Christians, Muslims Team Up in Apologetics

Last updated on: October 20, 2012 at 7:15 am By Scot McKnight

Again, this series by Jeff Cook. One of the best argument for God’s existence comes from Islamic philosophers, and has received a good deal of attention recently given our understanding of Big Bang cosmology. William L Craig’s formulation of the cosmological argument is clean and if you think postulating a material reality outside this universe is a step of faith unwarranted by scientific observation, then the argument below seems decisive to me. The Universe began to exist. Everything that begins... Read more

Cook Your Own Meals

Last updated on: October 21, 2012 at 7:03 pm By Scot McKnight

… that’s what this study says: Might as well be up front: we eat at home Sunday-Thursday night; we share the cooking duties, though I do most of it and love doing it. Truth telling time: I barely did a thing in the kitchen for the first 28 yrs of our marriage so I’m still way behind. For those of you who use your stove for shoe storage, nota bene: all that wasted time with an inactive kitchen could be shortening... Read more

Not Just Universities

Last updated on: October 21, 2012 at 4:58 pm By Scot McKnight

How does this apply to churches? For example, in a framework presented by Cook-Greuter (here), there are three conventional stages of adult human development in which 77% of adults typically find themselves: diplomat, expert, and achiever. In diplomat, an individual makes meaning by conforming with group norms, and a leader in diplomat will often use words, like “family” and “loyalty” to describe what is important to them at work. In expert, an individual makes meaning through exercising and advocating the expertise of his or... Read more

Church: Institution for Overactive Consciences?

Last updated on: October 24, 2012 at 5:32 am By Scot McKnight

So what is that many of us are members of, participants in? Just what is this thing called “church”? I like it when pastors theologize, so when Andy Stanley gets to doing theology I want to see how he thinks. I know how he preaches; I know how he writes; but in his new book Deep & Wide he ponders what a church is. First, he contends a church is a movement and not an institution; its organic and not an... Read more

Dealing with the Stress of Ministry

Last updated on: October 24, 2012 at 5:28 am By Scot McKnight

If Wayne Cordeiro says this, then it deserves consideration: “I wish this book had been written sooner.” Which book? That Their Work will be a Joy: Understanding and Coping with the Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (ed. Cameron Lee and Kurt Fredrickson). Two parts to this book: the context of ministry and the principles. The Context involves discussion of the joy and burden of being a pastor, understanding stress and burnout, the real and the ideal congregations, and the calling and job... Read more

Human-Caused Earthquake?

Last updated on: October 21, 2012 at 5:02 pm By Scot McKnight

From Michael Slezak: On 11 May 2011, nine people were killed and dozens injured by a magnitude 5.1 earthquake near Lorca in southern Spain. Now it seems that the earthquake was triggered by human activity. What’s more, it may have been shallower, and thus more destructive, than if it had happened following a slow, natural build-up of stress. There could be a silver lining to the tragedy, though. It may provide seismologists with a rare insight into how an earthquake... Read more

Obama: Social Gospel? I say Not Really

Last updated on: October 21, 2012 at 9:28 am By Scot McKnight

John Blake, one of CNN.com Belief Blog’s fine writers, has a lengthy study about President Obama’s faith. Two of his main points: Obama’s faith doesn’t fit the profile of many Americans’ view of what a Christian is — which is a way of saying the President’s faith is not evangelical. Second point: his faith is the Social Gospel. Yes, and No. To begin with, I find it exasperating that once again the commentators and locators of Obama’s faith are lilly-white... Read more

These are the Generations of Adam (RJS)

Last updated on: October 23, 2012 at 5:51 am By RJS

This it the final post on Peter C. Bouteneff’s book Beginnings: Ancient Christian Readings of the Biblical Creation Narratives. Through this book we have looked at the way the OT and second Temple Jewish sources viewed and used the creation narratives in Genesis 1-3, the way Paul and the other NT writers used the creation narratives, the second century apologists, the world of Origen, Athanasius, and the Cappadocians. Through this study we gain some important insights into the ways the... Read more

Tim Keller is What Carl Henry Had in Mind

Last updated on: October 20, 2012 at 3:51 pm By Scot McKnight

In the late 1940s Carl Henry famously called fundamentalists out of the churches and into the public forums and those who followed his call were the neo-evangelicals. They were to be marked by less stridency, more compassion, a coalition of evangelical diversity, a commitment to top level intellectual rigor, and a revival of social activism in all its dimensions. Henry’s proposal also famously lacked concrete details, so the 1950s through the 1980s were various attempts to put his vision into... Read more

Lance Armstrong and Evidence

Last updated on: October 22, 2012 at 5:26 pm By Scot McKnight

Lance Armstrong has been condemned without a trial so far as I can see. Perhaps I’m wrong but all I’ve seen in the reports is hearsay accusations — by teammates no less — against Armstrong without one shred of physical evidence that he cheated. (Do I suspect he did? How can one not with all these reports, including the stripping of his medals and loss of endorsements?) I remember the Barry Bonds stuff, but his body changes were so dramatic... Read more

Who was the Roman governor at the trial of Jesus?