Advent is when we proclaim the gospel. What we proclaim is that Jesus is born, and this Jesus is the Messiah, the King. We proclaim, in other words, the King Jesus gospel at Christmas. Yesterday we pondered briefly the genealogy of Matthew, and today we look at Matthew 1:18-25 (text after the jump). What do we see here for Christmas? First, Matthew tells up front that this Jesus is the Messiah, the word for King, and this very title evokes... Read more
The second essay in the new book by Marc Zvi Brettler (Brandeis University), Peter Enns (Eastern University) and Daniel J. Harrington (Boston College), The Bible and the Believer: How to Read the Bible Critically & Religiously, is by Harrington, a biblical scholar, Catholic priest and Jesuit. Harrington is not simply a Catholic academic – he has also “been active as a Catholic priest, preaching on the Biblical texts every Sunday at two different churches in the Boston area and on... Read more
In a recent exchange between Tim Dalrymple (here, here, here) and Owen Strachan (here) we observed that each author had a different viewpoint but that each was operating within a similar framework for understanding how the Christian relates to the State. Briefly, Dalrymple wondered aloud if it was time for Christians to spend their public, political efforts on something other than fighting same-sex marriages and civil unions without surrendering his/their adherence to a biblical ethic, while Strachan struck the battle... Read more
From The Incidental Economist: How might this play out in our homes, in our churches, or in our work place? Dodge and others have explored ways that individuals vary in their responses to such ambiguous signals and situations. One striking finding has obvious implications for youth violence prevention. Aggression-prone youth are systematically more likely to interpret others’ ambiguous behaviors as more hostile than these really are. Hostile intention attribution bias is obviously dangerous when two frightened and pumped 17-year-olds exchange words.... Read more
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I want to do a series of brief posts reflecting on the gospel that Christmas declares. I begin today where the New Testament begins with the gospel: the genealogy of Matthew (1:1-17). Here we find a list of names, but the names are ordered into a message. There are three major points in the geneaology: Jesus is the King/Messiah, Jesus is a descendant of David, and Jesus is a descendant of Abraham. There you have it : from Abraham to... Read more
The claim is bold. The claim is this: those who are “in Christ” will spend eternity with God; those who are not “in Christ” will go to hell. The claim, then, not only claims that there is an afterlife, one in which there is blessedness or destruction, but the claim is to know who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Edward Fudge, in his accessible Hell: A Final Word addresses this claim and asks and seeks resolution to some important... Read more
When it comes to consumerism, are emerging adults (18-23) mapping a new way? Are they, fed up with consumerism, revealing patterns of another kind of life, a “good life” not rooted in consumerism? These are the questions answered in Christian Smith, with Kari Christoffersen, Hilary Davidson, and Paticia Snell Herzog, Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood (OUP). They asked questions about consumption, about the good life, etc.. 61% of emerging adults are perfectly happy in the consumerism life style... Read more
Here is an infograph on women CEO’s in the world: Read more
From Father Rob Merola: LIVING A LOVE-TEEMING LIFE When a life abounds in love, love is not simply present; it teems with it, is filled with it, is rich beyond measure in love. When a life abounds in love, love is what people think of when they think of us. It’s the first thought that comes to mind. Not how busy we are. Not how hard we work. Oh, we may work hard, and hard work is a beautiful thing.... Read more
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