The Nature of Miracles (RJS)

Last updated on: July 10, 2013 at 11:02 pm By RJS

John Polkinghorne has written an excellent little book Quarks, Chaos & Christianity ruminating on questions related to science and religion. Polkinghorne is a theoretical physicist and an Anglican priest – and his thoughts are always worth considering. Today I would like to look at the chapter in this book on miracles. This discussion, I think, has bearing on the issues related to evolution, creation, and and the age of earth. Should we expect the effects of God’s intelligent design of... Read more

Prayerbooks: A Sampling

Last updated on: July 11, 2013 at 5:59 am By Scot McKnight

From the Celtic Book of Prayer, Northumbria: Canticle Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.... Read more

Kagan and Scalia, Buddies

Last updated on: July 2, 2013 at 7:58 am By Scot McKnight

Source: The justices that hunt together don’t vote together! Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan bagged herself a deer on a hunting trip to Wyoming with Justice Antonin Scalia last fall. You heard that right: Despite finding themselves on opposite sides of major court decisions, the liberal Obama-appointee and the conservative Reagan-appointee have become hunting buddies since Kagan was confirmed in 2010 as the fourth woman in history to sit on the highest court in the land. “I shoot birds with... Read more

Problems with Standardized Testing

Last updated on: July 3, 2013 at 6:35 am By Scot McKnight

I leave it to the educators in the public sector to assess whether or not standardized testing can be eliminated, but there are problems, and this piece by Sara Briggs gets at the heart of them. What do you think of our standardized testing? Any suggestions to go forward? 1. Misused And Punitive Data… Schools and districts across the United States have been caught cheating— changing test answers or giving their students test problems ahead of time— including Atlanta, Philadelphia,... Read more

Book of Revelation: Friend or Foe to Nonviolence

Last updated on: July 10, 2013 at 6:34 am By Scot McKnight

Revelation: Friend or Foe to Nonviolence? *The following post is adapted from Preston Sprinkle’s forthcoming book: Fight: A Christian Case for Non-Violence (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2013). Preston’s book is due to release on August 1. The book of Revelation stands out as an embarrassment to Christianity. The famed atheist Friedrich Nietzsche described the book as “the most rabid outburst of vindictiveness in all recorded history.” Historian James Carroll said, “In no text of the entire Bible is God’s violence, and the... Read more

Salvation is Bigger than Forgiveness

Last updated on: July 10, 2013 at 5:56 am By Scot McKnight

What he is claiming is that the “the broadest picture of redemption” in Christian thinking “is adoption.” I was a bit surprised by that but it made more sense when he explained adoption as “union with God” or as “oneness.” This makes redemption radically relational, and it makes redemption both vertical and horizontal — and it means that redemption is ultimately about the union of love, love of God and love of self and love of others. What happens, I... Read more

Our Prayers for Randy Travis

Last updated on: July 9, 2013 at 11:38 am By Scot McKnight

News reports are that Randy Travis has had heart surgery. Read more

Sustaining Creativity

Last updated on: July 3, 2013 at 6:26 am By Scot McKnight

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Stay or Go?

Last updated on: June 26, 2013 at 6:42 am By Scot McKnight

When a church is rocked by a scandal folks face a choice: stick it out or get out. Michelle van Loon, in a thoughtful post, poses some reflections, but I wonder what your experience is? Should you stay or should you go? Besides being a riff on the title of one of the great pop-punk songs of the early 1980′s, it is a question with which congregants whose leaders have had moral failures by their leaders must grapple. Whether it... Read more

What is Science? (RJS)

Last updated on: July 8, 2013 at 9:31 pm By RJS

Last week I started a series of posts on a new book by Gerald Rau Mapping the Origins Debate: Six Models of the Beginning of Everything. The first chapter lays the groundwork for his exploration of the origins debate. In this chapter Rau looks first at philosophy and worldview and the way these can shape the debate over origins and then turns to the question of science. Although we all use the term science, it is not clear that we... Read more