Here’s how to subvert gender stereotypes in the church: 1. Apply masculine metaphors (like spiritual warriors, athletes, bravery/courage) to all believers, including women. 2. Apply feminine metaphors (like maternal terms, romance and marriage) to all believers, including men. 3. Apply feminine metaphors to men in particular (like the work roles of women, like the Bride of Christ). Yes, in other words, re-frame the issues through reforming gender stereotypes. A story: one time a former student of mine, a known complementarian,... Read more

BBC: A quarter of people who describe themselves as Christians in Great Britain do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, a survey commissioned by the BBC suggests. However, almost one in 10 people of no religion say they do believe the Easter story, but it has “some content that should not be taken literally”. A fifth of non-religious people believe in life after death, the poll suggests. The Church of England said it showed many people held religious beliefs.... Read more

How “new” is teaching about new creation? If you listen to some, it’s a revolutionary idea. How “different” is the final new creation kingdom from what has been classically taught about heaven? Matthew Bates, in Salvation by Allegiance Alone, drills down on this theme of new creation and I would add a footnote to his discussion by noting my own book The Heaven Promise as an attempt both to frame belief in in heaven as belief in a new creation (new heavens,... Read more

The answer to the first question is a firm No. Paul not only embraced “slavery/servant” language as a metaphor for the Christian’s relationship to God — who today would say you are “slave” to God to someone released from trafficking? — but Paul simply told slaves to obey their masters and masters to treat their slaves fairly. Anyone who deeply believed in emancipation or who thought slavery was immoral would not say those things and would become sensitive to slavery... Read more

Our hearts and prayers go out to Egypt and its Coptic Christian community: By MAGDY SAMAAN and DECLAN WALSH APRIL 9, 2017 CAIRO — Two explosions at Coptic churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday left at least 36 people dead and injured dozens of others as a day of worship in the besieged Christian community turned to destruction and carnage. The first blast ripped through St. George’s Church in northern Egypt in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, 50 miles north of Cairo, during... Read more

Matthew 21:1-11 When Jesus and his disciples had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, `The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” This took place to fulfill what had... Read more

This week has been consumed with the expansion of Northern Seminary — four sites (South Side, Lawndale, Lisle [moving from Lombard], and our wonderful Northern Live program) and adjustments and, well, there are more announcements to come. Stay tuned. Roger Olson on Trump’s decision to bomb Syria: So, my own conclusion as a Christian ethicist is that, should it turn out that the U.S. government is telling the truth (and not “alternative facts”) about its military intervention in Syria, it... Read more

Book Review: Love Lives Here By John Frye When Maria Goff writes you feel like you’re near a crackling fireplace and you want to move closer to the warmth. Each chapter in her book, Love Lives Here: Finding What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want, is a fresh chocolate chip cookie and a glass of cold milk. If you’re like me, you can’t get enough. Maria confesses at one point, “I get amazed pretty easily. I... Read more

Michael Stroope has a full scale analysis of the Christian usage of the term “mission” and terms associated with it, like “missionary” and now today the very happy, fuzzy term “missional.” His study is called Transcending Mission. He contests the value of mission language. He seeks to deconstruct its usefulness for framing the what the Bible is about and what the Bible’s calling for Christians/churches is. The big book has three essential points: (1) to figure out why the Bible has so... Read more

https://soundcloud.com/user-212639123/embracing-holy-week-and-the-church-calendar-kr-45 A good book for this podcast: Ancient Future Time Read more