Youth Ministry and Learning the Bible’s Story: Chris Folmsbee

Last updated on: April 9, 2009 at 1:10 pm By Scot McKnight

Here is a pressing issue — something Christianity Today recently discussed: the level of familiarity with the Bible’s story. Chris Folmsbee is asking us today to weigh in on what’s going on in our churches and homes. Help us out here … now to Chris. My predecessor at Barefoot left a pile of book proposals on my desk and today I picked up a small stack of them during a slower moment in the day and began to skim them.... Read more

Beginnings 3 (RJS)

Last updated on: September 21, 2012 at 9:32 pm By RJS

For many Christians the creation narratives in Genesis 1-2 and the fall in Genesis 3 are key passages in conversations concerning science and faith. The significance of our knowledge of the age of the earth and the theory of evolution hinges on the interpretation of these passages as literal, figurative, mythical, or mytho-historical. The impact is not in the narratives themselves, but in their implication for key doctrines. One useful approach to this problem is to look carefully at the... Read more

Our Collective Faith 8

Last updated on: April 9, 2009 at 12:07 am By Scot McKnight

The next heresy in B. Quash and M. Ward, Heresies and How to Avoid Them: Why It Matters What Christians Believe concerns Marcion and asks this question: Can Christians dispense with the God of the Old Testament? I hear this one all the time: the so-called “God of the Old Testament” is fierce and wrathful but the God of Jesus is gracious and loving. This heresy is that the God of the Old Testament and the God of Jesus are... Read more

Excellent Church Study Guides

Last updated on: April 8, 2009 at 5:39 pm By Scot McKnight

Have you seen the new series from Christianity Today International? There are a number of volumes in this series, and I’m privileged to be in two of them. These books take CT articles and turn them into study sessions for adults, and they do so in a way that makes folks think within the broad range of evangelical thought. What I like most is that these volumes don’t lay down answers but provoke solid questions for groups to work on.... Read more

A Brother’s Wisdom 31

Last updated on: April 8, 2009 at 2:01 pm By Scot McKnight

Clearly some of the most memorable words James ever uttered are in 1:26-27: 26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. The claim to be religious that is coupled with careless use of... Read more

Four Educational Myths

Last updated on: April 8, 2009 at 6:03 am By Scot McKnight

Charles Murray famously spends time deconstructing the myths of public education. He’s not always right, he’s usually politically incorrect, but he’s always worth listening to — especially if you are a public educator. With civility, what do you think (honestly) of his four myths/truths? His newest book, Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality , examines four myths. Actually, he proposes four truths: Myth 1: All students are the same.Truth 1: Ability varies from student... Read more

Earliest Christianity: Where to go?

Last updated on: April 8, 2009 at 12:04 am By Scot McKnight

Let’s say you want to know what the earliest churches and Christians were like. Is there a book that puts it all together? that sorts out all the scholarship? one that is up-to-date? When I was a student, we turned first to F.F. Bruce and to F.V. Filson, and then sketch in the background by opening up E. Schurer’s famous set. But we have learned so much, and so many ideas have shifted, and so much new evidence has turned... Read more

What have you been reading?

Last updated on: April 7, 2009 at 4:07 pm By Scot McKnight

I’m wondering if anyone who reads memoirs or autobiographies has come across anything of late that is a “must read”? Kris and I are both memoir readers and are looking for good, new reads. (By the way, I’ve read Ben Franklin’s twice, so that one’s covered.) Read more

A Brother’s Wisdom 30

Last updated on: April 7, 2009 at 1:53 pm By Scot McKnight

Some people think they are especially religious but don’t control their tongue. Here’s how James puts it in James 1:26: If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. What does James mean by controlling the tongue? Does it mean never to criticize? Does it mean always to say something positive or nice? What does he mean? (more…) Read more

Back to Darwin? (RJS)

Last updated on: November 27, 2010 at 7:15 pm By RJS

Several years ago John B. Cobb Jr. Professor Emeritus of the Claremont School of Theology organized a conference on evolution and religion. This conference eventually gave rise to a book of essays exploring various scientific and philosophical questions: Back to Darwin: A Richer Account of Evolution. The book contains contributions from a rather impressive group, Francisco Ayala, Ian Barbour, Philip Clayton, Lynn Margulis, Jeffrey Schloss, and Howard Van Till, among others. Two, Ayala and Margulis are members of the National... Read more