For those culture warriors (think, “Wayne Grudem”) who argue against PC-versions of the Bible and insist ‘essentially literal’ is always a superior translation, check out “When evangelical snowflakes censor the Bible: The English Standard Version goes PC: How a Bible edition aimed at right-wing evangelicals has quietly scrubbed references to slaveryRead More
Icons of Christ: A Biblical and Systematic Theology for Women’s Ordination is a compelling and capable defense of women sharing the full sweep of responsibilities for leadership in the Church. Despite the contention this topic breeds and the heat it generates, each chapter fairly and charitably rehearses arguments for and against women serving in church leadership. Author William G. Witt rigorously engages all the relevant biblical texts, along with traditional and contemporary testimony from Catholic and Protestant opposing voices. With philosophical and theological acumen, Witt applies careful historical, theological, literary, and exegetical analyses throughout, while keeping a practical focus on the Church.
Since the breadth and depth of this book is large, …Read More
To say Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley is large would be an understatement. No less than 10 days after its initial release (September 1, 2020) the publisher’s site notifies customers that shipments will be delayed due to high demand. The author has appeared on countless virtual interviews and is aRead More
Or, why it’s important to listen to Scripture and not import our own ideas into the text. The first rule in interpreting any text, ancient or contemporary, is listen to the author and learn what is being communicated. Enjoy this short video, then check out this post, “Interpreting the Bible,Read More
Once in church we had been attending a financial person of the church stated that, after 30 years of studying God’s Word, he has found Scripture “never calls on us to give to a cause; instead we are called to give to God.” He then quoted something from 2 CorRead More
This paragraph not only sums up much of I. Howard Marshall‘s masterful contribution to Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy, but has profound hermeneutical and pastoral implications. You’ll have to read the entire essay (pp 27ff) to feel the weight of what I’m getting at (hint: it’s not just aboutRead More
Matthew Richard Schlimm‘s This Strange and Sacred Scripture: Wrestling with the Old Testament and Its Oddities clears the fog and answers common questions and concerns raised by believers struggling to find relevance in the first 39 books of the Bible. There are many valuable lessons here and Schlimm offers some importantRead More
No one likes to be misunderstood and I suspect this is equally true of God. Of the many important interpretive principles that are crucial for rightly interpreting a passage from the Bible (or anything written for that matter), none is more important than context before content. What I mean (at least) isRead More
My good friend at Baker Books has an important post on studying the Bible where he (rightfully) calls out Joyce Meyer, a very “convincing” Bible teacher; at least convincing to those who are easily convinced (Did I say “naive?”). Meyer claims there are no “rules” for studying the Bible andRead More
Recently I commented on a Facebook post that I disliked the word “feminist/feminism” when used to describe what I would brand an evangelical egalitarian position (that men and women may serve equally in the home, the church, and the world as God has so apportioned and enabled them). Even when adding the adjective “evangelical” in front of “feminism”Read More
I’ve been charged with being too analytical. Two real-life cases in point. First, a while ago I was cleaning the kitchen after dinner and my daughter was sitting at the dining table with her Macbook. She said, “Dad listen…” She then read this to me “Do everything without complaining orRead More
