Culture of Siblings (Pastor Paul Series) – KR 143 When Paul thought about relationships in churches he thought about it through the lens of a family. Why is the idea of friendships incomplete to describe the nature and quality of relationships in a church? What does it look like to live together in the family of God? How can a view of being siblings guide the church to be the community God desires it to be? Scot address all these... Read more

I got in the mail recently a copy of Basics of the Christian Faith: An Evangelical Introduction to Christian Doctrine, ed by Carl F.H. Henry and introduced by Kevin J. Vanhoozer, whose essay is worth the volume in judicious assessment of what this books provides. This is one fascinating volume and here’s why: it is a collection of special pieces in Christianity Today when evangelicalism was breaking away from fundamentalism and was becoming neo-evangelicalism. The essays appeared in CT  in 1961-1962. Basics, which is... Read more

In the last few years a number of churches, from a variety of denominations, have used our 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed for Lent. (My publisher (Paraclete) has been in contact with a few churches already inquiring about Lenten materials, so that is why we are approaching Lent so soon.) Others are using the longer Jesus Creed itself, which is longer. It’s now in a 15th Anniversary edition with new material. We have three accompanying books as well! A Companion Guide... Read more

What’s “evangelical” about evangelical theology? That’s a decent question, but  the good question is: Which evangelical pocket makes an evangelical theology “evangelical”? In Daniel Treier’s new book, Introducing Evangelical Theology (#ad), there is an attempt — successful in many ways — to remind readers that evangelical has a history and from that history various themes and concentrations lead to various emphases in theology. Which leads to the best question of all: Can we now say there’s an evangelical Enneagram? Use the... Read more

Anyone who reads the apostle Paul’s letters comes away with the clear idea that Paul taught the Holy Spirit was/is a transforming Agent. One example is Romans 8:4: “in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (NIV). Let’s agree to agree: The Holy Spirit works in us to transform us into Christoformity. How? That is the question in the work... Read more

Jesus read Isaiah. Luke relates Jesus’ first recorded teaching moment, after his baptism and temptation. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah... Read more

One of the major issues in all Pauline studies is justification.Michael Gorman’s newest collection of essays has a major chapter, one that could be required reading for seminary students (and surely for all pastors who preach Paul), on justification. His book is called  Participating in Christ: Explorations in Paul’s Theology and Spirituality (#ad). His chp focuses on Galatians 2:15-21. Context: justification is seen by many to be a legal transaction, it is forensic, and it is not transformative. For many it... Read more

By Carey Newman Larry W. Hurtado (1943-2019) Scholarship, Friendship, A Good Sense of Humor, Scottish Irrigation Early in 1988 John Hollar at Fortress Press published Larry W. Hurtado’s One God, One Lord – or what Shannon, Larry’s beloved wife, fondly and irreverently calls “Oney God.”  That book became an instant “must-read” for anyone trying to retrace the development of early Christianity.  Alan Segal and Martin Hengel graced the book’s back with their estimations.  Segal said Larry had written “one of... Read more

By Ruth Tucker, author of Extraordinary Women of Christian History. “Mother in Israel” is what Methodists called her. It was fitting. Like Judge Deborah who sang: “I arose as a mother in Israel,” Mary Bosanquet Fletcher arose and took a leading role working alongside, and independently of, John Wesley. She was the one who convinced him to permit women to preach—though never for her own self-aggrandizement. “I know the power of God which I have felt when standing on the... Read more

Can a case be made for women elders in the New Testament? Does the NT explicitly prohibit women from being elders? It is more than interesting that so many are absolutely sure in their denial in question one without recognizing the denial of the second question. The NT does not prohibit women as elders while many assume that’s the case. To speak to men as elders (using masculine gender nouns) is not a denial of female elders just as the... Read more