The next passages Walter Moberly considers in his excellent, thought-provoking book Old Testament Theology: Reading the Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture are two of the Psalms – 44 and 89. Although the Hebrew name for the book of Psalms is translated “praise,” but the psalms are not all sweetness and light, Sunday School prayers. Most of the psalms are not songs of praise but rather of lament. The book of Psalms is called the prayer-book of the church, but some... Read more
Christian prayer is adaptation of Jewish prayer so understanding Jewish prayer is vital to understanding Christian prayer. Andrew McGowan tantalizes (only slightly) when he opens his chapter on prayer with this: A minority religious group provokes curiosity among their neighbors, lot least because of their habits concerning ritual and prayer. Their women are conspicuously veiled; they gather for meetings whose mysterious conduct and message lead to anxiety. They stop even in their daily routine to pray, facing a specific direction,... Read more
Do you have this one? (CNN)Here’s a figure to boggle the mind: we consume about 74 gigabytes — nine DVDs worth — of data every day. It’s amazing we’re able to process and make sense of it all. So how do you think straight in the age of information overload? “Information overload refers to the notion that we’re trying to take in more than the brain can handle,” says neuroscientist and psychologist Daniel Levitin. “We used to think that you could pay... Read more
Very few evangelicals in Latin America are respected as much and none more than René Padilla, who is known for a holistic gospel (hence his genuine engagement with liberation theologies and classic orthodox theology) and an integrated sense of Christian mission in the world. He creates no artificial barrier between evangelism and social responsibility. Image credit How does he understand the gospel, then? I’m using his Mission Between the Times: Essays on the Kingdom. he most important questions that should be... Read more
It would be a good exercise for students in a classroom to ponder which thoughts are the most vital for comprehending how Christians think and understand the world that exists. What would your top five elements be? What are the building blocks of such a worldview? Yes, some don’t like the expression worldview, but many of us embraced “worldview” not from apologists but from someone like N.T. Wright (in his The New Testament and the People of God) or from... Read more
OK, I’m not so sure this is “Calvinism” per se but it is a kind of popular Calvinism. But the article’s listing of early warning signs of adult onset Calvinism gets to common experiences (I’ve deleted a few). My experience with this sort of young theologian was an argumentativeness, a desire to turn every conversation to these issues and to get argumentative, and the development of a harsh critical attitude toward all who don’t think this way. Anyway, this is... Read more
Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; 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
Alvin Plantinga is widely viewed as one of the most consequential philosophers of our day. Karl Barth is widely viewed as one the most consequential theologians of the twentieth-century. The Enlightenment had a far-reaching impact on how reason, truth, and tradition are understood. Talk of postmodernism upending altogether the Enlightenment Project’s influence now seems a bit naive. How to answer the Enlightenment’s approach to understanding truth is no small matter. One author believes there is much help to be found... Read more
Good news story: Thank God for those teachers: A photo of a teacher going above and beyond the call of duty is making a splash on social media. On Sept. 28, Memphis resident Tabitha Tudy Jones posted a Facebook photo of Whitney Achievement Elementary School teacher Carl Schneider walking students home after school. “Coming from the Post Office on Whitney & Baskin I saw this teacher walking his students home… (more students lagging behind),” she wrote. “Wooooow! Big UPS to this teacher!”... Read more
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