If I had to summarize Paul’s gospel, I’d use Luke’s last scene in Acts, and I would suggest this text summarizes the missional theology of Paul in the Book of Acts: 28:30 Paul lived there two whole years in his own rented quarters and welcomed all who came to him, 28:31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete boldness and without restriction. Paul’s gospel is summed up in two expressions: kingdom of God and Lord Jesus... Read more
I received an e-mail last week and have gotten similar questions in the past – so I will put it up to you for insight or approach: I agree … that it is helpful to understand Chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis as mytho-historical. I also believe that there are historical questions raised by a literal interpretation of some other OT passages (e.g., some of the questions raised in Kenton Sparks’ book reviewed … a while back, and elsewhere), and... Read more
There is nothing predictable about Eugene Peterson’s set of books, Conversations on Spiritual Theology. After volume one I had a hunch of what volume two would be; but not so and so on and so on. Now we get volume 5: Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ . It’s a book about “growing up in Christ” and it focuses on the book of Ephesians, and it’s really good. I begin today with this quotation and wonder what... Read more
Here is a very serious critique of the mainline by Walter Russell Mead, and I offer it to you for conversation. It was sent to me by a friend, an Episcopalian priest, and one who observes that too many today – and he observes that evangelicals are about a century behind the mainline in this — are following down this path. What do you think? What is the secret to balance? The Blue Social Model isn’t the Kingdom of... Read more
Paul gets to explain his gospel to the Jewish community in Rome, and here’s what he said: 28:23 They set a day to meet with him, and they came to him where he was staying in even greater numbers. From morning until evening he explained things to them, testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets. 28:24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe. 28:25 So... Read more
This letter about what it is like to be a woman at a seminary, in this case TEDS and I’m convinced her experience is found at other seminaries. If you know about my book, mentioned below, I tell some of my story about women in ministry when I was a professor there, and she mentions that at the end of her letter. Folks, the experience of this woman (now minister) is in the last decade. Here’s one point I have... Read more
Everywhere I go and nearly everyone I read has a theme, whether central or peripheral, and I think the theme is getting too much attention and it’s getting too much play and it’s setting us up for failure. Here’s the theme: the Church is so messed up. Instances: preaching is not that good today; theology is so shallow today; Christian morals are so loose today; parents are not that good today; we’ve got too much individualism today; kids don’t respond... Read more
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George Barna, who surveys American religious trends, has a new study on how satisfied Christians are with President Obama. In the 2008 election, 42% of all born again adults voted for Barack Obama. The born again vote represented 40% of his aggregate support in the general election. Job Satisfaction Most Americans are not satisfied with the job the president is doing. Currently, just 42% are either completely satisfied (15%) or somewhat satisfied (27%). One-quarter of adults (24%) are divided,... Read more
We are in the final days of Luke’s missionary sketch of Paul, and we are in the final week of this series on Acts and Mission. Paul is in prison, and if the traditional site of his imprisonment, just off the Capitoline Hill overlooking the Forum, is accurate, this is not unlike what Paul would have seen from prison. [Click on the image and it will expand. Colosseum in the center background.] Here is a sketch of Paul’s explanation of... Read more
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