Does it matter?

Last updated on: October 2, 2012 at 7:49 am By Scot McKnight

Who and whom … does the latter term matter to you? From The Economist: Since whom is becoming less common, many people can’t use it properly even when they are aiming for Formal. (A common mistake is using it in a subject role, for example: That’s the candidate whom I hope will win the election. Here, the mistake is in thinking that I hope turns who into an object. But the clause is really who will win the election, with I hope just an interpolation.) The unease over whom just makes people avoid it... Read more

Tell me the truth, you swing voters…

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 2:21 pm By Scot McKnight

Did last night’s debate lead you, the swing voter, to shift your vote toward Romney or Obama? Kevin Baker, at Harper’s Magazine, vented on the President with these words, calling his piece “The Man Who Would be Ex-President,” but I would still ask if the debate is shifting the vote: I mean, think about it. He runs for president as a populist, soaking up all the liberal energy for change in the country. Once in power, he surrounds himself with... Read more

Writing Suggestion: Think Concrete

Last updated on: October 3, 2012 at 7:09 am By Scot McKnight

This piece, by John Maguire, nails it. Learning to think concretely and write about objects makes writing much better. As a college writing instructor, I have seen many students show up in a freshman comp class believing they can’t write, and their opinion is valid. They don’t realize that it’s because they lack certain skills that were common among college freshmen 40 years ago…. Like the teachers at New Dorp, I believe in conscious skill instruction and over the years... Read more

Organic vs. Non-organic: Healthier vs. Less so?

Last updated on: October 3, 2012 at 7:12 am By Scot McKnight

Mark Bittman says Yes. I tried to ignore the month-old “Stanford study.” I really did. It made so little sense that I thought it would have little impact. That was dumb of me, and I’m sorry. The study, which suggested — incredibly — that there is no “strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods,” caused as great an uproar as anything that has happened, food-wise, this year…. If I may play with metaphor for a moment, the... Read more

A Conversation about Paul’s Adam (RJS)

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 11:13 am By RJS

We’ve been looking at the question of beginnings from the perspective of the early church fathers using Peter Bouteneff’s book, but it is also useful to listen to what contemporary Christian thinkers have to say about the question of Adam. This 5 minute clip comes from the new BioLogos film From the Dust directed by Ryan Pettey. The film is intended as a conversation starter – and is aimed at a Christian audience addressing the questions that many Christians wrestle... Read more

Practices of Missional Spirituality

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 6:05 am By Scot McKnight

The first missional theologian in the church — after the resurrection — may have been James who had to poke the messianists of his community in the eyes and thump a bit on their chests with words that said believing is not enough; you must be doers. Faith without works, he said, is deader than Marley’s door-knocker. And the church has a history of missional revivals, and by this I mean the expression of God’s love by loving others in... Read more

Top Professions for Coffee Consumption

Last updated on: October 3, 2012 at 7:04 am By Scot McKnight

From iO9, and you can read the article at the link: True to your experience? Most professors I know drink coffee or tea… so I’m not surprised to see them on the list. What about politicians? Among those polled, scientists and lab techs were found to be the heaviest coffee drinkers in the country. Anyone who works, or has worked, in science will likely find this result unsurprising. Science, after all, is a 24-hour job. Experiments often run on timelines... Read more

Gospel Brunches

Last updated on: October 3, 2012 at 7:26 am By Scot McKnight

From WaPo, the rise of some gospel brunches: How does this inspire you? Is this “missional”? Is this “evangelistic”? Is this “kingdom”? What is this? If you want some God with your grits, plan to show up around 9 a.m. That’s when the line starts forming for the first of two gospel brunches held each Sunday at the Hamilton, a nightclub that opened in December in the shell of a shuttered Borders bookstore on 14th and F streets NW. Queues... Read more

HHS vs. Tyndale

Last updated on: October 3, 2012 at 11:57 am By Scot McKnight

From Victor Morton: How do you respond to this sort of news, news in which religious organizations believe the HHS policies are requiring them to do something they do not believe? The Obama administration is claiming that a dedicated Christian publisher of Bibles and ministry material is insufficiently religious to qualify for an exemption to the contraception mandate in the president’s health-care overhaul. According to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in the District of Columbia by Tyndale House Publishers, the company has... Read more

Signs of Resurrection?

Last updated on: October 3, 2012 at 5:27 am By Scot McKnight

Are there any signs of resurrection in your home or in your church or at your parachurch organization? Signs of the cross? Why is there so little art about the resurrection? But Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson, in their important study, The Cross is Not Enough, believe there are signs of the resurrection in both popular and high culture works of art. Where do you see signs of the resurrection in art? Question: What are the criteria by which you would... Read more

What Christian group reads the Book of Mormon?