Almighty God, You have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. BCP Read more
A morning coffee to you. The bee highway: The city of Oslo now has what it’s calling a bee highway — a path of flowering plants designed to keep bees well-fed as they pass through the urban area. Supporters hope that initiatives like this one can help protect bees — one third of Norway’s native bee species are now endangered — and by extension protect the crops that rely on bees for pollination. The idea is pretty simple: The Oslo Garden Society has... Read more
Mark Woods: The immediate consequence of this ruling, then, is an invitation to do some theology. One of the painful things for observers of the evangelical scene on both sides of the Atlantic has been the reluctance of ‘pro-marriage’ (= anti-gay marriage) campaigners to distinguish their idea of the Church from their idea of the state, as though the two were coterminous. So here’s a discussion starter. It is entirely up to the state to declare what relationships it will... Read more
I remember years ago seeing a cartoon in a magazine. A preschool boy and girl are walking home from school and the little boy is asking the girl, “Are you the opposite sex or am I?”To suggest that our culture is obsessed with sex to an even a greater extent that it is confused about it is a classic understatement. Bruce Jenner just recently came out as Caitlyn. The Duggar family (of reality TV fame) faces social criticism regarding reports... Read more
From Arise, the official newsletter for Christians for Biblical Equality, and I express my gratitude again for the work of Mimi Haddad in her tireless and sensitive efforts to restore the Bible vision of equality: In April, Mimi Haddad, president of CBE traveled to Alexandria, Egypt to participate in the Shaq’eq” Network forum, “Women in the Public Sphere: Modern Islamic Perspectives.” Mimi presented a paper on “Research Directions for Faith Based Feminism.” On May 6th, Mimi arrived in Kenya for... Read more
The next chapter of John Walton’s recent book The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2-3 and the Human Origins Debate digs into the question of Paul’s use of Adam, particularly in Romans, but also in 1 Corinthians. Because he is an Old Testament scholar he brought in a New Testament scholar (and one who has written extensively on Paul) – N. T. Wright. Most of this chapter was written by Wright. First, Walton suggests that we should focus... Read more
Notice these two verses in 1 Corinthians 11:2-3: I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you. 3 But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Now notice how Lucy Peppiatt renders them in her book Women and Worship at Corinth: I praise you for remembering the... Read more
This is the concluding post in Greg Boyd’s series on the kingdom of God, and the link takes you to his site where you can read the whole series, which I recommend: God has leveraged everything on the Church loving like Jesus loved, as outlined in our previous posts in this series. “By this the world will know you are my disciples,” Jesus said, “by your love” (Jn 13:35). By God’s own design, Christ-like love is supposed to be the... Read more
As readers of this blog know, Jonathan Storment and his buddies have a slot on Wednesdays. This week I’m honored that Jonathan has chosen to do some reflections on A Fellowship of Differents. One of the top five books over the past few years is, hands down, Scot McKnight’s A Fellowship of Differents. It is the new perspective on Paul written for the people in the church. It is deeply hopeful, convicting, and relevant. Here is how Scot says it:... Read more
Last Friday, the world witnessed the way of Jesus Christ in Charleston, South Carolina. The family members of the victims in the horrific shooting at an historic AME Church in Charleston, SC spoke to the racist young man that perpetrated the crime of killing nine people during a Bible study. Their words were nothing less than moving; and to a world that so often believes violence is the answer to violence, they were almost shocking. Those who spoke to Dylann... Read more
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