Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea... Read more
The Ninevites were the cruel kids in the ancient Near East. They were feared and hated. And they richly deserved it. Despite that reputation, God tells Jonah to let them know that they are in danger of judgment. The Hebrew literally reads, “A prophetic message from God came to be with Jonah…”[1] It wasn’t a whisper. It wasn’t a suggestion. It wasn’t a nagging thought. It was a big, ugly certainty. And Jonah knew it. The story is also clear. ... Read more
A recent article on conversations between the deans of Episcopal seminaries and others got me thinking about seminaries and about the future of mainline churches. The article itself was a fairly poor introduction to what actually transpired in those meetings. My online conversation about the article revealed, for example, that there were sitting deans involved in the meeting. So, I’m prepared to hope that the conversations were better focused than the article suggested. Based on what the article did say,... Read more
Names. For the most part in our culture, we think about them in ways that are foreign to the biblical world. Sound, associations, family traditions, and social trends often figure into the choice of our children’s names in a way that people in the ancient world would have considered strange. When I was an undergraduate I had a friend whose Father was named after a millionaire. An old bachelor, the millionaire told my friend’s grandfather that if he named his... Read more
Over the years the people I have met who “deconstruct” their faith have lived under the sway of “fundagelicalism”. Fundagelicalism is that expression of the Christian faith which weds an emphasis on a personal relationship with Christ to rigid legalism and an inerrantist approach to Scripture.[1] The correlation between fundagelicalism and the deconstruction movement is not surprising. Fundamentalism presents itself as the one and only faithful and orthodox expression of the Christian faith. Churches associated with it impose a strict... Read more
Note: The following article is about a trend that is not universal. There are notable exceptions to the trend described here. This is also not an article about conspiracy. It is about mission creep and a loss of focus which is often invisible to outside observers and the product of more than one factor. As an undergraduate, light years ago, a major conflict erupted between two of my professors. Each professor recruited students in a battle over the differences between... Read more
[In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he... Read more
Who are you? Deep into life identity is a challenge for all of us. I don’t know anyone who escapes that challenge. And for many people it is a source of real struggle and no small amount of anxiety deep into life. Identity is also a challenge that reinvents itself. Even after we have made the choices that most of us identify with settling into adulthood – finding a spouse, getting a job – the questions of identity surface and... Read more
The comparative study of religions replaced the study of theology in western universities. No doubt a number of factors accounted for its rise. The increasingly secular nature of universities precluded the discussion of theological matters. The Enlightenment promised scholars that religion could be parsed in analytical terms. Academics felt obligated to account for religion, because it figured as one of the more prominent features of human behavior. And – at the same time – the academic enterprise required that those... Read more
But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober… (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6) New Testament scholars often argue that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians because they expected Jesus to return soon, and they were... Read more
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