From Relevant: [SMcK: Have these folks ever heard of Queen Esther? No use arguing.] Hey, you know that new movie Captain Marvel? The one that made a gazillion dollars over the weekend? Man, that was a good movie, depending on who you ask. Some people liked it a lot. Some people didn’t. And then some people saw it for what it really was: a subversive Trojan Horse meant to poison the minds of young girls into thinking that they are just as powerful... Read more

One of the best sociologists of the cross section of culture and religion is James Davison Hunter. In his newest book he teams up with the philosopher Paul Nedelisky, and Hunter and Nedelisky (H&N) tackle the cultural trend (if not more) of thinking we can resolve our moral debates by greater science. Their book is called Science and the Good: The Tragic Quest for the Foundations of Morality. Join me in an important new study, and notice (for now) the subtitle... Read more

Bennett Cerf chose not to include poems by Ezra Pound because Pound was a fascist. Some don’t assign now John Howard Yoder or Karl Barth and many others could be mentioned. What say you? Assign, read, cite or No? Here’s WH Auden’s response to Bennett Cerf’s decision: Auden first wrote to Cerf on January 29, 1946, a week after Cerf’s letter appeared in Gannett’s Herald Tribune column: Dear Bennet[t] Cerf, It was with surprise and dismay that I heard of the exclusion,... Read more

Christians, those of us who are, have a worldview that is defined by the Christian story as told in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation and through the church (the community of Christians throughout the ages). Unfortunately, articulating this story is easier said than done. About two years ago N.T. Wright participated in a Veritas Forum dialogue at the University of Cincinnati with Philosophy professor Heidi Maibom. (You can find the whole conversation here.) Prof. Maibom presented a point of view... Read more

Over the years I met many pastors/preachers who told me they were afraid to preach Romans. Why? Because the “new” perspective was attractive but they were both unsure of how to preach it that way and others were worried that some congregants would be disturbed. Because the scholarship on Paul and Romans both demonstrates fierce disagreements and lots and lots of reading to understand — starting with E.P. Sanders and J.C. Beker and James D.G. Dunn and N.T. Wright and... Read more

WEBINAR: READING ROMANS BACKWARD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2019 1PM CST 2PM EST | 11AM PST REGISTER HERE (HTTPS://WWW.SEMINARY.EDU/WEBINAR-READING-ROMANS-BACKWARD/) There is no more significant text than Romans when it comes to Christian theology. It’s a shame we often neglect the community and the people behind this very important letter. Join Dr. Scot McKnight as he unpacks how Paul’s letter to the Romans was more than something to be argued about. Romans is a persuasive letter to a group of people that... Read more

Where do we begin to comprehend “kingdom”? Nick Perrin begins with God in his new book The Kingdom of God: A Biblical Theology. A classic form of kingdom theology begins with creation, and this is where Perrin kicks off his discussion, and he highlights two important themes: Creation, Scripture tells us, is God’s handiwork, God’s art. This means that we are all essentially living in a museum filled with God’s artwork. When we open our eyes every morning, we are confronted... Read more

By Allan Bevere It’s been perplexing the faithful for centuries. What do we do with the violence of the Old Testament texts, particularly the Scriptures where God commands God’s people to slaughter the enemy including children? How do we square what appears to be a God with blood on his metaphorical hands with Jesus and the New Testament where we find that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us? How do we resolve this... Read more