Recently Tim Keller was interviewed by Nicholas Kristof about Christian orthodoxy and Christmas. The oh-so-vigilant-and-sensitive crowd immediately set off a chorus of “yougottabekiddin’me” posts and ballyhoo articles, some of which came from the chorus of the Right and others from the Left. There was some crowdpounding and some lining up of “Who is on the Lord’s side?” If Keller said Jesus was raised from the dead, some would say that’s insensitive and others would say “but he forgot ‘for our... Read more

HT: JS Howard Snyder has an independent mind and is not afraid to stand atop a political soapbox and shout out to the crowds to give him an ear. So here he is: Words like populist and elites are media shorthand that obscure rather than clarify. Each generation produces a fresh crop of such misleading labels that polarize rather than inform. Demagogues feast on such labels, turning them into fear-stoking propaganda. Wise and just leaders find ways to cut through... Read more

By Michelle Van Loon at www.MomentsAndDays.org and www.MichelleVanLoon.com The new women’s ministry director invited all adult women to a brainstorming meeting. “We want to help you become the women God is calling you to be,” she explained as she passed out sheets of paper with each phrase of Proverbs 31:10-31 on a separate line. She read the passage, then did a bit of contextualizing to help us re-imagine the language of the Ancient Near East in our suburban experience. For example, the director... Read more

Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. BCP Read more

Matthew 2: How Old was Jesus? I was asked this question by one of my daughters this year about Christmas events, “Was Jesus visited by the Magi at his birth or at a later time?” Despite all the Christmas cards showing shepherds, sheep and cows, Mary, Joseph and infant Jesus in a manger, and three “kings” bearing gifts, I had to do a little review of the texts (Luke 2 and Matthew 2). I read Matthew’s account of the visit... Read more

Jesus Creed Book of the Year Jon M. Levenson, The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016). I have not yet blogged about this brilliant Jewish scholar’s book but I read it recently and it zoomed to the top of the list for this year’s award. The book zeroes in on the significance of connecting love (in the Shema) to the covenant, the covenant to ancient near eastern treaties, but... Read more

We’ve been looking at How to Read Job by John Walton and Tremper Longman III. The first three sections of the book focus on Job in its ancient Near Eastern audience. As Old Testament scholars, both Longman and Walton agree that a meaning detached from the ancient context will necessarily go awry. As Christians, however, we believe that there is more to the text than the ancient audience realized. After all, now Job appears in a broader context – the canon... Read more

Very interesting to look back over the blog this year to see which posts had the most page views, some of which, I’m glad to say, take on some controversial topic and generate discussion, debate, and conversation, which is the drive of this blog. 1. The New Stealth Translation 2. What Wayne Grudem Should Have Said 3. Ruth Tucker Responds to Tim Challies 4. Jeff Cook’s #10 in his Top Ten Arguments against God 5. Is it New? Yes. Is... Read more