For All It's Worth

Professor Jeremy Begbie has written a masterful article on the Confessing Church and the Nazis to which his last three theological points are worth the entire article: http://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/anvil/02-2_117.pdf

Here a few notable books I've been reading recently: You will surely know Winner from her previous books, some of which are entitled, Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity, Mudhouse Sabbath, and Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis.   This is a rather deep look about ways in which we meet God that are out of the ordinary or ways in which we past over that are very easily unidentifiable.  The chapter on Smell is illuminating and challenging to say the least.  Quoting from George Orwell and others, Lauren peers into our hearts that allow smell to distance us from becoming friends with others.  She writes, "Perhaps if smelling is to be a part of my relationship with God, I might start here: trying to unlearn whatever I have been taught about the relationship of smell to virtue, trying to notice how I let smell become a barrier between me and people who might be my friends (89)."  With quotes from spiritual guides and thinkers to wisdom from her own experience...

A Commentary on the Manuscripts and Text of the New Testament by Philip Wesley Comfort Longtime scholar of ancient biblical manuscripts, Dr. Comfort has been an authority on textual manuscript traditions for many years.  Here, in this updated edition, his A Commentary on the Manuscripts and Text of the New Testament is a welcome addition to the growing field of textual studies.  What do you find in such a commentary?  For one, Comfort introduces the reader to the extant papyrus manuscripts we have of the New Testament, namely the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, the Chester Beatty Papyri, and the Bodmer Papyri.  Also, Comfort reasons that the earliest manuscript evidence is generally followed, “documentary evidence has pride of place (31).” One of the most significant sections of the book for me was Comfort’s elucidation concerning nomina sacra in the NT. Comfort writes, “The earliest copies of the New Testament writings (perhaps some of the autographs t...

Giving Each Other the Benefit of the Doubt At the slightest instance of gossip, do we enter into the conversation and pile up our baggage about another person’s character, personality, or appearance?  Giving each other the benefit of the doubt means thinking the best of someone and their intentions even when we get the sinking feeling that there are ulterior motives on the horizon.  Giving the benefit of the doubt means also bearing with people, loving them well even when in the past they’ve sinned against us.  The Scriptures connect the way we perceive others and also give them the benefit of the doubt through various lenses, one of which is the theme of love found in 1 Corinthians 13.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13.4-7, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all...

Recalling the Hope of Glory: Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New Creation by Allen Ross What is the foundational element of worship from a theological perspective?  Why do we worship in the way we do as Christians?  All these questions are encountered in the delightful and carefully written book, Recalling the Hope of Glory by Professor Allen Ross.  Ross is known for his insightful works on the Psalms (both from Kregel Academic) and his work on Biblical Hebrew.  In this book on worship, Allen begins by cataloging the lowly and unsatisfying picture of worship in many of our churches as a mundane affair that is casually done by its participants.  Instead, Ross rightly posits worship as “a transcendent meeting with the living God (39).”  The reason that so much of our worship is lacking in substance and vision is the deficit of a robust biblical and theological of worship that undergirds all of what we do and say concerning worship (38...

Michael Kruger on surviving a University Religion Course: https://vimeo.com/129253608