Donald Trump addressed a mandatory convocation at Liberty University this week, and the internet has been abuzz. The “big news”? Trump said “Two Corinthians” instead of “Second Corinthians”, seemingly revealing his true biblical illiteracy. Little attention has been paid, at least as far as Twitter is concerned, about the content of his quotation, or the use of the Bible itself. It would seem that if Trump had nailed the rhetoric he would have passed the...
We received some very difficult news this week that Brandon Barr, a contributor to the The Two Cities, has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Brandon has been a close friend of mine since childhood, and so the news of his illness comes as quite a blow. Brandon is 34 years old, and is married to Amanda. They are strong Christians. They have three young boys, Caleb, Nathan, and Isaiah. He began chemotherapy almost immediately,...
Unless you have been off-line for the last few weeks, the 21st century equivalent of living under a rock, it would be hard to miss the ongoing celebration of love that has swept America. The context of this is, of course, the recent SCOTUS ruling on same-sex marriage. Pithy sayings well worthy of the hashtag have flooded across social media: Love wins! Love is love! Love never fails! Some readers might take it for granted...
Living in the UK for the last few years has given me a lot of time and space to observe the relationship between the church and politics in the Unites States with a bit of breathing room. I don’t have any profound thoughts to share just now, but I have been greatly encouraged reading the blogs of Russell Moore. Moore is the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, which might...
In his commentary on Amos, Hans Walter Wolff writes, …Amos with his message of judgement thrusts Israel back among the nations, there appears here a negative print of Pentecost. The wall between God’s people and the nations of the world is already being broken down. The Church will suffer damage if it does not allow to be utterly eradicated that sense of special privilege which, despite Amos, gained strength again in Israel. There are religious...
Warning: This post contains spoilers. If you want to see Exodus: Gods and Kings (E:GK) for its surprises and twists, best to go see and read this later. Ridley Scott’s latest epic is definitely that. There are plenty of scenes filled with stunning special effects, powerful storm clouds, and confrontations involving characters with wild eyes and wilder hair. The stuntmen get plenty of work: hardly 10 minutes go by without someone being set on fire...
A couple of weeks ago a US senate committee released a report confirming what has already been old news for a while: the CIA tortured terrorist suspects in its (on-going) attempt to win the “war on terror” and protect American lives from terrorist attacks. On this side of the pond, at least, the news of that report has already moved off of the front page. It only took a couple of days for the Christmas...
The following was originally presented as a sermon at Cornerstone Church in St. Andrews, Scotland. What is there to be said about patience? Certainly it is not a word that is unfamiliar to us. No doubt many times in our lives someone has told us that we ought to have more of it or be more of it. The Greek word it translates is μακροθυμία, fromμακρός – meaning long (as in time or distance) andθυμός...
Adam Weinstein’s article on gun violence, It’s Really Hard to Be a Good Guy with a Gun, is a worth a close read. The quick summary: Weinstein grew up with guns, has served in the military, and has a concealed carry licence. Private citizens, “good guys,” legally arming themselves was part of his solution to the growing problem of irrational and unprovoked shootings. The line usually runs, “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a...
Constantine Campbell. Union with Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study. Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2012. 463 pgs. (Paperback). $34.99. 0310329051 Campbell seeks to approach the subject “union with Christ” as a New Testament theologian, that is, his approach is exegetically grounded and theologically motivated. The first concern is represented by detailed exegetical work on the phrases relating to “union with Christ.” The theological concern is woven into this, but is then fully fleshed out in the final...
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