White Noise

Last updated on: January 12, 2013 at 5:20 pm By Scot McKnight

From Sarah Hoye: “Statistics suggest that as a young, black man, you have a greater chance of being shot and killed in Philadelphia than you would have if you were a soldier serving in the conflicts in Afghanistan or Iraq,” Charles said. “That’s absurd to me.”… So where’s the nation’s outrage? Daily, inner-city gun violence has become “white noise,” said Chuck Williams, founding director of Center for the Prevention of School-Aged Violence at Drexel University. “At this point it’s like, ‘Oh,... Read more

The Missing Link

Last updated on: January 15, 2013 at 8:43 am By Scot McKnight

The missing link for many young adults is the one that runs from ownership/possession/gadget to labor. That is, a connection is broken between how much one has to work in order to own something (like an iPhone). Because so many are given so much the connection between labor and possessions is broken. One of the best things we can do for our children is to hold back things until a given amount of labor is expended. So I like this... Read more

From the Shepherd’s Nook: The Pastor’s Mt Everest

Last updated on: January 18, 2013 at 6:40 am By Scot McKnight

No Pain, No Gain In the last post I mentioned that so many of us desire a cruciform life but without any pain. Most of us long to know the “power of Christ’s resurrection” without entering into “the fellowship of his sufferings.” The irony is that many of us love sports, too. What is the enduring sports mantra? No pain, no gain. Built into the very idea of being a passionate person, a passionate pastor, is passion, that is, pain.... Read more

MOOC Divinity School

Last updated on: January 18, 2013 at 6:51 am By Scot McKnight

Here’s a bit of futurism by one who is only guessing about the future of seminary education and, while I don’t think this will occur just like the sketch below, I do foresee a day when something along this line will become a genuine, if not disastrous, option: At MOOC (massive open online course) Divinity School (Mooc-Div), the seminary of the online future, students will work with degree granting organizations (DGOs) to fashion a seminary education without ever stepping foot... Read more

Quote of the Day

Last updated on: January 17, 2013 at 6:09 pm By Scot McKnight

Juan Williams: “I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including but not limited to eliminating funding for implementation, defunding the White House, and even filing articles of impeachment,” Stockman said. “If the president is allowed to suspend constitutional rights on his own personal whims, our free republic has effectively ceased to exist.” Sorry, Congressman but in gun lingo you have just shot off your rhetorical buckshot before having a clear view of the target, in this... Read more

Around here we no longer eat…

Last updated on: January 17, 2013 at 5:15 pm By Scot McKnight

… food or meat or milk or yogurt or bread or fish or burger or vegetables or peas or red pepper or tomatoes. Here’s why: Over Christmas Kris and I spent lots of time with Jonathan and Kari (our niece), two health freaks. Jonathan is the man lifting Kari. She’s “planking” and Jonathan — right on the beach — lifted her up. We were all clapping of course. When we went to meals, they used words for food we are... Read more

Concerned?

Last updated on: January 16, 2013 at 7:59 pm By Scot McKnight

From Alex Balk: Okay, sure, yes, it’s been hot. And I know: “Blah blah blah hurricanes!” It’s past the point where you can brush off the fact that we’re having 100-year storms every other week by putting it down to coincidence. And okay, the poor polar bears, it’s tough times for them. Drought, famine and pestilence stalk the land. But whatever, these are all, I don’t know, incidental items. Now everything’s going to get real. COFFEE-LOVERS be warned. Whether you are a three-double-espressos-a-day... Read more

The Evangelical Split: Tony Campolo says it’s coming

Last updated on: January 13, 2013 at 6:58 pm By Scot McKnight

Tony Campolo says evangelicalism will split — Red Letter folks vs. the rest. When the Red Letter Christian movement got underway, there was a sense that the Evangelical community, in general, had become overly focused on the theological issues raised in the Pauline Epistles. Without any desire to diminish the significance of theology, we recognized that the time had come to create some balance to this overemphasis on theology by taking more seriously the things that were written in the Gospels—especially in... Read more

Soon and Very Soon (RJS)

Last updated on: January 17, 2013 at 1:16 pm By RJS

I am mourning this week as a fellow faculty member and long time (5+ year) attender of our church died last week, not in the fullness of age as we read in Isaiah 65:20, but at my age. He wasn’t a close friend, but he and his family had been to our house for dinner and we had been to theirs. We’ll miss him. His department mourned his passing on the front page of their website. There are student testimonials... Read more

Brilliant Translation Decision

Last updated on: January 14, 2013 at 10:09 am By Scot McKnight

In working through the edits for the commentary on the Sermon on the Mount I saw a change in the NIV 2011 I had not noticed because when the 2011 came out I was already beyond Matthew 5:31-32. I have read the NIV 2011 on the Sermon a number of times but this one translation just didn’t jump out at me the way it did last Friday. TNIV: But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for... Read more