I met an old friend for lunch yesterday. He was, once upon a time, firmly ensconced in a career in the ueber-conservative world of “Evangelical orthodoxy”–and he actually had a pretty good gig. He left because of inerrancy. He could not square that non-negotiable pillar of the evangelical system with (1) how the Bible behaves when you sit down and read it, (2) a modern/scientific framework of thinking that is fully operational in every other phase of his life but... Read more
My line of work brings me into contact with all sorts of Christian pilgrims on different stages of their journey. The fact that I’m not exactly sure what my line of work is is beside the point, still, for me there is something holy and at the same time deeply human when people feel the freedom to dump their god on me. Recovering or recently-having-recovered Fundamentalists especially seem to find their way to me. Just the other day, I spent... Read more
What do Parshandatha, Harnepher, Mattithiah, and Romamti-Ezer have in common? They are all in the Bible, which means they are also in The Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary released just a few weeks ago, and that I helped edit. The general editor is my long-time buddy Tremper Longman III (Westmont College)–perhaps best known for having Philadelphia Eagles season tickets though living in Santa Barbara. I am the Old Testament editor and Mark Strauss of Bethel Seminary (San Diego) is the New Testament editor. If... Read more
Last year, an English translation of Konrad Schmid’s (University of Zurich) approach to the literary history of the Old Testament–i.e., when the bits and pieces of the Old Testament originated and when they all came together to form a book–was published with the title The Old Testament: A Literary History. I haven’t read the book, but I read a recent scholarly review of it on line. Exactly why and when the ancient writings of Israel came to be, let alone when... Read more
Dr. Enns, we would like you to come talk to us about God, Jesus, and the Bible, and we will pay you money. So, do you agree to come? And, have I mentioned we will give you money in exchange for telling us what you think about God, Jesus, and the Bible? I’ve never gotten used to this. Don’t misunderstand. I don’t think this is “wrong” and or that I’m above it all. We all have to make a living and positive... Read more
On the spiritual journey, the message is always to you. The message is always telling you to change. Now, what most religious people do is they use religion to try to change other people. It’s always someone else that needs changing. No. Stop it. Once and for all. Whatever happens in your life is a message to you. It’s telling you something about you. Oh, the ego wants to avoid that. So we look for something out there to change.... Read more
Biblical scholars build models. A model is a way of accounting for as much of the available data as possible in as coherent and persuasive manner as possible, producing along the way as little cognitive dissonance as possible. A model is a hypothesis of what the “big picture” looks like. Models do not focus on biblical issues in isolation, but are after the big picture. All biblical scholars–fundamentalist to liberal and everything in between–have models that form the intellectual parameters within which they handle the particulars... Read more
I’ve been watching the Adam and evolution debates/discussions on line, in social media, and in print. I think I am beginning to see more clearly what accounts for the deeply held, visceral, differences of opinion about whether Adam was the first man or whether Adam is a story. The reason for the differences is not simply that people have different theological systems or different ways of reading the Bible. A more fundamental difference lies at the root of these (and other) differences. I think we... Read more
Joshua Mann–PhD candidate in New Testament at the University of Edinburgh–is publishing a series of short interviews on academic blogging, and my interview just went up. Should more academics blog? If I may answer in typical academic fashion–yes and no. Sorry. Occupational hazard. Read more
Theological growth is like renovating your house. You think your 120 year-old Victorian is rock solid, the envy of the neighborhood, though maybe needing a touch up here and there. Until an expert builder does a walk through–and what he finds isn’t pretty. One side of the house is resting on a cracking foundation. You couldn’t tell on your own, and it takes some convincing on his part, but there it is, clear as day. It’s only a matter of time... Read more
Peter Enns
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