Genesis 1-11 is primeval history and theological history. It plays an important role in the narrative of Genesis.  It sets the stage for what is to come … Abraham, Israel, the kingdoms and prophets, exile and return, the front story for the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus and now the church.  John Walton and Tremper Longman agree that the stories in the primeval history have roots in historical happenings, but the details of the events themselves are of... Read more

Before touring Turkey, Greece, and Pompeii-Rome with our Northern Seminary MA in New Testament students, I posted on this new book and I want to resume — by way of refreshing and addition — that series today. Eric Seibert, in his new book, Disarming the Church, takes up the same big topic — violence and the church and the Christian and Jesus — and offers a pastoral theology of non violence with responses to claims for violence in the church. This... Read more

Recently I was interviewed by a Christian college Dean of Faculty who is doing research on faculty productivity — what makes some productive in writing while others, having shown all kinds of promise and success in their PhD, can’t seem to get the articles or books completed? Having never done any kind of research for such a question and never having read even a research article on it, I both wondered why he would ask me and decided to distinguish... Read more

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving­kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen. BCP Read more

The Devil’s Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism Michael McClymond is Professor of Modern Christianity at Saint Louis University. He has published widely on Jonathan Edwards. His book, The Theology of Jonathan Edwards (co-authored with Gerald McDermott) was chosen by Christianity Today in 2012 as the best book in theology/ethics. The following interview revolves around McClymond’s just released (June 2018), two-volume (!) magnum opus, The Devil’s Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism This interview... Read more

This troll is looking down onto Northern Seminary, and as I sit in my office he’s/she’s looking down at me! Which I had flying home from Istanbul, having started the day in Rome: If you sit at a desk all day, you may experience vague discomfort and pain where you sit. Doctors may call this lower cross syndrome, gluteal amnesia or gluteus medius tendinosis. But another term is more memorable: “dead butt” syndrome. “When I call it ‘dead butt’ syndrome, patients grasp the concept... Read more

By our pastor Amanda Holm Rosengren Some weeks, tuning in to the news is particularly difficult. Such has been the case for me the past few weeks. As you are no doubt aware, media and social media have been saturated with news of the thousands of children who have been separated from their families over the course of a few months due to a policy shift in the enforcement of U.S. immigration law. I don’t need to take time here... Read more

From CBE, by Jeffrey Miller Many Christians, certainly most egalitarians, are familiar with Ephesians 5:21, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (NIV). But as well-known as this passage is, it’s still common to wonder what mutual submission actually looks like in practice. Here’s my take on it: Isaac and Me A friend of mine, Isaac, and I recently went out for a meal together. Neither of us had an agenda. We ate our burgers and chatted for... Read more

Keeping Church Local, by Mike Glenn Recently, America has been captivated by the “farm to table” movement in restaurants and grocery shopping. According to this movement, the closer your vegetables are grown to the place where they’re eaten, the better the taste will be. There will be no processing, canning or artificial anything added to destroy the natural taste of the vegetable pulled right from the ground. The farmers’ names are proudly added to the packages, and we’re encouraged to... Read more