I can’t say I believe in canonization, but I do like Mother Teresa so I’ve awakened an old series on her that focuses (eventually) on her experience of darkness. (image) Some time ago and much to my delight, in the mail came the letters of Mother Teresa called Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. The book stirred controversy because the depth and duration of her darkness became public. We can’t understand Mother Teresa without viewing her through the lens of asceticism,... Read more
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. BCP Read more
An amazing week with our new MA in NT cohort at Northern Seminary. Wonderful students — 20 of them — with a passion to know God through Scripture, and a week of growth in figuring out all these names and movements and moments in NT studies. What a week. Thanks Northern and thanks students! Including Becky Castle Miller who came from Netherlands for this cohort intensive. Sarah Thebarge lets it roll: I was typing on my laptop when my server came... Read more
John Hawthorne: I’ll state my conclusion up front and then circle back to explain how I got here. Here goes: In an increasingly pluralistic culture, claims of religious freedom will conflict directly with protections against discrimination. When that conflict occurs, the discrimination issues will win. This is the case because there is a conflict between the 1st and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. This means that way the forward for evangelicals in a diverse culture is not to rely on... Read more
By John Frye In part 1 of the review of J. R. Daniel Kirk’s A Man Attested by God, Kirk’s hypothesis is that Jesus in the Synoptics is best understood as “an idealized human figure,” which is an established category in 1st century Jewish literature. Rather than understanding Jesus in a high divine Christology (Jesus is ontologically God), Kirk proposes a high human Christology. In part 2, the category “idealized human figures” is affirmed by Kirk’s analysis of the Jewish... Read more
To say the church is “ineffective” is to make a claim that is more than a little difficult to prove. Is the church less effective today than, say, 20 years ago? 40 years ago? 100 years ago? Still, many make the claim that the church today is ineffective and they suggest that in former days it was more effective. Has the church become less effective or do we know its weaknesses more today than before? So, rather than making a... Read more
I am preparing to lead a discussion on science and Christian faith this fall as part of a group life offering. As our church is located next door to a major research university, this is a topic of significance in our community and in our church. It is possible to play ostrich and bury our heads in the sand, but this will not help when it comes to having an impact for the gospel in our community. The apparent conflict... Read more
When Does Submission Begin? When does male headship and female submission begin? Here I ask a critical question of complementarians. This is not a gotcha question. There is nothing frivolous in my asking. It is serious because it relates to little girls, preteens, teens and to young women who are courting or engaged. We have just come off the Olympics, a spectacle that has repeatedly reminded us of the strength and confidence and equality of young women. But, I ask... Read more
A well-known NT scholar recently asked me what “missional” meant and he said he had not seen the word until it was in the title to a book Joe Modica and I recently co-edited. Ah, so clear: “missional” is a buzz word for a specific group, mostly the “missional” people. But what does “missional” mean then? Is it the churches of Christendom sending missionaries to nations and people groups who are not part of Christendom in order to convert and... Read more
By Jonathan Storment: I’m in a blog series reviewing one of the best books I’ve read this year. It is Reviving Old Scratch by Richard Beck and it’s all about the Devil and Spiritual Warfare. But before you turn up your nose at this, I want you to know this isn’t like the other spiritual warfare books out there. It is written specifically for the kinds of Christians who stopped believing in the Devil/Demons a long time ago, by someone... Read more
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