Yes, of course he did. He was a Jew trained in the traditions of his people. In fact, he had such a high view of scripture, for a while there he was trying to put to death those annoying Christ-followers who undermined it. That high view of scripture was not abandoned when Paul became a follower of Jesus himself. It was just transformed and utterly refocused. Paul had a high view of scripture. It’s just doesn’t look like what conservative Evangelicals insist... Read more
No. Even when you account for 2000 years of cultural differences between Paul and Evangelicalism, the answer is no. Why? Because Paul didn’t treat the Bible the way mainstream Evangelicalism says you need to. The way Paul handled his Bible–what we call the Old Testament–would keep him off the short list for openings to teach Bible in many Evangelical seminaraies and Christian colleges. Heck, John Piper, John MacArthur, and R. C. Sproul probably wouldn’t let Paul lead a home Bible... Read more
David Williams is continuing his “Credo” series, which is a look at what the apostle Paul said is really important for Christians to believe in according to 1 Corinthains 15:3-5. David’s point is that Paul didn’t get all worked up about “the doctrine of Scripture”–meaning, nailing down how it came to be, how it works, how to read it correctly, and basically making it the entry point of Christian theology. In fact, no one got really worked up about it for... Read more
Earlier this year, Crossway released Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith?: A Critical Appraisal of Modern and Postmodern Approaches to Scripture edited by James K. Hoffmeier and Dennis R. Magary of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in suburban Chicago (hereafter DHMMF) Briefly stated, the book is a sustained defense of what the authors consider to be the traditional and nearly universal understanding throughout church history of the Bible as the inerrant word of God. What prompted the volume was Kenton Sparks’s 2008 volume God’s Word in Human... Read more
I’ve read a lot of responses to my book Evolution of Adam, The: What the Bible Does and Doesn’t Say about Human Origins and nearly all, supportive, critical, and in between, have something to say that is worth listening to. But few are nailing the problem that a non-historical reading, or at least a non-first man reading, of the Adam story poses for Christian theology. Some have circled around it, but I am surprised no one (that I can recall) has simply... Read more
Today, Karl Giberson concludes his six-part series of excerpts from his new book The Wonder of the Universe: Hints of God in a Fine-Tuned World . Karl Giberson, noted speaker and writer about the intersection of Christian faith and science. (See first post for intro; see his complete bio here.) In this sixth excerpt, Giberson tells us what he thinks about God and science and how the two fit together. Excerpt #6: How the World Looks to Me I try to be cautious but... Read more
Today, Karl Giberson continues his six-part series of excerpts from his new book The Wonder of the Universe: Hints of God in a Fine-Tuned World . Karl Giberson, noted speaker and writer about the intersection of Christian faith and science. (See first post for intro; see his complete bio here.) In this fifth excerpt, Giberson tells us that arguing for God based on the “design” of the universe is a bad idea. Excerpt #5: Be Cautious with Design Arguments Design arguments have been... Read more
Today, Karl Giberson continues his six-part series of excerpts from his new book The Wonder of the Universe: Hints of God in a Fine-Tuned World . Karl Giberson, noted speaker and writer about the intersection of Christian faith and science. (See first post for intro; see his complete bio here.) In this fourth excerpt, Giberson tells us that science is reliable. Yeah, no grand conspiracy. Just some discoveries about how the physical world operates. Excerpt #4: The Reliability of Science Science has discovered much... Read more
Today, Karl Giberson continues his six-part series of excerpts from his new book The Wonder of the Universe: Hints of God in a Fine-Tuned World . Karl Giberson, noted speaker and writer about the intersection of Christian faith and science (see first and second posts). (See his complete bio here.) In this third excerpt, Giberson tells us about how water comes from exploding stars and, if the conditions are just right, exists in liquid form, which–if I remember my grade school science classes–is necessary for... Read more
Today, Rachel Held Evans posted on how Christian culture wars may be winning battles but losing a generation. Younger Christians are growing tired of having the Good News defined by their leaders going into default battle mode whenever a controversial social or political issue comes up. I agree with Rachel’s observation, and it struck me immediately that it is applicable to my little dysfunctional corner of the world: evangelicals and their uneasy relationship with critical biblical scholarship. Defending a particular way of understanding what the Bible is... Read more
Peter Enns
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In