Acts and Mission 38

Last updated on: October 6, 2009 at 12:34 pm By Scot McKnight

The following words of Peter are boundary-breaking theology, and as we have said a number of times, we are using Beverly Gaventa’s fine commentary on Acts for our conversation partner (The Acts of the Apostles (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries) ). 10:34 Then Peter started speaking: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people, 10:35 but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is welcomed before him. 10:36 You know the message he sent... Read more

Science, Worship, and Fasting (RJS)

Last updated on: October 16, 2012 at 9:00 pm By RJS

This is the fourth in a series of posts looking at the implications of the fact that we are fully embodied beings created in the image of God. We have body and soul – but these are not separable entities. (The third, on Science and Christian Virtue, contains links to the first two on Science and Sin.) I will get back to NT Wright and his development of the idea of Christian Virtue, but today I would like to focus... Read more

Deep Church as Third Way 9

Last updated on: October 6, 2009 at 12:08 am By Scot McKnight

Are there any new emerging proposals for what church is all about? Jim Belcher, in Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional examines the emerging criticisms of the traditional and the traditional criticisms of the emerging. The issue is this: how can the church become more “shepherding” in how church works? (As I mentioned in my own post Tuesday, part of this is shaped by how we construct what the pastor does and partly what the church understands... Read more

Happy Birthdays!

Last updated on: October 5, 2009 at 2:37 pm By Scot McKnight

We flew to Buffalo and down to Luke and Annika’s to wish birthdays to Aksel, Annika, Pat and Kari — all at once! We had a wonderful time, and here are some pictures of Aksel’s favorite gift: golf clubs (and a book). Read more

Acts and Mission 37

Last updated on: October 5, 2009 at 12:25 pm By Scot McKnight

In Peter the church finds one who paved the path toward the Gentile mission. Paul gets all the credit, but Peter paved the way, and the speech is Acts 10 is breathtaking. On the next day he got up and set out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. 10:24 The following day he entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting anxiously for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 10:25 So when Peter came in, Cornelius met... Read more

The Dark Side of Bible Reading: by Jeremy Berg

Last updated on: October 5, 2009 at 5:40 am By Scot McKnight

Jeremy Berg is a youth pastor; he’s done some Friday is for Friends for us, but I wanted to get this one up today. I have long been irritated by a common critique or complaint people have after listening to a biblical exposition of a passage. This is especially true of teenagers after hearing their youth pastor unpack a dense portion of, say, Romans. “How does this apply to my life?” “What does this have to do with me?” I... Read more

God Hides in Plain Sight 2

Last updated on: October 5, 2009 at 3:11 am By Scot McKnight

How does our vocation fit into a life that is increasingly attentive to God’s presence and God’s work in this world? This is what Dean Nelson in God Hides in Plain Sight: How to See the Sacred in a Chaotic World asks in chp 1 of his book. Dean heard his life’s vocation through his Uncle Ed Blair who, after pressing him on what he was doing and what he could do, suggested journalism. Dean: “Uncle Ed created a space that... Read more

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Life Together 6

Last updated on: October 5, 2009 at 12:01 am By Scot McKnight

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together was ahead of his time in Bible reading. Or should I say that we are just now catching up to our past? In the “Day Together” chp Bonhoeffer urges daily Bible reading from beginning of the Bible to the end. Here are his words about entering into the Story of the Bible: “We are uprooted from our own existence and are taken back to the holy history of God on earth… that we are attentive listeners... Read more

The Moral Ambiguity of Present Health Care Options

Last updated on: October 4, 2009 at 4:05 pm By Scot McKnight

From Nicholas Kristof, of the NYTimes. Who has faced this sort of situation? Any response to Kristof’s article? So what would you do if your mom or dad, or perhaps your sister or brother, needed a kidney donation and you were the one best positioned to donate?Most of us would worry a little and then step forward. But not so fast. Because of our dysfunctional health insurance system, a disgrace that nearly half of all members of Congress seem determined... Read more

Jesus Creed in Music

Last updated on: October 4, 2009 at 12:39 pm By Scot McKnight

This summer we were at Aldersgate UMC in Alexandria Virginia and we were deeply honored to hear a musical rendition of the Jesus Creed. Andreas Barrett, who wrote the song and music, now has the piece available for free streaming and I hope you stop by to listen to it. I’ve been listening to it during my commute to school — nice way to recite the Jesus Creed. Let me tell you how I feel when I experience things like... Read more