By Allan Bevere One Sunday more than a decade ago, the Lectionary reading from the Gospel that morning was from Mark 10 on Jesus’ teaching concerning divorce. Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he... Read more

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. BCP Read more

Jesus asked his audiences many questions. What if we stop with Jesus’ questions and let them interrogate us? What if we ponder and pray over Jesus’ questions? Which is exactly what Matthew Croasmun does in his church-friendly and small-group-friendly book, Let Me Ask You A Question: Conversations With Jesus. Organized into five weekday exercises around the one big questions, Croasmun asks these questions: Week 1: What Do You Want Me to Do for You? Week 2: Has No One Condemned You?... Read more

We had a marvelous trip to Denmark and we are back! More on that to come. Curious Koala: An inquisitive koala that animal rescuers in Australia said they’ve encountered multiple times before had to be saved yet again – this time from a fence at a power station this week, local media reported. “It wasn’t a great start to the day for this curious who got his head stuck in a fence at our Happy Valley substation,” electricity distributor SA Power... Read more

By Mike Glenn What Seminary Can’t Teach You As a senior pastor, I’m fortunate to work with seven younger pastors who lead our different campuses. These young men are energetic, creative and committed to seeing the gospel of Jesus spread throughout their communities in various ways. Did I mention they were young? There are two ways to gain wisdom. First, you can experience an event. If you put your hand on a hot stove, you will gain wisdom – fast.... Read more

In the next chapter of The Lost World of Scripture John Walton and D. Brent Sandy emphasize the oral origins of the New Testament. The written text preserved for us is essential for the church today. Neither John Walton nor Brent Sandy deny this. The recorded witness of the early church and the eyewitnesses to the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus are authoritative for the church. They guide our understanding of orthodox Christian faith. But the form the... Read more

From IVP IVP Academic to Revise and Expand Pioneering Dictionary of Paul and His Letters IVP Academic is thrilled to announce the revision and expansion of one of its most prestigious volumes Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. Originally published in 1993 and edited by Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid, the dictionary received wide acclaim, including an ECPA Gold Medallion award for reference books. Upon its release, N.T. Wright wrote that the dictionary was “a mine... Read more

I am preparing for a discussion class on the Apostles’ Creed this Fall and digging into it in preparation. I will post on it occasionally over the next few months. Today I want to focus on two lines in article 3. I believe in … the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, … As it happens, my husband and I have been touring Germany the last two weeks, a mixture of business and pleasure. Three years ago we visited... Read more

From Jamin Hüber, at CBE A couple days ago, my wife Jessica and I finished reading a rather depressing book: Biblical Porn: Affect, Labor, and Pastor Mark Driscoll’s Evangelical Empire. It’s an academic work that includes countless interviews, field research, and eyewitness accounts of the dramatic fall of Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church. The book does a great job dissecting the factors that led to one of the most notorious pastoral (and moral) tragedies in contemporary American evangelicalism. Truly, it’s difficult... Read more