Zach Hoag Is Uncategorized
“I say we take the word back…I’m an evangelical. And I believe in good news for everybody.” Gosh, Rob. I am IN. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc7wEfL6aSI Read more
“I say we take the word back…I’m an evangelical. And I believe in good news for everybody.” Gosh, Rob. I am IN. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc7wEfL6aSI Read more
How Jesus changes the way I read Scripture Forgot to share this one a couple weeks ago – I absolutely LOVE how Sarah is expressing the impact of Jesus-centered interpretation on her faith. Especially her view of Scripture. Amazing quote here: Jesus reveals the Scriptures to us. How we read the whole of Scripture must be informed by the person of Jesus Christ because God is exactly like Jesus. The entire Bible—the whole story arc—must be read and understood through... Read more
Last week I made a statement on Twitter about neo-Calvinists’ passion for defunding Planned Parenthood. Namely, I said it’s a little suspicious: https://twitter.com/zhoag/status/658810253035884544 For the purposes of this rather short post, my reasoning is simple: Neo-Calvinists (rightly) believe that God is the essence of perfect justice and holiness. But they also (wrongly) believe that it is perfectly just and holy for God to arbitrarily select a tiny minority of humanity for eternal bliss while consigning the rest to eternal torment –... Read more
The image above is my endorsement for Seth Haines’s new book Coming Clean, out TODAY from Zondervan. And I meant what I said. In fact, I want to quickly break down my endorsement into three parts, which are really three reasons this book is an absolute must-read. Here goes: 1. Coming Clean is one of the most honest books I’ve read in ages – or ever. I guess you might expect this from a book that is called Coming Clean... Read more
One of my core callings (you know, besides writing and binge-watching prestige dramas) is preaching. And there’s a difference between preaching and teaching. Over the years I’ve struggled to understand and express this, and honestly I’ve heard it expressed rather poorly in the past. Some folks (who lean more charismatic and pentecostal) will denigrate teaching, implicitly if not explicitly, as being too intellectual, too “mind-y,” and not spiritual enough. Prophecy is one of the “best gifts,” they reason, and so prophetic... Read more
What happens around tables designed to encourage the people of God to see one another, face to face? I would argue that justice, too, begins on a micro-scale at our church. I thought this was a great complement to the Zahnd piece I shared yesterday. As this apocalypse of faith decline in the U.S. unfolds, how we do church will matter. It’s not that a particular form will be the silver bullet, but rather that learning from the baggage of... Read more
The church is always in danger of being ditched as a superfluous burden. The church is always just about to be jilted. The church is always down in the count and on the verge of striking out. The church is never as beautiful and winsome as Jesus, and at every moment the disillusioned are composing their “Dear John” letters. This may be the best thing I’ve read on “why church” in a very long time – and it just so... Read more
I had the privilege of preaching at a new church in Bangor, Maine called MeetingPlace. To be honest, this might have been the most honest sermon I’ve ever given – in many ways, it encapsulates a (painful) three year journey and highlights a major turning point in that process. And, it’s as clear a message on Jesus-centered faith that I’ve ever had the privilege of expressing. Ok, enough intro. Hope you enjoy it! Read more
Back when I was a neo-Calvinist, there was a lot of talk about a “Christological” hermeneutic – or, in laymen’s terms, a Christ-centered interpretation of the Bible. The big idea was that we needed to “see Christ in all of Scripture,” including the Old Testament, in order to get the Bible right. And this seemed really good and even exciting for a while as we all tried to rethink our understanding of Old Testament stories and characters. King David, we all knew,... Read more
This is such a moving post about how Bernie embraced the Sandra Bland case to the extent that he said her name specifically in Tuesday night’s debate (and said, “Black lives matter” more clearly than any other candidate): “Hello, I’m sorry, are you Mr. Sanders?” I asked. “I am,” he replied. “Well, I’m just over there having dinner with the mother of Sandra Bland and I thought maybe you’d like to meet her.” “Yes, please,” he replied. I got up to... Read more
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