I wrote this blog a little while back when I was going through seminary. The divide gets even greater at the PhD level where one is pushed to specialize even further into a certain niche topic within their chosen half of the Bible. I’d love to hear other people’s experience. Enjoy! In my study toward my thesis I ran into an interesting article by Marvin Tate called “Promising Paths Toward Biblical Theology.”.” RevExp 78 (1981):...
How preposterous a thought it is that in the often barren, frigid, and life-drained months of winter that we celebrate the birth of new life of Jesus, the God-Man. The church’s celebration of the resurrection seems to get it right- the rising from death to the glory of new life remembered on Resurrection Sunday seems aptly fit for the greening and budding months of Spring. Yet, the tapestry of the testaments are here to remind...
The writing process for working on a PhD Thesis is pretty frustrating. I have spent the greater part of my first year here in Aberdeen just trying to nail down a system that works for me. I thought I would share this insane/frustrating/possibly helpful system in my blog this week. I originally wrote this post after my first meeting with my supervisor. I am pretty horrible with details. So much of the thesis writing process...
“Covert Messiah” is the latest theory delving into alternatives to the New Testament understanding of the origins of Christianity. Joseph Atwill explains that Christianity was originally an elaborate hoax created by the Roman government as a means of pacifying the usually tumultuous land of 1st century Judea. He writes, “Jesus Christ is a fabricated cover story for an Imperial psychological warfare operation born out of the First Jewish-Roman War in the first century.”[1] Based on his...
A knock at the door. A pitiful figure stands, wrapped in a tired cloth and trembling in the cold. At your welcoming hand the figure reclines at your table, where you both dine and subsequently share stories of times past. As the newly-befriended guest prepares to leave, the beggar’s cloth is cast aside and the splendor of unmistakable divinity fills the room. Your now newly-radiant guest praises your lavish hospitality, and assures you they will...
In a democratic society there is no greater or more powerful argument for a position than that it is the majority view. Majority positions are not just descriptive of a particular group, but go even further by implementing that position in a concrete way. In this way, we might say that the majority has the ability to make something true. If the majority decides that X ought to be the case then, on the level...
The September 2013 issue of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament is now available online and will be in print shortly. My article on the meaning of the Greek word ΠΑΣΧΩ in Galatians 3.4 is included in the volume (“Suffering In Vain: A Study on the Interpretation of ΠΑΣΧΩ in Galatians 3.4,” JSNT 36.1 [2013]: 3-16). If your College/University/Seminary has access to JSNT then you can download the .pdf file by navigating this link...
My local church set aside this past week for a time of focused ministry in our own community here in Durham. A wide variety of service projects were engaged, from activities for children of all ages, serving coffee at the train station for the many commuters, cleaning up and doing repairs around the city, and all sorts of festivities. Of course, the purpose in each event was to shine the light of Christ into our...
In a couple of weeks I will be giving a short sermon on the subject of forgiveness. I knew from the outset that this was not a “safe” topic for me. Forgiveness does not come easy for me, especially in the places that it really matters, that is, in the places where the perceived wrongs are very real and very painful. I have also realized that “forgiveness” is not something that I have ever thought...
As a good Protestant I was always taught to be grateful for, but suspicious of the first, fiercely devoted to the second, and un-threatened by the third. When Tradition is found wanting it can be remolded; it is malleable where the other two are not. Scripture is cast in stone. It does not change and therefore should not be changed. History is… history. It doesn’t exactly change either, but where its claims and interpretations run...
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