By Rachel Paprocki I grew up spending a week every summer at a Christian camp in the San Gorgonio Wilderness, 5,800 feet higher than San Bernardino. High above the layer of smog that hovers over the 10 Freeway, there’s clear air, sweet with Jeffrey Pine and oak trees, the gravelly forest floor carpeted with their fallen leaves. At the end of Radford Road, off the 38, there’s a somewhat-dilapidated campground that is home to some of my favorite memories. For... Read more
Brueggemann’s Theology of the Old Testament, Part 3. Part of a series preparing for Brueggemann’s lectures at Fuller Seminary at the end of April. By Reed Metcalf O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 136 is a beautiful piece of poetry, a bold statement of faith, and a retelling of the mighty deeds of God in the history of Israel. It (or at least parts of it) has been adapted to a vast amount... Read more
By Dr. Richard Peace Originally published by The SEMI, the student publication of Fuller Theological Seminary. With another St. Patrick’s Day, we are reminded again of the saint who was credited with the conversion of Ireland. Not many saints’ feast days make it on to our cultural calendar but St. Patrick is one of the lucky (?) ones. Of course it is the idea of drinking green beer, partying all night, and celebrating one’s Irish roots—real or not—that gets the attention... Read more
By Reed Metcalf I like to revisit books years after having read them and see how my opinions have changed or how a specific tome influenced me. On a whim one recent morning, I picked up a copy of a book from ages past and started flipping through it. I first read the book in my sophomore year of college some eight or nine years ago, and though I have never really picked it up since, it had... Read more
Brueggemann’s Theology of the Old Testament, Part 2. Part of a series preparing for Brueggemann’s lectures at Fuller Seminary at the end of April. By Reed Metcalf Reductionism is a problem. It happens daily on social media, news broadcasts, and even communication between officemates. Reductionism is about taking something complex, large, and difficult and making it simple, small, and easy to grasp. This can lead to issues. Granted, reductionism is a good thing in some areas: we can’t all... Read more
By Dr. Kurt Fredrickson Following Jesus is more of a journey than it is a point in time. Richard Peace in his excellent book Conversion in the New Testament: Paul and the Twelve reminds us that conversion happens in a variety of ways. Some come to faith in an instant–a Damascus Road experience as in the life of Paul (Acts 9). Others come to faith over time, a process, which finally leads to an awareness of “Yes! I am a... Read more
By Rachel Paprocki The 1975 pseudo-religious adventure comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which I suspect and hope got most of us fumbling theology fans through the doldrums of middle school with its irreverent humor, sheds light on an uncomfortable thought I’ve been working on for some time: I don’t actually know everything, and neither do any of the people around me. The scene is this: trouncing around medieval Europe, the cast of the Flying Circus finds... Read more
By Reed Metcalf This is the second entry of a series of weekly reflections on the works of Walter Brueggemann on the Fuller Blog. “Theology” is a term that, in the world we live in, is not part of ordinary vocabulary for most. It might be easy enough to understand other “ology” words and what they refer to—biology, geology, even anthropology—but even those who understand the word to mean “speech of God” often don’t know what that entails. Fair... Read more
By Tamisha Tyler “After creating the universe, all the stars, each grain of sand, the humpback whale, and the soft-shell crab, even God tired and took a day off. There’s no argument that we humans, who at our best can only create opportunities and at our worst create havoc, need time to rest.” -Maya Angelou, Even the Stars Look Lonesome In her essay on vacationing, Maya Angelou speaks to the need of rest. Both in the yearning to be with... Read more
By Reed Metcalf My experience has been that many folks struggle to understand just exactly what a “prophet” is. Understandably so: prophets are weird. Prophetic writings can be weird. But, honestly, this is a bit of the point, at least according to Walter Brueggemann. Brueggemann is an Old Testament scholar who made a name for himself a few decades ago by writing a short but powerful book called The Prophetic Imagination. (It is by no means perfect, but... Read more
The Fuller Blog
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In