I don’t know if seminaries teach seminarians how to read the Bible publicly. I don’t recall one student in my dozen or so years teaching seminary students ever mentioning public reading of Scripture as a discipline or as an important subject. I don’t even recall it being discussed. What is your experience with the public reading of Scripture? Who is beginning this on a regular basis? When Christians couldn’t read, artists painted murals on the walls so those who couldn’t... Read more
Paul’s speech on the Areopagus is one for the ages, and I think we gain a glimpse into Paul’s strategy with Gentiles pagans when he “gospels” them. Yesterday I posted the full text and today I want to make a few observations about Paul’s gospel when he speaks to Gentiles in such a setting as the Areopagus: 1. He’s empathic and seeker-sensitive in his opening lines: he begins where they are so he can lead them to Christ. 2. He’s... Read more
Stephen C. Meyer has published a (very long, but readable) book, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, outlining his argument in favor of intelligent design. This book essentially argues that life is very complex, the origin of life is a puzzle, and the information content in DNA cannot be explained by natural means. Meyer contends that the evidence supports an idealist not a materialist view of the universe, and more importantly, of life; where idealist... Read more
I don’t know how to measure the impact, but the Scofield Bible and its form of dispensationalism has probably shaped American conservative, populist evangelicalism more than any other set of ideas. I grew up with Scofield, the first Bible I bought was a Scofield Bible (and I still own that Morocco leather Bible), and many evangelicals of my age have a Scofield past. Dispensationalism, as is well known, has morphed enough to lead me to say, perhaps uncharitably, that it... Read more
Wow, this is quite the story…. Call it the desegregation of the megachurches — and consider it a possible pivotal moment in the nation’s faith. Such rapid change in such big institutions “blows my mind,” says Emerson. Some of the country’s largest churches are involved: the very biggest, Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Community Church in Houston (43,500 members), is split evenly among blacks, Hispanics and a category containing whites and Asians. Hybels’ Willow Creek is at 20% minority. Megachurches serve only... Read more
Paul’s speech on the Areopagus is one for the ages, though it has generated a number of issues, not the least of which is that some think Paul was out of line in that he has reduced the gospel too much on this occasion. I want to open today to one question: Do you think Paul preaches the gospel here? Here it is: 17:22 So Paul stood before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very... Read more
Many of us have imbibed the theory that emerging adults, roughly those who are 18-29, are flocking away from the church and that the church needs to awaken to a potential crisis. I can think of books by Gabe Lyons and Dave Kinnamon (UnChristian), by Dan Kimball (They Like Jesus But Not the Church), and by the Princeton professor Robert Wuthnow (After the Baby Boomers). Much of what these authors have said abides, but Christian Smith (with Patricia Snell) has... Read more
O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Read more
We’ve all observed the rise of nothing less than aggressive atheism, some of which goes over the top in argument and some of which simply lays its cards on the table with confidence and fearlessness and says, “OK, Christian, make my day. Beat this argument.” One thinks, of course, of Dawkins, HItchens and Harris. Some have taken this movement on with a sketch of ideas (as in D.B. Hart, Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies ) while... Read more
From CNN: Engineers didn’t make huge improvements to technology in 2009. The year’s big tech names — Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon — all existed before January. Instead, this is the year technology changed us. At year’s end, we’re connected to each other and to the Internet like never before. In 2009, we carried tiny computers in our pockets, through which we fed the Internet constant real-time info about where we were and what we were doing. Our app-laden phones... Read more
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