For All It's Worth

Vindicating the Vixens: Revisiting Sexualized, Vilified, and Marginalized Women of the Bible , Edited by Sandra Glahn For quite a long and drawn out title, this book really packs a punch.   The contributors to this volume span a wide range from seminary professors to ministry and pastoral leaders, to bloggers and writers.   The book’s title Vindicating the Vixens, gives us a glimpse at the main thrust of the message, we have simply not understood the women of the bible and recapturing and honoring their place in the biblical record helps us see the multi-faceted nature of their lives.   The story of Ruth captures the imagination and focus of its readers with an unparalleled story of redemption.   Many times we hone in on the way that Boaz takes Ruth under his wings and marries her amidst the peculiar customs of the time.   Yet, as Marnie Legaspi points out, Ruth is committed to her mother-in-law but also to great sacrifice.   Marnie p...

Frame by Frame: Notes on John Frame’s Systematic Theology: An Introduction Chapter 1: What is Theology Theology is replete with definitions, anything from justification to Christ’s second coming.  Definitions are rarely found in scripture of theology or theological concepts.  We grapple with Scripture and this wrestling in human form are less than adequate to describe the ways the Bible deals with language, narratives, and teaching. Theologians and scholars of the Bible come up with various definitions.  Frame mentions effectual calling “God’s sovereign summons that actually draws a person into union with Christ.” (3)  But calling also has referent points to “name giving, invitation, request for someone’s attention.”  The point here is that one definition is simply too narrow to encompass all that Scripture states about a particular theological concept.  Our theological definitions must be measured by Scripture, they must not go be...