This review is by Art Boulet, a student now at Princeton Theological Seminary, and a great blogger-friend. The book being review is John Sailhamer, The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation . John was a colleague-friend of mine back when we were both at TEDS, and we often chatted about birdwatching and his narratival approach to Scripture. Sailhamer begins his book with a simple statement of purpose: “a study of the theology of the Pentateuch” (11). In order... Read more

The Greeks and Romans got this right. Part of education is a healthy body, and if our public schools want to educate students completely (and holistically) they need to bring back a vigorous and education-filled physical education program. Our First Lady’s childhood obesity program is focusing on food and food choices and eating healthy food, and I believe in those things. But there needs to be a vigorous emphasis on exercise as a way of life.  My recommendation: Bring back... Read more

Read these few paragraphs carefully and you will see that the major impulses of the emerging movement some years back and the Tea Party are quite similar … except, of course, that it is a conservative, grass-roots political movement mostly shaped by a libertarian spirit … I clip a bit from CNN.com. What’s the future of the Tea Party? Is it a “real” party or just an activist group/movement? How important is it? Do you think it will have significance... Read more

Tom Long, in true pastorally responsible fashion, is not afraid of biting off major food offerings in the American religious context, so in his new book, Preaching from Memory to Hope , he takes on the rise of gnosticism. After the jump I have four points in the new gnostic impulse: Where are you seeing these? Are you seeing these? What is the impact of these four elements? Preachers have an ear for the timely quote, and if they listen well... Read more

Did you read this piece in The Washington Post? The writer, one Gerard Alexander, examines the condescending narratives being used frequently by Democrats and in the American media. The statistics, which are on a pie graph at the site, show that the voters for this survey rated Democrats 70% and Republicans 19% more condescending. By the time he was done, I was convinced these narratives are worthy of our attention and I was convinced he was missing some major narratives... Read more

 Read more