Let the Bible Be, by John Frye “This text [Matthew 7:1-5, 6, 7-11] virtually proves that Matthew 7 is more or less an eclectic collection of teachings of Jesus. Judging does not clearly lead to the teachings on not giving out the gospel, and neither of those sections lead directly to the theme of prayer,” writes Scot McKnight in SGBC: Sermon on the Mount (242-43). Scot urges us to let the Bible be what it is and, at times, it... Read more
“The story of modern theology begins with the rise of liberal Protestant theology. And liberal Protestant theology … began with Friedrich Schleiermacher… There were liberalizing Christian thinkers before Schleiermacher, but they were not professional, church-related theologians. Schleiermacher was the first person in history to be both liberal and a professional theologian…. “What is liberal theology?… ‘maximal acknowledgement of the claims of modern thought’ within Christian theology.” So Roger Olson, The Journey of Modern Theology, 125, 126. Karl Barth was not a... Read more
As many of you know, I am the “director” of a new DMin program at Northern called “The New Testament in Context,” and we have had our first class — and Joel Willitts guided the class through his first class on the Jewish literature. I will be teaching a course this winter on Jesus and His Jewish Context and then we will have a second course on the Jewish context and then one on the Apostles in their Context(s). This... Read more
One of the most profound thinkers about ethics in the 20th Century was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, even if he left behind a trail of manuscripts, some finished and some not, in an order that remains elusive and with some thoughts that are relentlessly uncontainable. In other words, many of us long to know what he would have written had his life not been snipped in full bloom. I will later post about his Ethics in a more complete form, but his central... Read more
2 Peter 3 is a well known passage concerning the Day of the Lord. A vision of the judgment to come and the effect this judgment will have on creation. Scoffers doubt that the end will come, and focus on their own evil desires. 2 Peter warns the reader… But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the... Read more
Yes, Billy Graham’s daughter has experienced — sadly and to the detriment of the church — discrimination as a preacher because she’s a woman. Some in power think they need to decide if God equips women to preach. Some are quenching the Spirit’s free work in our world. How do you respond to Lotz’s observations? Are you seeing improvement and or decline in your church? From Anne Graham Lotz, a post from a few months back that deserves some conversation... Read more
From Missio Alliance website: Join us for this regional event in partnership with Northeastern Seminary featuring Dr. Scot McKnight around his newest book, Kingdom Conspiracy: Recovering the Radical Mission of the Local Church. According to Scot McKnight, “kingdom” is the biblical term most misused by Christians today. It has taken on meanings that are completely at odds with what the Bible says. “Kingdom” has become a buzzword for both social justice and redemption so that it has lost its connection with Israel and with the... Read more
When Certainty Kills Rich is on Twitter at @RichALittle and blogs regularly at www.richlittle.org Last week a student left my office traumatized. He entered in a crisis in certainty and left in a crisis of uncertainty. A long held religious belief, one in which he was most certain, had been challenged and proved wanting. This was troubling to him for his dogmatic certainty in this particular belief gave him confidence to convert others to this certainty. This had now been challenged.... Read more
Leadership and character, surely in part because of someone like Bill Clinton (according to D. Willard, G. Black, Jr., Divine Conspiracy Continued, 62-63), have been divorced in the consciousness of many in the Western world. How you do your job and what you are like in private, so it assumed, are two different worlds. Willard and Black say a big No to this division. I go toward the end of their chapter first with a profoundly important statement: What gets measured gets... Read more
RNS by Kimberly Winston, and you can read the full story at the link: While many Christians don’t like this I see something golden here: this may enhance local church ministries in university and college towns. There is no reason to moan that universities and state-sponsored schools don’t have a right to do this, for they do. (RNS) A well-established international Christian student group is being denied recognition at almost two dozen California college campuses because it requires leaders to... Read more
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