The letter of Paul to Philemon, a slaveowner in Colosse, was meant to be read publicly. Right off the bat Paul writes, and the reader of the letter repeats, is “To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house.” So, not just to Philemon as if this could be read in a back room privately. No, to Philemon and to Apphia and to Archippus and then also to the church that... Read more

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. BCP Read more

Daniel Burke calls into question the Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scroll fragments: Washington (CNN)Small scraps of parchment inscribed with tiny Hebrew letters. They look like countries cut out of a map, or lost pieces from a jigsaw puzzle nobody could solve. Some scholars say they’re fragments from the renowned Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish texts that date to the days of Jesus. Others suspect they are expensive forgeries meant to dupe American evangelicals, including the family behind the splashy... Read more

Hendrickson Publishers has done all the college and seminary Greek professors and many of their students a huge huge favor. One of their authors, Jonathan G. Kline, has created a two-year two-minutes-a-day review guide to both New Testament Greek and Old Testament Hebrew (there’s an Aramaic one too). I focus here on the Greek and Hebrew volumes. Each day is designed to be done in 2 minutes. Each day focuses on one Greek or Hebrew word. Day 147 has the... Read more

This Friday pastor post is by Mike Glenn, pastor at Brentwood Baptist in Brentwood TN. Mike is one of my favorite pastors I’ve met over the years. His young adult ministry (Kairos) is paradigmatic, and he’s a Cubs fan. He’s the author of The Gospel of Yes and In Real Time. One year, for my birthday, my twin sons gave me a pair of boxer shorts. The boxers were white with very large and very green smiley faces all over them.... Read more

By Jeffrey D. Miller On November 21, 2017 Short Answers to Tough Questions 1 Corinthians Paul makes a few statements that seem to limit women. Did he intend for these to apply to all women, or only to women among the original recipients? Some interpreters argue that Paul considered his words directly applicable, not only to the women of Corinth (in the case of 1 Corinthians) and Ephesus (in the case of 1 Timothy), but to all Christian women in his... Read more

Chris Gehrz: So this Thanksgiving, enjoy the turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. For all my talk of “humble penitence,” it’s long been a feast, not a fast. As early as 1864, the second “national day of Thanksgiving,” a Washington newspaper was already reporting on “that estimable feature of the occasion, the Thanksgiving Dinner, which sent up its appetizing odor throughout the length and breadth of the city.” And Ron Chernow’s new biography of Ulysses Grant reminded me that some 80,000... Read more

Kris and I say to one and all, Happy Thanksgiving! Almighty and gracious Father, We give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the... Read more

As a young man I heard a church history professor say he minimized the patristics because too many young students get too excited by them and convert to Catholicism. (Some convert to Orthodoxy too, but he didn’t mention that.) His emphasis, no surprise, was the Reformation. So a narrative has taken shape: evangelicalism doesn’t  know the patristics. Which means, if you want to find a faith shaped by and deep into the patristics, Go East or Go to Rome! Kenneth... Read more

This story from Leslie is about our book Sharing God’s Love, which Kris and I hope grandparents and parents purchase for their little ones for Christmas. I am a mom to four boys ranging in age from three years to eight years.  A normal day with them can include wrestling matches over who owns the Legos and sweet moments where they actually put someone else’s needs first.  Sometimes I feel like I am a referee, but instead of getting caught up... Read more