NFL and Dementia: Numbers

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:31 pm By Scot McKnight

Forbes: Playing in the NFL brings fame, fortune …and a dramatically higher risk of suffering from serious brain diseases. Eye-catching NFL player data released for the first time on Friday suggests that nearly 30% of former NFL players will end up developing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia across their lifetime, placing them at a significantly higher risk than the general population. The actuarial data was calculated as part of the NFL’s ongoing concussion lawsuit, as thousands of players suing the league... Read more

The Renewal of All Things (RJS)

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:31 pm By RJS

The book of Revelation also known as the Apocalypse of John can be rather hard to understand. It is, after all, apocalyptic literature – a form a bit ‘interesting’ in the Old Testament prophets and every bit as ‘interesting’ here. I don’t usually worry too much about the book, or try too hard to make sense of it. This isn’t to say it should be ignored or bypassed (I’ve listened to it several times through over the last couple of... Read more

That Elect Lady

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:31 pm By Scot McKnight

Not often observed in the conversation (ahem, debate) about women in ministry is 2 John, a letter addressed by John (according to traditional scholarship) to a woman who is the leader of a house church. The whole text immediately follows so you can read it, with important expressions italicized: 2John 1 The elder, To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth— 2 because of the... Read more

Kingdom Conspiracy at Northern in November

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:31 pm By Scot McKnight

From the Missio Alliance website: We’re excited to be partnering with Northern Seminary to host a morning of presentations and conversation with Scot McKnight around his newest book, Kingdom Conspiracy: Recovering the Radical Mission of the Local Church. This event is especially for Chicagoland church and ministry leaders as well as seminary students. With special thanks to Baker Books, everyone who attends will receive a free copy of the book! According to Scot McKnight, “kingdom” is the biblical term most misused by Christians today. It has... Read more

Do you “Uber”?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:31 pm By Scot McKnight

On the plane Kris and I overheard a young woman say to her friend, “Let’s just Uber.” As two who learned German when we were young, we wanted to know what was “over” but, because we had ourselves “Uber-ed” to the airport and were planning on “Uber-ing” back home, we smiled quietly to ourselves. Wondering, however, if she knew the regulations are that Uber — a new ride-sharing system — cannot enter into many airports. Why? That’s the issue. Taxi... Read more

Love Hurts (by Jonathan Storment)

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:31 pm By Scot McKnight

“Whenever someone says, I hope you hear this ‘in Christian love’ get ready to be hated on.”-Jon Acuff “Everyone loves the idea of forgiveness…until they have something to forgive.” –C.S. Lewis In Christian Love: Love Hurts A few years ago, I read about an anthropologist who lived for a while among the Hopi tribe. The anthropologist noticed that so much of their art and music was centered around the topic of rain, and so he asked a Hopi tribal leader why they... Read more

What is a Morally “Good” Person?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:31 pm By Scot McKnight

Here is the essence of virtue ethics: character produces behavior. Even more: a good character acts out in goodness. Virtue ethics, to be sure, contends that habits produce the character that then lives the good life. But what is a good person? Dallas Willard and Gary Black, Jr., in The Divine Conspiracy Continued, in their pivotal chapter for leaders called “moral knowledge,” sketch what a good person is — and this is worth the price of the book (95-96). [I see their... Read more

Adulthood and Leadership: Collapsing?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:31 pm By Scot McKnight

By A.O. Scott: The desire to be an adult, to be a grown-up, to be a leader… this essay, and I’ve clipped very little of a substantive study, observes that adulthood is dying in American culture. And I read in Bonhoeffer’s Ethics the night before I was sent a link to this piece below (HT: JS), a set of observations by DB about the need to be “above” in a “hiearchy” in order for (wisdom) “ethics” to find firm footings. DB: “where... Read more

The World is Sacred Space (RJS)

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:31 pm By RJS

In his new book Seriously Dangerous Religion, Iain Provan begins by sketching the vision of the world and of creation that the authors of Genesis portray. This vision is contrasted with that of other religious views (Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.), with the philosophy and religion of the Greeks, and with the ancient Near Eastern (ANE) religions. Today I will focus on the main points he draws about Genesis. 1. Genesis portrays a world with a beginning. The world is not eternal. 2.... Read more

How Christians Tell the Story of Judaism (Lynn Cohick)

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:31 pm By Scot McKnight

The Apostle Paul re-imagined after Yad Vashem, by Lynn Cohick, professor at Wheaton College. Last summer (2013) I went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum located in Jerusalem, Israel. It was my third visit in seven years. This time I visited as a member of The Christian Leadership Initiative, sponsored by the American Jewish Committee and the Shalom Hartman Institute. As I went through the museum exhibits with Jewish colleagues, I heard with new ears the “Christian” rhetoric that supported Nazi... Read more