Kermit Zarley Blog

A Day at SBL

December 5, 2014 By Kermit Zarley

As a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, last weekend I attended its Annual Meeting. It is held in conjunction with the American Academy of Religion in a different, major city in North America each year which can accommodate a group of about 7,000 to 10,000 members. Most are professors with PhDs. Most years it is the highlight of my year. It keeps me abreast of what biblical scholars are saying. I see their latest books and buy some… Read more

Jesus Did Not Live and Minister in Palestine

November 28, 2014 By Kermit Zarley

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So many biblical scholars and Jesus researchers say Jesus lived and ministered in Palestine. I heard them say it last week at SBL’s Annual Meeting some of them read their papers. Jesus did not live in Palestine and minister there. That is an anachronism. I think scholars should stop saying that and say what was true. Jesus lived in Galilee, and he traveled about the land of Israel (Judea, Samaria, and Galilee) ministering as an itinerant preacher-prophet for two to… Read more

The Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature–2014

November 25, 2014 By Kermit Zarley

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I just returned from attending the Annual Meeting of two groups: the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion. Each organization holds its annual meeting jointly in the same place. This year it was held on November 22-25 at the Convention Center in San Diego. It was such a delight to be there. Many of the most famous theologians and biblical exegetes in the world attend this convention every year. Because of it, I have the privilege of knowing… Read more

See My Redesigned Website kermitzarley.com

November 20, 2014 By Kermit Zarley

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Check out the new look at kermitzarley.com. My eldest daughter, Christy Eller, has a website business at iamchristyeller.com, and she is good at it. I’m so proud of her. She redesigned my website kermitzarley.com that I’ve had for nearly 18 years and just launched this redesign of it today. It has lots of photos of me, most of them regarding my career as a professional golfer on the PGA Tour and Champions Tour. And the ten update articles about my… Read more

Rosetta Mission Accomplished!

November 13, 2014 By Kermit Zarley

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Yesterday, the European Space Agency (ESA) accomplished a first in space exploration with its Rosetta Mission. Its spacecraft called “Rosetta” began its journey ten years ago It had flown 4 billion miles through space to come alongside a comet named “67 P/C-G” that is about three miles in diameter and flying in its orbit around the sun at a maximum speed of 84,000 miles per hour. Rosetta then released a probe called “Philae” that descended seven hours until it successfully… Read more

Is Church Membership Necessary?

November 8, 2014 By Kermit Zarley

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I don’t think so. It’s not in the New Testament. Thus, the early church didn’t have our tradition called “church membership.” So, during that first century there was no “joining a church.” People were members of a local church because that’s the group with which they assembled to worship God together and fellowship with one another. Of course, a church to them was a group of people, not a building. This raises the question about how Christians decide on their… Read more

Interview of Kenneth L. Woodward, Newsweek’s Religion Editor

November 3, 2014 By Kermit Zarley

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I just read this interview of Kenneth L. Woodward. At the time of the interview, in 2002, he had been Newsweek magazine’s Religion Editor for 38 years. I think Woodward is really insightful about American Christianity. Here is the URL: http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/interviews/woodward.asp. Read more

Sweden Recognizes Palestinian Statehood

October 31, 2014 By Kermit Zarley

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Yesterday, Sweden became the first EU member and the third Western European nation to recognize Palestinian statehood. The others are Cyprus and Malta. Such recognition is no more than a symbolic gesture. But it is a public announcement that Sweden now takes not only a political stand advocating the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but that it now recognizes the State of Palestine even though Palestinians don’t have an actual land they can claim as sovereignly their own. Israel… Read more

What Does Maranatha Mean?

October 31, 2014 By Kermit Zarley

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Yesterday, I posted about “your kingdom come” in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.9-13 and Luke 11.2-4. The Aramaic word maranatha is similar. Here is an excerpt from my book, The Restitution of Jesus Christ, about maranatha: The Apostle Paul uses the Aramaic word maranatha only in 1 Corinthians 16.22.[1] This use indicates that Greek-speaking Christians borrowed this transliterated word from the early Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians of Judea and Galilee and made it a part of their own liturgy. Its… Read more

What Does “Your Kingdom Come” Mean in “the Lord’s Prayer”?

October 30, 2014 By Kermit Zarley

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According to the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. This model prayer has been popularly called “the Lord’s Prayer,” with “Lord” referring to Jesus. Both Matthew and Luke provide a similar version of it, with Luke’s being shorter (Matthew 6.9-13; Luke 11.2-4). Both prayers begin by addressing God as “Father.” That was Jesus’ favorite way of referring to God. Calling God “Father” obviously is a recognition of an relationship with God similar to what… Read more