Read more

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Messiah is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illuminated by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Messiah’s glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Messiah our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God now and for ever. Amen. Read more

As a supplement to my previous post, “Israel’s Proprietorship”, I was reminded of Kendal Soulen’s observation of “Israel-forgetfulness” in most of the ways we describe the Canon’s narrative unity. For most Christians, with whom I regularly interact, the unity of the canon is at the expense of Israel’s story. The standard reading of the Bible’s story foregrounds creation, fall, redemption and consummation in such a way as to leave the bulk of the Old Testament in the background. This forgetfulness... Read more

This is literally LOL funny! Read more

Psalm 100 concludes with a note of praise: For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations God’s goodness was one of the biblical authors’ favorite attributes of God on which to reflect. The word “good” is one of those words, like “beauty”, that is hard to define but easy to spot. This is because goodness is a quality that is only visible when a person acts out goodness tangibly; goodness must be... Read more

Thanks to Rev. Dr. John Dickson (CPX and St. Andrews Anglican Church), I heard about Augustine’s Letter to Alypius (# 10, ca. 428 AD) where he refers to an increase in slave trafficking by abduction in North Africa and how groups of Christians raided slave ships to set the prisoners free. Listen to this: Even the examples of this outrage that I have personally encountered are too many for me to list, if I wished to do so. Let me... Read more

Have you ever thought about the fact that our access to the knowledge of God and creation are mediated by the story of Israel? Both the God we know (He’s known as the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob) and the world He made are Israel’s proprietorship. Daniel Kirk in his new book Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul?: A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity makes an important observation that I share. Reaching back to the beginning... Read more