Dear Holly, Yes, you are right: Evangelicalism is “all over the place.” It includes the old-timers who like hymns and who think tattoos are verboten, and young folks who think grunge music is Spirit-led and who wonder if a one-hour service on Sunday morning is what church is even about. Your concern about what you call the “right-wingers” is mine, and I want to explain where we are today in light of the last fifty years. Some define evangelicalism in... Read more
When I got back to my NPU office after Christmas break I had received a bundle of books from publishers who wanted me to blog about their publications. I simply can’t blog about all of them, but I’m going to try doing an occasional “book notes” to mention some of these books and see if any of you have read them and want to add your comments. |inline Read more
If God is Olam, forever, and if God’s Word and Faithfulness are also Olam, what are we to do? Attach ourselves to the Olam God whose Word and Faithfulness are Olam. I get attachments in my e-mails quite often; they are along for the ride. If the e-mail comes, they come. Sometimes the e-mail comes without them because the sender forgets to attach. But, most often they are there. We, too, are to “attach” ourselves to the Olam God. That... Read more
Last week I took a look at Bennedetta Craveri’s book, The Age of Conversation, and this week I’d like to begin reflecting on conversation in a more explicitly and self-consciously Christian context. Here’s the crucial setting for me: by and large I don’t think evangelical Christians know how to converse. |inline Read more
On the first day of my new class — Women, Mary, and Jesus, we looked at pp. 14-15 of William Webb, Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals. We read these verses and I asked the students to “vote” for each verse: A, B, or C. That is, “A” means “universal and transcultural,” and “B” means “Christians don’t agree” and “C” means “Cultural and not for Christians today.” Now it’s your turn. |inline Read more
The psalmist tells us that the Olam God, the Forever God, the God who is in and of himself the very life that sustains who we are, is “faithful”. The Olam God, therefore, has an Olam Faithfulness. God remains true to God’s very self and character; God’s truth is a faithfulness. Notice these words: |inline Read more
Here’s a chapter that should concern each of us. In chp 9 of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion Dawkins contends that forming our children into our faith is child abuse. And he challenges each of us to consider the role of educating our kids in the plurality of religions — and letting kids make up their own minds. |inline Read more
Here’s a chapter that should concern each of us. In chp 9 of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion Dawkins contends that forming our children into our faith is child abuse. And he challenges each of us to consider the role of educating our kids in the plurality of religions — and letting kids make up their own minds. |inline Read more
Most of us think the Bible is from one world (Ancient Israel, Greco-Roman, etc) and that we are in another world (modern West, etc), and that moving the Bible from its world into our world requires a gentle art. Whether we affirm the redemptive trend is not what I mean in this context, but just the sheer difficulty at times of bringing the Bible forward. Now, there is another issue: some women grow up in worlds with more than the... Read more
Are you struggling with developing a consistent prayer life? I suggest learning to pray with the Church by learning to pray set prayers at set times. And I recommend Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime, which begins a new volume February 1. And if you need an introduction to this prayer tradition, try Praying with the Church. Read more
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