We come to the end of our series. We are flying today to South Africa where I will be preaching a series of sermons on the themes of Pentecost. (Our home will be looked after by TK and our daughter, Laura.) Pentecost, I believe, empowers us to transcend our human inabilities and to transform our human abilities. One central element in the Spirit’s empowerment is to create a community where the Jesus Creed sets up shop and calls the shots.... Read more
Here begins a new series by RJS, one of the most faithful participants of this blog, on Tim Keller’s new book. Timothy Keller, founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan recently came out with a new book The Reason for God.This book was written to provide “an intelligent platform on which true believers can stand their ground when bombarded by the backlash to religion created by the Age of Skepticism.” (front flap) Over the next few weeks we will look... Read more
Some of our students, including Matt Enquist, are biking across the nation this summer for justice. Here’s the blog … and we’ll be following them all summer. I am going to do something I’ve never done … |inline Read more
Well, Goldingay’s 2d chp (Israel’s Faith (OT Theology, vol. 2)) is bogging me down, but this chp has a section that is a virtual open theism statement. So, here are some thoughts from the chp… |inline Read more
The last five chps of 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed are dedicated to specific examples of the Jesus Creed in action in the pages of the New Testament. |inline Read more
Yesterday on our blog we had an interchange that I want to toss into the pot today for a discussion. I referred to 1 Peter as by Peter. Here’s what one person said … and let me add that the point is not to see who is right and who is wrong here but to generate a conversation about how we read the Bible and what role historical reconstruction plays when we read the Bible … well, here’s what one... Read more
We finish up today our series on Darrell Cosden’s fine book, The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work. If you are looking for a book that “justifies” work, this is it — and I think we need more of us thinking more deeply about this subject and we definitely need more preaching and church instruction on “work.” |inline Read more
OK, I posted the Ictus Fair Trade coffee near the end of my supply of their beans, and I’ve already got a new coffee brewing — and it is one good brew. Metropolis. We are brewing some Samba … roasty, toasty, tasty, aromatic, great smooth drink. I’ve given my ratings on the top five before, but there’s some tinkering going on now…. |inline Read more
We might not realize it today, but the most intense challenge the first followers of Jesus met was including Gentiles into the people of God, the ecclesia. No, even more challenging was loving those Gentiles. Peter points the way. |inline Read more
Theo Geyser, a pastor in Stellenbosch, recommended that I read J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace. It tells a story of South Africa, as one critic put it, a story that “brutal tyranny has been replaced by brutal anarchy.” I don’t know how to describe this disturbing novel, a novel that seared images into me the way Flannery O’Connor has done. The central character, David Lurie, seems unredeemable but there are moments — just moments — of hope sprinkled into the last half... Read more
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